Donald Trump calls the investigation into his presidency the "single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history;" GOP Sen. John Thune of South Dakota flatly rejected that assertion Thursday morning on MSNBC’s Morning Joe:
“It’s not a witch hunt, no,” Thune said.
Thune went on to praise special counsel Robert Mueller as a "man of integrity," reports Matt Shuham:
"He is going to get to the bottom and he is going to find the facts, and I think that’s his role. And I think we ought to let him continue to do that and I assume at some point there will be an end to all this. He’ll have done his investigation and there will be whatever findings there are. [...] I think that he’s got a job to do. I think we all understand that. And I think it’s in everybody’s best interest if we let him do his job, and we do ours.”
And by "we all understand that," presumably, Thune didn't mean Trump.
But this does appear to be a potential emerging division between congressional Republicans and the White House—the sense that letting the investigation run its course might be the best course of action. Several congressional Republicans have expressed confidence in Mueller and suggested that firing him would be a bad idea—a potential warning shot to Trump even as Trump surrogates like Newt Gingrich have been smearing Mueller and his investigation.
The Senate also delivered Trump a blow Wednesday when it voted 97-2 to make it harder for Trump to lift sanctions against Russia that were put in place by President Obama. (The measure would still need to pass the House before going to Trump's desk.)
Whether this is the actual opening of a fissure or congressional Republicans will ultimately join Trump surrogates in maligning Mueller remains to be seen. But frankly, it could be dawning on some Republicans that letting Mueller actually proceed with the investigation takes the heat off them to do anything.
Or not. Only time will tell.