Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is maintaining no legislation is needed to protect the Mueller investigation, despite the abrupt departure of Jeff Sessions and the installation of acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker, a critic of the Russia probe.
Speaking with the press, the Kentucky senator said nothing about his calculus has changed.
"There's been no indication... as you can imagine, I talk to the president fairly often... no indication that the Mueller investigation will not be allowed to finish and it should be allowed to finish," the GOP leader said. "We know how the president feels about the Mueller investigation, but he's never said he wants to shut it down. I've never heard anybody down there say they want to shut it down."
Yet as a recently as August 1st, President Trump tweeted that then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions should “stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now, before it continues to stain our country any further” – a comment the White House later described as only the president’s opinion, not an order.
Trump has repeatedly railed against the Russia investigation and McConnell is facing bipartisan pressure to shield the probe, with North Carolina Senator Lindsay Graham urging McConnell on Tuesday to hold a vote on a bill to protect the special counsel.
