[PR Pond]



About one hundred people rallied in front of the Placerville Courthouse on Thursday afternoon to show support for the ongoing Russia investigation, part of a nationwide protest after the Wednesday ouster of U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions by President Donald Trump.

The Placerville protest, set for 5 p.m., had nearly 202 attendee RSVPs as of Thursday morning, according to the MoveOn.org webpage. El Dorado Progressives of El Dorado County, California gathered and promoted the event locally. Ed Mattson posted to their page, "What a night! Over 150 people showed up."

A coalition of organizations nationwide has called for a rapid-response protocol, referred to by some of the groups as the “Trump is Not Above the Law” campaign, in which more than 400,000 people across more than 900 locations have pledged to protest under certain circumstances relating to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Trump and Russia.

That national coalition called for protest events across the country to begin at 5 p.m. Thursday.

A website set up by MoveOn.org Political Action says Trump “crossed a red line, violating the independence of the investigation” Wednesday, when Sessions handed in his letter of resignation, reportedly at Trump’s urging.

The protest campaign claims on its website that with Sessions ousted and acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker replacing Rod Rosenstein in overseeing the Mueller investigation, Trump “undercut the independence of the investigation” because “Whitaker has publicly outlined strategies to stifle the investigation and cannot be allowed to remain in charge of it.”

Gary Coverdale wrote, "So I drove by downtown by the Old Courthouse. Saw probably close to 100 protesters with signs condemning Trump and supporting Mueller!"

There was talk of a counter-protest but the protest went on peacefully without any counter protesters showing up.