Local protests planned if president moves against special counsel

SEATTLE — Seattle is ready to pull the trigger on protests if President Donald Trump takes action to get special counsel Robert Mueller fired. KIRO 7 looked at the four actions that would push people into the streets of Seattle, within just 24 hours.

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Activists in Seattle have been planning for nearly a year to launch a demonstration if Mueller is let go. There is still the question of whether the president actually has the authority to fire Mueller.

A local constitutional expert says legal experts are in agreement that the president cannot fire Robert Mueller on his own, but he can search to find someone who will.  And activists we spoke to today say they are ready.

"It's an attack on our country," said Trump, in what seemed to be a signal that he might finally make good on his long-standing threat to get rid of special counsel Robert Mueller.

It certainly seemed that way to Kati Wilkins of Indivisible Seattle.

It is really concerning," said Wilkins. "And we get really concerned that he's actually going to do it every time we make, we hear these comments."

But Wilkins and several activists are working to put those concerns into action.

"And everybody's pretty much ready to go on it," said Wilkins. "It's a very rapid response." 

Indeed, that is the plan, says Kati Wilkins. She spoke outside the Henry M. Jackson federal building in downtown Seattle where the activists would all gather.

She says there are four actions could trigger a mass protest: If the president fires Attorney General Jeff Sessions; if he fires the Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein; if he then finds someone to fire Mueller; or if he pardons former administration officials like General Michael Flynn.

The groups would put out the call. Wilkins says they believe thousands will come.

"Yeah, we absolutely think it will be a large event," she said.

The president's spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said the president believes he can fire the special counsel.

But constitutional law expert Jeffrey Needle insists no U.S. president can fire a special counsel.

"I don't care what Sarah Huckabee says," Needle said. "I don't care what Donald Trump actually thinks. Donald Trump does not have the lawful authority to fire the special prosecutor by himself. Only somebody in the justice department has that authority."

Needle pointed to the regulations governing under the special counsel law.

"The special counsel may be disciplined or removed from office only by personal action of the attorney general," Needle read.

And even then, he said, the attorney general could fire the special counsel only if he believes he is guilty of misconduct, dereliction of duty, incapacity, conflict of interest or for other good cause.

Still, the president could insist.

"I suspect that Donald Trump will eventually find someone to do his bidding in the chain of command," said Needle. "And then all hell breaks loose. And moveon.org goes crazy. And everybody hits the streets.

This is how the activists say it will work: If they get the word before 2 p.m. Pacific time, the protest will begin at 5 o'clock that night. If it comes after 2, the protest will start the very next day at noon.

They will march from Cal Anderson Park to the Federal Building on 2nd Avenue.

Cox Media Group