Richard Durbin: Don’t use memo to fire Rosenstein, Mueller

Senate Minority Whip Richard J. Durbin warned President Trump and his GOP allies on Sunday not to use a bombshell memo on the FBI’s snooping powers to upend independent probes into Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign, saying it could spark a “constitutional crisis.”

Mr. Durbin, Illinois Democrat, said he’s concerned that Mr. Trump will use the Republican-drafted memo to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the scope of the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into Russia’s actions and whether the Trump campaign coordinated with the foreign actors.

“To say that that’s the end of the investigation, that this is all that Donald Trump needs to fire Rosenstein or to fire Bob Mueller, I’ll just tell you, this could precipitate a constitutional crisis,” Mr. Durbin told CNN’s State of the Union.

The House Intelligence Committee released a memo Friday that details the FBI’s decision to rely in part on material compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele — an investigator paid by Democrats and the Hillary Clinton campaign — to apply in October 2016 for a secret surveillance warrant against Carter Page, a former adviser to the Trump campaign.

It also explores the role of top Justice Department officials in renewing those snooping powers.

Republicans say the Clinton connection shows extreme bias and was concealed from the court.

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Mr. Durbin argued the Steele dossier is just one piece of evidence in a broad and complicated puzzle, and that its credibility will be vetted by law enforcement, judges and possibly a jury.

“If the House Republicans believe they’ve set the stage for this president to end this investigation, they are basically saying that in America, one man is above the law,” Mr. Durbin said. “And that’s not a fact. We have to make sure we explore all the possibilities and all the evidence.”