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United States President Donald Trump is reportedly considering sacking Robert Mueller — the special independent counsel appointed to investigate allegations of Russian meddling in last year's US election — according to a friend and close confidant to the President.
Chief executive of the conservative Newsmax media, Christopher Ruddy, has told PBS Television that Mr Trump is weighing the possibility of sacking Mr Mueller, a former director of the FBI who was appointed as special counsel on May 17.
Mr Ruddy said he spoke to the President on Friday.
"I think he's considering perhaps terminating the special counsel. I think he's weighing that option," Mr Ruddy said on PBS NewsHour.
Justice Department regulations show the President does not have direct power to sack a special counsel, but the Attorney-General does, meaning Mr Trump could simply order acting Attorney-General Rod Rosenstein to sack Mr Mueller instead.
Indeed it was a recommendation from Mr Rosenstein last month that led Mr Trump to sack then-FBI director James Comey.
It was Mr Rosenstein who appointed Mr Mueller to the job in the first place, since he took carriage of the Russia investigation from the Attorney-General Jeff Sessions, who was forced to recuse himself because of his own contacts with Russian officials in the lead-up to last year's US election.
Lawyer Jay Sekulow, a member of Mr Trump's legal team, has also refused to rule out Mr Mueller's possible sacking.
Asked on the American ABC's This Week program whether the President would promise not to interfere or order Mr Mueller's sacking, Mr Sekulow said: "Look, the President of the United States, as we all know, is a unitary executive. But the President is going to seek the advice of his counsel and inside the government as well as outside. And I'm not going to speculate on what he will or will not do.
"If there was a basis upon which there was a question that raised the kind of issues that are serious, as in the situation with James Comey, the President has authority to take action.
"Whether he would do it is ultimately a decision the president makes."
Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff has publicly warned Mr Trump that Congress would find a way to reappoint Mr Mueller if he was sacked.
Mr Rosenstein has also acknowledged that "theoretically" Mr Mueller could be removed from the position as special counsel, potentially undermining his investigation.
But he told the Senate Intelligence committee last week that was unlikely, on the grounds of the integrity of Mr Mueller, acting FBI director Andrew McCabe and himself.
Nevertheless, if Mr Rosenstein refused to sack Mr Mueller, the President could just replace him with another Attorney-General who would.
And the President has no shortage of reasons for wanting the special investigation shut down.
Mr Trump claimed he had been personally vindicated by Mr Comey's testimony last week confirming that he was not under investigation himself for links to Russia.
And given both men have accused each other of lying, Mr Trump's offer to testify before Mr Mueller could set up a scenario where the President himself is accused of perjury.
It would be one man's word against the other.
Mr Comey at least has the advantage of having documented their meetings soon after they had finished.
But the White House has now admitted there were no tapes of their conversations after all.
Questions surrounding Comey's testimony
Justice Department regulations stipulate that a special counsel can be fired only for "misconduct, dereliction of duty, incapacity, conflict of interest, or for other good cause", but there may already be such grounds to remove Mr Mueller as special counsel.
Lawyer Jay Sekulow has questioned the appropriateness of Mr Mueller's actions in reviewing Mr Comey's testimony against Mr Trump last week, before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
"You look at the issue and say then 'what is the role of the special counsel here?' And the special counsel allowed James Comey to testify," Mr Sekulow said.
"James Comey said he reviewed his testimony with the special counsel and … it's unusual to me … that you have a situation — I think this is unprecedented — where the testimony was reviewed. It was then discussed and then … a large part [of that testimony] was based on leaked information."
Mr Ruddy has also accused Mr Mueller of a conflict of interest, revealing the former FBI director was a candidate to replace Mr Comey and was interviewed by Mr Trump only days before he was appointed as special independent counsel.
Mr Ruddy said Mr Mueller's law firm also represented members of the Trump family.
"I think it would be strange that he would have a confidential conversation and then a few days later become the prosecutor of the person he may be investigating," Mr Ruddy told PBS NewsHour.
"I think that Mueller should not have taken the position [as special counsel] if he was under consideration [as FBI director] and had a private meeting with the President and was privy to some of his thoughts about that investigation or other matters before the bureau."
Mr Trump is yet to comment publicly on the matter and White House spokesman Sean Spicer has told Washington media Mr Mueller's sacking is unlikely.
Then again, Mr Comey's sacking was equally unexpected and Mr Trump's unconvincing explanations afterward about why he was sacked suggest anything is possible.
Topics: world-politics, donald-trump, united-states