Blumenthal pushes bill to protect special counsel after report Trump ordered Mueller fired

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) responded to a New York Times article indicating President Trump tried to fire special counsel Robert Mueller last year with a renewed call for the Senate to take up bills aimed at protecting the special counsel.

Blumenthal, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent a tweet Thursday night calling Trump’s reported move to fire Mueller “deeply scary” and “stunning.” 

“Stunning, deeply scary Trump move to fire Mueller raises need for Special Counsel protection bill immediately. Judiciary Committee must approve and Congress must pass,” Blumenthal tweeted.

Stunning, deeply scary Trump move to fire Mueller raises need for Special Counsel protection bill immediately. Judiciary Committee must approve and Congress must pass. https://t.co/hFsva7yXLr

— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) January 25, 2018

His comments come after the Times reported that White House counsel Don McGahn threatened to resign over Trump’s order to fire Mueller last June, forcing the president to back down.

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Blumenthal was an early supporter last year of a bipartisan bill from Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) that would require a judge to approve a Justice Department request to fire Mueller or any other special counsel. Any appeal of the decision would go to the Supreme Court.

“Our bill allows judicial review of any decision to terminate a special counsel to make sure it’s done for the reasons cited in the regulation rather than political motivation. I think this will serve the country well,” Graham said in a statement last year.

Several bills aimed at protecting Mueller or another special counsel have been filed in the Senate, but none have made it to the floor for a vote.