GOP Lawmaker on Mueller: 'Leave Him the Hell Alone'

And more from the Sunday morning talk show circuit
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 28, 2018 1:04 PM CST
GOP Lawmaker on Mueller: 'Leave Him the Hell Alone'
In this June 21, 2017 file photo, special counsel Robert Mueller departs after a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington.   (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

The future of Robert Mueller was the talk of the town on the Sunday morning talk shows, with politicians on both sides of the aisle weighing the need to protect the special counsel following a report Trump tried to fire him in June. "It’s pretty clear to me that everybody in the White House knows that it’d be the end of President Trump’s presidency if he fired Mr. Mueller,” New York quotes Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham as saying on ABC's This Week. He says he would be willing to pass legislation to protect Mueller. CNN reports Republican Sen. Susan Collins agrees, saying on State of the Union that "it certainly wouldn't hurt to put that extra safeguard in place given the latest stories." And according to Politico, Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy told Fox News Sunday he "100%" supports Mueller. “I told my Republican colleagues, ‘Leave him the hell alone,'" he says.

On the other hand, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said on NBC's Meet the Press he doesn't think "there's a need" for legislation protecting Mueller, and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin surprisingly agreed on State of the Union that such legislation would be "premature." The White House's Marc Short wouldn't say on Fox News Sunday if Trump would even sign a bill protecting Mueller. Here are two of the other hot topics from Sunday morning:

  • Nunes Memo: McCarthy said on Meet the Press that a memo regarding the investigation into Russian election interference and Trump campaign collusion compiled by Rep. Devin Nunes should be made public, the Hill reports. Republicans claim the memo includes evidence that the FBI and Justice Department abused surveillance powers. But according to ABC News, Graham told This Week someone "without a political bias" needs to look at the memo first, and Gowdy downplayed its significance to Fox News Sunday.
  • Immigration: Manchin discussed the White House's recent immigration plan on both Meet the Press and State of the Union, Reuters reports. Despite House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi decrying the plan as a way to "make America white again," Manchin said it's a "good starting point" and thinks Congress can use it to "find a pathway forward."
(More Sunday morning talk shows stories.)

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