Stephen Bannon really wants the White House to accept his unsolicited advice on the Mueller probe

No, Stephen Bannon didn't enroll in law school after being ousted from the White House last summer, but he is providing free legal advice to anyone in President Trump's orbit who will listen.

Trump's former chief strategist is still in contact with White House aides, and he wants them to pass along to Trump his plan to stop the federal investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, several people with knowledge of the discussions told The Washington Post. Step one is to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees Special Counsel Robert Mueller's work and signed off on the search warrant to raid the home, office, and hotel room of Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen.

Secondly, Trump must stop cooperating with Mueller's team, and "immediately and retroactively" invoke executive privilege, Bannon told the Post. That way, any interview Mueller's team has conducted with a White House official can be thrown out. Bannon also wants Trump's lawyer Ty Cobb fired "immediately" because he's the one who has urged Trump to work with the special counsel. Legal experts are dubious Trump can claim executive privilege for interviews given voluntarily.

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

Also unfortunately for Bannon, "if you say his name in front of the president, it's not a pretty sight," a senior administration official told the Post. "The president really goes off about him." Bannon has been interviewed by Mueller, and is cautious to go straight to Trump to tell him to fire Rosenstein, the Post reports, and beyond that, several White House officials — including White House Counsel Don McGahn — are aghast at the idea of firing him. Read more about Bannon's plot at The Washington Post.