Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Tuesday stopped short of saying it would be an impeachable offense if President Trump fired special counsel Robert Mueller.
When asked Tuesday about the idea of impeachment, Schumer said only that he wants bipartisan legislation to protect Mueller from being fired from the investigation, and said he isn’t willing to go any further.
“Look, we hope we can avoid it,” Schumer told reporters during his weekly press conference.
“We hope that Congress will pass legislation to make sure it doesn’t happen,” Schumer said. “That’s as far as we’re going to go right now.”
Senators have been split on whether firing Mueller would constitute an impeachable offense. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., an ally of Trump, and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., believe it would be. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, has said it would not be.
Democrats and some Republicans are pushing legislation to protect Mueller. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said Tuesday that he hopes his bipartisan legislation with Coons receives an immediate markup and comes up for a vote in the Senate shortly.
Soon after Schumer’s remarks, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said that the president “certainly believes he has the power to” fire the special counsel, which goes against the opinion of many others who say only Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein could fire him.
