Trump warns top lawyer off wider probe of family finances
DONALD TRUMP has warned the US special counsel investigating possible ties between his presidential campaign and Russia not to delve into his family business empire.
In a no-holds-barred interview, the US president also turned on Jeff Sessions, one of his earliest supporters in Washington, saying he never would have appointed him attorney-general if he had known he would recuse himself from the Russia investigation.
He criticised fired FBI director James Comey, accusing him of trying to leverage a “dirty dossier” compiled by a British spy to try to keep his job.
The president also attacked deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein for hiring special counsel Robert Mueller to look into alleged collusion between Moscow and the Trump camp during last year’s election race.
Mr Trump said Mr Mueller would be crossing a red line if he expanded his probe into the family finances. “I think that’s a violation. Look, this is about Russia,” he told the New York Times. Mr Trump suggested he had damaging information about the highly respected former FBI chief.
He suggested Mr Mueller’s office was rife with conflicts of interests, saying he was interviewed as a possible replacement for Mr Comey. “There were many other conflicts that I haven’t said, but I will at some point,” he added. “I don’t think we’re under investigation. I’m not under investigation. For what? I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Russia was a persistent theme in the interview, published hours after Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya said she was prepared to go to the US to testify about a June 2016 meeting she held with Donald Trump Jr and senior aides, allegedly to discuss damaging information she had about Hillary Clinton. Mr Trump Jr and ex-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort are due to testify before Congress next Wednesday.
The president was particularly damning about Mr Sessions’s conduct. Mr Trump said his decision to recuse himself from all matters related to Russia was “very unfair to the president”.
Mr Sessions’ recusal, announced after revelations he had failed to disclose meetings with Russia’s ambassador to the US, effectively paved the way for Mr Mueller’s Russia investigation that has clouded the administration.
The president also accused former FBI director Mr Comey of telling him about a dossier of salacious but unsubstantiated allegations two weeks before his inauguration in an attempt to show he had something over on him.
Asked if he thought Mr Comey was holding the information as “leverage”, Mr Trump replied: “Yeah, I think so.”
He also denied asking Mr Comey to drop a probe into his former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s alleged Russia ties. “I don’t remember even talking to him about any of this stuff,” said Mr Trump. “His testimony is loaded up with lies, OK?”
He had no regrets over sacking Mr Comey in May. “I did a great thing for the American people,” he added.
Mr Trump complained that Mr Rosenstein came from Baltimore, a predominantly Democrat city, and said he both recommended that Mr Comey be fired and appointed Mr Mueller. “Well, that’s a conflict of interest,” Mr Trump said.