Trump rails against own Justice Department for not going after 'Crooked Hillary'
President Trump repeatedly complained Friday that his own Justice Department wasn’t going after Democrats, days after three former Trump campaign officials were charged in the investigation being led by special counsel Robert Mueller.
In an extended tweetstorm, he renewed his attacks on “Crooked Hillary” Clinton, the election foe he vanquished nearly a year ago, and touted a statement from “Pochahontas,” his pejorative for Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.
“Everybody is asking why the Justice Department (and FBI) isn’t looking into all of the dishonesty going on with Crooked Hillary & the Dems,” Trump said.
He continued: “People are angry. At some point the Justice Department, and the FBI, must do what is right and proper. The American public deserves it! … Pocahontas just stated that the Democrats, lead by the legendary Crooked Hillary Clinton, rigged the Primaries! Lets go FBI & Justice Dept.”
Warren quickly responded to the jab from the president on Twitter, warning him his tweets “won’t stop Mueller’s investigation or keep your people out of jail.”
“The DNC shouldn’t play favorites,” Warren continued. “But that’s a whole lot different from illegally conspiring with Russia. The FBI knows the difference.”
“Slurs, lies & trash talk won’t stop the FBI from doing its job,” she added.
Paul Manafort, a former Trump campaign chairman, and Rick Gates, Manafort’s deputy and business partner, were charged Monday with 12 federal crimes. Court documents released Monday also revealed that George Papadopoulos, a former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia during the campaign.
Trump has long complained about investigations — by both the FBI and multiple Republican-led congressional committees — focusing on his campaign and Russia’s efforts to influence the election instead of Clinton.
In a Thursday radio interview, Trump lamented he was not able to exert more influence over the Justice Department and the FBI, admitting he was “frustrated” by the dynamic.
“The saddest thing is that because I’m the president of the United States, I am not supposed to be involved with the Justice Department,” Trump said on “The Larry O’Connor Show.”
He added: “I’m not supposed to be involved with the FBI. I’m not supposed to be doing the kind of things that I would love to be doing. And I’m very frustrated by it.”
Though he did not name Attorney General Jeff Sessions by name in either the interview Thursday or his tweets Friday, Trump has previously openly voiced his dissatisfaction with Sessions. Trump told the New York Times in July he would not have appointed Sessions had he known the attorney general would recuse himself from any investigation relating to the Trump campaign. Trump later toyed with firing Sessions, but did not ultimately follow through. He told reporters Friday, “A lot of people are disappointed in the Justice Department, including me.”
Trump was animated Friday morning by former Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile’s book, which contends that the Clinton campaign exerted considerable influence over the DNC in exchange for fundraising help, including during the contentious primary campaign between Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. An excerpt of the book was published Thursday in Politico.
“New Donna B book says she paid for and stole the Dem Primary. What about the deleted E-mails, Uranium, Podesta, the Server, plus, plus,” Trump tweeted. “The real story on Collusion is in Donna B’s new book. Crooked Hillary bought the DNC & then stole the Democratic Primary from Crazy Bernie!” he exclaimed.
Later, Trump added, “Bernie Sanders supporters have every right to be apoplectic of the complete theft of the Dem primary by Crooked Hillary! I always felt I would be running and winning against Bernie Sanders, not Crooked H, without cheating, I was right.”
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