Trump Says DOJ IG Report Is ‘Far Worse Than What I Ever Thought Possible’

US President Donald Trump participates in a roundtable on empowering families with education choice at the White House on December 9, 2019 in Washington,DC. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP) (Photo by BRENDAN SMIAL... US President Donald Trump participates in a roundtable on empowering families with education choice at the White House on December 9, 2019 in Washington,DC. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP) (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

President Trump predictably railed against the Justice Department Inspector General’s report focused on the origins of the Russia probe released Monday.

During a roundtable on school choice at the White House, Trump took the opportunity to criticize the inspector general’s report by calling it a “disgrace” and “far worse than I would’ve ever thought possible.”

Trump had a number of negative adjectives at the ready to describe the report.

“The IG report just came out and I was just briefed on it. It’s a disgrace what has happened with respect to the things that were done to our country — should never again happen to another president,” Trump said. “It is incredible, far worse than I would’ve ever thought possible, and it’s is an embarrassment to our country. It’s dishonest. It’s everything that a lot of people thought it would be except far worse.”

The IG report concluded that the Russia probe was opened properly and that political bias did not taint the launch of the investigation. The report did, however, acknowledge errors regarding the FISA warrant to surveil former Trump campaign foreign policy aide Carter Page.

After mentioning that he is “going to get some very detailed briefings,” Trump insisted that the release of the report is a “very sad day.”

“It’s a very sad day when I see that, a very sad day when a lot of people see that,” Trump said. “It was concocted and you say what you want, that was probably something that has never happened in the history of our country.”

After asking White House aides Pam Bondi and Kellyanne Conway for their thoughts on their report — who said that “the American people should be terrified” and that it was an “intrusive investigation,” respectively — Trump added that he is looking forward to U.S. Attorney John Durham’s investigate-the-investigators report because he believes that the original Russia probe was an attempt to overthrow the government.

“This was an overthrow of government. This was an attempted overthrow — people were in on it and they got caught, they got caught red-handed and I look forward to the Durham report which is coming out in the not-too-distant future,” Trump said. “It’s got its own information, plus, plus, plus, and it’s an incredible thing that happened and we’re lucky we caught him. I think I’m going to put this down as one of our great achievements because what we found and what we saw never, ever should this happen again in our country.”

Trump 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale responded to the report by arguing that it “confirms significant misconduct and wrongdoing by the Obama-Biden FBI.”

“This report confirms significant misconduct and wrongdoing by the Obama-Biden FBI. The Clinton campaign and the DNC paid for foreign sources to manufacture fake dirt on President Trump and his campaign, resulting in the now-debunked Steele Dossier,” Parscale said in a statement Monday. “These politically motivated accusations were used to justify the surveillance of a U.S. presidential campaign by the FBI, which falsified information and concealed evidence that didn’t fit their narrative. Democrats and the media weaponized this as part of their Russia Collusion Hoax for more than two years and they are still at it today.”

Watch Trump’s remarks below:

 

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for xyxox xyxox says:

    Trump is going completely stark raving mad on live television before a global audience of billions.

  2. Gaslight, distract, project, repeat.

  3. How can Trump use the word thought?

  4. Avatar for sfaw sfaw says:

    I have full confidence that AG Barr will use this report as the basis for an investigation into treason committed during the 2016 campaign.

    By Hillary, of course.

  5. Avatar for sfaw sfaw says:

    He just repeats big words he hears others use.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

104 more replies

Participants

Avatar for newton Avatar for mattinpa Avatar for jep07 Avatar for jackster Avatar for bluinmaine Avatar for thebigragu Avatar for lastroth Avatar for pippenpippen Avatar for sfaw Avatar for mrf Avatar for tena Avatar for jinnj Avatar for daulphin Avatar for bodie1 Avatar for caltg Avatar for uneducated Avatar for tpr Avatar for rhs1963 Avatar for cub_calloway Avatar for read2much Avatar for redhand Avatar for pablointhegazebo Avatar for rascal_crone Avatar for dogselfie

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: