--- title: Jimmy Kimmel Spoofs Trump on Robert Mueller description: "He’s running the White House by the exact same rules of The Apprentice," said Jimmy Kimmel about Donald Trump canonical: https://time.com/5120341/jimmy-kimmel-trump-mueller/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-01-26T16:01:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:22.250Z og:title: Jimmy Kimmel to Trump: "You Can't Just Fire Every Guy" og:description: "He’s running the White House by the exact same rules of The Apprentice." og:url: https://time.com/5120341/jimmy-kimmel-trump-mueller/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jimmy Kimmel to Trump: "You Can't Just Fire Every Guy" twitter:description: "He’s running the White House by the exact same rules of The Apprentice." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Jimmy Kimmel to Donald Trump 'You Can't Just Fire Every Guy Who Investigates You' > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=bf9b476b-9813-4178-9737-b8ea3faa2524&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Legal Answers to Questions About Donald Trump and Robert Mueller [Watch (HLS stream): Legal Answers to Questions About Donald Trump and Robert Mueller](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/u2St1GOu.m3u8) (1:58)  _Published 2017-06-22. It's a deceptively simple question. Can Donald Trump fire Robert Mueller?_ by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jan 26, 2018 4:01 PM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jan 26, 2018 4:01 PM UTC Jimmy Kimmel thinks [Donald Trump](http://time.com/5117121/donald-trump-impeachment-tom-steyer-interview/?xid=homepage) picked up a few too many leadership tips during his time on _The Apprentice_. On Thursday’s episode of _Jimmy Kimmel Live!_, the host told his audience about the _New York Times_ latest “[story](http://time.com/5119872/donald-trump-fire-robert-mueller/?iid=sr-link1)”, which was published minutes before Kimmel’s show aired. “They reported the president ordered White House counsel Don McGahn to [fire Robert Mueller](http://time.com/5119027/robert-mueller-trump-investigation/?iid=sr-link2), who of course is running the Russia investigation, but then backed off when McGahn threatened to quit if he did,” Kimmel said. “And still might be a disaster now that this information has been released. Because you can’t just fire every guy who investigates you,” Kimmel added. “I mean, essentially he’s running the White House by the exact same rules of _The Apprentice_. He’s like, ‘Nobody had a problem when I fired Meatloaf!’.” Kimmel thought that Trump would have learned his lesson about firing people, after what happened when he let go of FBI Director James Comey. “You know the last time Trump fired someone from the FBI it was Jim Comey, and it led to [Robert Mueller](http://time.com/5117627/donald-trump-robert-mueller-interview-looking-forward/?iid=sr-link3) getting hired,” Kimmel said. “If he fires Mueller, maybe they’ll put special investigator Hillary Clinton on the case. Who knows?” ## Transcript It's a deceptively simple question. Can Donald Trump fire Robert Mueller? I think he's considering perhaps terminating the special counsel. The president is clearly unhappy that the former head of the FBI was appointed as a special counsel, but some major legal questions surround what might happen next. [ MUSIC ] Trump can't fire Mueller directly but he could order the deputy attorney general who oversees the investigation to do it and if Rod Rosenstein said no Trump could fire him and pressure the next person in line. This is what Richard Nixon did during Watergate in the infamous Saturday Night Massacre. Alternately Trump could repeal the regulations around special counsels then fire Mueller himself. Though that would likely draw even more criticism. [ MUSIC ] Trump may not have to fire Rosenstein though. He might step down on his own accord. The deputy attorney general could decide he was too involved in things Mueller is investigating and recuse himself. In that case, the decisions on how to handle the special counsel's investigation Would fall to Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand, who worked in the Justice Department under George W. Bush. [ MUSIC ] It's not clear if the president can be indicted while in office. The general argument is that any suspected crimes are a political question that should be resolved by the impeachment process. White House lawyers have typically argued that the president can't be indicted, but admit the text of the Constitution doesn't answer the question. The Justice Department has argued both sides in legal briefs over the years, and the Supreme Court has never ruled definitively on the subject. Either way, the question of Trump's future as president would still rest with Congress, which alone has the power to remove him from office [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5120341/jimmy-kimmel-trump-mueller/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5120341/jimmy-kimmel-trump-mueller/"},"headline":"Jimmy Kimmel to Donald Trump 'You Can't Just Fire Every Guy Who Investigates You'","datePublished":"2018-01-26T16:01:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:47:22.250Z","description":"\"He’s running the White House by the exact same rules of The Apprentice,\" Kimmel said of Trump","url":"https://time.com/5120341/jimmy-kimmel-trump-mueller/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","Jimmy Kimmel","jimmy kimmel live","Late Night Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5120341/jimmy-kimmel-trump-mueller/","name":"Jimmy Kimmel to Donald Trump 'You Can't Just Fire Every Guy Who Investigates You'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Legal Answers to Questions About Donald Trump and Robert Mueller","description":"It's a deceptively simple question. 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