--- title: Former Justice Officials Sign Bob Mueller Letter description: Nearly 500 former DOJ employees are calling on Congress to protect the Special Counsel from Trump canonical: https://time.com/5241458/robert-mueller-fired-justice-department-employees/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-04-16T15:10:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T19:58:54.682Z article:section: Politics og:title: Former Justice Department Employees Ask Congress to Act 'Forcefully' If Robert Mueller Is Fired og:description: Nearly 500 people have signed the letter. og:url: https://time.com/5241458/robert-mueller-fired-justice-department-employees/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbbdaa9f39ae9d658/69892ca5db29873f4625f47b/gettyimages-170442336.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: FBI Director Mueller Testifies Before Senate Judiciary Committee og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Former Justice Department Employees Ask Congress to Act 'Forcefully' If Robert Mueller Is Fired twitter:description: Nearly 500 people have signed the letter. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbbdaa9f39ae9d658/69892ca5db29873f4625f47b/gettyimages-170442336.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Nearly 500 Former Justice Department Employees Ask Congress to Act 'Forcefully' If Trump Fires Robert Mueller > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Apr 16, 2018 3:10 PM UTC  Former FBI Director Robert Mueller testifies during a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee in Washington, DC on June 13, 2013. Former FBI Director Robert Mueller testifies during a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee in Washington, DC on June 13, 2013. Alex Wong—Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Apr 16, 2018 3:10 PM UTC Nearly 500 former Department of Justice employees have signed on to a statement calling on Congress to “[swiftly and forcefully” intervene](https://medium.com/@dojalumni/doj-alumni-statement-regarding-rod-rosenstein-robert-mueller-and-the-rule-of-law-dcf12d7bb3a6) if President Trump moves to oust Special Counsel Robert Mueller. First published on Friday, the letter has since garnered 496 signatures. Concern about the future of Special Counsel Mueller, who is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing that investigation, has grown in the past week as Trump has publicly fumed over [a raid on his attorney Michael Cohen’s office and hotel room](http://time.com/5237454/donald-trump-relied-on-michael-cohen-to-weather-the-storm/). In the statement, which was published on [Medium](https://medium.com/@dojalumni/doj-alumni-statement-regarding-rod-rosenstein-robert-mueller-and-the-rule-of-law-dcf12d7bb3a6), former Justice officials say they have been “deeply disturbed” by the President’s attacks on the Department of Justice. “Not only is it an insult to their public service, but any attempt to corrupt or undermine the even-handed application of the rule of law threatens the foundation of our Republic,” the letter reads. The Justice alum say that it is on elected officials to reject any attempt by the White House to interfere with the work of Department officials. “But it is up to the rest of us, and especially our elected representatives, to come to their defense and oppose any attempt by the President or others to improperly interfere in the Department’s work, including by firing either Mr. Mueller, Mr. Rosenstein or other Department leadership or officials for the purpose of interfering in their investigations,” the letter continues. “Should the President take such a step, we call on Congress to swiftly and forcefully respond to protect the founding principles of our Republic and the rule of law.” The President has been furious in the wake of an Federal Bureau of Investigations raid on Cohen’s home and work. While federal prosecutors in New York obtained and carried out the warrant to raid Cohen’s office, it was reportedly done on a referral from the Special Counsel. Since, Trump has harshly criticized [Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Rosenstein](http://time.com/5235942/donald-trump-fbi-raid-michael-cohen/), railed against the FBI, and tweeted that “attorney client privilege is now a thing of the past.” The White House has also said the President believes he has the power to fire Mueller. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/985502053345751040) Congress has taken some steps to protect the Special Counsel should Trump move to fire him. Last week, a bipartisan group of Senators introduced legislation that would ensure that the Special Counsel could only be fired by a senior Justice Department official and allow the Counsel to contest the firing before a federal judge. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5241458/robert-mueller-fired-justice-department-employees/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5241458/robert-mueller-fired-justice-department-employees/"},"headline":"Nearly 500 Former Justice Department Employees Ask Congress to Act 'Forcefully' If Trump Fires Robert Mueller","datePublished":"2018-04-16T15:10:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T19:58:54.682Z","description":"Nearly 500 former DOJ employees are calling on Congress to protect the Special Counsel from Trump","url":"https://time.com/5241458/robert-mueller-fired-justice-department-employees/","keywords":["justice","White House","Department of Justice","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbbdaa9f39ae9d658/69892ca5db29873f4625f47b/gettyimages-170442336.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbbdaa9f39ae9d658/69892ca5db29873f4625f47b/gettyimages-170442336.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"FBI Director Mueller Testifies Before Senate Judiciary Committee","caption":"FBI Director Mueller Testifies Before Senate Judiciary Committee","creditText":"Alex Wong—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"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":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/justice/","name":"justice"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5241458/robert-mueller-fired-justice-department-employees/","name":"Nearly 500 Former Justice Department Employees Ask Congress to Act 'Forcefully' If Trump Fires Robert Mueller"}}]}] ```