All fun and Games as King Donald celebrates holding on to his throne
He lashes out at ‘crooked, dirty cops’
PRESIDENT Donald Trump says he was having a ‘good day’ after being cleared of collusion and obstruction.
Mr Trump touched on the topic at an event for Wounded Warriors – a charity that helps military veterans – at the White House.
‘And they’re having a good day. I’m having a good day, too. It was called no collusion, no obstruction,’ he said. ‘There never was, by the way, and there never will be. And we do have to get to the bottom of these things, I will say.’
He added: ‘I say this in front of my friends: this should never happen to another president again, this hoax. This should never happen to another president again.’
He had celebrated the end of the special counsel investigation earlier with a play on TV show Game Of Thrones, which is currently in its final season. The president shared a theatrical poster of himself, standing in fog, with an overlay saying: ‘NO COLLUSION. NO OBSTRUCTION. FOR THE HATERS
Branded probe a ‘political hoax’
AND THE RADICAL LEFT DEMOCRATS – GAME OVER.’
It was the latest in a series of Game Of Thrones-styled posters the White House has made to promote Mr Trump’s agenda.
It also created the full-length ‘SANCTIONS ARE COMING’ posters he brought to a cabinet meeting in January.
Mr Trump and his lawyers were aware of what special counsel Robert Mueller’s redacted report would say, and they sought to get their digs in early yesterday morning, before attorney general William Barr held a news conference on Russian election meddling,
They branded the entire probe a ‘political hoax’ conducted by ‘crooked dirty cops’.
Mr Barr had not released the redacted report to Congress at the time of the press conference, but spoke again about Mr Mueller’s decision not to make a determination on obstruction of justice. Mr Barr said Mr Mueller left that decision up to him.
Before the press conference, the president sent out a flurry of tweets accusing his political enemies of crimes. He intimated that he was referring to former FBI director James Comey and Hillary Clinton, as well as the Democratic National Committee.
‘The Greatest Political Hoax of all time! Crimes were committed by Crooked, Dirty Cops and DNC/ The Democrats,’ he said in a tweet. ‘PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT!’ he said in another.
He shared a video of himself declaring ‘no collusion’ at every turn of the investigation. ‘No Collusion – No Obstruction!’ he said.
Hours later, he put out another video that seemed to take aim at the mainstream media. It included clips of MSNBC and CNN anchors acknowledging Mr Barr’s initial conclusion that Mr Mueller found no evidence of criminal collusion between the president’s campaign and Vladimir Putin’s government. ‘As I have been saying all along, NO COLLUSION – NO OBSTRUCTION!’ the president said.
Several other tweets highlighted charges that a conservative judicial activist group levied against the FBI and an informant whose claims served as the basis for allegations that Russia could be blackmailing Mr Trump.
The group, Judicial Watch, had also been tweeting about Ms Clinton and the emails she routed through a private server when she was secretary of state. The FBI investigated her but declined to bring charges against her for gross negligence.
Mr Trump sent the tweets before Mr Barr said at a 9.30am (local time) press conference that he determined the president was ‘frustrated’ with the special counsel investigation but did not actively seek to impede it or obstruct justice. A planned rebuttal report from Mr Trump’s lawyers was on ice last night.
‘We have not issued and have not determined that we will,’ Trump attorney Jay Sekulow told the Mail. Jerrold Nadler, the US House judiciary chairman,
‘Crisis of confidence’
tweeted on Wednesday night that he was ‘deeply troubled by reports that the WH is being briefed on the Mueller report AHEAD of its release’, especially after the Department of Justice informed lawmakers that they would not be getting the report until after Mr Barr’s news conference.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is visiting Ireland, and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer demanded that Mr Mueller testify before Congress. They said Mr Barr’s ‘partisan handling’ of the report has resulted in a ‘crisis of confidence in his independence’.