The idea that the president might try to fire a special counsel who is investigating some of the president’s associates (if not the president himself) may seem far-fetched, but we’ve seen this before. During the height of the Watergate scandal, President Richard Nixon ordered his attorney general, Elliot Richardson, to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox. (Adriana Usero/The Washington Post)As Neal Katyal explained in The Post, a president who wants a special counsel removed has the power to make this happen. The regulations governing the special counsel were promulgated in 1999. In the alternative, Katyal explains, “Trump could order the special-counsel regulations repealed and then fire Mueller himself.” Further, as Josh Blackman explains, there’s an argument that the 1999 special counsel regulations would not bind the president anyway.

Source: Washington Post June 13, 2017 13:18 UTC