Firing Robert Mueller and Rod Rosenstein wouldn’t do anything to stop the Russia investigation, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Sunday.
Christie said on ABC’s “This Week” President Trump wouldn’t be able to stop the investigation, even if he took the step of firing Mueller and Rosenstein, who is overseeing the Mueller investigation.
Trump said Monday he’d been urged by people to fire Mueller and openly criticized Rosenstein during the ensuing days. Christie warned Trump there are “big problems” with the idea of firing Mueller and Rosenstein if the goal is to end the Russia investigation.
“There are big problems with that. You now do not have Rachel Brand, the No. 3. If Rod Rosenstein were to be fired. This doesn’t solve any problems, if that’s what the president is is doing it for,” Christie said. “Who is going to be in charge? Noel Francisco? The solicitor general. A very talented lawyer. To be solicitor general, you have a specific skill set. Running a Russia collusion investigation, not one of them.”
Earlier in the morning, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said she didn’t know of any plans to fire Rosenstein or Mueller.
“I’m not aware of plans to make those movements. The president has been extremely cooperative. As have a number of members of the administration,” Sanders said. “We’ve provided everything we have been asked for. We have concerns about the scope of the investigation. But 100% maintain that at this this point, after repeating it for nearly a year and a half, there absolutely was no collusion with Russia.”
