White House Pushes Back on Claim President Trump Wants To Fire Special Counsel Mueller

Katie Pavlich

Yesterday Trump friend and Newmax CEO Chris Ruddy went on PBS News and claimed the president is considering firing Special Counsel Robert Mueller. 

Chris Ruddy to @JudyWoodruff: President Trump is considering firing special counsel Robert Mueller, who he considered for another position. pic.twitter.com/X4IIHlh8at
— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) June 12, 2017

Ruddy made the statement without speaking to the president and the White House is pushing back against the assertion. 

"Mr. Ruddy never spoke to the President regarding this issue. With respect to this subject, only the President or his attorneys are authorized to comment," Press Secretary Sean Spicer told the Daily Caller's Kaitlin Collins late Monday night. 

Chris Ruddy told me Sean Spicer called him last night asking him to issue a statement saying he didn't talk to Trump about Mueller. 1/2
— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) June 13, 2017

2/2 Ruddy declined: "I never claimed I spoke to the president, so why would I issue a statement saying I didn’t speak to the president?”
— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) June 13, 2017

It should be noted Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosentein testified in front of the Senate Appropriations Committee Tuesday morning and said he is the only person who can remove Mueller from his position. Rosenstein is also the Department of Justice official who appointed Mueller as special counsel late last month. 

Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein testified Tuesday that if the president ordered him to fire the special counsel handling the Russia investigation, he would only comply if the request was “lawful and appropriate.” 
Rosenstein, who has been on the job for six weeks, said only he could fire Mueller, and only if he found good cause to do so. He described Mueller as operating independently from the Justice Department in his investigation.

Asked what he would do if the president ordered him to fire Mueller, Rosenstein said, “I’m not going to follow any orders unless I believe those are lawful and appropriate orders.” He added later: “As long as I’m in this position, he’s not going to be fired without good cause,” which he said he would have to put in writing.

“If there were good cause,” I would consider it,” Rosenstein testified. “If there were not good cause, it wouldn’t matter to me what anybody says.”