Trump is considering firing Special Counsel Robert Mueller, friend says


President Trump might order the Justice Department to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is heading an investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election and any ties to the Trump campaign, longtime Trump friend Christopher Ruddy told PBS NewsHour on Monday. Other Trump allies, like Newt Gingrich, have switched from praising Mueller's integrity and honesty to questioning whether he can be impartial.
Ruddy, chief executive of the conservative Newsmax Media and a member of Trump's Mar-a-Lago club, said that Trump understood from last week's bombshell testimony from former FBI Director James Comey that Trump wasn't personally alleged to have committed any crime. That makes Mueller's investigation "highly unusual" and "politically driven," he argued.
PBS' Judy Woodruff asked Ruddy, who said he spoke with Trump on Friday, if Trump is "prepared to let the special counsel pursue his investigation," and Ruddy shrugged. "Well, I think he's considering perhaps terminating the special counsel," he said. "I think he's weighing that option; I think it's pretty clear by what one of his lawyers said on televisions recently. I think it would be a very significant mistake, even though I don't think there's a justification" for a special counsel, and he suggested that Mueller is compromised because his law firm represented some members of the Trump family and Trump had interviewed Muller for the FBI director position before he was appointed special prosecutor.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said that while Ruddy was at the White House on Monday, he had not met with Trump there and doesn't speak for the White House. "Chris Ruddy speaks for himself," Spicer said. "With respect to this subject, only the president or his attorneys are authorized to comment." Ruddy was likely referring to lawyer Jay Sekulow's comments on ABC News Sunday that he wouldn't speculate on Trump firing Mueller but he also "can't imagine the issue is going to arise."
Ruddy confirmed to The Washington Post that he believes Trump is considering firing Mueller, and a senior White House official told The New York Times that Trump had interviewed Mueller for FBI director the day before Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had chosen him as special counsel. Trump has the authority to order Rosenstein to lift Justice Department rules protecting Mueller's independence and then fire him, though doing so would incur a political cost.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Zohran Mamdani: the young progressive likely to be New York City's next mayor
In The Spotlight The policies and experience that led to his meteoric rise
-
The best film reboots of all time
The Week Recommends Creativity and imagination are often required to breathe fresh life into old material
-
'More must be done'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
The last words and final moments of 40 presidents
The Explainer Some are eloquent quotes worthy of the holders of the highest office in the nation, and others... aren't
-
Senate advances GOP bill that costs more, cuts more
Speed Read The bill would make giant cuts to Medicaid and food stamps, leaving 11.8 million fewer people with health coverage
-
Canadian man dies in ICE custody
Speed Read A Canadian citizen with permanent US residency died at a federal detention center in Miami
-
GOP races to revise megabill after Senate rulings
Speed Read A Senate parliamentarian ruled that several changes to Medicaid included in Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" were not permissible
-
Supreme Court lets states ax Planned Parenthood funds
Speed Read The court ruled that Planned Parenthood cannot sue South Carolina over the state's effort to deny it funding
-
Trump plans Iran talks, insists nuke threat gone
Speed Read 'The war is done' and 'we destroyed the nuclear,' said President Trump
-
Trump embraces NATO after budget vow, charm offensive
Speed Read The president reversed course on his longstanding skepticism of the trans-Atlantic military alliance
-
Trump judge pick told DOJ to defy courts, lawyer says
Speed Read Emil Bove, a top Justice Department official nominated by Trump for a lifetime seat, stands accused of encouraging government lawyers to mislead the courts and defy judicial orders