FIVE THINGS TRUMP SAID THURSDAY
1 ON RUSSIA’S ELECTION HELP
U.S. President Donald Trump muddied the waters over Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election. Trump tweeted early Thursday that “I had nothing to do with Russia helping me to get elected.” But he later insisted that Russia didn’t help him. Trump reacted Thursday, a day after special counsel Robert Mueller spoke about his investigation into Russia election meddling and contacts with the Trump presidential campaign. Mueller found that Russia meddled in the 2016 election. Trump told reporters Thursday, “Russia didn’t help me at all.”
2 ON ROBERT MUELLER
Trump angrily assailed Mueller’s motives after Mueller bluntly rebuffed Trump’s repeated claims that the special counsel’s investigation had cleared him of committing a federal crime of obstruction of justice. In Trump’s 20-minute eruption he called Mueller “conflicted” and said falsely that Mueller, who served as FBI director under President George W. Bush, wanted his old job back, but that he had told him no. “Robert Mueller should have never been chosen,” Trump said. “I think Mueller is a true never Trumper. He’s somebody who didn’t get a job that he wanted very badly.”
3 ON THE INVESTIGATING HIS ENEMIES
Trump also said Mueller, who is a Republican, should have investigated law enforcement officials whom the president claims tried to undermine him. He rattled off a series of names of people that he thought Mueller should have been investigating. Trump mentioned Peter Strzok, a former FBI agent who helped lead the investigation and exchanged anti-Trump text messages during the 2016 election with ex-FBI lawyer Lisa Page.
4 ON IMPEACHMENT
Trump, asked about impeachment by Congress, called it a “dirty word” and said he couldn’t imagine the courts allowing him to be impeached. “I don’t think so because there’s no crime,” he said. Mueller and others have indicated that the next move, if any, is up to Congress, which does have the power of impeachment. Trump has blocked House committees’ subpoenas and other efforts to dig into the Trump-Russia issue, insisting Mueller’s report has settled everything.
5 ON THE USS JOHN MCCAIN
Trump says he had nothing to do with directing the U.S. Navy to keep a warship named for the late Sen. John McCain out of sight during his visit to Japan this week. Trump told reporters he “wasn’t involved” in the effort. The Wall Street Journal first reported Wednesday that a tarp was placed over the warship’s name before Trump’s arrival.