Donald Trump in NY Times Interview Attacks Sessions, Mueller, Comey, and Rosenstein!

Dear Commons Community,

In a New York Times interview yesterday, President Trump attacks Jeff Sessions, Robert Mueller, James Comey and Rod Rosenstein.  Here is a summry:

Trump said that he would not have appointed Jeff Sessions attorney general had he known the former senator would recuse himself from the Justice Department investigation into Russia’s intervention in the 2016 election.

He added: “Jeff Sessions takes the job, gets into the job, recuses himself, which frankly I think is very unfair to the president. How do you take a job and then recuse yourself? If he would have recused himself before the job, I would have said, ‘Thanks, Jeff, but I’m not going to take you.’ It’s extremely unfair — and that’s a mild word — to the president.”

Trump, who has repeatedly described the Russia investigation as a “witch hunt” fueled by the “fake news” media, also claimed in the interview that Mueller’s probe was rife with conflicts of interest, saying Mueller had interviewed to replace Comey prior to his appointment as special counsel. Trump also warned federal investigators against looking into his family’s financial interests beyond those tied to Russia.

“I think that’s a violation,” he said. “Look, this is about Russia.” 

He took several jabs at Rosenstein, the Justice Department official who penned the May memo recommending Trump fire Comey. The president specifically criticized Rosenstein for appointing Mueller as special prosecutor, and took an odd swipe at Rosenstein’s hometown, Baltimore. 

“There are very few Republicans in Baltimore, if any,” Trump said

Trump repeated his claim that Comey lied during testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, and said he believes the then-FBI director informed him about a dossier of salacious allegations against Trump as a way to gain leverage. 

“In my opinion, he shared it so that I would think he had it out there,” Trump said.

It appears that the President is obsessing with the investigation into his ties with the Russian government.  

Tony

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