Democrats are planning for the possibility that President Donald Trump might try to shut down the special counsel investigation into Russia after they took control of the House of Representatives in Tuesday's midterm elections.
The "Break the Glass" plan
According to Politico, Democrats will immediately send a summons to special counsel Robert Mueller to testify in nationally televised hearings before Congress if the president fires top Justice Department officials.
The tactic would be employed to thwart the president if he attempts to end the probe into Russian election interference and alleged collusion with the Trump campaign.
“I think you could expect Democrats to take pieces of what they shut down and expose it publicly,” said a Democratic policy adviser to Politico.
“This is a report paid for with taxpayer dollars," they added. "So taxpayers would have a right to know what Mr. Mueller found.”
Democrats could also use the subpoena power of the House to reveal Mueller's findings to the public in the occasion Trump tried to stop the probe from moving forward.
Senator Dick Blumenthal also revealed to MSNBC that he had been working on a "break a glass" option to protect Mueller's work and preserve the findings of the investigation.
Democrats feel a sense of urgency about Mueller's investigation after the president asked for and received a resignation from U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions the day after the midterm elections. Trump had criticized Sessions for recusing himself from the special counsel probe, prompting many to believe he was trying to get the investigation shut down.
The Politico report was published before the White House announced that Sessions had handed in his resignation as the Attorney General.
Here's the report from MSNBC on the "Plan B" Mueller plot:
Carlos Garcia
Staff Writer