Activists are calling for nationwide protests Thursday over fears that President Donald Trump is derailing the Mueller investigation.
On Wednesday, Attorney Jeff Sessions was ousted, putting his replacement, Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, in charge of the probe into Russian election interference and potential collusion by the Trump campaign. Whitaker has been outspoken in the past about his objection to the scope of Mueller’s investigation, and in 2017 outlined a scenario to reduce the probe’s funding “so low that his investigation grinds to almost a halt.”
Late Wednesday, a group of activist organizations under the banner “Nobody Is Above the Law” called for protests at 5 p.m. Thursday, local time, across the country. “Donald Trump has installed a crony to oversee the special counsel’s Trump-Russia investigation, crossing a red line set to protect the investigation,” the group said on its website. “Whitaker has publicly outlined strategies to stifle the investigation and cannot be allowed to remain in charge of it. The Nobody Is Above the Law network demands that Whitaker immediately commit not to assume supervision of the investigation. Our hundreds of response events are being launched to demonstrate the public demand for action to correct this injustice.”
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“This may be the first step in President Trump’s attempt to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller,” Noah Bookbinder, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said in a statement Wednesday. “Special Counsel Mueller must be allowed to continue the investigation without interference from Acting Attorney General Whitaker. Whitaker must assure the continued protection of the investigation immediately.”
The group claims to have 400,000 Americans in more than 900 cities ready to take to the streets in “nonviolent, peaceful action.”
It was unclear how many protesters may actually participate, or where. Inquiries to a number of large-city police departments regarding crowd-control preparations were not immediately answered.
