Former Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday joined a growing chorus of Democrats and Trump critics complaining that Republicans were attempting to take out Special Counsel Robert Mueller by exposing members of his team’s animus towards President Donald Trump.
Eric Holder tweeted on Thursday: “Speaking on behalf of the vast majority of the American people, Republicans in Congress be forewarned: any attempt to remove Bob Mueller will not be tolerated. These are BS attacks on him/his staff that are blatantly political-designed to hide the real wrongdoing. Country not party.”
He and other Trump critics argue that Republicans are trying to remove Mueller the closer he gets to the president’s inner circle. However, they have ignored significant revelations in recent days showing that certain members of his team — high-ranking FBI officials — not only loathed Trump but discussed “a path” to stop his election.
“I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy’s office — that there’s no way [Trump] gets elected — but I’m afraid we can’t take that risk,” senior FBI official Peter Strzok texted August 15, 2016, to senior FBI official Lisa Page, with whom he was having an extramarital affair. “It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you’re 40,” he added. The messages were released by the Justice Department to journalists on Tuesday.
Strzok was removed from the Mueller team in July after those messages were found. He had also played a key role in exonerating Clinton and had signed off on the FBI’s Russia investigation.
Republicans argue that Strzok and Page’s text messages, along with revelations that other members of the team had been staunchly pro-Hillary Clinton or had worked for her in the past, make the team biased against Trump.
They argue that Mueller should either wrap up his investigation or be removed.