Sen. Jeff Flake on Sunday bluntly warned President Donald Trump not to “go after” special counsel Robert Mueller, calling any ouster amid his Russia investigation “a massive red line that can’t be crossed.”
“Don’t go there,” the retiring Arizona Republican demanded in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” insisting Congress would push back.
“Once he goes after Mueller, then we'll take action,” he said. “I think that people see that as a massive red line that can't be crossed… I would just hope that enough people would prevail on the president now, ‘don't go there.’”
“I hope that the pushback is now to keep the president from going there,” he added.
Flake, who may be contemplating his own bid to challenge Trump in 2020, also disputed the president’s declaration that it was “a great day for democracy” when Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was fired Friday night, less than two days before he was to retire.
"I think it was a horrible day for democracy. To have firings like this happening at the top, from the president and the attorney general does not speak well for what's going on."
Flake said he would wait for the release of the Justice Department's inspector general report, which was used as a basis by Attorney General Jeff Sessions to fire McCabe — and that the Senate Judiciary Committee “will be looking into it.”
He said he was surprised, however, “that the president would get so far ahead of this.”
“I’m just puzzled by why the White House is going so hard at this,” he said. “Other than they're very afraid of what might come out. I don't know how you can have any other conclusion.”