A close friend of President Trump said on Monday that the President is considering firing Robert Mueller, the special counsel who is leading the federal investigation into alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Chris Ruddy, CEO of Newsmax Media and a longtime Trump friend, told PBS’s Judy Woodruff that Trump is weighing whether to fire Mueller.
“I think he’s considering perhaps terminating the special counsel. I think he’s weighing that option,” Ruddy said on PBS NewsHour.
“I personally think it would be a very significant mistake,” Ruddy said, adding that he didn’t believe that a special counsel is justified in this case.
Ruddy’s comment comes a day after one of Trump’s attorneys, Jay Sekulow, failed to rule out the possibility that the president would fire the special counsel. Mueller was named as special counsel to oversee the Russia investigation in May.
Regarding Ruddy’s statement, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said: “Chris speaks for himself.”
Neither the White House nor the Justice Department immediately returned TIME’s requests for comment.
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Write to Mahita Gajanan at mahita.gajanan@time.com