TRUMP SAYS INQUIRY IS A ‘WITCH HUNT’
President says he didn’t ask for investigation to end
The president says he never asked FBI Director James Comey to end investigation.
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump on Thursday denied ever asking FBI Director James Comey to back off his agency’s investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, and the role played by former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Asked whether he urged Comey to ease up on the Flynn investigation, Trump said at a news conference, “No, no,” before ordering the media to move on to the “next question.”
Earlier this week there were several news reports that Trump made the request regarding Flynn during a February meeting in the Oval Office these accounts were based on a memo Comey drafted at the time, the contents of which were described by officials familiar with the memo. Trump fired Comey last week.
At the news conference, the president also reiterated his claim that the Justice Department’s decision to appoint a special counsel to look into possible collusion with Russia was “a witch hunt,” saying he had never colluded with the Russians.
“I respect the move, but the entire thing has been a witch hunt, and there is no collusion between - certainly myself and my campaign, but I can only speak for myself and the Russians. Zero,” Trump said, at a joint news conference Thursday afternoon with President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia. “Believe me, there’s no collusion. Russia is fine, but whether it’s Russia or anybody else, my total priority, believe me, is the United States of America.”
Trump lashed out in the morning on Twitter at the news that the Justice Department appointed a special prosecutor, former FBI director Robert Mueller, to oversee the investigation, calling the move a politically motivated “witch hunt” by his Democratic rivals.