President Trump, ignoring the advice of his own lawyers, lashed out on Twitter over the weekend at the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, raising questions about whether he is laying the groundwork to try to fire him.
The president’s tweets alarmed some Republicans, who spoke out on Sunday morning talk shows. To assess reaction within the party, The New York Times reached out to Republican leaders in both the House and the Senate, as well as Republican members of the Senate Intelligence Committee and other leading Republicans.
Republican congressional leadership
Speaker Paul D. Ryan
His spokeswoman, AshLee Strong, released the following statement: “As the speaker has always said, Mr. Mueller and his team should be able to do their job.”
Representative Steve Scalise
The Republican whip, from Louisiana
“I agree with the House Intelligence Committee's report concluding that there is no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government in the 2016 election, and I think there are credibility concerns the Mueller investigation needs to address so they can dispel the fears that this is becoming a partisan witch hunt.
“The credibility of the Mueller investigation will be in doubt unless we get to the bottom of the many serious questions regarding the F.B.I.'s handling of their investigation of the Trump campaign, as well as their investigation into Hillary Clinton's negligent transmission of classified material over her unauthorized email server. That's why I agree with the many others who have called for the appointment of an additional special counsel who, unlike Mueller, has the authority to look into the potential abuses of the FISA system that allowed the Democrat-funded Steele dossier to serve as the basis for the initial F.B.I. investigation.
“The addition of an outside special counsel will ensure our ability to have full faith in our investigations into the very serious threats Putin's rogue government poses to our elections and nation as a whole.”
Have not commented
Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader
Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the majority whip and a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee
Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the chairman of the Senate Republican Conference
Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the majority leader
Congressional Intelligence Committees
The Times reached out to every Republican member of the Senate Intelligence Committee and the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Some appeared on television Sunday morning.
Senator Marco Rubio of Florida
“I remain confident that the special counsel is going to — is going to conduct a probe that is fair and thorough and is going to arrive at the truth and is — and is not going to go down rabbit holes that are not places that we need to be going,” he said on “Meet the Press” on NBC.
Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma
“The clearest thing that I can explain from that is the president’s exceptionally frustrated, that he wants to be able to see this investigation come to an end,” Mr. Lankford said on the ABC program “This Week.”
Mr. Lankford added: “So it’s not that Mueller has found nothing, it’s that the president seems to be very, very frustrated that they’ve not connected anything to him and they — he wants to be able to move on. I would say the best thing the special counsel can do is to finish the investigation, gather all the information that’s needed, come to a conclusion so the American people can make their own decisions.”
Have not commented
Senator Richard M. Burr of North Carolina, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee
Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri
Senator Susan Collins of Maine
Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas
Senator Jim Risch of Idaho
Representative Devin Nunes of California, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee
Chairmen of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees
Have not commented
Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee
Representative Robert W. Goodlatte of Virginia, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee
Other prominent Republican lawmakers
Senator John McCain of Arizona
Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee
Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona
“People see that as a massive red line that can’t be crossed,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union,” referring to any move to fire Mr. Mueller. He added that he hoped Mr. Trump’s advisers would prevail on him not to do that. “We have confidence in Mueller.”
Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina
“If he tried to do that, that would be the beginning of the end of his presidency, because we’re a rule-of-law nation,” he said on “State of the Union,” also referring to firing Mr. Mueller. “When it comes to Mr. Mueller, he is following the evidence where it takes him, and I think it’s very important he be allowed to do his job without interference, and there are many Republicans who share my view.”
Representative Trey Gowdy of South Carolina
“I would just counsel the president — it’s going to be a very, very long, bad 2018, and it’s going to be distracting from other things that he wants to do and he was elected do,” Mr. Gowdy, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said on “Fox News Sunday.” “Let it play out its course. If you’ve done nothing wrong, you should want the investigation to be as fulsome and thorough as possible.”
Sheryl Gay Stolberg covers Congress. Since joining The Times in 1997, she has been a science correspondent, White House correspondent, Washington features writer and national correspondent, focusing on gender, race and social issues. @SherylNYT
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