Trump’s Religious Right backers are doing everything they can to amplify Trump’s ongoing campaign to discredit Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 elections. The latest example appeared this morning from the American Family Association’s Walker Wildmon, who described the investigation as “a complete fishing expedition with the sole purpose of placing a cloud over Donald Trump’s presidency.” Later in his post he wrote that the investigation was begun “by corrupt Obama officials” to “bring down the Trump presidency.”
Wildmon also took a poke at one of Trump’s favorite punching bags, Attorney General Jeff Sessions. “Where is Jeff Sessions?” asked the headline of Wildmon’s post. Wildmon claimed that those inside the DOJ, including Sessions, “had to have known that the Russia investigation was rotten at its core.”
“Why did Jeff Sessions remove himself from arguably the most important case before his own department?” Wildmon asked. There’s no clear answer, he says, but he finds it “highly likely” that Sessions was given bad recusal advice from “Obama holdovers” in the Justice Department.
One purpose of the Religious Right campaign, like a parallel campaign in other right-wing media, is to create an audience prepared to support Trump if he moves against Robert Mueller. Wildmon said in today’s post that because Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is “apparently unwilling to reel in a corrupt and biased investigation, the only option left is for President Trump to fire Robert Mueller via his executive authority.”
Also playing his part is Pastor Robert Jeffress, one of Trump’s most enthusiastic and vocal Religious Right cheerleaders. Jeffress said last week that Trump or Congress should force an end to Mueller’s investigation, saying that the benefit would be worth the political cost. “Yes, the president or Congress will be criticized for ending the investigation,” he said, “but like lancing a boil, short-term pain is necessary for long-term healing.”
Among Trump’s other Religious Right boosters is Jerry Falwell, Jr. who has retweeted and echoed a number of Trump’s recent complaints about the investigation, including Trump’s Monday morning rant about “the totally conflicted and discredited Mueller Witch Hunt”—with Falwell adding a call for the FISA judges themselves to be investigated for corruption.
Anti-gay activist Matt Barber also weighed in this week, urging Trump to fire Rosenstein and have the Justice Department start prosecuting Obama administration DOJ officials.
