New Yorkers Organize March To Protect Mueller Investigation

NEW YORK, NY — Dozens of New York City activist groups are planning to march from Times Square to Union Square on Thursday night to protest the firing of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and to support the independence of Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Protesters are planning to meet in Times Square around 5 p.m. as part of a nationwide protest against Sessions' firing, according to organizers. President Donald Trump requested Sessions' resignation one day after the midterm elections granted Democrats control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

The groups have four basic demands:

• That Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker will not supervise Mueller's investigation;
• That the investigation continue under Mueller's office;
• That the House Judiciary Committee begin hearings into abuse of power and obstruction of justice by President Trump;
• That the Senate create a Watergate-style Select Committee to conduct a broad investigation of Russia's election interference and Trump's obstruction of justice.

"Donald Trump may attempt to install cronies to interfere in the Mueller investigation and subvert the rule of law, but the Constitution is stronger than Donald Trump, democracy is stronger than Donald Trump, and the people are stronger than Donald Trump," Andy Ratto, a member of activist group Rise and Resist, and one of the protest organizers, said in a statement.

"We will be out in the streets fighting back until we stop him."

Shannon Stagman, a member of the group Empire State Indivisible said Sessions' firing is "no coincidence" and that Trump wanted to catch activists "off guard" while focused on the midterm elections.

Protesters will march down Seventh Avenue from Times Square to Union Square, organizers said. The groups are expected to arrive in Union Square around 6:45 p.m. and hold a rally featuring musicians and speakers until 8 p.m., organizers said.

Sessions, a Trump ally who threw his weight behind the president in the 2016 election, recused himself in March 2017 from the probe investigating Russian interference in the presidential election and possible collusion by members of the Trump campaign. Sessions' deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, appointed Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller to oversee the probe in May 2017 after Trump fired at-the-time FBI director James Comey.

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