Is President Trump Really Considering Firing Special Counsel Robert Mueller?
Andrew Blum, Principal, AJB CommunicationsRussia Crisis Strategy an Unfocused Mess: Bluster, a Real Plan or a Mix of the Two?In the latest chapter of Trump PR, a friend of the president suggested that he was considering firing Russia Special Counsel Robert Mueller.Just the suggestion sent the White House into a tizzy and talking heads and the Twitter-verse were left wondering if this was just another trial balloon. Did Trump really feel this way, as his friend Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy, said, or was this floated just for provocativeness sake?Let's back up and look at this: In what has become a three-ring PR circus, first a Trump friend goes on PBS to float the possible Mueller firing, then the White House backs off the idea of firing Mueller for now but says Trump has the right to do it. At the same time, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who wrote the memo to the President about firing FBI Director James Comey, says he – the Acting AG on Russia issues since AG Jeff Sessions has recused himself -- has the authority to fire Mueller. But he backed Mueller's independence.What the White House didn't do was pass all such questions to Trump's personal lawyer and a newly hired crisis PR spokesman for the lawyer. Instead it had Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders answer questions, and she said Trump has the right to fire Mueller but she added, "He has no intention to do so."If Mueller is fired on the heels of the Comey firing, does Trump think he can survive? Could he tweet back into good graces? Or would such a huge PR wound make him more unpopular than President Nixon when he fired Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox?At this moment – until the next development -- Trump and the Trump brand are like a piece of Teflon with a growing hole in it.The administration's Russia probe crisis communications strategy is deny, tweet, name-call, tweet and deny some more. And when appearing before Congress, like Sessions the other day, part of the strategy is just don't answer questions – period.One has to wonder if firing Mueller would sink Trump and his brand. It's not just Russia – there's a growing list of business conflicts and emoluments clause issues circling the President and the Trump organization.The president and his lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, have brought in Mark Corallo, a GOP PR expert nicknamed "the master of disaster." So far he handled PR when Kasowitz criticized the Congressional testimony given by Comey.An experienced crisis expert is exactly what Trump needs if he fires Mueller. But I don't think even that would stop the firestorm of a Mueller firing.There are too many people speaking out on Trump's team and some are out of touch with reality, like Ivanka Trump. She says she has been taken aback by the viciousness of her father's critics.Huh? Her father, Donald Trump, used viciousness as political art to win in 2016.Don't let Ivanka talk any more. And don't let her discuss Mueller. Leave that to the PR experts.[author]About the Author: Andrew Blum is a PR consultant and media trainer and principal of AJB Communications. He has directed PR for professional services and financial services firms, NGOs, agencies and other clients. As a PR executive, and formerly as a journalist, he has been involved on both sides of the media aisle in some of the most media intensive crises of the past 25 years. Contact him at ajbcomms@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter: @ajbcomms[/author]
