Complicit GOP caught abandoning plan to protect Mueller from Trump

Republicans are well aware that Trump is inching closer to trying to fire special counsel Robert Mueller again. And some talk tough against it. But when it really counts, GOP leaders like Sen. Mitch McConnell are complicit in Trump’s threats.

According to a new report in Politico, “Republican Senate leaders threw cold water Monday on passing a bill to protect Mueller, calling it unnecessary despite Trump’s increasingly scathing attacks against the special counsel and his team.”

In the midst of Trump’s latest unhinged outbursts on social media, in which he called Mueller’s investigation a “total WITCH HUNT” conducted by “big Crooked Hillary supporters,” some Republicans voiced support for Mueller.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said that firing Mueller would be the “beginning of the end of his presidency.” And Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) called it a “red line.”

But when push comes to shove, McConnell will not allow any provision to protect Mueller to pass. Not in the multiple bipartisan proposals floating through Congress, nor as part of the omnibus spending bill.

McConnell has refused to pass such bills on previous occasions, giving the excuse that he does not believe Trump will make good on his threats. But even if that is true, McConnell has no good reason against passing a bill to make sure the special counsel is protected.

Nor is McConnell alone in wanting Trump to retain the power to commit a Saturday Night Massacre.

Forty-eight Republican senators did not condemn Trump for ramping up his attacks on Mueller. Meanwhile, even Graham is lending credence to Trump’s conspiracy theories, arguing for a second special counsel to investigate the investigators.

Whatever their words, McConnell and his fellow Republicans are taking no action to preserve the rule of law — and that speaks much louder.