After saying for months that the president was not considering firing special counsel, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders did not rule out a dismissal Tuesday. White House: Trump ‘certainly believes he has the power’ to fire Mueller

President Donald Trump “certainly believes he has the power” to fire special counsel Robert Mueller, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Tuesday, a day after the president left the door open to the possibility.

After the FBI raided properties linked to the president's personal attorney Michael Cohen on Monday, apparently on a referral from Mueller, Trump blasted the Russia probe. Regarding firing Mueller, he told reporters: “We’ll see what happens."


On Tuesday, Sanders was pressed at the White House press briefing on whether Trump could dismiss Mueller directly or if he would have to instruct Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing the federal probe into Russian election meddling and any ties to Trump campaign officials, to do it.

"I know a number of individuals in the legal community, and including at the Department of Justice, said he has the power to do so," Sanders said. "We've been advised that the president certainly has the power to make that decision."

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After saying for months that Trump was not considering firing Mueller, Sanders did not rule out a dismissal Tuesday.

“The president was asked this question directly last night, and I’d refer you to his comments,” she said.

The president called the seizure of documents from Cohen a “disgrace” and a “witch hunt.”

“Why don’t I just fire Mueller? Well, I think it’s a disgrace what’s going on. We’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters on Monday. “But I think it’s a really sad situation when you look at what happened, and many people have said you should fire him.”

A spokesman for the top congressional Democrat, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, disputed Sanders' suggestion that the president could directly dismiss the special counsel, citing Justice Department guidelines.

“The DOJ regulations could not be more clear; the president does not have the authority to remove Special Counsel Mueller," spokesman Matt House said in a statement. "Because of the Attorney General’s recusal, only Deputy AG Rosenstein could remove the special counsel, and it would have to be for good cause.”

Many legal experts contend that Trump cannot fire Mueller directly because of regulations the Justice Department adopted in 1999. Those experts say the power to dismiss the special counsel instead lies with Rosenstein.

Under that scenario, Trump would have to persuade Rosenstein to fire Mueller or get Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has recused himself from the Russia probe, or Rosenstein to repeal the DOJ regulations. If both men refused, the president might have to fire them and perhaps other Justice Department officials before he could oust Mueller.

Trump could seek to bypass that red tape by asserting that he can unilaterally remove any official in the executive branch. Some lawyers believe past Supreme Court rulings prevent that approach, but it's not clear how the current court would resolve such a fight.

Either way, Trump's aides have been saying for nearly a year that he's within his rights to discharge the special counsel.

"While the president has the right to, he has no intention to do so," Sanders told reporters last June.

