Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., claimed reports that President Donald Trump threatened last June to fire special counsel Robert Mueller was evidence he didn't see himself as "being subject to the rule of law," The Hill reported Saturday.
"We have a very serious situation with this president that ultimately, I think, is unchecked right now and doesn't see himself as being subject to the rule of law," Booker told CNN on Friday.
Booker's statement comes after allegations on Thursday that Trump threatened to fire Mueller last June shortly after he was appointed to investigate claims of collusion by Russian officials with the president's 2016 campaign, as well as interference in the U.S. presidential election. Trump reportedly backed down after White House counsel Don McGahn threatened to resign.
Booker maintained Trump's "authoritarian tendencies" had gotten the attention of Mueller.
"To me it's a very troubling fact pattern and we see this president who has, in my opinion, very authoritarian tendencies that upset, really actually more than upset, that destroy the norms of our democracy and do border on things that I think could arise to the attention, or actually I know, are arising to the attention of the special prosecutor."
Booker claimed the U.S. was in "troubling times" and compared Trump to "foreign dictators."
"He's even going as far like dictators in other nations to call for the arrest and persecution and prosecution of his former opponent. So, we're in troubling times here," he said.