On Sunday, one of President Donald Trump’s attorneys suggested that the president felt it necessary, he might fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who was appointed to look into possible connections between the Trump administration and Russia.

Appearing on This Week, Jay Sekulow, a member of Trump’s legal team, was asked if the president might dismiss Mueller. He replied:

“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.”

Sekulow then attempted to pivot and said:

“But right now the role of the president is to govern the United States of America. He’s going to do that. He’s going to leave anything else to the lawyers. But I can’t imagine that that issue is going to arise. But that again is an issue that the president with his advisers would discuss if there was a basis.”

On Friday, Trump said he was “100 percent” willing to testify under oath if Mueller requested it. So why this retreat from one of his lawyers just 48 hours later? Sekulow also commented on the possibility of the president testifying:

“Well, the president made that very clear. He has made the statement of what he would do as far as testimony if that’s necessary. I find it ironic that people are questioning the president when he said he would do that, yet Secretary Clinton, when she was under investigation by James Comey, was not put under oath. I find that ironic.”

If Trump does indeed seek to remove the special counsel from the Russia investigation, it would create a Constitutional crisis similar to the one which occurred when Richard Nixon dismissed Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox in 1973. That act led to articles of impeachment being drawn up against Nixon, who eventually resigned in disgrace.

This article was originally published by the same author at LiberalAmerica.org