"Tomorrow will be the first day that President Trump will have a fully operational confirmed Attorney General," Matt Schlapp, president of the American Conservative Union wrote on Twitter. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Politics Matt Schlapp: ’Mueller will be gone soon’

Matt Schlapp, a conservative activist and commentator, said now that William Barr was becoming attorney general, special counsel Robert Mueller’s days were numbered, a striking statement from someone whose wife works in the White House and one that runs counter to Barr’s own words during his contentious confirmation process.

“Tomorrow will be the first day that President Trump will have a fully operational confirmed Attorney General,” Schlapp wrote Thursday on Twitter. “Let that sink in. Mueller will be gone soon.”


Schlapp, president of the American Conservative Union, which hosts the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, is an ally of President Donald Trump. His wife, Mercedes Schlapp, works in the White House as a strategic communications adviser. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Schlapps made headlines in April 2018 when they walked out of the White House Correspondents’ Association annual dinner because they found comedian Michelle Wolf’s routine distasteful. After their protest, it was later reported that they had joined journalists and others at one of the exclusive parties that surround the dinner.

Barr was confirmed and sworn in on Thursday. During his confirmation process last month, Democrats repeatedly pressed him about how he would treat Mueller. At one point, Barr, who previously served as attorney general under President George H.W. Bush, pointed out that he and Mueller are “good friends. ”

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That seeming deference stood in contrast to a memo Barr had written to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein last year, calling the special counsel’s investigation into Trump’s potential obstruction of justice “fatally misconceived.” Pressed during his confirmation hearing and in later questions, Barr pledged to allow Mueller “to complete his work,” and said he would be as transparent as possible with the public about the investigation.

The new attorney general’s positions on the Mueller investigation are important because Barr will oversee the special counsel’s work. Then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from such a role, which was then taken up by Rosenstein. Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker assumed that oversight when he replaced Sessions, whom Trump fired in November.