Graham: Mueller was ‘pretty much a figurehead’ of investigation

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Thursday that he believes former special counsel Robert Mueller was just a “figurehead” at the top of the investigation into the Trump campaign and pledged to investigate the probe’s origins.

Graham told reporters on Capitol Hill that the GOP-controlled Senate would continue efforts alongside Attorney General William Barr to investigate whether the probe into the Trump campaign was begun improperly.

{mosads}”Yeah, I talked to him last night, we talked about … I told him I’ll try to find out how all this mess started, and went so long,” Graham said, apparently referring to President Trump.

“It’s clear to me that Bob Mueller was pretty much a figurehead of the investigation,” Graham added. “We’ll dig in and find what happened.”

Barr announced earlier this year that the Justice Department would begin a review of the early stages of the investigation into Russian interference into the presidential election.

The FBI’s probe into Russian meddling began in 2016. The special counsel’s investigation began when then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller after Trump fired James Comey as FBI director.

Republicans have argued for months that the Russia investigation, which ended earlier this year without any criminal charges targeting further members of the Trump administration, was improperly launched during the Obama administration as a means of spying on the Trump campaign.

The Mueller probe resulted in criminal charges and convictions for multiple former members of the president’s inner circle before its shuttering this spring.

— This story was updated at 1:16 p.m.