Mueller report quotes Trump’s reaction to Russia investigation: 'I'm f***ed'

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Thursday as special counsel Robert Mueller’s report was released, President Trump said he was “having a good day.” But about two years ago, when Mueller was appointed to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, the president was having a terrible day.

“Oh my God. This is terrible,” Trump told former Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Sessions’s chief of staff Jody Hunt when he learned about Mueller’s appointment. “This is the end of my presidency. I'm f****ed.”

The account was contained in a chapter of the redacted report titled “The Appointment of the Special Counsel and the President's Reaction.”

Since the investigation ended, Trump has declared “complete and total exoneration,” relying on a summary by Sessions’s replacement, Attorney General William Barr. Barr said that the probe found no conspiracy and that Mueller drew no conclusions about whether Trump’s actions constituted obstruction of justice, on which Barr decided not to pursue charges. But Trump’s reaction is one of 10 cases included in the report that were examined as possible interference in Mueller’s investigation. The account reads:

“According to notes written by Hunt, when Sessions told the President that a Special Counsel had been appointed, the President slumped back in his chair and said, ‘Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm f***ed.’” [The expletive is spelled out in the report.]

“The President became angry and lambasted the Attorney General for his decision to recuse from the investigation, stating, ‘How could you let this happen, Jeff?’"

Donald Trump and a portion of the Mueller report (edited for language by Yahoo News). (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photo: AP)
Donald Trump and a portion of the Mueller report (edited for language by Yahoo News). (Photo illustration: Kelli R. Grant/Yahoo News; photo: AP)

“The President said the position of Attorney General was his most important appointment and that Sessions had ‘let [him] down,’” comparing him to Barack Obama’s Attorney General Eric Holder and Robert Kennedy, the attorney general for and brother of John F. Kennedy.

“Sessions recalled that the President said to him, ‘You were supposed to protect me,’ or words to that effect.”

“The President returned to the consequences of the appointment and said, ‘Everyone tells me if you get one of these independent counsels it ruins your presidency. It takes years and years and I won 't be able to do anything. This is the worst thing that ever happened to me."

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