Trump lashes out at ‘greatest witch hunt in history’
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US President Donald Trump lashed out at the appointment of a special counsel to investigate allegations that his campaign collaborated with Russia to sway the 2016 election, tweeting yesterday that it was “the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!”
On Wednesday, the Justice Department appointed former FBI director Robert Mueller to lead the investigation. Mueller will have sweeping powers and the authority to prosecute any crimes he uncovers.
The surprise announcement to hand the probe over to Mueller, a lawman with deep bipartisan respect, was a striking shift for Trump’s Justice Department, which had resisted increasingly loud calls from Democrats for an outside prosecutor. It immediately escalated the legal stakes — and the potential political damage — for a president who has tried to dismiss the matter as partisan witch hunt and a “hoax.”
In another Twitter post, Trump said: “With all of the illegal acts that took place in the Clinton campaign & Obama Administration, there was never a special councel (sic) appointed!” He did not provide examples or evidence of any alleged “illegal acts.”
The announcement, the latest in the shock-a-day Washington saga, was made by deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The White House counsel’s office was alerted only after the order appointing Mueller was signed, said a senior White House official who requested anonymity.
In a written statement, Trump again insisted there were no nefarious ties between his campaign and Russia.
“A thorough investigation will confirm what we already know — there was no collusion between my campaign and any foreign entity,” he wrote.
During a commencement address on Wednesday at the Coast Guard Academy,
Trump complained bitterly about the criticism he’s faced.
“No politician in history, and I say this with great surety, has been treated worse or more unfairly,” he said. “You can’t let the critics and the naysayers get in the way of your dreams ... I guess that’s why we won. Adversity makes you stronger. Don’t give in, don’t back down ... And the more righteous your fight, the more opposition that you will face.”
Russia’s Vladimir Putin called the dramatic charges swirling around Trump evidence of “political schizophrenia spreading in the US.”
Trump is preparing to leave town today on his first foreign trip, and aides are hoping it will be a chance for the administration to get back on track.
Senator Lindsey Graham said Trump was probably happy to get out of town‚ adding “and a lot of us are glad he’s leaving for a few days.”
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