The effort to pass legislation to protect Robert Mueller’s job as special counsel appeared to hit a dead end Tuesday as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he would not allow the bill to come to the floor for a full Senate vote.
“I’m the one who decides what we take to the floor. That’s my responsibility as majority leader. We’ll not be having this on the floor of the Senate,” the Kentucky Republican said in an interview on Fox News.
Earlier in the day, Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said again that legislation to protect Mueller’s position was “unnecessary” because, based on “the kinds of conversations we have had,” he believes that the president will not take steps to dismiss the special counsel. “It would be not in the president’s interest to do such a thing and I think he knows that,” he said at a news conference.
Legislation has been introduced in the House and Senate that would protect Mueller from being removed as the special counsel overseeing the Russia investigation. The Senate bill stems from two bipartisan bills that merged into one last week, when Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said the panel would soon weigh in on the measure. Reps. Charlie Dent, R-Pa., and Peter Welch, D-Vt., introduced a similar bill in the House. – READ MORE
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