If special counsel Robert Mueller put President Trump on notice Monday, the White House returned the favor Tuesday.
Still reeling from the raid on the home and offices of Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen, the White House asserted that the president had the power to fire Mueller.
“Certainly believes he has the power to do so,” said White House press secretary Sarah Sanders at Tuesday’s daily briefing.
Pressed by reporters who said this authority actually belongs to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the highest-ranking Justice Department official with jurisdiction over the Trump-Russia investigation since Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself, Sanders replied, “Again, we’ve been advised that the President certainly has the power to make that decision. I can’t go anything beyond that.”
Trump once again publicly expressed his frustration with Sessions’ recusal decision. It has since been reported that Rosenstein personally signed off on the Cohen raid.
Republicans, especially in the Senate, have joined Democrats in warning Trump against firing Mueller, Rosenstein, or Sessions. But if the Cohen raids were a shot across the president’s bow, it is equally noteworthy that the White House appears to have looked into whether Trump can dismiss the special counsel — and arrived at the conclusion he can.
Some Republican operatives friendly with the White House think it is more likely that Trump ups his political campaign against Mueller than takes the next steps toward firing him. A Trump-Pence fundraising email that dropped Tuesday night came with the subject line: “They’re not after me.”
“Let me be clear. Since Day One, this witch hunt has never been about me,” the message, signed by Trump, reads. “Their target is you. The swamp doesn’t want you to take your country back, and they will fight to the bitter end to stop you.”
Trump has reportedly been huddling with supportive pundits and legal commentators, including Fox News’ Jeanine Pirro, Fox Business host Lou Dobbs, and Alan Dershowitz. He has tweeted, “Attorney–client privilege is dead!” and, all caps in the original, “A TOTAL WITCH HUNT!!!”
“He’s mad,” said a Republican strategist. “No question about it.”
There are questions, however, about whether Trump is mad enough to escalate beyond the kind of political warfare former President Bill Clinton’s White House practiced against Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr — especially as that investigation moved beyond its original mandate into matters of sex.
Trump, like Clinton, is arguing that he is trying to move forward with important national business while the investigation distracts him. “And here we are talking about Syria, and we’re talking about a lot of serious things,” he said.
Even though the chain of command on the Cohen raid was uniformly Republican, Trump hammered away at the perceived biases and conflicts of Mueller’s team. “These people have the biggest conflicts of interest I’ve ever seen,” he said. He later repeated, “But this is the most conflicted group of people I’ve ever seen.”
Trump has gotten some support from conservatives in his fusillades against Sessions. “Would Loretta Lynch have recused herself?” asked a GOP operative. But firings do still seem like a bridge too far, especially with renewed bipartisan pushes to protect Mueller.
But Trump watchers see the president as increasingly willing to take the reins and defy those who would slow him down in the exercise of his political instincts — and powers.
That’s why allies and enemies alike think the Trump administration could be heading, yet again, into uncharted territory.