Over the weekend, Diane Feinstein threatened President Trump, claimed that if the President tried to dismiss FBI special counsel Robert Mueller, the man in charge of the Russia Investigation, it would mark the “beginning of the end” of his administration.
Following Trump’s dismissal of James Comey as director of FBI, Mueller was appointed to lead the investigation into Russia’s alleged interference in the US 2016 presidential elections and the Trump campaign’s alleged collusion with Russian officials in an attempt to influence the elections.
Trump has not shied away from making remarks about the investigation, showing his disdain for the “witch hunt” that is has devolved into. And, while Trump and his lawyers have been exploring ways of getting rid of Mueller, experts believe that is not very likely to happen as regulations implemented back in 1999 only allow the attorney general to dismiss a special counsel during an investigation.
But speculation has arisen, indicating that Trump may instead fire his Attorney General Jeff Sessions – and replace him with an AG whose first action would be to fire Mueller. The president has been quite vocal about his frustration with Sessions, saying he would have never appointed him as the attorney general, had he known Sessions would recuse himself from the investigation. Hence, if Trump were to fire Sessions, he could easily appoint another attorney general who feels the Russia investigation is as big of a “witch hunt” as Trump does.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, upon hearing this speculation, noted on Sunday’s “Face the Nation” that, “Chairman [Chuck] Grassley has put the bit between his teeth and said that there will be no hearings [for a new nominee for attorney general], Mr. President, if you go ahead and fire Jeff Sessions. I think there has been sufficient opposition for the president not to do so, unless, of course, what he really intends is to end up firing Mueller, which could well be the beginning of the end of his presidency.”
We will be watching carefully to see how the story unfolds and whether Sessions, an early backer and close aide of Trump, takes any steps to end this Russia “witch hunt” which is costing the country both time and valuable resources.
