KILL THE WICKED WITCH HUNT: DON
Wants Jeff to end Mueller Russia probe markmoore@nypost.com
President Trump called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to pull the plug on special counsel Robert Mueller’s “Rigged Witch Hunt” and claimed that his onetime campaign chairman, on trial for financial fraud, is being treated worse than Al Capone.
“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 Wednesday.
“Bob Mueller is totally conflicted, and his 17 Angry Democrats that are doing his dirty work are a disgrace to USA!”
The president returned to Twitter a couple of hours later to make the comparison between “Scarface” and Paul Manafort.
“Looking back on history, who was treated worse, Alfonse Capone, legendary mob boss, killer and ‘Public Enemy Number One,’ or Paul Manafort, political operative & Reagan/Dole darling, now serving solitary confinement - although convicted of nothing?” Trump wrote, misspelling Alphonse.
“Where is the Russian Collusion?” he asked.
ABC News reported that Trump’s tweet storm came after he learned within the last day that Mueller wants to question him about possible obstruction of justice.
Rudy Giuliani, who’s representing Trump in the Russia probe, disputed that the president ordered Sessions to fire Mueller.
“I think it’s very well-established the president uses tweets to express his opinion,” Giuliani told The Washington Post. “He very carefully used the word ‘should.’ ”
The president has long expressed his frustration with Sessions, who recused himself from the Russia investigation to avoid a conflict over his contacts with Russia’s US ambassador during the campaign.
Trump said he would have picked someone else as his attorney general if he had known Sessions intended to step aside.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is overseeing Mueller.
Sessions didn’t respond to Trump’s latest tweet, but last week, when a group of Republicans threatened to impeach Rosenstein, the AG backed his deputy as “highly capable” and said he has the “highest confidence in him.”
Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, charged that Trump’s tweet is an “attempt to obstruct justice hiding in plain sight.”
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, a Republican, called on the president to back off on Mueller.
“I think it’s highly inappropriate and intemperate,” she said of Trump’s comments.
“It would be far better if the president just refrained from commenting and Mr. Mueller proceeds with his investigation, which after all has already resulted in more than 30 indictments.”
Mueller is examining Trump’s tweets and communications with Sessions and former FBI Director James Comey to determine whether the president tried to pressure them to end the Russia investigation, actions that could be considered obstruction of justice, according to The New York Times.
Manafort, 69, is on trial in federal court in Alexandria, Va., on charges that he funneled millions of dollars into the United States from Ukraine when he worked for Kremlin-connected Ukraine leader Viktor Yanukovych in the early 2000s to evade paying income taxes.
Capone, known by the nickname “Scarface,” was convicted of income-tax evasion in 1931 and sentenced to 11 years in federal prison. He died in 1947.