Trump slams Mueller in two-hour speech
US leader also mocked critics after stressful week
OXON HIL:
US President Donald Trump attacked US Special Counsel Robert Mueller ahead of his report on alleged Russia collusion by the Trump campaign in 2016 and said his political opponents were “trying to take me out with bull **** ”. In a speech that lasted more than two hours – his longest since taking office two years ago – Trump also vented about Democrats, a proposed “green new deal”, illegal immigrants and criticism of his North Korea summit, while voicing optimism about his own re-election prospects in 2020.
Addressing a cheering audience at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Oxon Hill, Maryland, Trump veered off-script to launch a tirade about events that led to the Russia investigation.
He mocked his former attorney general, Jeff Sessions, and former FBI Director James Comey, both of whom Trump fired.
“We’re waiting for a report by people who weren’t elected,” Trump said of the Mueller report, which is widely expected to be handed over to Attorney General William Barr.
Deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller in May 2017 to take over the Russia investigation after Trump fired Comey, whose agency had led the probe initially. Rosenstein is expected to step down by mid-March.
Swarms of young adults stood to applaud Trump in the packed hotel ballroom where he spoke, at times breaking into chants like “Trump is our Man” and “We Love You”. Trump said Comey was Mueller’s “best friend”, and implied Comey should have been
fired before Trump took office.
“Unfortunately, you put the wrong people in a couple of positions and they leave people for a long time that shouldn’t be there and all of a sudden they are trying to take you out with bull **** , okay?” Trump said.
Trump still has made no move to fire Mueller, a Republican and respected former FBI director who has conducted his investigation with utmost secrecy.
Trump also mocked the Southern accent of Sessions and criticised him for recusing himself from the Russia
probe. In November, Trump fired Sessions, a former US senator from Alabama who was among the first Republican lawmakers to back Trump’s presidential bid.
Trump’s face perspired as he lashed out at critics after a stressful week during which his former lawyer Michael Cohen accused the president in congressional testimony of breaking the law.
Also, the president concluded a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi without reaching a denuclearisation deal. — Reuters