GOP Rep. Charlie Dent: Trump's not acting 'like he's innocent'

Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) on Thursday suggested Donald Trump isn’t ‘acting’ like he’s innocent, telling CNN’s Kate Bolduan his effort to pass a bill to protect special counsel Robert Mueller is “sending a message” to the president.

Bolduan played a clip of Trump on Wednesday telling reporters Mueller and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein are “still here” despite reported efforts by the president to remove them from their roles.

Noting that Dent is the co-sponsor of a House bill to prevent Trump from firing Mueller, Bolduan asked if the president’s comments “change anything for you?”

“Well, look, the president should not fire Director Mueller, plain and simple,” Dent replied. “It would be terrible for country, bad for the American people, and—candidly—it would be bad for the president himself. This would be an Archibald Cox moment, a so-called Saturday Night Massacre.”

Dent argued the move “would impact Republicans in the midterm elections in very negative ways.”

“There is no good reason for him to fire director Mueller,” Dent continued. “It would certainly have an impact on the rule of law, people's confidence in our system of justice. So he needs to stop thinking about it.”

Dent added that if Trump “feels he’s innocent, he should act like he's innocent.”

“You don't think he's acting that way now?” Bolduan asked.

Dent cited a March interview with Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), during which the GOP congressman instructed Trump’s then-attorney John Dowd, 'If you have an innocent client ... act like it.”

“I think Trey Gowdy said it pretty well not too long ago,” Dent said. “The reason we introduced the legislation, we have no expectation that this legislation would become law. It would require presidential signature. We're sending a message—sending a message to the president that there are a number of us in both parties who think firing Director Mueller would be a mistake.”

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