Senators move to protect Special Counsel Mueller in Russia probe

Two members of the Senate Judiciary Committee moved

Thursday to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller from being fired by

President Donald Trump, putting forth new legislation that aims to

ensure the integrity of current and future independent investigations.

Republican

Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of

Delaware said they introduced legislation letting any special counsel

for the Department of Justice challenge his or her removal in court. A

three-judge panel would review the dismissal within 14 days of the

challenge.

The bill would apply retroactively to May

17, 2017 – the day Mueller was appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod

Rosenstein to investigate allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016

election and possible ties between Russia and Trump’s presidential

campaign.

“This is something that lives long beyond

this” situation involving Mueller, Tillis told reporters. “And I think

it’s also something that begins to re-establish the reputation for

independence in the Department of Justice.”

Former

FBI Director Robert Mueller, special counsel on the Russian

investigation, arrives for a meeting with members of the US Senate

Judiciary Committee at the US Capitol in Washington, DC on June 21,

2017. /AFP Photo

Tillis was among many GOP

senators who defended Attorney General Jeff Sessions after Trump

criticized him for recusing himself from the Justice Department’s

investigation into suspected Russian interference in the election. Trump

has threatened to fire Sessions, a former Alabama senator.

“So

this is really woven into a series of things that I think we should do

to help re-establish the solid reputation of DOJ,” he said.

Tillis

said introducing the measure Thursday would prompt discussions among

Republican senators about the move over the Senate’s summer recess,

which was expected to begin at the end of the week.

Mueller

was appointed as special counsel following Trump’s abrupt firing of FBI

Director James Comey. Mueller, who was Comey’s predecessor as FBI

director, has assembled a team of prosecutors and lawyers with

experience in financial fraud, national security and organized crime to

investigate contacts between Moscow and the Trump campaign.

Robert

Mueller waits for the beginning of a hearing before the Senate Homeland

Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill in

Washington, DC, Sept. 22, 2010. /VCG Photo

Trump

has been critical of Mueller since his appointment, and the president’s

legal team is looking into potential conflicts surrounding the team

Mueller has hired, including the backgrounds of members and political

contributions by some members of his team to Hillary Clinton. He has

also publicly warned Mueller that he would be out of bounds if he dug

into the Trump family’s finances.

Mueller has strong

support on Capitol Hill. Senators in both parties have expressed

concerns that Trump may try to fire Mueller and have warned him not to

do so.

“Ensuring that the special counsel cannot be removed improperly is critical to the integrity of his investigation,” Coons said.

Republican

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, another member of the judiciary

panel, said last week that he was working on a similar bill that would

prevent the firing of a special counsel without judicial review. Graham

said then that firing Mueller “would precipitate a firestorm that would

be unprecedented in proportions.”

Robert

Mueller pauses after making an opening statement at the US Senate

Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, June 19,

2013. /VCG Photo

Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of

New Jersey is also working on Graham’s legislation, according to

Booker’s office. Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has

yet to signal support for either measure.

The Tillis

and Coons bill would allow review after the special counsel had been

dismissed. If the panel found there was no good cause for the counsel’s

removal, the person would be immediately reinstated. The legislation

would also codify existing Justice Department regulations that a special

counsel can only be removed for misconduct, dereliction of duty,

incapacity, conflict of interest or other good cause, such as a

violation of departmental policies.

In addition, only

the attorney general or the most senior Justice Department official in

charge of the matter could fire the special counsel.

In

the case of the current investigation, Rosenstein is charged with

Mueller’s fate because Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself

from all matters having to do with the Trump-Russia investigation.