Trump on firing Mueller: 'I'm not dismissing anybody'

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s job leading the probe into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election is safe, President Donald Trump said Thursday.

“I haven’t given it any thought,” Trump told reporters from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, when he was asked if he might fire Mueller as he did FBI Director James Comey earlier this year.


He then corrected himself on Mueller, acknowledging that he’s “been reading about it from you people.”

“You say, ‘Oh, I’m going to dismiss him.’ No, I’m not dismissing anybody,” Trump said. “I mean, I want them to get on with the task. But I also want the Senate and the House to come out with their findings.”

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Mueller’s sprawling probe has reportedly expanded to include possible obstruction of justice and the Trump family finances. Congressional panels, including the House and Senate intelligence committees, are conducting separate probes of Russian meddling and possible collusion between Trump associates and the Kremlin.

Trump has repeatedly dismissed the investigations as a “witch hunt” and a “hoax.” Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied interfering in the campaign, and Trump has at times wavered about whether he believes Russia or his intelligence community.

“We have an investigation of something that never took place,” Trump said Thursday.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) warned last month that “any effort to go after Mueller could be the beginning of the end of the Trump presidency.”