WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell reiterated his support for the choice of Special Counsel Robert Mueller Tuesday.
When asked by The Daily Caller if he shared concerns raised by some who say Mueller’s appointment to the Russia investigation that covers former FBI Director James Comey, a close friend of his, McConnell responded, “I have a lot of confidence in Bob Muller. I think it was a good choice.”
According to federal records three attorneys who Mueller hired primarily made political contributions to Democrats, CNN reported.
The Washington Free Beacon noted that two of the lawyers maxed out on their contributions to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, and another gave money to former President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
Republicans are delusional if they think the special counsel is going to be fair. Look who he is hiring.check fec reports. Time to rethink.
— Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) June 12, 2017
Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham elaborated that current concerns about potential conflicts of interest in reference to Mueller are presently unfounded.
“I mean we have people elected all over the country as judges and as prosecutors and they go raise money. To me, political association is not a conflict of interest for a lawyer. Giving money is not a conflict of interest. That’s not a disqualifier.”
Graham went on to say, “What would be a conflict, in my view, is if one of these special council members actually represented Clinton. Now I don’t know if this lady they’re talking about actually represented the Clinton Global Initiative or that she represented Hillary Clinton as an individual–that would be a conflict. I think.”
He explained, “Most lawyers are friends, so if you disqualify people because they have a professional relationship or a friendly relationship, that doesn’t work to disqualify somebody to get a lawyer knocked off the case. You’ve got to show they have a conflict of a professional interest. And I don’t see Muller being conflicted out. But I think it’s good for us to look at who he’s hiring. Giving donations is not a conflict that would disqualify a lawyer for helping Muller. But if he did represent the Clintons at one point in time that would be a problem for me.”
When reports that the White House was considering firing Mueller, Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain said to The Wall Street Journal such an act would be, “I can’t believe they would think of such a thing.”
McCain went on to say, “He is highly regarded by Republicans and Democrats. All of a sudden I see republicans who praise him to the skies are now saying, ‘Aw wait a minute. He’s not…'” He asked, “Where? How? Tell me what he’s done that would intimate that this guy is not the most trustworthy people in America.”
