[S]OUTH BURLINGTON — Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., renewed his call Monday for legislation that would protect special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible collusion between President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and the Russian government.
Leahy was in the news this weekend when he released a Jan. 30 letter to the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, imploring Grassley to hold open hearings to “examine the escalating attacks on, and risk of politicization of, the FBI.”
“Never before have I been more concerned for the institutions we rely on to maintain our government’s integrity than I am today,” Leahy wrote, adding in a handwritten note at the end of the letter “Chuck — it is serious.”
Calls to fire Mueller have become louder in recent days from Trump and his allies.
Trump’s personal attorney, John Dowd, told the Daily Beast on Saturday he hopes Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will shut down Mueller’s probe into Russia’s election interference. Dowd initially said he was speaking on behalf of Trump, but after the Daily Beast published its story, Dowd reversed course and said he was speaking in his personal capacity.
Over the weekend, for the first time, Trump named Mueller in several tweets targeting the integrity of the special counsel’s investigation.
“The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime,” Trump tweeted Saturday night.
During a news conference called by Leahy Monday morning at Burlington International Airport, Vermont’s senior senator said he would be meeting with Judiciary Committee members about the memo later in the day.
“They’re looking at it, so that’s why I made it public,” Leahy said, seemingly frustrated at the lack of response from the Republican senators in control of the committee. Leahy renewed calls for more lawmakers, especially Republicans, to defend Mueller.
He pointed to several prominent Senate Republicans, including John McCain, R-Ariz., Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and Bob Corker, R-Tenn., who have already spoken out in support of Mueller’s investigation.
“I even got a call from a fairly conservative Republican senator this morning at my home in Middlesex,” Leahy said. “We’re concerned about the attacks now ramping up on Robert Mueller.”
Leahy declined to identify the male Republican colleague when pressed by reporters Monday, but said the unnamed senator believes the Mueller’s investigation should continue.
“With all due respect, I have dozens of conversations with senators every day. If they want to make it public, and if this senator wants to make it public — he called me — he’s free to,” Leahy said.
When asked if Mueller’s firing would create a constitutional crisis, Leahy said, “I think so.”
Leahy said Trump came “close” to committing an impeachable offense when he told NBC’s Lester Holt last year the “Russia thing” was on his mind when he decided to fire then-FBI Director James Comey, who at the time was overseeing the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Leahy declined to say whether he personally believes the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government, based on information he may be privy to as a senator.
“I know nothing about what’s in the Mueller investigation, and I have purposefully kept from talking to him or saying anything to him,” Leahy said in response to those questions.
The recent firing of former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe about a day before his planned retirement was done as a way to intimidate Mueller, Leahy said, adding that it is not likely to work.
“I don’t think Bob Mueller will be intimidated by anybody,” Leahy said. With attacks against Mueller escalating and Congress facing yet another government shutdown deadline this Friday, Leahy said this week was going to be hectic.
“It’s going to be an interesting week, certainly a lot of late nights,” he said.
