How to Fire a Special Prosecutor
It was the fall of 1973. I was a senior at Wyoming High School in Cincinnati, fascinated with politics and American government. My past summer had been spent engrossed in the Senate Watergate hearings, with Senator Sam Ervin of North Carolina orchestrating the investigation of the Nixon administration; a door left open by the Watergate break-in in June of 1972.
During the summer, we heard the testimony of Alexander Butterfield, the deputy assistant to President Nixon, who revealed that all of the conversations in the Oval Office were recorded. Nixon’s goal was to have accurate accounts of his Presidency when he left office, and what better way than to have an actual audio record? What did Nixon know about the Watergate break-in, and when did he know it? The answers were on the tapes.
One of the results of these hearings was the establishment of a special prosecutor, Archibald Cox, investigating the President as a part of the Justice Department. The Attorney General, Eliot Richardson, promised that he would only fire the prosecutor for “cause.”
Cox issued subpoenas to get the Oval Office tapes from the White House. Nixon suggested that instead of turning over the tapes he would have a notoriously deaf Senator, John Stennis, listen to them and summarize what he heard (I’m not making this up, it was called the “Stennis Compromise.”) Cox refused.
On Saturday, October 20, 1973, Nixon ordered Richardson to fire Cox. Richardson resigned rather than obey the President. Nixon then ordered the Deputy Attorney General, William Ruckelshaus to fire Cox, and when he refused, Ruckelshaus was fired (or resigned – there is some controversy). The next in line at the Department of Justice was the Solicitor General, Robert Bork. If Bork resigned, then there were likely to be wholesale resignations in the Department. Both Richardson and Ruckelshaus urged Bork to stay, and Bork proceeded to fire Cox.
As a seventeen year old closely following these events, I was outraged. How could a President under investigation fire the investigator? How is it possible that we might never hear the truth about Watergate? After a summer when it became clear that there was wrongdoing in the White House, were they going to get away with it all?
They didn’t. The outrage I felt was shared by many members of Congress. They forced Nixon to accept the appointment of a new, more independent special prosecutor, Leon Jaworski. Jaworski took the White House to court for the tapes. The case went to the Supreme Court, who ordered their release. I had completed my senior year and graduated by that time, but before I started my freshman year at Denison University, the House prepared Impeachment charges, and Nixon resigned. My friends and I toasted with champagne.
This week the true Trump loyalists in Congress and the media began the drumbeat to fire Robert Mueller. They are “throwing the kitchen sink” at him: from Mueller exceeding his mandate by investigating Trump finances, to claims that the investigation is based on “poisonous fruit” evidence from the Steele Dossier, to attacking the entire Mueller team as “biased” against Trump (and for Hillary Clinton.)
Listening to the House Judiciary committee question FBI Director Christopher Wray today, it was clear that the “Freedom Caucus” (hard line conservative Republican House members, including Ohio’s Jim Jordan) are trying to build that case. Tonight it was announced that Devin Nunes, the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, currently recused from the investigation, has been cleared by the Ethics Committee and may return to the Chairmanship. This can only mean that the Republican leadership is joining in to obstruct the Committee’s work.
As Mueller is closing in on the Trump family, it is very likely that the President will attempt to fire him. The “groundwork” is already being laid. It will be just as ugly as it was in ’73. Attorney General Sessions is already recused from the process, and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein recently stated that Mueller is operating well within the parameters of his office. If Rosenstein resigns or is fired, Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand, a career Justice employee would be next.
Should she refuse to fire Mueller, next in line is Dana Boente, the US Attorney for Eastern Virginia. Boente has already tendered his resignation from the post, but is staying on until his replacement is confirmed. After Boente there are a series of other US Attorneys. Someone will fire Mueller.
If and when it happens, we will truly find out what our Congressmen and Senators are made of. While you can bet the Democrats will stand up to the President, the question is, will Republicans move to continue the investigation, or will they fall to the pressure of Presidential tweets and Republican donors. Watching them squirm with the Roy Moore issue, I certainly wouldn’t hold my breath.
So what’s left? In 2018 there is an election. Democrats gaining control of the House and the Senate would completely change the dynamics. It only takes a majority in the House of Representatives to impeach the President. And while it’s unlikely that Democrats will ever have a 2/3 majority needed to remove the President, a Democratic majority might make it easier for a few Republicans to be “profiles in courage.” Or perhaps at that point, President Trump will again mirror President Nixon’s actions and resign.
Move On has a series of demonstrations planned immediately if Mueller is fired. For more info check this link
https://act.moveon.org/event/mueller-firing-rapid-response-events/13341/attend/?action_id=232776203&akid=.3005449.9v8qRy&ar=1&rd=1&taf=1