Could we soon see a Saturday Night Massacre redux? According to one prominent Democrat, that is the current scuttlebutt in Washington.

Speaking to California station KQED yesterday, Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) said that she is hearing rumors that President Donald Trump will fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller after Congress leaves for Christmas break.

“The rumor on the Hill when I left yesterday was that the president was going to make a significant speech at the end of next week,” Speier said. “And on December 22, when we are out of DC, he was going to fire Robert Mueller.”

She stated that if Trump does indeed fire Mueller during the middle of his investigation of Russian election meddling and potential ties between the Trump campaign and Russian officials, that it would create a constitutional crisis. “Without a doubt, there would be an impeachment effort,” the House Intelligence Committee member exclaimed.

Besides shutting down the special counsel, Speier also believes Trump wants to end the Congressional committee probes into Russia. Noting that the House Intelligence Committee is rushing through interviews this month and has none scheduled for January, Speier said that “we can read between the lines.” The committee’s Ranking Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), expressed similar thoughts yesterday when he tweeted that Republicans are seeking to shut down the committee’s investigation.

In recent weeks, there has been a concerted effort by conservatives in media to discredit Mueller and his investigation. Fox News’ Sean Hannity has called the special counsel a “disgrace to the American justice system” and Gregg Jarrett claimed Mueller was using the FBI as a political weapon while invoking the KGB.

Watch the clip above, via KQED.

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Justin Baragona on Twitter: @justinbaragona

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