‘No collusion with Russia but I speak for myself’
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump denied any collusion with Russia in the 2016 election but said on Thursday he spoke “for myself”, leaving open for the first time the possibility that some of his staff may have been involved.
Trump claimed he was the target of the “greatest witch hunt” in US political history and complained that the campaign against him was dividing the country. But asked about the justice department decision to appoint a special counsel, Robert Mueller, to investigate contacts between his campaign and Russia, Trump appeared to shift his position from previous blanket denials.
“I respect the move, but the entire thing has been a witch hunt. There is no collusion – certainly myself and my campaign – but I can always speak for myself and the Russians – zero,” he said.
Mueller is taking over a sprawling investigation into links between the Trump camp and Russia from the former FBI director James Comey, who the president fired abruptly on May 9. It is expected to include scrutiny of Trump’s fired national security adviser, Michael Flynn, as well as his former aides, and their contacts with Russian officials. All have denied collusion in Russian efforts to skew the election.
When asked whether he had urged Comey to shut down the Flynn investigation, Trump quickly replied: “No. No. Next question.”
He then embarked on a vitriolic attack on his former FBI director, claiming Comey had been “very unpopular with most people” who had had “a poor, poor performance in Congress”. He appeared to change his justification for the decision, pointing to a critical memo on Comey’s performance by the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein.