House Speaker Paul Ryan and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy blasted the media for fueling rumors that President Donald Trump may fire Robert Mueller as special counsel to the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election during a press conference Tuesday.
Talk of Mueller’s potential termination sparked after Trump confidante and Newsmax CEO told PBS that he believed the president was weighing his options. Ryan said he believes that the independent investigation should move forward, adding that he thinks Mueller should remain in his position.
“Yeah, I mean all I’ve heard — much are rumors, but I think, in the best case for the president, is to be vindicated by allowing this investigation to go on thoroughly and independently,” he told reporters. “So, I think the best advice would be to let Robert Mueller do his job.”
The GOP leaders said they have not voiced their position to the president on whether the Mueller should continue his work nor have they weighed whether they would re-establish the independent counsel if he is terminated.
“There is no debate that’s going on here,” Ryan said, adding he heard the rumor last night. McCarthy echoed the speaker’s comments, telling reporters, “You’re creating a debate that’s not happening.”
McCarthy asserted that House Republicans are more concerned with tackling their legislative agenda than speculating on rumors surrounding the investigation.
“We’re focusing on the VA and healthcare, and you’re creating a rumor that is not happening,” he said.
Ryan said that they understand the importance of the investigation, but are “focused on solving people’s problems,” listing a number of successes and policy goals that the party hopes to accomplish.
“Kevin made a good point here — look at what we are doing this week, we found out three years ago veterans were dying on these waiting lists that were occurring at the VA in Arizona and then all around America,” Ryan said. “So we uncovered a scandal, and then we realized when we were uncovering this veterans scandal we couldn’t even bring accountability to the VA — they couldn’t even fire people who were grossly negligent at their jobs. So what are we doing? We are fixing this problem today.”
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