As GOP preps release of memo aimed at discrediting Mueller’s probe, a majority want him protected
A majority of Americans support legislation that would protect special counsel Robert Mueller from being fired by President Donald Trump, according to a Monmouth University poll released Thursday.
According to the poll, 62% of Americans support a bill that would require, “the approval of a panel of federal judges before any special counsel could be fired by the president or attorney general.” The poll comes as Congressional Republicans gear up to release a controversial and classified memo drafted by California GOP Rep. Devin Nunes’ staff. The memo reportedly attempts to say the FBI’s deputy director used improper methods to obtain a warrant to surveil former Trump campaign aide Carter Page.
Both Democrats and the FBI are against the release of the memo. The bureau all but called the memo bunk on Wednesday, saying it has “material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.”
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, also say Nunes and his staff “cherry-pick[ed] facts” to create a misleading and politically charged document with the intent of discrediting Mueller’s investigation.
“This decision to employ an obscure rule to order the release of classified information for partisan political purposes crossed a dangerous line,” Schiff wrote in an op-ed published Wednesday in the Washington Post. “Doing so without even allowing the Justice Department or the FBI to vet the information for accuracy, the impact of its release on sources and methods, and other concerns was, as the Justice Department attested, ‘extraordinarily reckless.’”
Trump plans to approve the memo for distribution on Friday morning, Fox News reported. Its release requires his sign off.
According to CNN, Trump has been telling those around him that he thinks the memo will help him discredit Mueller’s investigation. The probe is now not only looking into the Trump campaign’s alleged connections to Russia, but also whether Trump obstructed justice in an effort to squelch the investigation.
Trump has repeatedly called the investigation a “hoax.” Yet it’s already led to four members of his staff either being indicted or pleading guilty, including his own former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
