GOP Lawmaker Takes Step Toward Killing Mueller Probe

Rep. Ron DeSantis suggests investigation is a 'fishing expedition'
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 29, 2017 9:13 AM CDT
GOP Lawmaker Takes Step Toward Killing Mueller Probe
House Judiciary Committee member Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla. testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 24, 2016.   (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

A Florida Republican is looking to halt funding for Robert Mueller's special investigation into ties between Donald Trump's presidential campaign and Russia and bar review of all matters before Trump's campaign kicked off. The amendment put forth by Rep. Ron DeSantis would block Mueller from investigating "matters occurring before June 2015" and end funding for the probe 180 days after the amendment is passed, reports the Hill. DeSantis says the order appointing the special counsel "didn't identify a crime to be investigated and practically invites a fishing expedition" and that "Congress should use its spending power to clarify the scope and limit the duration of this investigation," per Politico.

The amendment by DeSantis—who some suspect will run for governor of Florida in 2018, per Florida Politics—is just one of hundreds attached to the government spending bill and may never make it through committees. The House Rules Committee, Politico notes, has freedom to strike out amendments it deems improper. The bill will be reviewed after lawmakers return from a recess next week. While House members have been away, Mueller has apparently been busy. His investigators are allegedly focused on whether Trump helped construct a "knowingly false statement" that aimed to hide the true purpose of the meeting between a Russian lawyer and Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort, reports NBC News. (More Russia stories.)

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