Sen. Coons: Trump is “barely able to contain himself from raging against the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney General, firing the former FBI Director, pushing out the Deputy FBI Director, making his own White House counsel throw himself bodily before his attempts to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller”

Sen. Coons: “If we mean what we say we mean, which is that this is a nation not of men, but of laws, where no one is above the law, no mayor, governor, senator, and no president, then we have to step forward and take action to rein this behavior in and put it back within traditional norms.”

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today joined MSNBC’s Morning Joe to discuss the Mueller investigation and the memo released by Republican Congressman Devin Nunes.

“We in the Senate must act to pass a reasonable, responsible, modest, remedial measure that would provide some relief if the President inappropriately acts to fire the special counsel and I have a bipartisan bill that could accomplish that goal. The time to buy fire insurance is not when your house is on fire, but we are almost there,” said Senator Coons.  “Every lawyer, every legislator, every citizen should be hearing this as the moment of great importance in our republic that it is. We have a President and chief of staff who are acting completely outside the norms of what protects our republic and the rule of law. If we mean what we say we mean, which is that this is a nation not of men, but of laws, where no one is above the law, no mayor, governor, senator, and no president, then we have to step forward and take action to rein this behavior in and put it back within traditional norms. This is unprecedented and it's incredibly dangerous for our system.”

Full audio and video available here. 

Excerpts from the interview:

Sen. Coons on the vote to release the memo: I think this is a stunning development, but as your panel has ably laid out, it fits in with a broader pattern. The President's partisans in Congress, Republicans in the House like the supposedly-recused Devin Nunes are continuing to act in ways to undermine the credibility of the FBI, the Department of Justice with the ultimate aim of undermining the independence of the investigation being led by Robert Mueller… Let's remember the larger goal. As your panelist just said, Robert Mueller's investigation is important to our nation and our rule of law. It may ultimately fully clear President Trump, but he's barely able to contain himself from raging against the attorney general, the deputy attorney general, firing the former FBI director, pushing out the deputy FBI director, making his own White House counsel throw himself bodily before his attempts to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller. We in the Senate must act to pass a reasonable, responsible, modest, remedial measure that would provide some relief if the President inappropriately acts to fire the special counsel and I have a bipartisan bill that could accomplish that goal. The time to buy fire insurance is not when your house is on fire, but we are almost there. 

More on the memo and McCabe: Yes, we need to do our job of oversight and to make it clear that these important firewalls, these barriers between the Executive Office of the President and the Department of Justice and the FBI are respected and observed. All these recent reports suggesting the chief of staff, the President himself have been crossing critical boundaries, have to be investigated, overseen and reinforced by bipartisan action by the Senate Judiciary Committee and the pushing out of the deputy director is only the most recent part of a trend over many months. 

More on President Trump: You’re absolutely right, every lawyer, every legislator, every citizen should be hearing this as the moment of great importance in our republic that it is. We have a President and chief of staff who are acting completely outside the norms of what protects our republic and the rule of law. If we mean what we say we mean, which is that this is a nation not of men, but of laws, where no one is above the law, no mayor, governor, senator, and no president, then we have to step forward and take action to rein this behavior in and put it back within traditional norms. This is unprecedented and it's incredibly dangerous for our system. 

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