Trump on losing streak
washington — President Donald Trump lashed out at the appointment of a special counsel to investigate allegations that his campaign collaborated with Russia to sway the 2016 election, tweeting on Thursday that it is “the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!”
The Justice Department on Wednesday appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller to lead the investigation. Mueller will have sweeping powers and the authority to prosecute any crimes he uncovers.
The surprise announcement to hand the probe over to Mueller, a lawman who garners deep bipartisan respect, was a striking shift for Trump’s Justice Department, which had resisted increasingly loud calls from Democrats for an outside prosecutor. It immediately escalated the legal stakes — and the potential political damage — for a president who has tried to dismiss the matter as partisan witch hunt and a “hoax.”
In another Twitter post Thursday, Trump said: “With all of the illegal acts that took place in the Clinton campaign & Obama Administration, there was never a special councel (sic) appointed!” —
washington — President Donald Trump decried the appointment of a special counsel to lead the Russia probe as “the single greatest witch hunt” in US history on Thursday, hours after he said he looked forward to a thorough investigation.
In the face of rising pressure from Capitol Hill, the US Justice Department named former FBI Director Robert Mueller on Wednesday as special counsel to investigate alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US election and possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and Moscow.
Trump said in a statement on Wednesday night that “a thorough investigation will confirm what we already know — there was no collusion between my campaign and any foreign entity.”
In a pair of Twitter posts on Thursday morning, Trump made clear he was unhappy with the latest development to roil his fourmonth-old administration.
“With all of the illegal acts that took place in the Clinton campaign & Obama Administration, there was never a special counsel appointed!” Trump wrote, misspelling the word counsel as he referred to former President Barack Obama and former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
“This is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!”
The comments mirrored a speech by Trump on Wednesday, before Mueller’s appointment was announced, in which he said no politician in history “has been treated worse or more unfairly.”
The decision to move to an independent probe came a week after Trump abruptly fired FBI Director James Comey, sparking a political firestorm as the agency was in the midst of an investigation into the Russia matter. — Reuters