Tom Brokaw comments on reports that President Trump considered firing special counsel Robert Mueller last summer.



"In the climate in which we now live, people move on in a hurry. He didn't fire him. He didn't get close to firing him because the White House was pushing back and he knew what the response would be on the Hill. So I think for the country, frankly, Chuck, it's kind of a non-issue now that he was thinking about firing him six months ago but he did not," he explained.





TOM BROKAW: Well, I think two things, one was I was here for the Saturday night massacre. And the Nixon White House thought that that was really going to unleash their ability to deal with what was going on. And it was another nail in the coffin. There ought to be a lesson in all of that.







CHUCK TODD: Did they really think at the time--I mean, you know, we look back and realize what a catastrophic error that was. Did they really think at the time that was going to--



TOM BROKAW: They thought that was the right thing to do. That their base would support them and that the president had a legal grounds for doing what he did. In this case, in the climate in which we now live, people move on in a hurry. He didn't fire him. He didn't get close to firing him because the White House was pushing back and he knew what the response would be on the Hill. So I think for the country, frankly, Chuck, it's kind of a non-issue now that he was thinking about firing him six months ago but he did not. I think that they moved on. I honestly think in the next year there are going to be three big factors. One is the economy. If it continues to go roar along the way that it is a lot of people are going to put aside these other concerns that they have and say, "Enjoy the prosperity." The other one is what does Mueller find? Do we hear from them this year? And then just down from that, of course, is what happens with immigration. I think those are the three big factors that are in play out there for the country. And that's what they're paying attention to.