Cornered Trump Boasts of Authority to Fire Mueller

FEATURING MATT GERTZ – News reports based on anonymous White House sources indicate President Donald Trump is livid over the recent raid by the FBI of the offices of his personal lawyer Michael Cohen. Cohen is under investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller as part of the broad probe of misconduct around the 2016 elections. Cohen had claimed he made a $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, which could amount to a violation of campaign finance laws.

The raid on Cohen’s office was approved by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein who is overseeing the investigation after Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself. Now, as speculations swirl about Trump considering firing Mueller and setting off a new crisis in government, Trump himself defiantly tweeted on Thursday, “If I wanted to fire Robert Mueller in December, as reported by the Failing New York Times, I would have fired him.”

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Matt Gertz, senior fellow at Media Matters, where he was the organization’s research director during the 2016 election cycle. He has written extensively on press coverage of politics and elections, as well as on media ethics and regulations.