Whining back in Sessions
DON, AGAIN: END MUELLER PROBE
President Trump threw a Twitter tantrum Wednesday, calling on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to put an end to special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe and comparing federal investigators' treatment of his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, to how they handled mobster Al Capone.
The social media screed comes on the second day of Manafort's federal trial. The 69-year-old GOP consultant and lobbyist is facing bank and tax fraud charges related to his work for pro-Russian forces in Ukraine.
“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 tweeted. “Bob Mueller is totally conflicted, and his 17 Angry Democrats that are doing his dirty work are a disgrace to USA!"
Trump has repeatedly pressured Sessions to end the investigation into Russia's efforts to influence the 2016 election and tried to smear Mueller and his team of investigators.
Mueller is reportedly eyeing Trump's tweets as part of a broader probe that includes possible coordination between Trump associates and the Kremlin and obstruction of justice on part of the President.
Trump has railed against Sessions' decision to recuse himself from the Russia probe, a move made because of his work on the Trump campaign and revelations that he met with a Russian ambassador leading up to the election.
He tweeted in May that he wished he had never appointed Sessions. Trump's legal team quickly sought to clean up in the wake of the President's tweetstorm.
“The President was expressing his opinion on his favored medium for asserting his First Amendment right of free speech,” former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, now serving as Trump's attorney, told the Los Angeles Times. “He said ‘should' not ‘must' and no Presidential order was issued or will be.”
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders also defended Trump as she downplayed the significance of the tweets.
“The President is not obstructing, he's fighting back," Sanders said. “It's not an order, it's the President's opinion.”
The President complained that the government hadn't told him that Manafort “was under investigation” before he hired him to run his presidential bid.
He later asked “who was treated worse?” Manafort or “Alfonse Capone, legendary mob boss, killer and ‘Public Enemy Number One.' ” Al Capone's first name was actually spelled “Alphonse.”
Trump also continued to cast doubt on the U.S. intelligence community's unanimous assessment that Moscow was behind a coordinated attempt to sway the contest in Trump's favor.
Trump apparently couldn't be bothered to spellcheck his tweets Wednesday.
“We already have a smocking (sic) gun about a campaign getting dirt on their opponent, it was Hillary Clinton,” he fumed.