The unlikely intercession of White House Counsel Don McGahn apparently stopped President Trump from firing Robert Mueller last summer; now it’s time for citizen action and members of Congress to make sure Trump doesn’t try it again.

Multiple news outlets are reporting today that Trump issued a fire Mueller order in June, a few weeks after the former FBI director took charge of the Justice Department’s investigation of the Trump campaign’s possible collusion in Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election.

Trump reportedly backed off after McGahn threatened to resign rather than carry out the firing order.

Since then, the Mueller investigation has only moved closer to the president. Trump’s former campaign manager is under indictment; his former national security adviser has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with prosecutors; the White House has acknowledged that more than 20 members of Trump’s staff have been interviewed by investigators. And Mueller reportedly is negotiating for an interview with Trump himself.

Tell your senators: Put country over party. Protect the Mueller investigation.

The president clearly has plenty of reason to worry that he’s in Mueller’s sights. And having come to the brink of firing Mueller once, there’s every reason he’ll lash out again.

So Congress needs to act – now – on a pair of bills that would insulate the special counsel’s investigation. The sponsors of that legislation, Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-CT; Cory Booker, D-NJ; Chris Coons, D-De; Lindsey Graham, R-SC; Thom Tillis, R-NC; and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-RI, talked tough when the bills were introduced last summer but have made no apparent progress in resolving roughly minor differences between them

That must change. Our government rests on the principle that no one, not even the president, is above the law. It’s up to us to see that the principle is enforced.

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