A former Bush administration official on Friday compared special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia to a colonoscopy.
“I don’t blame [President Trump]. He’s under federal investigation, he’s ticked off, no one wants to be under a federal investigation,” former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo said on Fox News. “It’s like undergoing a colonoscopy — you don’t like it, it’s painful, but it’s good for you, and he’s gonna have to let the investigation run.”
{mosads}Yoo told the network that it would be in Trump’s best interest to keep Attorney General Jeff Sessions as head of the Justice Department throughout Mueller’s probe. Trump has been at odds with Sessions for much of the last year, blaming his attorney general last week for failing to crack down on “corruption” at the Justice Department.
Yoo noted that Trump is angry with Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia probe, according to a clip obtained by Mediaite.
It has been rumored that Trump, who has openly criticized Sessions, is planning to fire Sessions soon. However, he told Bloomberg on Thursday that Sessions will keep his job until at least November’s midterm elections.
Yoo said Americans have been pleased with the “amount of stability” that Sessions has brought to the Justice Department.
“I actually think Attorney General Sessions is doing President Trump a great favor,” Yoo said. “On one hand, Attorney General Sessions is carrying out the Trump agenda perhaps more forcefully and effectively than any other Cabinet member.”
According to an ABC News/Washington Post poll released Friday, a majority of American voters are siding with Sessions in his public dispute with the president over whether to allow Mueller’s Russia probe to proceed.
The poll found that 62 percent of voters in the sample sided with Sessions, while just 23 percent sided with Trump.
Sixty-four percent of those surveyed also said that they opposed the idea of Trump firing Sessions, while just 19 percent said they would support the move.