The outgoing Republican US Senator says he won’t vote for confirmation of ANY Trump Federal judge until Senate Majority Leader McConnell changes his mind and allows a vote on legislation to safeguard Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s effort to finish his investigation’s….
The Mueller protection legislation has been drafted by both Democratic AND Republican Senator’s earlier this year and is almost ready to go to a floor vote….
Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) said he will not vote to confirm any more of President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees until a bill to protect special counsel Robert Mueller and his investigation into possible collusion with Russian officials receives a vote in the Senate.
Flake, who is one of the president’s biggest Republican critics in the Senate and is retiring at the end of this year, made the announcement shortly after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) objected to Flake’s unanimous consent request to bring the Special Counsel Independence and Integrity Act to a vote on the floor.
The bill, authored by Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), passed in the Senate Judiciary Committee this year in a bipartisan vote of 14-7. The measure would make it harder for Trump to fire Mueller by requiring officials to have “good cause” to fire the special counsel. GOP leaders, however, have consistently maintained such protections are unnecessary because they do not believe Trump will fire Mueller.
“There has been no indication … that the Mueller investigation will not be allowed to finish,” McConnell told reporters earlier on Wednesday.
The Senate’s efforts to shield the special counsel come amid Trump’s intensifying attacks on Mueller, who is leading an investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election. Trump has reportedly spoken several times about firing Mueller, whose probe Trump derisively refers to as a “witch hunt.”
The push to protect Mueller took on more urgency after last week’s ouster of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his replacement by acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker, who is viewed as a White House loyalist and has attacked the Mueller probe. Legal experts and several top Democrats have questioned whether Whitaker’s appointment was constitutional, given that he was never confirmed by the Senate….
Note…
If there WAS a vote?
Would Trump veto any such bill?
Is this Flake giving Trump a last headache before he exits the Senate?
image…washingtonpress.com