Trump says he’s been ‘100-per-cent proper’ with Russia probe

THURMONT, Md. — President Donald Trump said Saturday that “everything I’ve done is 100-per-cent proper” regarding the special counsel’s investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and he insisted that his campaign didn’t collude with Moscow or commit any crime.

His team has been “open” with special counsel Robert Mueller and “done nothing wrong,” Trump told reporters.

He bemoaned the unrelenting focus on alleged Russia ties, saying the probe is “very, very bad for our country. It’s making our country look foolish and this is a country that I don’t want looking foolish, and it’s not going to look foolish as long as I’m here.”

A number of news outlets have reported Trump directed his White House counsel to tell Attorney General Jeff Sessions not to withdraw from the Justice Department’s investigation into potential ties between Russia and the Trump campaign.

Trump told reporters at Camp David that The New York Times story first reporting the request was “way off, or at least off,” — though he wouldn’t say how.

He added: “Everything that I’ve done is 100-per-cent proper. That’s what I do, is I do things properly.”

The probe into possible co-ordination between the Trump campaign and Russia includes whether Trump’s actions as president constitute an effort to impede that investigation.