President Donald Trump may be justified in firing special counsel Robert Mueller if it turns out ex-FBI Director James Comey had a silent hand in getting him hired to probe Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential race, Tom Fitton, president of the Judicial Watch, told Newsmax TV on Tuesday.
In testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Comey admitted leaking information to the press in a bid to get a special prosecutor appointed to look into possible links between the Trump campaign and Russia.
"That is a real question about what Comey did and whether what he did was appropriate in terms of taking documents from the FBI, and then leaking them with the express purpose of getting a special counsel who turned out to be Mueller appointed," Fitton told host Bill Tucker "America Talks Live."
"What was Comey's involvement in having Mueller appointed to special counsel and is Mueller going to have to investigate Comey, who public reports suggest is either a friend or a protégé of Mr. Mueller?
"Given that close relationship, there has to be an honest evaluation of whether there's a conflict of interest between Mueller and his really charge now to investigate what Comey did."
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He added firing Mueller may be "a necessary thing to do given the way [he] was appointed and the circumstances around it."
"Comey gamed the system and Mueller's whole appointment has now been tainted, and the president has an independent obligation, however politically uncomfortable, to make sure the Justice Department is actually acting in a just way," said Fitton, whose conservative group serves as a government watchdog.
"The president, in my view, doesn't have much to worry about legally from any honest prosecutor, but there are other people who are subject to this investigation who now face a lot of legal jeopardy and time and expense as a result of a special prosecutor who shouldn't be there . . .
"This isn't about law, this is a political investigation, and the reason Mueller was appointed was to appease the left who was attacking the Justice Department about its investigation of this Russia collusion scandal."
Fitton is the author of "Clean House: Exposing Our Government’s Secrets and Lies," published by Threshold Editions.
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