Trump claims ‘witch hunt’ as probe intensifies
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump fervently denied on Thursdaythat his campaign had collaborated with Russia or that he’d tried to kill an FBI probe of the issue, contending that “even my enemies” recognize his innocence and declaring himself the most unfairly houndedpresident in history.
Asked point-blank if he had done anything that might merit prosecution or even impeachment, he said noand then added concerning the allegations and questions that have mounted as he nears the four-month mark of his presidency: “I think it’s totally ridiculous. Everybody thinks so.”
Not quite everybody. While Mr. Trump tweeted and voiced his indignation at the White House, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed an independent special counsel to lead a heightened federal Trump-Russia investigation the day before, briefed the entire Senate behind closed doors at the Capitol. By several senators’ accounts, he contradicted Mr. Trump’s statements that Mr. Rosenstein’s written criticism of FBI Director James Comey had been a factor in Mr. Comey’s recent firing by the president.
Meanwhile, senators who were briefed by Mr. Rosenstein said that the investigation into possible collusion between his campaign and Russiais now criminal in nature.
Several White House advisers and personal associates of Mr. Trump are urging him to hire an experienced outside lawyer to help
him deal with issues arising from the special counsel investigation, according to several people briefed on the conversations.
Mr. Trump is leaving Friday for his first foreign trip, to the Mideast and beyond, and aides had hoped the disarray at home would have been calmed if not resolved, allowing the White House to move ahead. Republicans on Capitol Hill hoped the same, reasoning that the appointment of a special counsel could free them to work on a major tax overhaul and other matters withoutconstant distractions.
Mr. Trump said he was about to name a replacement for Mr. Comey, another move to settle the waters. Former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman was seen as the frontrunner. But calmness was seen as far off as Mr. Trump took a few questions at a news briefing with visiting Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos.
Did he urge Mr. Comey at a February meeting to drop his probe of the Russia connections of Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Flynn (who hasn’t responded to a subpoena from the Senate intelligence committee in its investigation)? “No.No. Next question.” Did he, in fact, collude with Russia in his campaign to defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton?
“Everybody, even my enemies, have said there is no collusion,” he maintained, even though Democrats have not absolved Mr. Trump on whether his campaign and Russian officials coordinated efforts last year to disadvantageMs. Clinton.
However, another answer on that subject was seen as both more specific and perhapsambiguous.
“There is no collusion between certainly myself and mycampaign — but I can only speak for myself — and the Russians.Zero.”
“The entire thing has been a witch hunt,” he declared, echoing one of the tweets he’d sent out just after dawn: “This is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in Americanhistory!”
Mr. Trump said he respected the special counsel appointment but also said it “hurtsour country terribly.”
Atthe other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, Mr. Rosenstein was briefing the Senate about his decision to appoint former FBI Director Robert Mueller to lead the independentTrump-Russia probe.
Senators said that Mr. Rosenstein steered clear of specifics while making clear that Mr. Mueller has wide latitude to pursue the investigation wherever it leads, including potentially criminal charges. Some Republicans welcomed Mr. Mueller’s appointment and expressed hopes it would restore some composure to a capitalplunged in chaos.
“We’ll get rid of the smoke and see where the actual issues lie,” said Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C. “I do think that the special prosecutor provides a sense of calm and confidence perhapsfor the American people, which is incredibly important.”
Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., made it clear that Mr. Rosenstein had not alleviated all of the lawmakers’ concerns during the roughly hourlong briefing, though. “We still havequestions,” he said.
One piece of news that emerged from Mr. Rosenstein’s briefing was seen as striking: He told senators that he had already known Mr. Comey was getting fired even ashe wrote the memo that Mr. Trump cited as a significant justification for the FBI director’s dismissal. Mr. Trump himself had already contradicted that explanation, telling interviewers earlier that he had already decided to dismissMr. Comey.
Mr. Trump offered new justifications for his decision Thursday, even while referring to the Rosenstein memo as “a very, very strong recommendation.”
Mr. Trump referred to Mr. Comey’s testimony at a recent Capitol Hill hearing after whichthe Justice Department ended up having to amend part of his testimony regarding last year’s probe of Ms. Clinton’semail practices.
“That was a poor, poor performance,” Mr. Trump said. “And then on top of that, after the Wednesday performance by Director Comey, you had a personcome and have to readjust the record … because there were misstatements made.”
The Justice Department says Mr. Mueller, the new special counsel, has been given sweepingpower to investigate Russian interference in the 2016presidential campaign.
At the same time, congressional committees are continuing their own investigations. The House intelligence committee announced that it had asked for documents from the FBIand Justice Department.
Amid the White House turmoil, Republicans in Congress were trying to salvage one piece of their legislative agenda: overhauling the nation’s tax system.
GOP lawmakers fired the official starting gun on their big plans to overhaul the tax code Thursday, and House Speaker Paul Ryan insisted that Congress will overhaul the U.S. tax system this year despite the chaos viewed as consuming Washington and the political divisions in Congress.