We’re still not sure whether there was collusion between President Trump and Russia, but we certainly do know that Russia interfered with the U.S. election and may even have affected the outcome, although that is impossible to know for sure. Nothing could be more serious, or more deserving of careful investigation.

President Trump tweeted this morning that there was “no collusion” and again urged greater focus on the supposed crimes of Hillary Clinton. By that he presumably means the uranium deal, which has conservatives in a frenzy—but it is simply absurd to think that there is some parallel.

Look, it was The Times that in 2015 helped uncover and publicize the uranium arrangement, but it has been flagrantly taken out of context by Fox News and its ilk. For starters, there seems to be a suspicion on the right that American uranium is going to Russia, while in fact there’s no export license—so the uranium stays in America. More important, this was a non-controversial deal that an interagency committee approved, apparently unanimously, at a level far below Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. Every bit of evidence says that Clinton never even weighed in on it. So the notion that this is somehow a serious scandal parallel to Moscow’s work to overturn an American presidential election is just comical.

One peril ahead is that President Trump may engage in riskier or more aggressive behavior vis-à-vis North Korea so that people will rally around the flag. Another is that Trump will fire Mueller. This would be difficult for him to do, because (opinions vary) he might have to do this through the Justice Department framework, leading to another Archibald Cox-style massacre of reluctant intermediaries. But it would also be a body blow to the rule of law in America, and it would trigger a Constitutional crisis.

Any firing of Mueller would lead many fair-minded people to assume that Trump is hiding criminal behavior, perhaps treason. There would be a push for impeachment, a boost to Congressional investigations, and the presidency would be hobbled—along with the United States itself—for years to come. Trump set in motion today’s actions when he fired James Comey, and I hope he understands that firing Mueller would probably also set in motion the complete unraveling of his presidency.