Special counsel Robert Mueller put himself in a protected position on Monday morning when he publicly revealed the first charges in his controversial and wide-ranging investigation into Russia’s involvement in the presidential election.

President Trump has long fumed that the investigation is a “witch hunt” engineered by his political enemies, sparking speculation that he will try to fire the special counsel.

But now that Mueller has produced a guilty plea — from a member of Trump’s campaign — dismissing the former FBI director would almost certainly ignite an untenable political inferno.
“It’s fair to say … Mr. Mueller has made it so that it would be political suicide for the president to fire him,” said Bradley Moss, a national security lawyer.

Senate Republicans sent a clear and immediate message in the wake of Mueller’s announcement: Don’t fire Bob Mueller.