Donald Trump has questioned the impartiality of special counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading the probe into Russia's meddling in the US election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign.
President Donald Trump has questioned the impartiality of special counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading the probe into Russia's meddling in the US election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign.
In an interview with Fox News aired this morning, Trump argued that Mueller, a former FBI director, is "good friends" with James Comey, Mueller's successor at the spy agency whom Trump fired on May 9. Trump later acknowledged he took this step with the Russia probe in mind.
When George W. Bush was president, Mueller and Comey worked together -- Mueller as FBI director and Comey as deputy attorney general.
Trump also said that some of the staffers that Mueller has hired for his investigation "are all Hillary Clinton supporters." US news reports say some of these staffers have made campaign contributions to Democratic candidates.
Asked point blank if Mueller should recuse himself from the Russia probe, Trump said: "Well, he's very, very good friends with Comey, which is very bothersome. But he's also -- we're going to have to see."
Trump added: "I mean we're going to have to see in terms -- look, there has been no obstruction. There has been no collusion. There has been leaking by Comey."
Trump did say, however, that Mueller is an "honourable man''.
This comes amid President Donald Trump declaring he never made and doesn't have recordings of his private conversations with ousted former FBI Director James Comey.
"With all of the recently reported electronic surveillance, intercepts, unmasking and illegal leaking of information," Trump tweeted on Thursday, he has "no idea" whether there are "tapes" or recordings of the two men's conversations.
But he largely appeared to close the saga that began in May, just days after he fired Comey, then the head of an investigation into Trump associates' ties to Russian officials. Trump has disputed Comey's version of a January dinner during which the director said the president had asked for a pledge of loyalty.
Trump responded at that time, via Twitter, that Comey "better hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!"
That apparently angry missive triggered a series of consequences, each weightier than the last. Comey has suggested that the tweet prompted him to ask an associate to release damaging information to the media.
The resulting news reports built pressure on a top Justice Department official to appoint an independent prosecutor to oversee the Russia investigation.
That special counsel, former FBI Director Robert Mueller, is now reportedly investigating Trump's own actions in a probe that could dog his presidency for the foreseeable future. Trump showed concern about that situation as well, telling Fox News Channel in an interview that Mueller is "very, very good friends with Comey which is bothersome."
In that interview that aired Friday morning on "Fox & Friends," Trump also suggested a motivation behind the tapes tweet.
"When he found out that I, you know, that there may be tapes out there, whether it's governmental tapes or anything else, and who knows, I think his story may have changed," Trump said. "I mean you'll have to take a look at that, because then he has to tell what actually took place at the events."
Trump's tweets, old and new, left many perplexed about whether there was motive or strategy behind the whole affair. The president appeared to enjoy ginning up mystery and spinning Washington reporters about the possibility there was a trove of surreptitiously recorded Oval Office conversations.
"I think he was in his way instinctively trying to rattle Comey," former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a longtime Trump confidant, said before the Thursday tweets.
"He's not a professional politician. He doesn't come back and think about Nixon and Watergate. His instinct is: 'I'll out-bluff you.'"
