Trump Can Fire Mueller, But Not a Grand Jury

Source: Politico | February 14, 2018 | David Yassky and Bennett L. Gershman

The president can’t shut down the Russia investigation, even if he gets rid of the special counsel.

President Donald Trump appears more determined than ever to fire special counsel Robert Mueller—despite White House protestations to the contrary. Americans must begin to prepare for the constitutional crisis that will ensue.

There is already considerable speculation about how Congress would react to a replay of the Saturday Night Massacre, when President Richard Nixon ordered his attorney general to fire the Watergate special prosecutor. Senators of both parties have warned the president against dismissing Mueller, some in very strong language (dismissal would cross a “red line” or be “explosive”). Members of Congress would no doubt demand an immediate, serious congressional inquiry into the matters the special counsel is investigating, if not impeachment proceedings based on the dismissal itself. But in light of the current level of intense partisan conflict, it seems more likely that Republican leaders in both houses of Congress would allow Mueller to be fired without consequence, and perhaps even defend such a firing.

However, there is another route that may well lead to a showdown between two branches of the government. For months, Mueller and his team have been presenting evidence to a federal grand jury – that grand jury has already indicted two people, and two other former Trump aides have pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. (And those are the indictments we know of – others may still be sealed.) We ordinarily think of a grand jury as a “decider of fact,” similar to a trial jury. But a grand jury is actually an investigatory body independent of the prosecutor. The grand jury here could continue its work even past the potential dismissal of Mueller and his entire staff, and indeed could draft indictments of senior White House officials or key staff of the 2016 Trump campaign.

Trump can fire Mueller, but he can’t fire the grand jury.

……..

Elected officials, and citizens, should give thought to that scenario, among others, in preparing for the perilous months ahead.

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