President Donald Trump has no intention of firing Robert Mueller, White House spokesman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Tuesday, but she would not say whether the president had confidence in the special counsel in the Russia probe.
President Donald Trump “has no intention” of firing Robert Mueller, White House spokesman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Tuesday, but she would not say whether the president had confidence in the special counsel in the Russia probe.
“While the president has the right to, he has no intention to do so, ” Sanders told reporters aboard Air Force One while returning from a visit to Milwaukee, CNN reports.
But Sanders would not say whether Trump had confidence in Mueller amid news reports that the president was considering whether to fire him from the post.
Mueller, who directed the FBI under former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, was named to the post last month by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
He told a Senate panel Tuesday that he, and not Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who had the authority to terminate Mueller.
Rosenstein said that he had no good cause to dismiss the special counsel.
In addition, Trump watched portions of Sessions’ testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee in flight to Wisconsin from Washington, CNN reports.
Responding to questions about President Trump’s impressions of the hearing, Sanders said that the president “thought that Attorney General Sessions today did a very good job and was strong in emphasizing that there was no collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.”
