House Speaker Paul Ryan said he has “confidence” in special counsel Robert Mueller, and accused the media of essentially reporting an unverified news story that President Trump is planning to fire Mueller.
“You are creating a debate that is not occurring here,” Ryan told reporters who asked about a looming Mueller firing and whether it would result in Congress appointing a special counsel.
Ryan called the talk of Trump firing Mueller “a rumor,” and asked reporters to turn their attention to the GOP agenda, such as a Republican bill poised for passage that will give the troubled Department of Veterans Affairs greater power to fire poorly performing employees.
“We are fixing this problem today,” Ryan, R-Wis., said.
The rumors kickstarted after NewsMax CEO Christ Ruddy, a Trump confidant, said in a TV interview that he believed Trump was considering firing Mueller based on the statements of Trump surrogates in the media.
Ryan and other Republicans on Tuesday denied reports that Trump is planning to fire Mueller, who was appointed last month to head an independent and wide-ranging probe into Russia’s cyber hacking ahead of the 2016 presidential election and whether Trump campaign officials may have been involved.
Republicans meeting behind closed doors at GOP headquarters on Capitol Hill said the investigation was not discussed.
Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., a close Trump ally, said after the meeting that he does not believe Trump is planning to fire Mueller and that doing so would be “ill advised.”
Ryan agreed.
“The best case for the president is to be vindicated by allowing this investigation to go on independently,” Ryan said. “The best advice would be to let Robert Mueller do his job.”
