'Witch hunt' by 'bad people'
President Donald Trump, in a furious yesterday morning message, said he is being investigated for his role in firing former FBI Director James Comey deriding a "witch hunt" against him led by some "very bad" people.
"I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director!" Trump said on Twitter, calling the probe into him a "Witch Hunt."
He was answering accounts that he is personally being investigated for obstruction of justice with a characteristic scorched-earth defense: claiming mistreatment of historic proportions and calling into question the probity of his accusers.
"You are witnessing the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history -- led by some very bad and conflicted people!" he said in an early morning tweet on Thursday.
He also took to Twitter yesterday to insist that despite months of investigating, no proof has emerged that he colluded with Russia to tilt the 2016 presidential election in his favor.
Trump's young presidency has been battered by allegations -- under investigation both by Congress and the FBI -- that Russia interfered to sway the 2016 election in his favor, in possible collusion with Trump's campaign team.
The FBI probe, now in the hands of special counsel Robert Mueller, shifted its focus to allegations of obstruction in the days after Trump fired the agency's then-director James Comey on May 9.
The new allegations against Trump center on his own admission that he fired Comey because of the Russia investigation, and suggestions he asked several top intelligence officials for their help altering the inquiry's direction.
The Washington Post reported Thursday evening that Mueller's team is also focusing on the finances and business dealings of Jared Kushner, Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law.
The widened Russia probe could have far-reaching repercussions for Trump's presidency, transforming his closest aides into witnesses and sucking yet more political oxygen out of the West Wing.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration announced on Thursday that it is cancelling an Obama-era policy to allow millions of illegal-immigrant parents of children born in the United States to stay in the country.
The 2014 policy, known as DAPA, for Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents, aimed to help the families of so-called "dreamer" children stay together free from the threat of deportation.
It was never implemented after 26 states successfully sued in a Texas federal district court to block it. The US Supreme Court let the lower court ruling stand last year after a four-four tie vote.
Comments