#ProtectMueller Protest Held In Chicago After Sessions Fired

CHICAGO — More than 1,000 protests, organized by progressive activist group MoveOn, were held across the country —including in Chicago — Thursday in response to President Donald Trump's firing of Jeff Sessions, his embattled attorney general. (Sessions says he resigned, but according to the Washington Post, he was forced out.) The protest began at 5 p.m. at Federal Plaza in downtown Chicago at 219 S. Dearborn.

With the appointment of Matthew Whitaker, Session's chief of staff, as acting attorney general, activists have called the move a blatant attempt to obstruct an ongoing investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Whitaker has publicly criticized the Mueller investigation, echoing Trump in saying that looking into the president's finances would be a "red line" and laying out a plan to defund the Mueller probe during a 2017 appearance on CNN.

"So I could see a scenario where Jeff Sessions is replaced with a recess appointment," Whitaker said, according to the Washington Post. "And that attorney general doesn't fire Bob Mueller, but he just reduces his budget to so low that his investigation grinds to almost a halt."

Activists say they fear that's exactly what is happening, and held the protest Thursday afternoon to let the president know they find it unacceptable.

"Trump has triggered a serious constitutional crisis and that is why MoveOn has gone forward with the #NotAboveTheLaw #ProtectMueller protests nationwide," the organizers said in a statement. "We know everyone is tired, the weather will probably be lousy, parking downtown kind of sucks, and it's a difficult time of day. But that's how democracy dies — when complacency and convenience are more powerful than responding to an existential crisis for our nation. Come take a stand against abuse of power!"

J. Ryne Danielson contributed to this report.

Top photo courtesy of Jason Lazott.