WASHINGTON - A group of conservative Republican lawmakers introduced a resolution on Friday calling for Robert Mueller to recuse himself as the special counsel investigating Russia's interference in the 2016 US election and whether President Donald Trump's campaign team colluded with Moscow. Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) and Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), introduced a measure that, while nonbinding, would put the House on record describing Mueller, a former FBI director, as unfit to lead the probe because of his relationship with James Comey, his successor at the bureau. Mueller is investigating whether any Americans aided Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election as well as whether figures in the Trump administration may have obstructed justice in part by moving to oust Comey in May, when the FBI’s Russia investigation was picking up steam. At the time of the probe, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller as special counsel, was a U.S. attorney and Mueller was FBI director. The move by the three lawmakers to seek Mueller’s resignation is a sign of intensifying frustration among Trump’s allies during the same week Mueller issued his first indictments in the probe: money laundering charges against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his deputy Rick Gates. Mueller also secured a guilty plea from George Papadopoulos, a low-level campaign foreign policy adviser, who lied to the FBI about his attempts to arrange a meeting between Russian officials and the Trump campaign. But the conservative push has worried some on the left, who are urging Democratic lawmakers to step up their defense of Mueller. “The heightened risk to Trump from Mueller’s investigation also means there is a heightened risk to the Mueller investigation from Trump.” 
 
 Other conservatives, like Reps. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) and Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.), have already called for Mueller’s departure. The proposed resolution comes just days after Mueller’s team announced the first charges in their investigation into Russian meddling and potential collusion with Trump campaign officials in the 2016 presidential election. “By silencing him, Obama’s Justice Department and Mueller’s FBI knowingly kept Congress in the dark about Russia’s significant and illegal involvement with American uranium companies.” 
 
 Gaetz said that due to these “deeply troubling” events, Mueller’s “impartiality is hopelessly compromised.” 
 
 
 
 “He must step down immediately,” Gaetz said Friday. Republicans want to know how that deal was approved despite the evidence gathered in the bribery probe. The three lawmakers say the agency should be investigated for “willful blindness” over a seven-year-old sale of uranium production facilities to Russian interests, which conservatives have argued was approved in part by the Hillary Clinton-led State Department at the same time a party to the deal was making donations to the Clinton Foundation.
– In a sign of just how frustrated some in the GOP are with special counsel Robert Mueller after "indictment week," three House Republicans introduced a measure Friday that would pressure Mueller to step down. The nonbinding measure, introduced by Reps. Matt Gaetz, Andy Biggs, and Louie Gohmert, would put the House on record as believing Mueller should resign because he's unfit to lead the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, Politico reports. Why? Due to "obvious conflicts of interest," including his relationship with James Comey, who succeeded him at the FBI and was later ousted from his post by President Trump; among other things, Mueller is investigating whether anyone in the Trump administration obstructed justice during that ouster. Per Fox News, the measure also makes note of Mueller's supervision of a bribery probe when he was FBI director that involved a Russian nuclear-energy company that got approval from US government agencies to buy a Canadian energy company that had mining operations in the US. "Evidence has emerged that the FBI withheld information from Congress and from the American people about Russian corruption of American uranium companies," Gaetz said in a statement wondering how the deal got US approval despite the bribery probe. The representatives say that's another reason Mueller should recuse himself as special counsel, as his "impartiality is hopelessly compromised." But, as multiple outlets including Business Insider note, most Republicans so far support keeping Mueller in place, including those in leadership positions.