By Niskanen Center

We are a group of citizens united by our deep concern over threats to the integrity of American democracy and the rule of law. With the indictments announced on Monday, the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into Russian interference with the 2016 election is now entering a new and critical phase. At the same time, a growing chorus of Republican and conservative voices has started calling for Mueller’s resignation on trumped-up grounds, a move that may be calculated to help justify dismissal of the special counsel and pardons for his targets. In view of these events, we want to come forward and express our strong support for allowing the Mueller investigation to proceed without interference or obstruction. We would regard dismissal of the special counsel, or pardons issued preemptively to anyone targeted by his investigation, as a grave abuse of power that justifies initiation of impeachment proceedings.

We hereby call on House Speaker Ryan and Senate Majority Leader McConnell to make clear, both publicly and privately, that they support the Mueller investigation and regard any interference with that investigation, including dismissal of the special counsel or preemptive pardons of investigation targets, as completely unacceptable. We further urge all Republican members of Congress to issue public statements on these issues as well. It is morally imperative that the Republican Party and the conservative movement stand as bulwarks of the rule of law, not enablers of its erosion and violation. Now is the time for choosing.*

Jonathan Adler

Case Western Reserve University School of Law

Claire Berlinski

Manhattan Institute

Max Boot

Senior fellow, Council on Foreign Relations

Mona Charen

Senior fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center

Linda Chavez

Syndicated columnist and former Reagan White House official

Eliot Cohen

Former Counselor, Department of State

Thomas Coleman

Former Member, U.S. House of Representatives (R-MO)

Joe Coon

Cofounder, Niskanen Center

Daniel Drezner

Professor, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University

Mickey Edwards

Former Member, U.S. House of Representatives (R-OK)

Former chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee

Founding trustee, Heritage Foundation

National chairman, American Conservative Union.

Mindy Finn

Stand Up Republic

Jeffrey Gedmin

Senior fellow, Atlantic Council

Former president, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

David Gray

New America

Bob Inglis

Former Member, U.S. House of Representatives (R-SC)

David Jolly

Former Member, U.S. House of Representatives (R-FL)



James Kirchick

Visiting Fellow, Brookings Institution

Harvey Klehr

Andrew Mellon Professor Emeritus of History and Politics

Emory University



William Kristol

Senior aide in the Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations

R. J. Lyman

Founding director, Unite the Center

Liz Mair

Former RNC spokeswoman and adviser to Carly Fiorina, former Gov. Rick Perry, Sen. Rand Paul, and Gov. Scott Walker

Evan McMullin

Stand Up Republic

Tom Nichols

Author and scholar

Ronald Radosh

Adjunct fellow, Hudson Institute



Gabriel Schoenfeld

Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute



Sol Stern

Author and journalist

Andrew Sullivan

Writer-at-large, New York magazine

Jerry Taylor

Cofounder and president, Niskanen Center

Benjamin Wittes

Senior fellow, Brookings Institution

John Ziegler

Columnist, Mediaite

Prominent conservatives who would like to be included as signatories can contact Niskanen Center vice president Brink Lindsey at blindsey@niskanencenter.org.

*All institutional affiliations are for identification purposes only