Congress needs to be ready in case President Donald Trump fires special counsel Robert Mueller from his investigation into Russian meddling and collusion, Rep. Jim Himes said Monday, but he's convinced that most members are "far from" being prepared.
"The reality is, we have heard from the usual suspects, from [Sen. Jeff] Flake and [Sen. John] McCain and a couple of others about the importance of preserving Mueller's investigation," the Connecticut Democrat told MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
"The vast majority of Republicans aren't going to touch this with a 10-foot pole."
Language to protect Mueller from dismissal could be included in the omnibus budget being voted on this week, said Hines, and it would "be interesting" to see who responds to that.
"I think on that basis alone any number of Republicans would be flushed out for not wanting to cross this president in that way," Himes added.
Himes also commented on the unfolding scandal concerning Cambridge Analytics and Facebook, telling MSNBC he believes focusing on voters is the right way to go.
"What I mean by that is it's up to every American to remember that the president is involved in litigation with a porn star," said Himes. "The president calling a phone potential adversary names on Twitter; the president doing everything the president does everyday. That's not normal."
The problem is, though, that the American electorate gets used to this to a point where we think, 'gosh, we may go to war with North Korea, that's just Wednesday morning news,'" said Himes.
"We need to maintain a sense of what the presidency and our government used to be."
With respect to Facebook and Cambridge Analytics, Himes said he thinks Facebook "acted very badly in owning up to this and engaging with authorities, engaging with journalists," but there is also a role the social media site's users should play.
"Folks, you're putting this stuff up on Facebook to begin with and it may be true that Facebook says they're going to protect you, but Facebook and any other web site is hackable," said Himes.
"People need to remember, as they put this stuff up, they make it available to people like [billionaire Robert] Mercer, Steve Bannon to use for ill effect. We need to remember that."
Meanwhile, Himes sits on the House Intelligence Committee, and said Monday that the Republicans in the group said the was no evidence of collusion with Russia, not that there was absolutely no collusion.
"Now the president seized on that to say there is no collusion," said Himes, noting that the president will use the carefully-worded conclusion politically.
Himes also said he is encouraging his fellow Democrats to not lose sight of what is really important in states where they need to win, rather than concentrating on the growing scandals.
"People are sitting around a kitchen table with economic anxieties. . . We need to not lose sight of the necessity of offering solutions along those lines," said Himes.
"Every time we go to Russia, a lot of people care about that stuff, but it's not addressing the kitchen table anxieties of American families."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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