Trump Decries Witch Hunt Even as Lawyer Insists No Probe

W460

President Donald Trump angrily decried as a "distraction" the "witch hunt" against him Sunday, as his lawyer insisted the U.S. leader was not under criminal investigation in the sweeping probe of Russian meddling in American elections.

The contradictory messages came after Trump first answered -- and seemingly confirmed -- reports that he is personally being investigated for obstruction of justice when he tweeted on Friday: "I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt."

But Jay Sekulow, who is part of Trump's legal team, said Trump was in fact writing about reports of an investigation, not an actual probe.

"The tweet from the president was in response to the five anonymous sources purportedly leaking info to The Washington Post," Sekulow told NBC television's "Meet the Press."

"He's not afraid of the investigation -- there is no investigation... there is not an investigation of the president of the United States, period."

Sekulow was referring to a report in the Post this week that said Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in November's presidential election was now also trying to determine whether Trump obstructed justice.

Trump's fledgling presidency has been battered by allegations -- under investigation both by Congress and the FBI -- that Russia interfered to sway the 2016 election in his favor, in possible collusion with Trump's campaign team.

On Sunday, Trump again referred to the probe, but dismissed it as a "distraction."

"The MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN agenda is doing very well despite the distraction of the Witch Hunt. Many new jobs, high business enthusiasm, massive regulation cuts, 36 new legislative bills signed, great new S.C. Justice, and Infrastructure, Healthcare and Tax Cuts in works!" he wrote.

Sekulow, however, said his legal team had not received notice of any investigation.

"There has been no notification from the special counsel's office that the president is under investigation. In fact, to the contrary," he told CBS' Face the Nation, pointing to recent testimony by sacked FBI director James Comey who said the president had not been the target of an investigation. Trump fired Comey in early May.

- Tapes next week? -

Trump has hinted that he may have taped conversations with Comey -- conversations in which the ex-FBI chief says the president pressured him for his loyalty.

Sekulow said that Trump would address the issue of the tapes -- whose very existence have been the source of much speculation -- in the "week ahead."

Senator Marco Rubio, who lost the Republican primary election to Trump, called for a "full and credible investigation."

"If we want to put all this behind us, let's find out what happened, put it out there, and let's not undermine the credibility of the investigation, and so my view on it is that is the best thing that could happen for the president and for the country," he told CNN.

Rubio sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is conducting its own probe into Russian election meddling.

"The president has strong feelings about it and (what) I would communicate to the white house and to the world through this broadcast is, let this thing work its way through, let it be thorough and complete so no one will have any doubt," Rubio added.

Comments 3
Thumb chrisrushlau 18 June 2017, 19:49

Okay, Naharnet, AFP, let's wait and see who is the cleanest, strongest character here: Don Trump or the white elite racist establishment. It is noteworthy that voters voted the white elite racist establishment out of power in the US last November, the first time that has happened in modern European history. The WERE's main thrust is that Trump profited from whistleblowers who informed us that the top of the Democratic Party is rotten to the core: trying to steer the nomination away from Sanders to Hilary Clinton, and trying to buy the debate questions before the debate between Clinton and Trump. It's amazing they let Chelsea Manning out of prison. They haven't given the NSA leaker any breaks, though.

Thumb Maxx 18 June 2017, 23:09

Second, Bernie Sanders, for whom I personally was rooting during the primaries, was never part of the Democratic Party; he only joined them for the primary election because as an Independent he had even less of a chance to win. The Democratic Party doesn't owe him anything, but they do owe Hillary, who has been a very vocal presence for the Democratic Party over the past quarter of a century. In case you needed more proof, once the primaries were over Bernie didn't stick with the Democratic Party, he went back to his Independent registry. As for Donna Brazile's giving - not "selling" - two of the debate's dozens of questions to Hillary before the debate (which, inadvertently, hurt Hillary's performance because she came in over-prepared), sure, that may have been a foul; but it is nothing in comparison to Jared Kushner's enlisting the help of Russian hackers for his data operation and targeted fake news dissemination over Facebook.

Thumb Maxx 18 June 2017, 23:10

So Chris, get your head out of Breitbart's and Infowars' and Fox News' anal orifice, and look at reality for a second. Donald J. Drumpf represents everything that's wrong with America. This compulsive liar's world would fall apart if he had to face truth for a whole day, so he's been actively trying to convince as many gullible idiots as possible to live in his diseased fantasy world with him so he can always quote you when you repeat his words. I'm all for Making America Great Again, but to do that Drumpf and his ilk have to be eradicated from the system like the cancer unto America and the World that they are.