President Donald Trump’s Friday night decision to fire FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe — right before he could collect his retirement pension from the government — has emboldened the president, and made a constitutional crisis over a possible firing of special counsel Robert Mueller even more likely.
On Saturday Night, the president evoked the name of the man responsible for investigating whether or not there was collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian sources during the 2016 presidential election, saying that the probe “should never have been started.” Trump’s claim was instantly fact-checked by The Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler, who cited many of Trump’s innaccuracies.
The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime. It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2018
He followed that up Sunday morning with another tweet directed at the investigation, complaining that the investigation featured “Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans.” (That would be news to Republicans, such as House Speaker Paul Ryan, who welcomed Mueller’s hiring.)
Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans? Another Dem recently added…does anyone think this is fair? And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2018
The president, for his part, has been “whisked away” to his golf course after the interview — seemingly to spend time away from his phone and in a happy place.
Aides have decided to whisk Trump to a golf course today.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) March 18, 2018
After a morning attacking law enforcement officials and the Mueller probe, Trump has arrived at his golf course in Virginia.
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) March 18, 2018
But this salvo against Mueller seems to follow a pattern when it comes to the president — lay a case for why he plans to fire someone investigating him, then do it. He fired former FBI Director James Comey after attacking him directly and indirectly. And he often attacked McCabe, seemingly over the fact that McCabe’s wife ran for office and had connections to people who knew Hillary Clinton. Trump repeatedly mocked McCabe, according to Axios, which also noted that McCabe was keeping memos on his interactions with the president.
As each of these stories comes out, it becomes more clear that a constitutional crisis is in the making, as the president is doing whatever he can to ensure that an investigation into investigation into his ties with Russia and its impact on the 2016 presidential election cannot take place.
It’s going to be a constitutional crisis because Congress, which has the power to hold the president in check, doesn’t want to be doing anything. Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican also linked to Russia, said that the Mueller investigation was “much to do about nothing.” Marco Rubio suggested to “Meet the Press” that McCabe’s firing may have been a way to “hold them accountable.”
.@marcorubio on what McCabe firing says about the FBI and DOJ: “They're not above reproach. There are ways to hold them accountable. But I think we need to be very careful about taking these very important entities and smearing everybody in them with a broad stroke.” #MTP
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) March 18, 2018
And even though Trey Gowdy, who is retiring in a few months, had strong words, there was no indication that he would take actions to protect Mueller.
The toughest reaction, though, came from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who told Jake Tapper that Meuller’s firing would be “the beginning of the end of his presidency.”
Lindsey Graham reiterates this to Trump when asked by @jaketapper about the potential firing of Mueller. “If he tried to do that, that would be the beginning of the end of his presidency. We are a rule-of-laws nation. “
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) March 18, 2018
Sen. Lindsey Graham repeats that it would be the beginning of the end of the Trump presidency if he fired the special counsel, adding, “I pledge to the American people to allow Mueller to continue to do his job without interference.”
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) March 18, 2018
The question forming seems to be when, not if, Trump will test that.
