“We believe the scope has gone well beyond what was intended to be Russian meddling in the election,” White House legislative affairs director Marc Short said. | Alex Brandon/AP Trump official won’t rule out firing Mueller

President Donald Trump’s legislative affairs director said Sunday that special counsel Robert Mueller has moved outside the sphere of his original investigation into election meddling — and declined to rule out the possibility of Trump firing him.

“We believe the scope has gone well beyond what was intended to be Russian meddling in the election,” Marc Short said on “Meet the Press” on NBC.


Short declined to rule out Trump firing Mueller or Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, saying: “We don't know how far off the investigation is going to veer.”

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), said on “Meet the Press” she disagrees with Short’s assessment, noting that Mueller handed off information on Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, to the U.S. attorney’s office in New York rather than broaden his own investigation.

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“I believe he’s staying within the parameters,” Collins said of Mueller’s investigation.

