Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy, a close friend of President Donald Trump, told “PBS NewsHour” on Monday that the president is considering firing the special prosecutor in the Russia probe.
“I think he’s considering perhaps terminating the special counsel,” Ruddy told Judy Woodruff.
He specifically pointed to Trump’s lawyer, Jay Sekulow, who recently said that the president would not rule out the option of firing Robert Mueller, who served as FBI director for 12 years.
“I think it’s pretty clear by what one of his lawyers said on television recently,” Ruddy said, though he was clear as he insisted that firing Mueller would “be a very significant mistake.”
Chris Ruddy, a friend of Trump, says the president is considering trying to fire special counsel Robert Mueller pic.twitter.com/chGlfuiv2t
— BNO News (@BNONews) June 12, 2017
However, when pressed for comment, both the White House and the Senate Intelligence Committee seemed to think that the idea was ridiculous.
White House spokesman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that “Chris speaks for himself,” while Rep. Adam Schiff, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, took to Twitter for his response.
“If President fired Bob Mueller, Congress would immediately re-establish independent counsel and appoint Bob Mueller,” he tweeted. “Don’t waste our time.”
What’s more, regulations in the Justice Department would not allow Trump to fire Mueller himself. Instead, he would have to ask Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ deputy, Rod Rosenstein, to do it.