ADVERTISEMENT

Trump Says Russia Probe ‘Should End’ But That He Won’t Stop It

Trump Says Russia Probe ‘Should End’ But That He Won’t Stop It

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump said Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation “should end because it’s very bad for our country.”

“Millions of dollars have been spent” even though there was “no collusion’’ by his campaign with Russia, Trump said Wednesday during a press conference at the White House, a day after his party lost control of the House of Representatives.

“I could fire everyone right now, but I don’t want to stop it,” he said.

Trump didn’t respond directly when asked about the future of Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Trump has spent months attacking Sessions publicly and privately over his recusal in 2017 from overseeing the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. If Sessions were fired or quit, Trump could name an acting attorney general who could oust Mueller or constrain his investigation.

Though Trump took a brief hiatus from attacking Mueller in the weeks leading up to the midterm elections -- a period when the Russia probe largely stayed out of the news headlines -- the president attacked the special counsel Wednesday on Twitter.

Voters “are finally beginning to understand what a disgusting Witch Hunt, led by 17 Angry Democrats, is all about!’’ Trump tweeted, citing an exit poll by NBC News that showed 42 percent of voters approve of how Mueller is handling his investigation while 45 percent disapprove.

The poll actually showed a strong partisan divide, with 79 percent of Democrats approving of Mueller’s work and 71 percent of Republicans disapproving.

Mueller’s investigation -- looking at Russian interference, whether anyone around Trump colluded in it and whether the president sought to obstruct justice --has already secured indictments and guilty pleas from Trump’s campaign chairman, former national security adviser and other associates. Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, has been cooperating with Mueller and the U.S. attorney in Manhattan after pleading guilty to tax evasion and other crimes earlier this year.

Mueller, now freed from the constraints of his pre-election quiet period, must decide on the next steps in his high-profile investigation.

--With assistance from Chris Strohm.

To contact the reporters on this story: Toluse Olorunnipa in Washington at tolorunnipa@bloomberg.net;Alyza Sebenius in Washington at asebenius@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, ;Kevin Whitelaw at kwhitelaw@bloomberg.net, Larry Liebert

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.