Trump questions Mueller impartiality
WASHINGTON— President Donald Trump is questioning the impartiality of Robert Mueller’s investigation and says the probe is groundless, while raising doubts about whether a fired top FBI official kept personal memos outlining his interactions with Trump.
Trump on Sunday elevated his simmering grievances to a boil against Mueller, whose team is examining Trump campaign ties to Russia and possible obstruction of justice; onetime FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, who was dismissed Friday by the attorney general; and former FBI Director James Comey, ousted last year by Trump.
The president’s Twitter barbs follow closely on the call by Trump’s personal lawyer for the Trump-appointed No. 2 Justice Department official overseeing Mueller’s inquiry to “bring an end” to that investigation. And Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee said this past week that they had completed a draft report concluding, after a yearlong investigation, that there was no collusion or coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Trump first asserted on Saturday evening the “Mueller probe should never have started” and then followed that up the next morning by claiming “the Mueller team” of investigators has a large number of “hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans? … does anyone think this is fair? And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!”
They were his first direct tweets to name the special counsel.
Members of Congress worried that the president could be telegraphing his intention to fire Mueller and spoke of renewing efforts to pass legislation to protect the special counsel.
“If he tried to do that, that would be the beginning of the end of his presidency, because we’re a rule-of-law nation,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
Added, GOP Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, a Trump critic: “I don’t know what the designs are on Mueller, but it seems to be building toward that.”
The Associated Press later reported that McCabe kept personal memos detailing interactions with the president that have been provided to Mueller’s office and are similar to notes compiled by Comey.
A skeptical Trump tweeted: “Spent very little time with Andrew McCabe, but he never took notes when he was with me. I don’t believe he made memos except to help his own agenda, probably at a later date. Same with lying James Comey. Can we call them Fake Memos?”
kend, Trump’s personal lawyer, John Dowd, cited the “brilliant and courageous example” by Sessions and the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility and said Rosenstein should “bring an end” to the Russia investigation “manufactured” by Comey.
In response, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., said: “To suggest that McCabe should shut down and all that he is looking at his collusion, if you have an innocent client, Mr. Dowd, act like it.”
Dowd told the AP that he neither was calling on Rosenstein to fire the special counsel immediately nor had discussed with Rosenstein the idea of dismissing Mueller or ending the probe.
Gowdy spoke on “Fox News Sunday,” while Graham and Flake were on CNN’s “State of the Union.”