RUSSIA PROBE
Mueller an election meddler, Democrats colluders, he says
amounts to ‘meddling’ in midterm vote, Trump tweets.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the ongoing special counsel’s Russia investigation would amount to “MEDDLING” in this year’s midterm elections, his latest effort to cast the probe as motivated by partisan aims.
“The 13 Angry Democrats (plus people who worked 8 years for Obama) working on the rigged Russia Witch Hunt, will be MEDDLING with the mid-term elections, especially now that Republicans (stay tough!) are taking the lead in Polls,” Trump wrote on Twitter, adding: “There was no Collusion, except by the Democrats!”
In a series of morning tweets, Trump sought to turn the tables on an investigation that began as an attempt to uncover Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible coordination between the Russians and Trump’s campaign.
Trump has repeatedly referred to special counsel Robert Mueller’s team as “13 angry Democrats,” even though Mueller is a longtime Republican and the probe is overseen by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, a Republican and a Trump appointee.
So far, four Trump associates have been charged in Mueller’s investigation, and three have pleaded guilty. On Tuesday evening, The
New York Times reported that Mueller’s team is investigating a March 2017 interaction between Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who recused himself from the Russia investigation over criticism that he had not been forthcoming during his Senate confirmation hearing about his contacts with Russian officials during the campaign.
Trump, who had told aides that he needed a loyalist overseeing the inquiry, berated Sessions at a dinner at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and told him he should reverse his decision.
But Sessions refused. The incident is being investigated as part of the Russia probe’s investigation into whether Trump tried to obstruct justice.
The president’s lead lawyer in the case, Rudy Giuliani, said Tuesday that if Trump agreed to answer the special counsel’s questions — an interview is the subject of continuing negotiations — he should not be forced to discuss his private deliberations with senior administration officials. Talking about the attorney general, Giuliani argued, would set a bad precedent for future presidents.
Giuliani said he had not discussed Sessions’ recusal with Trump but said that a request that Sessions reassert control over the Russia investigation would be within the bounds of the president’s authority.
“‘Unrecuse’ doesn’t say, ‘Bury the investigation.’ It says on the face of it: Take responsibility for it and handle it correctly,” Giuliani said Tuesday evening.
Earlier, Giuliani told The Washington Post that Trump would not agree to an interview with Mueller until prosecutors allow the president’s legal team to review documents related to the FBI’s use of an informant to interact with members of Trump’s 2016 campaign.
“We need all the documents before we can decide whether we are going to do an interview,” Giuliani said.
Under pressure from the White House and congressional Republicans, the Justice Department last week held an unusual pair of briefings for lawmakers on the FBI’s use of the informant, whom Trump has repeatedly cast as a “spy” implanted in his campaign.
There is no evidence to suggest that the source was inserted into the campaign, but he did seek out and meet with several Trump campaign advisers.
Trump said in another tweet Tuesday morning that the special counsel’s team should instead be investigating the campaign of his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.
“Why aren’t the 13 Angry and heavily conflicted Democrats investigating the totally Crooked Campaign of totally Crooked Hillary Clinton,” Trump wrote. “It’s a Rigged Witch Hunt, that’s why! Ask them if they enjoyed her after election celebration!”
Republicans risk losing control of the House and possibly Senate in this year’s midterm elections, as Democrats feel emboldened by Trump’s unpopularity.
Numerous polls this year have showed Democrats holding a significant lead on generic ballot questions regarding Congress.
Separately Tuesday, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said lawyers for Donald Trump Jr., one of the president’s sons, should be asked about possible discrepancies between his private testimony to the committee and news reports, but he didn’t endorse a Democratic proposal to have him in for a public hearing.
“I would suggest Mr. Trump Jr.’s attorneys be asked about these press accounts,” Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said Tuesday in a letter to Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del.
Coons had urged Grassley to investigate whether the president’s son had lied to the panel — a crime — when he denied knowledge of any offers of help to his father’s 2016 campaign from foreign governments or foreign nationals other than Russia.
Coons cited a May 19 story in the Times saying Trump Jr. met with emissaries who told him that princes who led Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates were eager to help the campaign.