Where will you be when Mueller is fired?

By Anya Tikka
MILFORD — The resistance in Milford is preparing for the day, should it come, that President Trump moves to get rid of Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
“It’s to express outrage and to save our democracy," said Ed Gragert of Milford, chair of the Delaware Valley Democratic Committee, which is organizing a rally in Milford just in case. "We’re talking about action that’s clearly obstruction of justice, one branch of the government not respecting the other branch of government, Department of Justice.”
The rally is part of a nationwide effort by moveon.org called "Nobody’s above the law." Mueller's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election has already racked up four indictments. As it closes in on Trump's inner circle, the investigation has drawn such intense fire from the president and his supporters, many watchers believe a firing may be coming.
Mueller was appointed by the deputy attorney general after Trump fired FBI chief James Comey in May.
The rally will take place if Mueller is actually fired, something Gragert said he hopes will not happen.
“He can’t fire Mueller," Gragert said. "He can order Mueller’s boss to fire him, but if he refused do it, then he has to fire that person and find someone else to put in as the acting boss. That’s the process that would have to happen, and that would be a Saturday night massacre, like what happened with Watergate.”
But he hopes the organization of protest rallies across the country will prevent it from happening.
“I would hope when they see in Washington how much action is being organized that it will itself prevent it from happening," said Gragert. "I’d like the members of Congress and others to see how strongly disgruntled citizens in small towns and big cities feel about this and that they would then take action to protect our constitutional system.”
If the firing does happen, the Milford group will meet at the county courthouse on Broad Street.
“If it happens before 2 p.m., the rally will happen at 5 p.m., and if it happens after 2 p.m., then it will happen the following morning," Gragert said.
The group held a vigil on the same spot in August, in a stand unified against bigotry and hatred after the tragic white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va.
Support for this movement is growing, Gragert said.
“There’s a community that’s developed that’s not going to tolerate the agenda of Washington, DC," he said. "People are coming together. We took part in the Women’s March last year, and will go to Philadelphia on January 20 for Women’s March Two in a bus.”
Gragert been in touch with sister organizations, in Stroudsburg and Scranton’s NEPA Action Together.
“We now have a developing community,” he said, sometimes between individuals and sometimes among groups. Coordination is growing.
While Gragert doesn’t know how many people are coming to the rally if it happens, he said many individuals have contacted him directly after signing up to express their support.