Predicting the Effect of Firing Robert Mueller
Many appointed executive officials have come and gone since the beginning of the Trump Administration —some left of their free will and others were removed. We now focus on one man: Robert S. Mueller III. Mueller serves as the Special Counsel tasked with overseeing the Justice Department’s investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the U.S. 2016 election.
Trump has attacked Mueller on Twitter, saying that the investigation was “based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC,” before declaring it a “WITCH HUNT!” He also complained that the Mueller team has thirteen hardened Democrats, some of who are “Crooked Hillary” supporters, and no Republicans. But how close is Trump from dismissing Mueller and what could happen in the aftermath? Many groups strongly believe that Mueller’s dismissal would lead to Trump’s impeachment.
One member of the House Judiciary Committee—in which the impeachment process begins—Democratic Representative Luis Gutiérrez, says that he will consider the removal of either Attorney General Jeff Sessions or Special Counsel Mueller as undermining the rule of law as well as obstruction of justice. Still, both the Senate and House have a Republican majority, so unless many Republicans decide to vote for impeachment, it is highly unlikely that it will occur until the midterm elections.
However, the firing of Mueller doesn’t necessarily mean impeachment for Trump. Since Trump can’t directly fire the Special Counsel, he could replace Rod Rosenstein, the Acting Attorney General for the Russia investigation, with someone more inclined to declare that the investigation was unnecessary and remove Mueller on his or her own. This would make it much harder for Congress to act since the dismissal occured within the Department of Justice(DOJ).
Another thing to note is that this wouldn’t be the first time a special prosecutor has been removed. In 1973, Archibald Cox, the man charged with investigating the Watergate scandal, was fired by Nixon. However, this didn’t do anything to stop the probe. Firing Mueller could cause the very same scenario with either the Office of the Special Counsel intact and continuing to investigate without Mueller, or the Office of Special Counsel being dissolved and the DOJ continuing the investigation by themselves.
By then, the only step left for Trump to take would be to order the DOJ to drop the probe but that would likely lead to much more public outcry than firing Mueller would ever create. Also, all of this still wouldn’t stop the FBI’s completely separate investigation into Russian hacking. So, Trump shouldn’t fire Mueller. If he were to do so, he would simply draw more negative attention, and if this investigation is truly a “witch hunt” as he claims, then Trump has nothing to be afraid of. Right?
Trump is stuck in between a rock and a hard place. Should he fire the man responsible for his so-called “WITCH HUNT!” and thus face the wrath of the judicial system, as well as ensure that the Russia Investigation is not forgotten for a long while, or will he avoid firing Mueller and risk the possibility of impeachment and even removal from office? For Trump, this decision will have to be answered soon, and the decision will have an impact all around the world.