The tweets also are seen by some in the president’s circle as the beginning of a case against the officials investigating him. White House officials had no case ready for the dismissal of Comey and received heavy criticism for the conflicting explanations about his departure.
Trump’s surrogates have launched a broad campaign to discredit Mueller, claiming conflicts of interest and that he has been bringing on prosecutors who have supported Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Chris Ruddy, the CEO of Newsmax and an ally of Trump, even floated the idea earlier this week that Trump was prepared to oust Mueller.
Rosenstein and Mueller are, for now, unlikely to be fired immediately. But Trump apparently wants to keep the option open. One adviser said the comments trashing Mueller and Rosenstein from Trump and others “should not be viewed as just a pure coincidence.”
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