McConnell Won't Let Senate Vote on Bill to Safeguard Mueller

"I'm the one who decides what we take to the floor," Mitch McConnell said Tuesday in a Fox News interview during which he explained that bipartisan legislation intended to safeguard special counsel Robert Mueller from being fired by President Trump won't make the cut. "We will not be having this on the floor of the Senate," he said, and his reasoning is that it's superfluous, reports the Guardian. The Senate majority leader says he doesn't think Trump will fire Mueller, which makes the so-called Special Counsel Independence and Integrity Act unnecessary—and, beyond that, one Trump would never sign even if it was passed, he says.

The Senate judiciary committee still plans to review the bill, which would grant a fired special counsel an expedited judicial review of the termination within a 10-day period. The judges would have to determine the "good-cause requirement" was met in order for the termination to stand. But the AP notes that many of the 11 Republicans on the committee haven't warmed to the bill, with three saying they'll vote against it and five questioning its constitutionality. One of those committee Republicans, Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy, described the bill like so: "It's about as popular as cholera with the leader in the Senate and it's about as popular as malaria in the House. I think most people think we're picking an unnecessary fight with the president." (More Robert Mueller stories.)