.@RepTedLieu: "When you're attacking @FBI Agents because you're under investigation, you're losing." pic.twitter.com/VAc2645OfV
— House Judiciary Dems (@HouseJudDems) December 21, 2017
Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu (Calif.) took to the House floor on Wednesday to warn President Trump against firing top Justice Department officials to end Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation.
Lieu said Trump should learn from the Watergate investigation that brought down Richard Nixon’s presidency.
The California Democrat said Wednesday that in order to have Mueller fired, Trump would first have to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand, both of whom are Republicans and whom Lieu says would not accept an order from Trump to fire Mueller.
{mosads}
“He’d then have to find a third person, anyone to fire Robert Mueller. Well, that’s exactly what Richard Nixon did in the Saturday Night Massacre,” Lieu said. “When he fired three Justice Department officials because at first they would not fire their investigator against Richard Nixon.”
“So if Donald Trump wants to take the first footsteps of Richard Nixon, he’s certainly welcome to try,” Lieu added. “But it will not end well for him.”
The Saturday Night Massacre refers to the resignations of Nixon’s Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus on Oct. 20, 1973, over their refusal to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox. The night ended with Cox’s firing by Solicitor General Robert Bork.
Lieu also warned that if Trump were to fire Mueller, there would be massive backlash from Americans.
“If you think that the Women’s March was large, wait until you see what happens if the president actually tries to take these unconstitutional and … criminal actions.”
Trump said earlier this week that he would not fire Mueller amid weeks of speculation over Trump’s response to the probe, which has most recently ensnared former national security adviser Michael Flynn for lying to FBI agents.
“No, I’m not,” Trump responded when asked by reporters if he was considering ordering the special counsel’s termination.
White House lawyer Ty Cobb made similar assurances in a statement earlier this month.
“As the White House has repeatedly and emphatically said for months, there is no consideration at the White House of terminating the special counsel,” Cobb said.
But Democrats have repeatedly raised the issue, including Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) who told reporters that a “rumor” floating around Capitol Hill suggested Trump could fire Mueller within days.
“The rumor on the Hill when I left yesterday was that the president was going to make a significant speech at the end of next week. And on Dec. 22, when we are out of D.C., he was going to fire Robert Mueller,” Speier told California’s KQED News last Friday.