House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) says Democrats will demand that protections for special counsel Robert Mueller be included in a must-pass spending bill if GOP leaders fail to bring the legislation to the floor.
The Thursday threat comes on the heels of news that Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former personal attorney, has entered into a plea agreement with Mueller and agreed to cooperate in the special counsel’s sprawling Russia probe. Cohen pleaded guilty to lying last year to congressional panels investigating Russian interference in the election.
{mosads}“The Congress must immediately pass legislation to preserve the Special Counsel investigation, which is identical to bipartisan legislation passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee,” Pelosi said in a statement.
“If Speaker Ryan refuses to take up that bill, House Democrats will fight to include language to protect the investigation in the upcoming must-pass spending bill.”
Pelosi’s Senate counterpart, Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), has been issuing similar threats ahead of Dec. 7 government funding deadline.
Trump and the GOP need the support of Democrats in the Senate to pass any legislation, though they don’t require the cooperation of Democrats in the House.
Trump, meanwhile, is demanding $5 billion for his border wall in the spending package — far more than the $1.6 billion Democrats are willing to give up — which has further raised the prospects of a government shutdown next week.
Both House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) have said legislation to protect the Russia probe are unnecessary — even after Trump fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions and replaced him with acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, who has been vocally critical of the Russia probe.
But retiring Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) has vowed to block all judicial nominations until the Senate considers a Mueller protection bill. Senate GOP leaders, seeking to diffuse the situation, said they would gauge support for the legislation.
Efforts by Flake to bring the bill to the Senate floor have been blocked thus far.