Trump Says Election Losers Used Russia Probe to Try and Regain Power
Trump Says Election Losers Used Russia Probe to Try and Regain Power
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump told a rally in Michigan on Thursday that he’s been fully vindicated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report and that the investigation was an attempt by “those who lost the election to try and illegally regain power.”
He called the Justice Department’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election a “sinister effort” to undermine his victory. Trump assailed Democrats for the investigation he repeatedly demonized as a “witch hunt” and said the party has to decide whether to “continue defrauding the public with ridiculous bulls---.”
“The Russia hoax is finally dead,” Trump told the cheering crowd in Grand Rapids. “Total exoneration. Complete vindication.”
As Trump and the White House shift into re-election mode, they are propelled by one of the biggest political victories of Trump’s presidency. Attorney General William Barr said on Sunday that Mueller found no collusion with Russia during the 2016 campaign. Mueller also didn’t reach a conclusion on whether Trump obstructed justice.
Barr’s letter didn’t provide full vindication. He quoted Mueller as saying that while his report “does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.” Yet that hasn’t stopped Trump from claiming a triumph. He tweeted “Complete and Total EXONERATION” on Sunday and called the inquiry “an illegal takedown that failed.”
Trump has used Barr’s letter not only to attempt to clear his reputation, but to revive one of his favorite lines of attack on the media, which resonates well with Trump’s base. He tweeted that the findings proves news organizations “truly are the Enemy of the People and the Real Opposition Party!”
At the rally, Trump singled out for scorn House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff of California, calling him a “little pencil neck.” Schiff has been especially critical of Trump and is pressing his own investigation into the president.
“Got the smallest, thinnest neck I’ve ever seen,” Trump said of Schiff. “He is not a long ball hitter.”
Trump called for “accountability” for those who pursued investigations targeting him.
The political fight over Mueller’s findings is far from over -- top Democrats are demanding the release of his complete report and all the evidence he compiled. The coming legal battle could end up in the Supreme Court and drag on through the 2020 election.
As the contest for the Democratic nomination heats up, with even more candidates expected to enter an already crowded field, Trump will find himself struggling for airtime. And the president -- who wrote in his book “The Art of the Deal” that “bad publicity is sometimes better than no publicity at all” -- has been known to deliberately court controversy to draw media attention when he wants it.
Following the Michigan rally on Thursday, Trump plans to head to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, for a long weekend away from the White House. He’ll make a day trip on Friday to a dam on Lake Okeechobee, the headwaters of the Everglades, where he may seek to promote an infrastructure plan.
To contact the reporter on this story: Shannon Pettypiece in Washington at spettypiece@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Justin Blum, John Harney
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