Trump on obstruction inquiry: ‘ Phony story’ upon ‘ phony story’
Barrage of tweets revisits ‘ witch hunt’ and Hillary Clinton
In a day- long tweet storm Thursday, President Trump criticized reports that he is under investigation for possible obstruction of justice in connection with the firing of James Comey as FBI director, denouncing the inquiry as another “witch hunt” unfairly targeting him.
“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,” Trump tweeted. “Nice.”
Trump followed up about an hour later with another tweet: “You are witnessing the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history — led by some very bad and conflicted people!”
Nearly eight hours later, Trump again complained about being singled out and brought up his Democratic critics, including 2016 election opponent Hillary Clinton: “Why is that Hillary Clintons family and Dems dealings with Russia are not looked at, but my non- dealings are?”
Trump tweeted about Clinton’s use of private email when she was secretary of State, though she was not charged after a Justice Department investigation last year.
Associates of Clinton and other Democrats have not been linked to what U. S. intelligence officials have described as a Russian effort to influence the 2016 presidential election by hacking email accounts of Democratic Party officials.
Trump has denied any collusion with Russia. The Washington Post reported that special prosecutor Robert Mueller “is interviewing senior intelligence officials as part of a widening probe that now includes an examination of whether President Trump attempted to obstruct justice.”
Though the Justice Department appointed Mueller to investigate suspected Russian interference in the 2016 election — and any links to the Trump campaign — his assignment includes “any matters that arose or may arise” from the Russia inquiry.
Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee that he believes Trump fired him last month because he resisted a request to drop the investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s ties to Russia.
Trump has at one point said he fired Comey for poor performance. He also reportedly called Comey a “nut job.”
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller special counsel shortly after Comey’s firing. Attorney General Jeff Sessions had recused him- self from the Russia investigation because he met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak before the election.
Trump supporters condemned the news leaks.
“The FBI leak of information regarding the president is outrageous, inexcusable and illegal,” said Mark Corallo, a spokesman for Trump’s legal team. It is possible that the sources for the
Post report could have been those interviewed as part of the investigation, not the investigators themselves.
Trump is not the first president to be subjected to an investigation by a special counsel, nor the first president to protest it.
In the 1990s, President Clinton and supporters protested the investigation of independent counsel Kenneth Starr, which began as an inquiry into the Whitewater real estate deal and ended in Clinton’s impeachment on charges of perjury and obstruction regarding his relationship with intern Monica Lewinsky.