Angry Trump decries being target of Russia probe

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump responded angrily to reports that he is under criminal investigation Thursday, deriding a ‘witch hunt’ against him led by some ‘very bad’ people.

He was answering accounts that he is personally being investigated for obstruction of justice with a characteristic scorched- earth defence: claiming mistreatment of historic proportions and calling into question the probity of his accusers.

“You are witnessing the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history — led by some very bad and confl icted people!” he said in an early morning tweet.

Trump did not directly address the allegations that he is being probed for possibly obstructing justice — a potentially impeachable offence. Nor did he deny that he has entered the miniscule ranks of sitting presidents who have become subjects of criminal investigations.

“They made up a phony collusion with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. Nice,” he wrote.

Trump’s young presidency has been battered by allegations — under investigation both by Congress and the FBI — that Russia interfered to sway the 2016 election in his favor, in possible collusion with Trump’s campaign team.

The FBI probe, now in the hands of special counsel Robert Mueller, shifted its focus to allegations of obstruction in the days after Trump fired the agency’s thendirector James Comey on May 9. — AFP