Protestors Hold Silver Spring Rally To Protect Mueller Probe

SILVER SPRING, MD — Protestors held a rally Thursday night in Silver Spring to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.

The protest, which is a nationwide "rapid response" effort that includes more than 900 protests across the country, comes after President Donald Trump fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Wednesday. Activists held a second Montgomery County protest in Rockville.

Led by the activist group MoveOn, local protestors convened at Silver Spring Civic Center Plaza around 5 p.m. Demonstrators said they were worried that the integrity of the Mueller probe would be compromised by Matthew Whitaker, who is replacing Sessions and overseeing the investigation.

"We're asking that Congress immediately passes legislation to protect Special Counsel Mueller," Joanne Antoine, a member of the grassroots organization called Common Cause Maryland, said.

"We also demand that Congress immediately investigate any and all efforts to obstruct justice and abuse power. And we want to make sure that Trump's new hand-picked attorney general basically cannot oversee the Mueller investigation," Antoine added. "We want [Whitaker] to immediately recuse himself."

Antoine said Common Cause Maryland was one of the groups to reach out to activists, like Eric Silberman, and to take part in this nationwide effort.

"There's only so much you can do online, at home, individually, behind a screen," Silberman, one of the protest's organizers, said. "You got to bring people together."

Joining the protestors Thursday was Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen.

"We all know the answer to the question why President Trump is doing this," Sen. Van Hollen told the crowd. "He's doing this because he's afraid of what the independent investigation that Mueller will conclude and find. He's afraid that the Mueller investigation will conclude that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians. He's afraid that the Mueller investigation will determine that the president of the United States is engaged in the obstruction of justice."

"That is what's going on because we have a simple question: if that's not the case, why are you going to such great lengths to impede the investigation, right? It's a very simple question," Sen. Van Hollen added. "You've got nothing to fear if you've got nothing to hide. What are you hiding, President Trump?"

Like the senator, Nancy Rappaport, a protestor at the event, believes Mueller should be able to continue conducting the investigation without any delays. Rappaport also said the attorney general works for the people, not the president.

"The attorney general [is for] the people of the United States. It is not the president's attorney general. Never has been. Never will be," Rappaport said. "Trump is sorely, at the very least I'll say, misguided. He thinks the attorney general works for him. The attorney general does not work for him. His own private counsel works for him. And there has to be some semblance of non-partisanship in that office."

"The Mueller investigation must continue unimpeded because it is too important for justice to be served and for transparency and for the truth to be known," Rappaport continued.

Mueller has been conducting an investigation into Russian interference during the 2016 election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign. Trump, on multiple occasions, has called the probe a "witch hunt."

Sessions, a Trump ally who threw his weight behind the president in the 2016 election, recused himself in March 2017. The decision fueled a long-standing feud between Trump and Sessions.

Photos by Alessia Grunberger/Patch