Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., joined from left by Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., and Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, speaks to reporters following a closed-door strategy session on Capitol... (Associated Press) 
 
 Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., joined from left by Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., and Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, speaks to reporters following a closed-door strategy session on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 17, 2018. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) (Associated Press) 
 
 Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., joined from left by Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., and Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, speaks to reporters following a closed-door strategy session on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 17, 2018. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) (Associated Press) Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., joined from left by Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., and Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, speaks to reporters following a closed-door strategy session on Capitol... (Associated Press) 
 
 WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has thwarted a bipartisan effort to protect special counsel Robert Mueller's job, saying he will not hold a floor vote on the legislation even if it is approved next week in the Senate Judiciary Committee. 
 
 McConnell said Tuesday the bill is unnecessary because President Donald Trump will not fire Mueller. 
 
 "We'll not be having this on the floor of the Senate," McConnell said on Fox News. 
 
 His comments came amid widespread opposition to the bill among members of his caucus, with several GOP senators saying the bill is unconstitutional. Others said it's simply not good politics to try and tell Trump what to do, likening the legislation to "poking the bear." 
 
 The bipartisan legislation was introduced last week as Trump publicly criticized Mueller, who is investigating potential ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 campaign as well as possible obstruction of justice by the president. Trump, fuming about a raid of his personal lawyer's office by a different division of the FBI, said last week that the Mueller investigation is "an attack on our country" and is "corrupt." 
 
 Trump has also privately pondered firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing Mueller's investigation. 
 
 Within a day of Trump's criticism, Republicans Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina combined two bills they introduced last summer to protect special counsels. They introduced the new bill along with Democratic Sens. Chris Coons of Delaware and Cory Booker of New Jersey, and Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, a Republican, announced that his committee would vote on the bill. 
 
 The legislation would give any special counsel a 10-day window to seek expedited judicial review of a firing, and would put into law existing Justice Department regulations that require a firing to be for "good cause." 
 
 Democrats immediately jumped on the legislation, but many Republicans have been cool to it. 
 
 At least three of the 11 GOP members of the Judiciary panel have said they will vote against it and another five have said they have questions about its constitutionality. Grassley is one of those with concerns, but said he felt obligated to hold a vote. 
 
 Republicans off the committee had questions too — and some acknowledged that it could be politically difficult. 
 
 South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds said Tuesday that Trump that should make the decision on his own and be responsible for the consequences. 
 
 "I think having Congress tell him what we believe he should do in this case is simply poking the bear, and I'd just prefer not to do that," Rounds said. 
 
 Oklahoma Sen. Jim Lankford said the bill is a "political distraction." 
 
 "You create this whole constitutional political stir over something that is not going to happen," he said. 
 
 Others said there was little point. 
 
 "It's about as popular as cholera with the leader in the Senate and it's about as popular as malaria in the House," said Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy, a member of the Judiciary panel. "I think most people think we're picking an unnecessary fight with the president." 
 
 Coons bristled at the criticism that the legislation is unconstitutional, noting that several courts have upheld similar special counsel statutes. 
 
 "If I were convinced this were unconstitutional, I would not be moving it," said Coons, a lawyer. 
 
 At a September hearing on the two separate bills, before they were combined, scholars were divided on whether the bills were constitutional, with some voicing concerns that allowing the judicial branch that authority over an executive decision may not pass muster in the courts. 
 
 "I think it's probably unconstitutional and I don't think there's any realistic chance that the president will fire Mr. Mueller," Sen. John Cornyn, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate and the former Texas attorney general, said Tuesday. 
 
 McConnell agreed, adding that Trump would never support the legislation. 
 
 "Just as a practical matter, even if we pass it, why would he sign it?" McConnell said in the Fox interview. 
 
 Republicans who have talked to the White House almost uniformly have held the line that Trump will not fire Mueller or Rosenstein — including Tillis and Graham, who say they are pushing the legislation because it would be good policy under any president. 
 
 "I don't think he's going to fire Mueller, but I think institutionally it would be nice to have some protections," Graham said Tuesday. 
 
 Tillis acknowledged last week that he had taken some "heat" from conservatives for the bill, but told the Judiciary panel, "this is really an opportunity to take an ethical stand, and not do it when the situation benefits you." 
 
 Democrats said Republicans opposed to the legislation were simply protecting Trump. 
 
 Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a member of the Judiciary Committee, said the argument over constitutionality is a "red herring used by some of my colleagues as a pretext for opposing the bill, when they really have other reasons." He gave no specifics. 
 
 Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, said the special counsel bill is "so much more" than another policy debate. 
 
 "I think this will be one that history will judge us all," Warner said. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writer Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report. 

 McConnell says he will not allow vote on bill protecting Mueller from firing 
 
 The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, has said he will not allow a vote on a bill that would protect the special counsel Robert Mueller from being fired by Donald Trump, despite bipartisan concern that the president will act on an impulse to end the Russia investigation. 
 
 McConnell said on Tuesday that he did not believe legislative action was necessary because Trump would not fire Mueller, who is overseeing the FBI investigation into possible collusion between Trump associates and Russia. 
 
 “I don’t think he should fire Mueller and I don’t think he is going to,” McConnell said during an interview on Fox News on Tuesday. “So this is a piece of legislation that’s not necessary, in my judgment. 
 
