Trump says investigation of 2016 election interference is now interfering with 2018 elections

[Ulquiorra]

President Trump said Tuesday that lawyers working on the ongoing “rigged” investigation into alleged Russian election interference are now meddling in this year’s midterm elections to help Democrats.

In a series of morning tweets, Trump attempted to discredit the inquiry and cast himself as the victim of a partisan assault by Democrats.

He offered no evidence for his allegations, which are part of a pattern of political deflection dating to the 2016 presidential campaign.

Trump, who resisted naming or blaming Russia for interference in the election he won, opened a new attack on special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation by accusing lawyers working for Mueller of now trying to interfere in the 2018 voting.

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“The 13 Angry Democrats (plus people who worked 8 years for Obama) working on the rigged Russia Witch Hunt, will be MEDDLING with the midterm elections, especially now that Republicans (stay tough!) are taking the lead in Polls,” Trump wrote on Twitter, adding: “There was no Collusion, except by the Democrats!”

Republicans risk losing control of the House and possibly Senate in this year’s midterm elections as Democrats feel emboldened by Trump’s unpopularity.

Numerous polls this year have shown Democrats holding a significant lead on generic ballot questions regarding Congress. Several more recent polls have shown that margin narrowing.

Trump sought to turn the tables on an investigation that began as an attempt to uncover Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible coordination between the Russians and Trump’s campaign.

The probe, which recently marked its first anniversary, is headed by Mueller, a longtime Republican, and overseen by Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, a Republican and a Trump appointee.

In a second tweet Tuesday, Trump said the special counsel’s team should instead be investigating the campaign of his Democratic opponent, whom he described as “totally Crooked Hillary Clinton.”

“Why aren’t the 13 Angry and heavily conflicted Democrats investigating the totally Crooked Campaign of totally Crooked Hillary Clinton,” Trump wrote. “It’s a Rigged Witch Hunt, that’s why! Ask them if they enjoyed her after election celebration!”

During his election campaign against Clinton, Trump claimed she should have been prosecuted harshly for lax security in her government email practices when she was secretary of state. His campaign rallies frequently began with chants of “lock her up.”

Trump is now claiming that the FBI went easy on Clinton and that some people involved in making that decision are working against him in the Mueller probe. He has seized on the fact that some of the lawyers working on the investigation have donated to Democratic candidates in the past.

When polls suggested that he would lose to Clinton in 2016, Trump cast doubt on the validity of the election process and said at one point that he might not respect the outcome unless he won.

Trump also said Tuesday that he is too busy as president to be bothered with the “Rigged Russia Witch Hunt.”

In a third tweet, Trump suggested that the Russia probe was taking away some of his focus on other issues confronting the country, including trade deals and the effort to denuclearize North Korea.

“Sorry, I’ve got to start focusing my energy on North Korea Nuclear, bad Trade Deals, VA Choice, the Economy, rebuilding the Military, and so much more, and not on the Rigged Russia Witch Hunt that should be investigating Clinton/Russia/FBI/Justice/Obama/Comey/Lynch etc.” the president wrote.

Trump has at some point attacked each person or organization on his slashmarked list. In the case of the FBI and Justice Department, that has meant assailing the credibility of elements of the federal government that are part of the Mueller effort.

U.S. intelligence agencies have said they have high confidence that Russia attempted to meddle in the 2016 election to hurt Clinton. By default, that effort would have helped Trump, but Mueller is looking into whether Trump associates played a more active role.

Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, is among 19 individuals and entities indicted by Mueller. Some of Mueller’s actions remain under seal.

Russia denies it meddled in the election.

Later Tuesday, Trump complained that news organizations are targeting him with “Disinformation.”

“The Fake Mainstream Media has, from the time I announced I was running for President, run the most highly sophisticated & dishonest Disinformation Campaign in the history of politics. No matter how well WE do, they find fault. But the forgotten men & women WON, I’m President!” Trump wrote in one message.

Trump frequently calls news coverage that is critical of him or that focuses on the Mueller probe “fake.”

Among those pushing back against Trump’s assertions Tuesday was Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who noted the growing list of indictments and guilty pleas in the Mueller probe.

“Mueller’s work is that of a career prosecutor and law enforcement officer who is squarely focused on getting to bottom of Russia’s meddling in our elections and any possible collusion with your campaign and a hostile foreign government,” Schumer wrote in a tweet directed at Trump.

Trump’s lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, said Tuesday that Trump is attacking the Mueller probe — the president has fired off a dozen angry tweets in recent days — because the tactic is working.

“As an effective politician, you’re not going to do something that you don’t think is working,” Giuliani said.

“Spygate — that’s the reason — he’s not just ratcheted it up for no reason,” Guiliani said. “He believes it is working, and he is genuinely upset about it.”

Trump has taken to calling the FBI’s interactions with an informant during the 2016 campaign “spygate,” and has suggested without evidence that the FBI planted a mole in his campaign.

From what is known about the FBI effort, it arose from concerns about Russian hacking of Democrats in summer 2016. There is no evidence that the informant, former University of Cambridge professor Stefan A. Halper, was inserted into the campaign, but he did seek out and meet several Trump campaign advisers.

Trump will not agree to an interview with the special counsel until prosecutors allow the president’s legal team to review documents related to the FBI’s use of the informant, Giuliani said Tuesday.

“We need all the documents before we can decide whether we are going to do an interview,” Giuliani said in an interview with The Washington Post, using Trump’s term “spygate” to refer to the FBI actions, which former officials have said were well within bounds.

Giuliani has previously said that Trump has done nothing improper and is eager to talk to Mueller. On Tuesday, though, he said he doesn’t want to make a call on whether Trump will sit down for an interview “until they decide whether they are going to give us the documents or not.”

Under pressure from the White House and congressional Republicans, the Justice Department last week held an unusual pair of briefings for lawmakers on the FBI’s use of the informant.

Giuliani said Tuesday that Mueller’s attempts to interview Trump indicated that his probe of possible coordination between Russia and the campaign are nearing its end.

“I don’t think they would have asked to interview him until they are pretty much finished with everything,” Giuliani said. “They’re only going to get one shot at him. They know that. You look pretty amateurish if you interview him and you don’t have all the facts gathered.”