Trump Calls for Attorney General to End Mueller Investigation ‘Right Now’

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to end Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of possible campaign collusion with Russian interests in the 2016 election.

“This is a terrible situation and Attorney General Jeff Sessions should stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now, before it continues to stain our country any further,” Trump tweeted on Wednesday morning. “Bob Mueller is totally conflicted, and his 17 Angry Democrats that are doing his dirty work are a disgrace to USA!”

Trump has been lashing out more frequently at Mueller, as he has characterized the special counsel’s work as biased against him. Mueller reportedly is examining whether Trump has attempted to obstruct justice at various points in the investigation into Russian interference, and that includes looking at Trump’s public statements and tweets.

Session is not overseeing the Russia investigation. He recused himself in March, 2017, and gave oversight to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

Trump’s remark on Wednesday generated new attacks from Democrats that he is attempting to obstruct justice.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in his own tweet that “this is an attempt to obstruct justice hiding in plain sight. America must never accept it.”

Trump has insisted that there was no collusion between his campaign and Russian sources, but on Tuesday he also raised a different argument: That collusion itself is not a crime.

“Collusion is not a crime, but that doesn’t matter because there was No Collusion (except by Crooked Hillary and the Democrats)!” he wrote.

Update: White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that Trump’s tweet on Wednesday was “not an order. It’s the president’s opinion, and it is ridiculous that all of the dishonesty and corruption that has gone on with the launching of the witch hunt. The president has watched this process play out, but he also wants to see it come to and end, as we have stated many times.”

“The president is not obstructing. He’s fighting back.”

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