 Trump’s latest tirade suggests he is moving closer to firing Mueller Read more 
 
 He continued: “I’m the one who decides what we take to the floor,” he said. “That’s my responsibility as the majority leader and we will not be having this on the floor of the Senate.” 
 
 McConnell’s comments come days before the Senate judiciary committee is expected to consider the Special Counsel Independence and Integrity Act, a bipartisan bill that is a compromise between two rival plans. The legislation, written by the Republican senators Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and the Democratic senators Cory Booker of New Jersey and Chris Coons of Delaware, would codify regulations limiting who can fire a special counsel. 
 
 The bill would also provide the special counsel a 10-day window during which the special counsel could seek an expedited judicial review by a panel of judges to determine if the removal was justified. If the judges determined that it was not and the firing violated the “good-cause requirement”, the termination would be reversed. 
 
 While the effort has attracted bipartisan support, Republicans remain broadly opposed to the bill, with several members of the caucus questioning the constitutionality of such legislation. The Republicans who support the bill, including Graham and Tillis, say they too don’t believe Trump will fire Mueller and have tried to cast the effort as good policy rather than a response to the mounting public tensions between the president and the special counsel. 
 
 McConnell added during the interview that Trump would never agree to the legislation, even if Congress passed it. 
 
 “Just as a practical matter, even if we pass it, why would he sign it?” McConnell said. 
 
 Trump has publicly attacked the Russia investigation as a “witch-hunt” and has reportedly ordered Mueller’s firing on at least two occasions. Last week, after a raid to seize documents from his personal lawyer by a separate division of the FBI, Trump lashed out on Twitter, calling the investigation an “attack on our country”. He has publicly criticized Mueller and Rod Rosenstein, the Department of Justice official overseeing Mueller’s investigation. 
 
 The Democratic Senate leader, Chuck Schumer, urged Republicans on the Senate judiciary committee to still allow the bill to move forward and said he hoped that their persistence would push McConnell to reconsider. 
 
 “While I’m glad the majority leader believes the president would be wrong to fire Special Counsel Mueller, it’s a mistake not to pass legislation to protect the investigation,” Schumer said in a statement. “We ought to head off a constitutional crisis at the pass, rather than waiting until it’s too late.” 

 Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told Fox News Tuesday that legislation designed to protect special counsel Robert Mueller from being dismissed by President Trump was "not necessary" and would not be brought to the Senate floor. 
 
 "There’s no indication that Mueller’s going to be fired," McConnell told "Your World with Neil Cavuto." "I don't think the president's going to do that and just as a practical matter, even if we passed [the bill], why would he sign it?" 
 
 The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote later this month on a measure that would enshrine in law Justice Department regulations saying that a special counsel can only be fired for good cause and by an senior Justice Department official. 
 
 "I’m the one who decides what [legislation] we take to the floor," McConnell said. "That's my responsibility as the majority leader. We’ll not be having this on the floor of the Senate." 
 
 McConnell told Cavuto that he would be shocked if Trump fired the special counsel, who is investigating contacts between Russian officials and Trump's campaign. 
 
 The majority leader also predicted that November's midterm election would be a "referendum" on tax reform passed last year on the strength of Republican votes. 
 
 "[The Democrats] want to take this to the American people and we’re happy to do that,to see whether the American people think it’s a good idea for us to let them keep more of their hard-earned money," McConnell said, later adding, "I think it really kind of sums up the major differences between the parties these days." 
 
 McConnell also shrugged off the idea that Trump would be a detriment to Republicans on the campaign trail, saying "we'd like to make the election about [the president] in Montana, North Dakota, Missouri, Indiana and West Virginia. 
 
 "There’s no question, and the Democrats would even concede this, that the president would be an asset [in those states]," McConnell said. 
 
 The majority leader came out strongly against attempts by Trump and House Republicans to cut some spending from the $1.3 trillion budget bill signed last month. 
 
 "Well, he agreed to it. He was involved in the negotiation and signed the bill," McConnell told Cavuto. "He can’t make an agreement one month and say, 'OK, we really didn’t mean it,' and come back the next month and say, 'Oh, we really didn’t mean our agreement.'" 
 
 The Associated Press contributed to this report.
– "I'm the one who decides what we take to the floor," Mitch McConnell said Tuesday in a Fox News interview during which he explained that bipartisan legislation intended to safeguard special counsel Robert Mueller from being fired by President Trump won't make the cut. "We will not be having this on the floor of the Senate," he said, and his reasoning is that it's superfluous, reports the Guardian. The Senate majority leader says he doesn't think Trump will fire Mueller, which makes the so-called Special Counsel Independence and Integrity Act unnecessary—and, beyond that, one Trump would never sign even if it was passed, he says. The Senate judiciary committee still plans to review the bill, which would grant a fired special counsel an expedited judicial review of the termination within a 10-day period. The judges would have to determine the "good-cause requirement" was met in order for the termination to stand. But the AP notes that many of the 11 Republicans on the committee haven't warmed to the bill, with three saying they'll vote against it and five questioning its constitutionality. One of those committee Republicans, Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy, described the bill like so: "It's about as popular as cholera with the leader in the Senate and it's about as popular as malaria in the House. I think most people think we're picking an unnecessary fight with the president."