'Congratulations America': Trump marks Mueller probe's 1-year anniversary
With one of his signature caustic tweets, President Trump on Thursday marked the one-year anniversary of special counsel Robert Mueller’s appointment to lead the Russia investigation.
“Congratulations America, we are now into the second year of the greatest Witch Hunt in American History,” the president wrote. “And there is still No Collusion and No Obstruction. The only Collusion was that done by Democrats who were unable to win an Election despite the spending of far more money!”
“Despite the disgusting, illegal and unwarranted Witch Hunt, we have had the most successful first 17 month Administration in U.S. history — by far!” Trump added in a follow-up tweet. “Sorry to the Fake News Media and ‘Haters,’ but that’s the way it is!”
In a series of interviews, Trump’s lawyer, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, called on Mueller to wrap up the probe.
“Mueller should now bring this to a close,” Giuliani told Fox host Laura Ingraham on Wednesday night. “It’s been a year. He’s gotten 1.4 million documents; he’s interviewed 28 witnesses. And he has nothing, which is why he wants to bring the president into an interview.
“It’s about time to say enough,” Giuliani continued. “We’ve tortured this president enough.”
Giuliani also told CNN’s Dana Bash that Mueller’s team acknowledged that it cannot indict a sitting president. At the conclusion of the investigation, Mueller is expected to issue a report to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who would then deliver the findings to Congress.
“All they get to do is write a report,” Giuliani said. “They can’t indict. At least they acknowledged that to us.”
Trump fired FBI Director James Comey on May 9 of last year, and the ousted FBI director has repeatedly said he believed Trump fired him because of his department’s Russia investigation. Because Attorney General Jeff Sessions had previously recused himself from the probe, Rosenstein soon appointed Mueller to independently oversee the Russia investigation. That was on May 17, 2017 — eight days after Trump fired Comey.
Mueller is now seeking an interview with Trump, who has said he wants to sit down with the special counsel. Experts believe such an interview, if it occurred under oath, would be fraught with legal peril for a president who frequently makes false and exaggerated statements.
On “Fox & Friends” Thursday morning, Giuliani said Trump “wants to testify,” but added that Trump’s legal team does not believe Mueller can subpoena the president to testify before a grand jury.
In his interview with Ingraham, Giuliani also floated the idea that the FBI “possibly” placed a spy in the Trump campaign. “Fox & Friends” followed up with a segment interviewing National Review writer Andrew McCarthy, who has written about the possibility that an FBI source had an informant in the Trump campaign.
The president apparently caught the segment.
“Wow, word seems to be coming out that the Obama FBI ‘SPIED ON THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN WITH AN IMBEDDED INFORMANT,’” Trump tweeted. “Andrew McCarthy says, ‘There’s probably no doubt that they had at least one confidential informant in the campaign.’ If so, this is bigger than Watergate!”
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