Trump not considering firing Special Counsel Mueller

US President Donald Trump has said he is not planning to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating possible Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Returning to the White House from Camp David, Trump was asked on Sunday whether he intended to fire Mueller. "No, I'm not," he told journalists, insisting that there was "no collusion whatsoever" between his campaign and Russia.

The President's comments came a day after a lawyer representing Trump's transition team accused Mueller of wrongfully obtaining thousands of emails sent and received by Trump officials before the start of his administration, the Washington Post reported.

 

Trump criticised Mueller for gaining access to those emails, telling reporters the situation was "not looking good".

"It's quite sad to see that," Trump said. "My people were very upset about it."

Mueller's spokesman denied wrongdoing and some legal experts questioned the claim that the emails were improperly obtained.

The Special Counsel's Office, which is investigating allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, has faced increased scrutiny in recent weeks, with reports about potential political bias within Mueller's team and reports of potential conflicts of interest within the Department of Justice.

Several Democratic lawmakers had expressed concern, and on Friday the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, said he feared Republican members wanted to shut the probe down.

However, the President's advisers insisted that he is not directing his ire over the collusion probe at Mueller.

"As the White House has repeatedly and emphatically said for months, there is no consideration about firing or replacing the Special Counsel with whom the White House has fully cooperated in order to permit a fully vetted yet prompt conclusion," said Ty Cobb, a White House lawyer overseeing the Russia matter.

--IANS

soni/bg