Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said President Donald Trump would trigger "a cataclysm" if he fires Special Counsel Robert Mueller or pardons himself, even as one of the president's lawyers said pardons aren't being discussed.
Schumer said he can't imagine his Republican colleagues, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan, "just standing by" if Trump moves to dismiss Mueller or pardons himself or someone close to him who's under investigation.
"It would be one of the greatest, greatest breaking of rule of law, of traditional democratic norms of what our democracy is about," Schumer said on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday. "It would cause a cataclysm in Washington."
While the president has the constitutional power to grant pardons _ though the U.S. Supreme Court probably would have to decide whether he could pardon himself _ his legal team isn't having conversations with him about it, Jay Sekulow, one of Trump's personal attorneys, said on ABC.
"We're not researching the issue because the issue of pardons is not on the table," Sekulow said. "There's nothing to pardon from."
The president and members of his inner circle are facing Congressional and FBI investigations of possible collusion with Russia in its interference with the 2016 presidential election. Mueller is also examining a broad range of transactions involving Trump's businesses as well as those of his associates, a person familiar with the probe said.
