Trump rips ‘bad’ Russia link investigators
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump lashed out Thursday at the investigators driving the Russia investigation as “very bad and conflicted people,” responding angrily to reports that the special counsel is looking into whether Trump obstructed justice.
In a series of statements on Twitter, Trump called special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign a “WITCH HUNT” based on the “phoney” premise of possible collusion between Russia and a cadre of Trump campaign associates.
The president complained the probe is unfair and wondered why his defeated Democratic opponent wasn’t getting the same scrutiny.
“Why is that Hillary Clintons family and Dems dealings with Russia are not looked at, but my non-dealings are?” he asked.
“They made up a phoney collusion with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phoney story. Nice,” Trump wrote in his first tweet. “You are witnessing the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history — led by some very bad and conflicted people! #MAGA.”
The Twitter attacks came as Vice-President Mike Pence hired a lawyer to represent him in the intensifying investigation. Pence’s office confirmed he had retained Richard Cullen, a former Virginia attorney general and U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, to assist “in responding to inquiries” from Mueller.
Mueller investigation’s appeared to be reaching a broadening circle of current and former officials. The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the investigators were looking into possible obstruction of justice.
The newspaper noted Mueller had requested interviews with CIA director Dan Coats, National Security Agency chief Michael Rogers and Richard Ledgett, the former NSA deputy director. Recent news reports have suggested Trump sought all three officials’ help in pressuring FBI director James Comey to drop his investigation into former national security adviser Mike Flynn.
Comey testified last week that he also felt pressured to drop the Flynn probe. Comey said he believes Trump ultimately fired him “because of the Russia investigation.”
Meanwhile, a clear majority of Americans believe Trump has tried to interfere with the investigation into whether Russia meddled in the 2016 election and possible Trump campaign collusion, a new poll released Thursday shows. Just one in five support his decision to oust Comey from the FBI.
Following Comey’s blockbuster appearance before Congress, an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll shows 68 per cent of Americans are at least moderately concerned about the possibility that Trump or his campaign associates had inappropriate ties to Russia. Almost half of Americans say they’re very concerned. Three in 10 say they’re not that concerned.
The AP-NORC poll of 1,068 adults was conducted June 8-11. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.