Today, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) released the following statement after the New York Times reported that President Donald Trump ordered White House counsel Donald F. McGahn II, to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller in June of 2017:

“The New York Times report that President Trump planned to fire Special Counsel Mueller over the summer is deeply disturbing.  With each day, we learn of serious threats by President Trump, Administration officials, and Republicans in Congress to undermine the instruments of investigation and accountability—including the professional ranks of the FBI and the office of Special Counsel. 

“President Trump has now attempted to intimidate all three of his FBI directors.  He asked Director Comey to pledge his loyalty before engineering his firing.  He attacked Deputy Director McCabe by name on Twitter, and apparently summoned him to the Oval Office to shout at him about his wife’s political affiliations.  He sent Attorney General Sessions to pressure Director Wray to fire McCabe.  And now we learn that he did, in fact, plan to fire Special Counsel Mueller. 

“Sadly, Republicans in Congress have been co-opted into participating and amplifying these attacks.  They have thrown themselves into a series of sham investigations focused on Hillary Clinton and conspiracy theories about career investigators in order to distract attention.  They have done nothing to protect the FBI or the Department of Justice from attempts to discredit these institutions that are critical to our rule of law.  They have done nothing to protect our country from further attempts, by Vladimir Putin and others, to influence our next election and disable our democracy.  And they have done nothing, as is their constitutional duty, to hold a reckless Administration accountable for its actions. 

“Mr. Mueller must be permitted to complete his investigation without interference, and Congress should pass legislation to protect him from improper removal.”

###