President Donald Trump doubled down on his “witch hunt” characterization of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe Friday, saying that a group of “angry Democrats” is running an “unfair” investigation.
“You have a group of investigators that are all Democrats,” Trump said. “In some cases, they went to the Hillary Clinton celebration that turned out to be a funeral.
“In all fairness, Bob Mueller worked for Obama for eight years,” he added.
Trump spoke to reporters during two separate gaggles, one as he was leaving the White House and the other at Joint Base Andrews before departing for the NRA convention in Dallas.
It is unclear to whom the President is referring, as Mueller and his overseer, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, are Republicans. In addition, Mueller worked for former President Barack Obama for about two years, after being appointed by the Bush administration for a ten-year term.
Another theme Trump reiterated in both appearances is that he is being persecuted by the investigation. “I have to find that we’re going to be treated fairly,” he said, referring to a potential sit-down with Mueller. “Because everybody sees it now and it’s a pure witch hunt.
“If you fight back because you people say something wrong, or they leak like they’ve been doing, if you fight back they say, oh, that’s obstruction of justice,” Trump said.
In between praising himself and his administration for Friday’s job numbers and his talks with North Korea, Trump invariably reverted to his anger at the probe.
“All I’m telling is you that this country is right now running so smooth and to be bringing up that kind of crap, and to be bringing up witch hunts all the time, that’s all you want to talk about,” he said.
