Trump calls for AG to halt Russia probe
President Donald Trump tweets that Jeff Sessions should end Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation “right now.”
As his former campaign chairman goes on trial for unrelated criminal charges, President Donald Trump called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to halt Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
“This is a terrible situation and Attorney General Jeff Sessions should stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now, before it continues to stain our country any further,” Trump said Wednesday in a Twitter posting. “Bob Mueller is totally conflicted, and his 17 Angry Democrats that are doing his dirty work are a disgrace to USA!”
But the White House said Wednesday that Trump’s criticisms of the special counsel’s Russia probe are simply the president “fighting back.” Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said “It’s not an order. It’s the president’s opinion.”
“Those comments are totally inappropriate,” Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine said. “The president should not be talking about the investigation at all.”
Sessions, who has recused himself from supervising the Mueller investigation, didn’t immediately respond to the president’s tweet. Sarah Isgur Flores, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department, declined to comment.
Trump’s tweet was also immediately condemned by some Democratic lawmakers as a blatant attempt to obstruct justice.
“The President of the United States just called on his Attorney General to put an end to an investigation in which the President, his family and campaign may be implicated,” Representative Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said on Twitter. “This is an attempt to obstruct justice hiding in plain sight. America must never accept it.”
The request could reinvigorate legislation that would protect Mueller from being fired without cause. The measure won bipartisan support from the Senate Judiciary Committee in April, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said it won’t get consideration by the full Senate.
In view of the tweet, “I think it would be helpful to have the debate on that bill,” Collins said. “It would send a message to Mr. Mueller that he has strong support in Congress.”
McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan have defended Mueller’s investigation, but said they don’t believe Trump would fire the special counsel. Lawmakers of both parties have warned Trump that firing Mueller would create a constitutional crisis..
The president’s message was part of a series of tweets attacking Mueller on the first full day of testimony in Manafort’s tax and bankfraud trial amid other signs Mueller’s investigation is drawing closer to Trump. Prosecutors are expected to detail Manafort’s lucrative business relationship with Russia-friendly leaders in Ukraine.