Trump Blasts “Witch Hunt” Amid Obstruction of Justice Inquiry

He also suggested that investigators invented the ”phony collusion” claims against him.

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President Donald Trump erupted on Twitter Thursday morning to rail against new reports that special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating the president for possible obstruction of justice.

The pair of tweets come one day after the Washington Post reported that Mueller’s Russia probe has been expanded to include potential crimes committed by the president. According to the report, Mueller has requested interviews with several high-level intelligence officials, including NSA director Mike Rogers, National Intelligence director Dan Coats, and CIA director Mike Pompeo.

The revelation marks a significant twist in the investigation, which until recently had not included a personal examination of Trump himself. The Post reported that Mueller began looking into whether Trump attempted to obstruct justice shortly after the abrupt dismissal of former FBI director James Comey last month.

On Monday, Trump’s friend, Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy, suggested that Trump was considering firing Mueller from the independent investigation—a move administration officials and top Republican leaders strongly warned against. 

Other conservatives, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, have shared the president’s disapproval of Mueller, specifically because of the lack of Republican lawyers hired to work on the investigation. On Thursday, Gingrich joined the president’s social media tirade with his own tweets slamming Mueller and the Russia probe:

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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