US president hits back after reports he is being probed
DONALD Trump derided claims of collusion between Moscow and his associates as phony yesterday after reports that the head of a probe into Russia’s alleged election meddling is investigating him for obstructing justice.
“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,” the president wrote on Twitter.
Senior US intelligence officials have agreed to be interviewed by investigators working for Robert Mueller, a respected former FBI chief, according to reports in both The Washington Post and New York Times.
Mueller's office has also asked the National Security Agency (NSA) for documents related to its interactions with the administration as part of the probe into Russian meddling and possible collusion with Trump campaign officials, The New York Times reported.
The Post’s story provoked a furious reaction from Trump’s personal lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, and the Republican National Committee.
Kasowitz issued a statement saying the FBI was behind the Post story and called the leak outrageous, inexcusable and illegal.
Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel called the accusation in the Post unfounded and said it changed nothing.
“There’s still no evidence of obstruction, and current and former leaders in the intelligence community have repeatedly said there’s been no effort to impede the investigation,” she said.
Mueller has the authority to investigate whether Trump tried to obstruct justice, which is a potentially impeachable offence.
Former FBI director James Comey told Congress last week that Trump pressured him to drop an investigation into his former national security adviser, Mike Flynn, who was forced to quit for lying about his links to Moscow.
Comey was later sacked, with Trump acknowledging that the Russian investigation had been on his mind when he decided to dismiss him.
“You are witnessing the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history – led by some very bad and conflicted people! #MAGA,” Trump tweeted yesterday.
The acronym is a reference to his campaign slogan, Make America Great Again.