Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) stressed on Sunday that it is not the job of Congress to protect the president.

“The role of Congress is not to protect the president, it’s to hold the president, and any president, accountable to the American people,” Nadler, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said in an interview with on NBC’s “Meet the Press” with host Chuck Todd.

Todd had asked Nadler if the revelation from President Trump Donald John TrumpSteele Dossier sub-source was subject of FBI counterintelligence probe Pelosi slams Trump executive order on pre-existing conditions: It 'isn't worth the paper it's signed on' Trump 'no longer angry' at Romney because of Supreme Court stance MORE's former personal lawyer and "fixer" Michael Cohen last week should trigger the start of an investigation by the Judiciary Committee that could end up in impeachment proceedings.

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Cohen implicated Trump this week as a co-conspirator in pleading guilty to campaign finance violations.

Nadler told Todd on Sunday that the committee has to make sure first that the Mueller investigation continues.

“The committee has to defend the Mueller investigation against the president’s and the Republicans’ in Congress attempts to sabotage it, to discredit it and to discredit the FBI and the Department of Justice,” he said.

“Congress is supposed to be a check and balance of the executive. We’re supposed to guarantee accountability. Under the Republicans it’s been exactly the opposite.”