Tweeter Trump targets Clinton
President’s Twitter fusillade erupts as Washington braces for Russia charges
WASHINGTON — With the U.S. special prosecutor reportedly poised to issue the first indictment in the Russian-ties investigation, President Donald Trump strove to shift the focus Sunday to a litany of accusations against his 2016 rival, Hillary Clinton.
In a series of Twitter posts, Trump made it clear he believed Clinton should be pursued more forcefully, writing, “DO SOMETHING!”
Trump did not specify who should take such action, though critics have accused him of trying to improperly sway the inquiries.
The president was also reviving allegations that Clinton was part of a quid pro quo in which the Clinton Foundation received donations in exchange for her support as secretary of state for a business deal that gave Russia control over a large share of uranium production in the United States.
“Never seen such Republican ANGER & UNITY as I have concerning the lack of investigation on Clinton made Fake Dossier (now $12,000,000?), the Uranium to Russia deal, the 33,000 plus deleted Emails, the Comey fix and so much more,” Trump wrote.
“Instead they look at phoney Trump/ Russia ‘collusion,’ which doesn’t exist.”
Trump said Republicans were now pushing back against the Russia allegations by looking into Clinton.
Trump was apparently referring in his tweets to revelations last week that Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee had paid for research that was included in a dossier made public in Janu-
ary by BuzzFeed that contained salacious claims about connections between Trump, his associates and Russia.
Trump was also returning to questions about Clinton’s use of a private email server and how former FBI director James Comey handled an investigation into the matter.
The president’s Twitter fusillade came as Washington braced for the first public action by Robert Mueller, the special prosecutor named after Comey’s ouster to investigate alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
As part of his inquiry, Mueller is believed to be examining whether there was collusion between Trump’s campaign and Moscow, and whether the president obstructed justice when he fired Comey.
CNN reported Friday that a federal grand jury in Washington had approved the first charges in Mueller’s investigation.
Plans had been made for anyone charged to be taken into custody as early as Monday, the network reported.
CNN said the target of the charges was unclear.
Multiple congressional committees have undertaken their own investigations into alleged Russian meddling in the elections, following up on the belief of U.S. intelligence agencies that Moscow sought to sway the contest in favour of Trump — an idea he has frequently dismissed as a hoax.
“The Dems are using this terrible (and bad for our country) Witch Hunt for evil politics, but the R’s are now fighting back like never before,” Trump wrote on Sunday on Twitter.
“There is so much GUILT by Democrats/Clinton, and now the facts are pouring out. DO SOMETHING!”
The president’s tweets came days after House Republicans announced they were opening new investigations into two of Trump’s most frequently cited grievances: the Obama Justice Department’s investigation of Clinton’s emails and the uranium deal.
Trump is working to fuel those inquiries.
The White House acknowledged Friday the president had urged the Justice Department to lift a gag order on an informant in a federal investigation into Russia’s attempts to gain a foothold in the United States’ uranium industry during the Obama administration.
Critics called the move improper presidential interference in a federal criminal inquiry. But Trump’s advisers said he was merely encouraging transparency.
In recent days, Trump has suggested he believes the questions he has been raising about Clinton’s conduct should put to rest any allegations about his own actions and end the scrutiny of Russia’s alleged meddling in the election.
“This was the Democrats coming up with an excuse for losing an election,” Trump told reporters last week.
“They lost it by a lot. They didn’t know what to say, so they made up the whole Russia hoax.
“Now it’s turning out that the hoax has turned around, and you look at what’s happened with Russia, and you look at the uranium deal, and you look at the fake dossier. So that’s all turned around.”