Administration aide says there's 'no conversation' in the White House about firing Mueller

White House Director of Legislative Affairs Marc Short had a testy conversation with NBC's Chuck Todd on Meet the Press Sunday in which he maintained the Trump administration is not internally debating whether to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller from his probe into Russian election meddling efforts.

Todd raised the subject of emails the Trump transition team claims Mueller obtained unlawfully, but Short pleaded ignorance of the specifics of that situation. Instead, he argued the Russia investigation in general has been wasteful and unnecessary, which led to this rapid-fire exchange:

Todd: Okay, but is the president going to continue to cooperate?

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

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.

Sign up

Short: He is continuing to cooperate —

Todd: Or is he setting the stage —

Short: No, come on, Chuck.

Todd: For firing Bob Mueller?

Short: No, there's no conversation —

Todd: There's no way he's going to fire him?

Short: There's no conversation about that whatsoever in the White House, Chuck.

Todd: None whatsoever?

Short: You guys keep bringing that up. We have continued to cooperate in every single possible way with that investigation. [NBC]

Mueller's office denied accessing the emails unlawfully, stating it has always "secured either the account owner's consent or appropriate criminal process" when obtaining communications for the investigation. Watch an excerpt of the NBC interview below. Bonnie Kristian