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Democratic Congressman Ted Lieu issued an ominous warning on Monday, telling Donald Trump that if he moves to fire special counsel Robert Mueller, there will be “widespread civil unrest.”

In an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, the Democrat said that the American people are paying attention and will not put up with such a brazen act of obstruction on the part of the president.

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Rep. Lieu said:

If the president does go ahead and fire Robert Mueller, we would have people take to the streets. I believe there would be widespread civil unrest because Americans understand that the rule of law is paramount. … I think you’re going to have protests and marches and rallies and sit-ins. I believe Americans would not stand for the firing of Robert Mueller. First of all, the president hasn’t been able to point to a single thing that Robert Mueller has done wrong. There is no basis to fire him. And he’d have to fire deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein first in order to fire Robert Mueller.

In recent days, Trump has escalated his war on the special counsel investigation, not only through the firing of former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe but also via Twitter, where the president has directly attacked Robert Mueller.

But despite the president’s social media tantrums, there is no credible reason to fire Mueller, as Rep. Lieu said. Instead, doing so would only add another piece to the growing pile of evidence in the obstruction of justice case against Trump.

Republicans are doing nothing to protect Mueller

To make matters worse, as I wrote a short time ago, GOP lawmakers continue to do nothing to safeguard the special counsel investigation. Instead, they have their heads buried in the sand thinking that Trump wouldn’t possibly overstep his boundaries.

But if the past 14 months have taught us anything, it’s that there is no line Trump isn’t willing to cross in order to protect himself. As the special counsel investigation continues to tighten around him and his family, this becomes even more true. He is in survival mode.

If the president continues to recklessly escalate his attacks on the Russia investigation and eventually decides to force Mueller out, not only would the American people take to the streets and voice their fierce opposition, but they would march into the voting booths in November and make the Republican Party pay for allowing such a thing to happen.