Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., alluded to the possibility of Democrats using a bipartisan bill that would provide protections to special counsel Robert Mueller against wanton dismissal as leverage.
During an interview Sunday, the Democrat tethered the bill’s fate to the debate over another federal government spending plan in December.
“I think we should do everything we can to try to negotiate to get that bill passed, because this is about the rule of law,” Klobuchar, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said during an interview with ABC News’ “This Week.” “We’ll see what our leverage points are, but there is some Republican support for this. And all of my colleagues who have said repeatedly that they want to protect this investigation really have to come forward and do it, and I’m talking about those on the Republican side of the aisle.”
Klobuchar said Democrats should use the proposed Special Counsel Independence and Integrity Act, which the Senate Judiciary panel voted out of committee in April, “however we can.”
“It’s going to depend on what bills are coming through and how we can do it, but we have to protect this investigation,” she said.
[Alan Dershowitz: Mueller’s final report ‘is going to be devastating’ for Trump]
On withholding support for government funding bill as leverage to protect the special counsel’s investigation, @gstephanopoulos asks Sen. Amy Klobuchar: “So are you going to use it [as leverage]?”
Sen. Klobuchar: “I think we should use it however we can.” https://t.co/lxIyN0MH6D pic.twitter.com/tEdM6CRuDc
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) November 25, 2018
The bill’s cosponsor, retiring Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., said earlier this month he was open to tying the legislation to spending negotiations because that would “make it law.”
The push behind shielding Mueller has ratcheted up in November since President Trump fired former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, replacing him with Matthew Whitaker. Whitaker, a Trump ally, has been publicly critical of Mueller’s federal Russia investigation.
Current government funding expires on Dec. 8.
