ZCZC
BFF-42
US-POLITICS-TRUMP-RUSSIA
Russia investigation ‘disgrace to our nation,’ says Trump
WASHINGTON, Nov 15, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – US President Donald Trump on Thursday
launched a fresh attack on the Russia investigation, branding it a “disgrace
to our Nation” a week after he fired his attorney general, raising questions
about the probe’s future.
“They have found no collusion and have gone absolutely nuts. They are
screaming and shouting at people, horribly threatening them to come up with
the answers they want,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
“They are a disgrace to our Nation and don’t care how many lives (they)
ruin.”
The president has frequently lashed out at the probe led by special counsel
Robert Mueller into Moscow’s interference in the 2016 US elections and
whether there was collusion by the Trump campaign.
But his latest missive takes on new significance in the wake of his
appointment of Matthew Whitaker, a past public critic of the probe, as acting
attorney general replacing the sacked Jeff Sessions.
The move puts Whitaker, Sessions’ former chief of staff, in charge of
overseeing the Mueller probe.
On Wednesday, Republican Senator Jeff Flake, a critic of the president, and
Democratic Senator Chris Coons attempted to introduced a measure to protect
Mueller, but it was blocked by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer has said that if Whitaker refuses to
recuse himself from the probe, as Sessions had done, Democrats will seek to
attach legislation protecting Mueller to a must-pass spending bill that will
be up for consideration in the coming weeks.
BSS/AFP/RY/1958 hrs