Trump accuses probers of ‘unrevealed’ conflicts
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump trained his rancor on federal investigators Monday and appeared to warn that negative material would emerge about the prosecutors leading the inquiry into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.
In a series of Twitter posts Monday, the president said the investigation was being run by Democrats and raised the question of whether the special counsel’s work was being drawn out to influence the outcome of the coming midterm congressional elections, when Democrats could win enough seats to take control of the House and possibly even the Senate.
“The 13 Angry Democrats in charge of the Russian Witch Hunt are starting to find out that there is a Court System in place that actually protects people from injustice…and just wait ‘till the Courts get to see your unrevealed Conflicts of Interest!” he wrote.
Trump appeared to be drawing attention to a federal judge’s questioning last week of special counsel Robert Mueller’s authority in a case against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. But it was unclear what legal action Trump was referring to that would touch on “unrevealed” conflicts of interest.
The Republicans are in danger of losing control of the House and possibly the Senate in the upcoming elections, in part because of growing disapproval of the job Trump is doing. Trump’s approval rating is at 41 percent, the lowest of presidents at this point in their first terms since former President Jimmy Carter, who had a 40.5 percent approval rating at a comparable time in his administration.
There is no indication that the Mueller investigation is being deliberately drawn out to manipulate votes. The special counsel’s office Monday declined to comment on Trump’s question.
Mueller’s team is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible coordination with Trump associates as well as whether the president obstructed justice. So far, the special counsel’s office has charged 19 people — including four Trump campaign advisers — and three Russian companies.
Asked about the tweet on Monday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump was referring to “the fact that we’re still talking about it.”
Sanders said, “I think the point he’s making is how ridiculous it is that we’re still having this conversation and the depths to which this research has gone on and investigation has been conducted and still produced nothing.”
Trump regularly attacks the ongoing investigation, as he did Monday, and has considered firing Mueller — a looming threat that has divided the Republican Party.
Trump has recently taken the position that what the special counsel is investigating as possible obstruction of justice is, in reality, Trump fighting back against what he considers to be false accusations. Trump tweeted on Monday, “There is no O, it’s called Fighting Back.”
The president has said that the investigation is led by Democrats, even though Mueller is a longtime Republican.
In another tweet Monday, Trump said the Russia investigation is “rapidly losing credibility” and referred to the Republican findings of the House Intelligence Committee — specifically that in a yearlong investigation, Republicans on the committee found there was no collusion between the Russians and the Trump campaign. Democrats on the committee issued a dissenting document.
Last year, the chairman of the panel, Devin Nunes, R-Calif., stepped away from leading the Russia investigation over questions about his own credibility to run a fair and bipartisan inquiry.
Trump has previously railed about 13 “hardened” Democrats on the special counsel team. At least 17 of the attorneys on the team have contributed to Democratic campaigns, according to records maintained by the Federal Election Commission. And three of the attorneys are registered Democrats, according to reports in The Washington Post and PolitiFact.
Mueller could not have barred them from serving on the team based solely on their political contributions. Federal regulations and Justice Department policy prohibit the consideration of political affiliation in hiring and other personnel actions involving career attorneys.
In congressional testimony, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has defended Mueller’s team against criticism that it was politically tainted.
Trump’s new lawyer, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, has used a string of media appearances over the past week to cast the probe as a “totally garbage investigation.” And Giuliani has called into question whether Trump would be treated fairly by Mueller’s prosecutors if he were to agree to an interview.
Giuliani referred to a federal judge’s recent criticism of the special counsel’s fraud case against Manafort. The judge, T.S. Ellis III, said Friday that Mueller was more interested in Manafort providing incriminating details about Trump than he is in Manafort’s fraud charges.
No decision has been made on whether to permit the president to sit for an interview, but a person familiar with the situation but not authorized to speak publicly said the legal team hopes to resolve that question by May 17, the one-year anniversary of Mueller’s appointment. Giuliani earlier told The Wall Street Journal that the team hopes to decide by that date.