More than 200 former Justice Department employees are urging Congress to “swiftly and forcefully respond” should President Trump fire Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, or Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who is overseeing the federal probe.
“It is up to the rest of us, and especially our elected representatives, to come to their defense and oppose any attempt by the President or others to improperly interfere in the Department’s work,” according to a statement signed by 245 former officials who worked under current and previous administrations, some as far back as that of President Richard M. Nixon.
The former officials, many of whom said they served with Mueller and Rosenstein at the Justice Department, decried the recent attacks against the agency.
“We served [the Justice Department] out of a commitment to the founding American principles that our democratic republic depends upon the rule of law, that the law must be applied equally, and no one is above the law. … Those of us who served with these men know them to be dedicated public servants committed to these principles,” the statement said.
It further said: “We are therefore deeply disturbed by the attacks that have been levied against the good men and women of the Department. Not only is it an insult to their public service, but any attempt to corrupt or undermine the evenhanded application of the rule of law threatens the foundation of our Republic.”
Trump has launched a protracted attack against the Justice Department, accusing it and the FBI of politicizing the investigative process “in favor of Democrats and against Republicans.” He also mocked the agency in a recent tweet, criticizing it for not cooperating with Congress and calling it an “embarrassment to our country.”
Much of Trump’s ire over the past year has been focused on Mueller’s expanding probe, which is also looking into any possible coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russian meddling, along with any other misdeeds discovered, including the possibility of obstruction of justice by the president and the role foreign money may have played to influence the election or the administration’s policy.