A frustrated Trump lashes out at Mueller

Uses Twitter to question special counsel’s objectivity in Russia investigation

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday took out his frustrations over the intensifying Russia investigation by lashing out at special counsel Robert Mueller, signalling a possible shift away from a strategy of co-operating with a probe he believes is biased against him.

In a series of weekend tweets naming Mueller for the first time, Trump criticized the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and raised fresh concerns about the objectivity and political leanings of the members of Mueller’s team.

Trump also challenged the honesty of Andrew McCabe, the newly fired FBI deputy director, and James Comey, the bureau’s former director whom Trump fired last year over the Russia probe.

The president’s aggressive stance followed a call Saturday by his personal lawyer for Rod Rosenstein, whom Trump appointed as deputy attorney general and who now oversees Mueller’s inquiry, to “bring an end” to that investigation.

“The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime,” Trump tweeted Saturday. “It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!” Trump was referring to a dossier of anti-Trump research funded by the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

Likely adding to Trump’s growing frustration, The New York Times reported last week that Mueller had subpoenaed the Trump organization and requested Russia-related documents.

A deeply frustrated Trump has fumed to confidants that the Mueller probe is “going to choke the life out of ” his presidency if allowed to continue unabated indefinitely, according to an outside adviser who insisted on anonymity to discuss private conversations with the president.

Trump has long believed that the entrenched bureaucracy, particularly at the Justice Department and FBI, is out to thwart him.

The president has been torn over how to approach the Mueller probe.

Trump insists that his campaign did not collude with Russia, and his legal team, namely attorney Ty Cobb, has counselled the president to co-operate with Mueller. But some former campaign advisers have urged

Trump to be combative, warning him that the investigation poses an existential threat to his presidency.

Trump’s attacks raised new concerns among members of Congress that he could be seeking to orchestrate Mueller’s firing. Republican and Democratic lawmakers warned Trump to not even think about it.

“If he tried to do that, that would be the beginning of the end of his presidency,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a Trump ally.