FRANKFORT -- A measure to protect special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election will not be considered by the U.S. Senate, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Friday in Kentucky.

"It's not going to come up because it isn't necessary," McConnell told reporters at a 21-minute news conference at the state Capitol.

"The Mueller investigation is not under threat. The president has said repeatedly he's not going to dismiss the Mueller investigation. He's said repeatedly it's going to be allowed to finish," McConnell said. "That also happens to be my view."

A shadow was thrown over the course of the Mueller probe this week when President Donald Trump fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions. And now, Session's former chief of staff Matthew Whitaker, who has openly criticized Mueller's investigation, is acting as AG.

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Despite public criticism of Mueller by both the president and Whitaker, McConnell said his talks with Trump reassure him that Mueller's work will continue.

"The president has certainly expressed his point of view about how he feels about the investigation. But, as you can imagine, we speak frequently. There's never been any indication that he wants to dismiss Mueller or the investigation," McConnell said. "It's going to be allowed to finish."

Asked if Whitaker should disqualify himself from dealing with Mueller, McConnell said, "I don't have any advice to give the administration on that. All of the cabinet members serve at the pleasure of the president; he's decided to make a change. I think this will be an interim, a very interim, AG (attorney general). I expect we'll get a new nominee very quickly on the job."

McConnell did not directly answer a question about why prominent Republicans – such as Sessions and McConnell himself – seem to "just take it" when they are criticized by the president.

The senator chuckled briefly, then repeated his answer that the president gets to decide who is in his cabinet and decided he didn't want Sessions any more.

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Also Friday, McConnell said the surge in violent mass killings by gunmen is a horrendous and heart-breaking problem, but one that won't be solved by gun control at the federal level.

"We have taken some steps ... federal funding of additional mental health initiatives, but at the federal level, it's highly unlikely that there will be restrictions passed on the ability to own weapons."

McConnell suggested a trend over recent decades that has resulted in keeping more "troubled people" out of institutions may be part of the reason for the spike in mass shootings.

"It's a complicated issue. We do have an awful lot of fundamental rights as citizens, but identifying people who are a threat is a real vexing problem," he said. "... It seems that people who have these horrible inclinations seem to be incentivized by seeing someone else do it. But I think that restrictions on the ownership of firearms for people who get them legally would have zero impact on that."

McConnell also said:

» Tuesday's elections showed the Republican Party is losing strength in cities while it gains support in rural America.

"It looks to me that this urban-rural divide that we're seeing nationally is also the case here in Kentucky. If you look at Fayette County and Jefferson County – they both got bluer. ... I'm really happy about how we're doing in rural areas. ... I'm just unhappy about the slide in the suburbs and I hope we can turn that around."

» He has a different approach than Trump in dealing with news reporters.

"I understand what your role is, and it's not to go out and cheerlead for people like me. And you don't. So I have my own relationship with you. And I'm comfortable with it."

» He has no particular expectation about which office might be sought next by Amy McGrath, the Democrat who lost in the race for Kentucky's Sixth Congressional District seat to incumbent Republican Andy Barr.

"You'll have to ask her," McConnell said.

Tom Loftus: tloftus@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @TomLoftus_CJ. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today.