Trump Suggests Outlawing Special Counsel Investigations: ‘We Can Never Let This Happen’ Again

Trump Suggests Outlawing Special Counsel Investigations: ‘We Can Never Let This Happen’ Again

President Trump and his defenders have apparently decided that the most important takeaway from Robert Mueller’s report is that American presidents need to be insulated even further from accountability for possibly committing crimes.

Trump made the case early Monday afternoon in comments from the Oval Office. The president, sitting next to Bibi Netanyahu, told the assembled press corps that regarding the investigation of whether he colluded with Russia to meddle in the 2016 election, “It was a false narrative. It was a terrible thing. We can never let this happen to another president again.”

He added, “I can tell you that and I say it very strongly. Very few people I know could have handled it. We can never, ever let this happen to another president again.”

Trump’s defenders have been making the same argument, but it is unclear what it means. We do know that Attorney General Bill Barr believes in a president having expansive powers, or the “unitary executive” theory of the presidency. It would not be a surprise if the administration pushes for changes to the special counsel statute in a way that protects future presidents from being investigated, no matter what they are suspected of doing.

Watch the clip above, via MSNBC.

Gary Legum

Gary Legum has written about politics and culture for Independent Journal Review, Salon, The Daily Beast, Wonkette, AlterNet and McSweeney's, among others. He currently lives in his native state of Virginia.

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