A bipartisan bill in the Senate would turn Department of Justice regulations about the president's ability to take action against a special counsel into law, according to Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del.
"Right now, the reasons why the president, through the attorney general, can't just randomly fire the special counsel if he has a bad day, or gets in a bad mood, is embedded in some regulations at the Department of Justice. What we're doing is taking those standards and putting them into law, so it's clear that we as a coequal branch in the Senate support checks and balances and the rule of law," Coons said Monday on CNN's "New Day."
The senator said he was "honored" to sponsor the bill alongside Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. Coons called it "an important bill to protect the special counsel."
The bill would also require that an attorney general confirmed by the Senate would be the only official able to fire Mueller, according to Coons.
The senator, who is sponsoring the bill with Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said in the CNN interview that special counsel Robert Mueller must be allowed to continue his investigation into alleged Russian ties to President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign.
"If (Trump) is concerned about the situation, the only person he has to blame is himself," Coons said on CNN, noting his recent statements that criticize the investigation.
"His repeated threats on Twitter against Attorney General (Jeff) Sessions, his repeated expressions that this Russia investigation is a fabrication, have clearly run into opposition from both Republicans and Democrats in the Senate. It's in everyone's best interests, the president's and the country's, that Bob Mueller be allowed to continue this investigation to its logical conclusion," Coons said in the CNN interview.
"If there's nothing there, then that conclusion will be broadly accepted by Republicans and Democrats. If there is something there, then it's in the best interests of the country for it to come to light," Coons added.
Coons said Saturday in a CNN interview on "Smerconish" that a veto override could result if Trump eventually vetoes the bipartisan bill.
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