Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., said he thinks the GOP has enough votes on the Senate floor to pass a bill to protect special counsel Robert Mueller from being fired — a measure that's been repeatedly blocked by leadership.
"I think there are the Republican votes," Flake told CNN Friday morning. "This was passed by the Judiciary Committee In May … That has sat on the floor now, waiting for floor action, for eight months now."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has dismissed the legislation as unnecessary because the White House has told him Mueller will be allowed to finish his Russia investigation. Flake, however, has pushed back on that. He told CNN things really changed when President Donald Trump fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions three weeks ago.
"Initially, the majority leader said nobody's being fired, nothing to see here, no worry about the Mueller investigation. That all changed … when the attorney general was fired," Flake said. "Then, additional information coming forward really points up the need to protect the special counsel.
"So I do believe the votes are there on the floor if we can just get a vote, and that's what I'm calling for. Let's just have a vote."
Flake is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and has vowed to vote down all of Trump's judicial nominees until the full Senate takes on the Mueller bill.
Trump appointed Matt Whitaker to serve as acting attorney general until a permanent replacement is nominated and confirmed.
"When [Mueller's final] report is ultimately issued, Matt Whitaker can ultimately decide what Congress sees and what Congress doesn't see," Flake told CNN. That's important, and we think that it ought to be handled by somebody who has at least been confirmed by the Senate.
"We need to protect the special counsel, it's important."