'Protect Mueller' Protest Draws Crowd In Catonsville

CATONSVILLE, MD — Those advocating for the protection of Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller after Attorney General Jeff Sessions' departure held a demonstration Thursday in Catonsville. Organizers called the gathering "Nobody Is Above the Law—Mueller Protection Rapid Response."

The protest started at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 8, and lasted about an hour.

It was on the sidewalk in front of Representative Elijah Cummings' office at 754 Frederick Road.

Participants were encouraged to bring a sign and a U.S. flag.

MoveOn.org, a progressive political action committee, coordinated similar protests across the country.

Others in Maryland were in Annapolis, Baltimore, Bel Air, Columbia, Cumberland, Frederick, Rockville, Salisbury, Silver Spring and Towson.

The protests came one day after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced he is leaving the administration at the request of President Donald Trump.

In Catonsville, organizers say they are demonstrating with the hope that Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker will recuse himself from overseeing the Office of Special Counsel.

RELATED: Jeff Sessions Out As Attorney General

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 then-FBI director James Comey.

Here is the event page for the protest in Catonsville. Demonstrators gathered on the sidewalk in front of Representative Elijah Cummings' office at 754 Frederick Road. Parking is in the nearby shopping center lot.

— By Patch editors Kara Seymour, Feroze Dhanoa and Elizabeth Janney

Photos by Elizabeth Janney.