Trump confirms Russia probe, seeks to undermine justice dept
US Prez falls back on oft used phrase ‘witch hunt’
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump publicly confirmed he is under investigation in connection with Russian meddling in the 2016 elections and alleged collusion by his campaign aides, as he sought to attack and undermine the justice department and officials responsible for it.
Trump’s stunning admission came in a tweet on Friday, in which he pushed back against thus far unconfirmed reports that he was being investigated for obstruction of justice for trying to stop the FBI probe into former NSA Michael Flynn’s Russia dealings.
“I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt,” Trump tweeted. The “man” he is referring to is deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein on whose recommendation Trump fired FBI director James Comey.
In the firestorm that followed, fuelled by Trump’s suggestion that he had recordings of conversations with Comey and the fired FBI director’s allegation that the president had asked him to stop the Flynn probe, Rosenstein appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel to take over the Russia investigation.
Comey has said he was dismissed by Trump because of the Russia investigation. He told US senators at a recent hearing, “I was fired in some way to change, or the endeavour was to change, the way the Russia investigation was being conducted.” But he had insisted Trump himself was not under investigation.
And that had been the narrative, enforced and reinforced most doggedly by Trump himself. That changed with indications that Mueller might now be probing Trump — not for election meddling or collusion, but for trying to stop the Flynn probe.
In another sign of a deepening crisis for the White House, Mueller is reportedly investigating the business and financial dealings of Trump’s son-in-law and closest adviser Jared Kushner.
In a meeting with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak in December, Kushner had requested setting up a secret communication system with Kremlin based in a Russian diplomatic facility to avoid American surveillance. He had also met, at Kislyak’s urging, a Russian banker close to President Vladimir Putin.
Meanwhile, vice president Mike Pence — who has remained largely untouched by the controversy apart from being misled by Flynn about his Russia links — has hired an outside counsel to help him deal with issues arising from the expanding probe, if needed.