Special counsel appointed in Russia probe

[GMDino]

(05-18-2017, 09:48 AM)BmorePat87 Wrote: Good pick. No one can remain credible and criticize his ability to conduct a bipartisan investigation.

Quote:WASHINGTON – Just hours after President Trump sent out a statement accepting the appointment of a special counsel in the Russia investigation, he took to Twitter on Thursday to seemingly protest the decision.

"With all of the illegal acts that took place in the Clinton campaign & Obama Administration, there was never a special councel appointed!" Trump tweeted, misspelling the word "counsel."
Trump followed up with another tweet denouncing the ongoing FBI counterintelligence probe examining possible collusion between his campaign and Russia as "the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!"

Quote:With all of the illegal acts that took place in the Clinton campaign & Obama Administration, there was never a special councel appointed!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 18, 2017

Quote:[/url]

 Follow
Donald J. Trump 

@realDonaldTrump
This is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!
7:52 AM - 18 May 2017

It was unclear what "illegal acts" Trump was referring to, though as a candidate he did pledge to appoint a special counsel to investigate his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton's use of private email during her years as secretary of State – a threat he hasn't yet followed up on.


Trump's early morning tweet storm comes day after his Justice Department appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel to oversee the the agency's Russia investigation, a decision the president appeared to accept after it was announced.

"As I have stated many times, a thorough investigation will confirm what we already know – there was no collusion between my campaign and any foreign entity," Trump said in a brief statement Wednesday. "I look forward to this matter concluding quickly.  In the meantime, I will never stop fighting for the people and the issues that matter most to the future of our country."

The White House was stunned by the announcement, [url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/05/17/donald-trump-white-house-special-counsel/101811762/]which they learned about less than an hour before the news became public – and after Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had already signed the order designating Mueller to lead the Russia probe. Aides agreed to take a low-key approach in the reaction to the news, though some suggested Trump himself dismiss the appointment as unnecessary, which is perhaps what inspired Thursday's tweet reaction.

In the hours after the announcement, the White House said it planned not to answer reporters' questions about the probe and would defer them to the special counsel's office. Though that might be difficult if Trump himself continues to speak out.

The Mueller appointment came little more than a week after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey. While Trump criticized Comey's overall performance, Democrats and some Republicans said it looked like the president was trying to shut down the Russia investigation.

Just one day before the Justice Department assigned Mueller to the case, Washington was rocked by revelations Comey wrote memos of his past meetings of his past meetings with Trump, including one at which the president apparently asked him to stop an investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn. The White House denied that account.

Asked about Trump's new tweets on Mueller's appointment, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Trump would be making a mistake to start a rhetorical war with the new investigator. "I know of no one who doesn't have the highest regard for Robert Mueller," McCain told MSNBC's Morning Joe.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/05/18/donald-trump-robert-mueller-special-counsel-russia-hillary-clinton/101822748/