This is the end of my Presidency...
Revealed, Trump’s horror when Russia probe launched:
DONALD Trump slumped in his Oval Office chair and swore in despair when he heard that special counsel Robert Mueller was investigating him, it was revealed last night.
Witnesses told how after ex-attorney general Jeff Sessions broke the news, Mr Trump said: ‘Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I’m f***ed.’
Turning angrily on Mr Sessions, he said: ‘How could you let this happen, Jeff?’
The dramatic details of his reaction to the inquiry into Russian meddling in his 2016 campaign and obstructing justice were revealed when Mr Mueller’s redacted report was finally released yesterday.
The 448-page report also made clear that Mr Trump had tried to have Mr Mueller sacked after realising that the ex-FBI chief was investigating him personally.
Investigators found that Mr Trump tried repeatedly to derail the Justice Department inquiry but aides simply refused to carry out his orders.
The report also revealed that, far from clearing the President on all counts, Mr Mueller had said Congress could charge him with obstructing justice over his efforts to hamper the investigation. The report has encouraged Democrats by revealing the 22-month investigation was rather more damning about Mr Trump than claimed by attorney general William Barr in a four-page summary published last month. They say there is enough evidence to continue investigating Mr Trump and his associates.
However, Mr Barr tried to draw a line under an investigation that has cast a long shadow over the Trump presidency.
At a press conference, he claimed the document was favourable to Mr Trump as it had cleared him and his team of colluding with Russia to pervert the election.
Moments after Mr Barr had concluded, the President posted a tweet inspired by the TV series Game of Thrones declaring: ‘Game Over.’ His attorney general also said Mr Mueller reached no conclusion on the accusation that the President obstructed justice.
Mr Barr has ruled that there was insufficient evidence to justify charging Mr Trump with this.
But the Mueller report provides ample ammunition for those determined to challenge the decision. It includes myriad examples of Mr Trump attempting to stifle the inquiry.
These included pressure on those involved to back him and dangling the offer of pardons to former aides who had been prosecuted.
Most seriously, according to the report, Mr Trump ordered the removal of Mr Mueller as special counsel after learning that he was being personally investigated. The President called Don McGahn, then his White House counsel, and directed him to sack Mr Mueller in June 2017.
Mr McGahn refused and prepared to resign but stayed after Mr Trump failed to pursue his demand. The report said the President put pressure on Mr McGahn to lie when reports emerged in the press. The President has claimed to have been completely exonerated but the report hardly bears that out. It concludes: ‘The President’s efforts to influence the investigation were mostly unsuccessful but that is largely because the persons who surrounded him declined to carry out orders.’
The report found that Moscow perceived it would ‘benefit from a Trump presidency ‘and ‘worked to secure’ that by hacking and distributing stolen information.
A defiant White House said: ‘President Trump has been fully exonerated yet again.’ Mr Trump last night claimed he could have ‘ fired everyone’ in the Russia probe if he wanted to. He tweeted: ‘I had the right to end the whole Witch Hunt if I wanted.’
‘How could you let this happen?’