Sen. Coons: “[Robert Mueller] is also not a shrinking violet; I think he’s fully capable of publicly complaining if he faces interference from President Trump.”

Sen. Coons: “Given some of the experts recently hired by Robert Mueller, who are experts in real estate transactions and transnational money laundering and in foreign bribery, there’s reason to believe that that is exactly what Bob Mueller is looking into.”

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today joined NPR Morning Edition to discuss his new bill, the Special Counsel Integrity Act. Introduced with Senator Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), the legislation would create a judicial review process to prevent the removal of Special Counsels without good cause. Senator Coons also discussed potential collusion between the 2016 Trump Campaign and the Russian government.

“The bill was introduced by Senator Tillis and myself right before we went on recess to send a strong bipartisan signal that there would be real pushback from the Senate if Robert Mueller was fired,” said Senator Coons. “[Robert Mueller] is also not a shrinking violet; I think he’s fully capable of publicly complaining if he faces interference from President Trump.”

“That would be the link… that close relationships developed between President Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and other folks who were leaders in his business organization… allowed the close working relationship, the transfer of information that’s alleged to be at the heart of some collusion, between the Trump campaign and Russian intelligence,” said Senator Coons.

Full audio available here.

Excerpts from the interview:

Senator Coons on his bill with Senator Tillis to protect the Special Counsel: Well my bill with Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina puts in place a remedy if the Special Counsel is abruptly fired without cause. The Special Counsel can go to a federal district court and get a three judge panel of federal judges to review whether or not his firing, within the different restrictions that we put in the statute- there’s a fourteen day period from when he files to when the decision should be rendered- and most importantly, if the three judge panel determines he was inappropriately fired, they can direct his reinstitution.

Senator Coons on why this bill was introduced: President Trump engaged in a series of harassing tweets against his Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, and it was widely believed he was on the verge of firing Jeff Sessions a few weeks ago. I think it is exactly that sort of language from Kellyanne Conway and others in the Administration suggesting that this is “an unwarranted witch hunt;” the particular point is that the President and some of his representatives said that it would be a “red line” if Robert Mueller began looking into his family finances and Trump’s real estate holdings. There’s reason to believe that now that a grand jury has been impaneled and given some of the experts recently hired by Robert Mueller, who are experts in real estate transactions and transnational money laundering and in foreign bribery, there’s reason to believe that that is exactly what Bob Mueller is looking into.

Senator Coons on a potential link between the Trump campaign and Russia: Well there’s been public reporting on the idea that significant amounts of Russian money went into real estate deals after Donald Trump went bankrupt, lost several of his major properties a few decades ago, he had real difficulty getting financing for some of his major developments, and part of how he was able to resurrect his businesses, allegedly, was through significant amounts of illegal laundered money. That’s just allegation at this point. There’s been some reporting on that, but that would be the link, the suggestion that somehow, close relationships developed between President Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and other folks who were leaders in his business organization, and that those relationships then allowed the close working relationship, the transfer of information that’s alleged to be at the heart of some collusion, between the Trump campaign and Russian intelligence, and a recognized Russian campaign to interfere in our 2016 Presidential election.

Senator Coons on the substance and politics of his bill: Well the bill was introduced by Senator Tillis and myself right before we went on recess to send a strong bipartisan signal that there would be real pushback from the Senate if Robert Mueller was fired. He’s also not a shrinking violet; I think he’s fully capable of publicly complaining if he faces interference from President Trump.

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