Trump defends legal team on Russia case: 'I am VERY happy with my lawyers'
President Trump reaffirmed his confidence in the legal team protecting him against allegations that his campaign had colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election.
In a series of tweets Sunday morning, Trump denounced a report from the New York Times saying that Washington lawyer Emmet T. Flood, who represented former President Bill Clinton during his impeachment, visited the Oval Office to discuss the possibility of helping to deal with the Justice Department. He accused the Times of knowingly writing a false story and disparaged one of the report’s authors, Maggie Haberman, as “a Hillary flunky.” Trump also claimed that his attorneys — Ty Cobb, John Dowd and Jay Sekulow — have “conclusively” shown that the Trump campaign did not collude with Moscow.
The Failing New York Times purposely wrote a false story stating that I am unhappy with my legal team on the Russia case and am going to add another lawyer to help out. Wrong. I am VERY happy with my lawyers, John Dowd, Ty Cobb and Jay Sekulow. They are doing a great job and…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 11, 2018
…have shown conclusively that there was no Collusion with Russia..just excuse for losing. The only Collusion was that done by the DNC, the Democrats and Crooked Hillary. The writer of the story, Maggie Haberman, a Hillary flunky, knows nothing about me and is not given access.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 11, 2018
Former FBI director Robert Mueller is leading an investigation into Russia’s multifaceted efforts to interfere with the 2016 elections and disrupt U.S. democratic institutions. Mueller has already secured guilty pleas from several Trump associates, including former campaign aide George Papadopoulos and former national security advisor Michael Flynn.
Cobb is responsible for handling the White House’s response to Mueller’s requests, which includes producing documents and arranging interviews. Dowd and Sekulow have been part of Trump’s personal legal team since last summer.
Trump went on to celebrate the GOP’s recent successes in congressional races and chastised “the Fake News Media” for supposedly failing to mention these victories.
The Republicans are 5-0 in recent Congressional races, a point which the Fake News Media continuously fails to mention. I backed and campaigned for all of the winners. They give me credit for one. Hopefully, Rick Saccone will be another big win on Tuesday.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 11, 2018
Despite Trump’s claims, you can read more about the congressional special elections results in the news media — for instance, the New York Times. Just this weekend, Yahoo News published an article in which National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Steve Stivers celebrated these victories and expressed confidence that they will continue: “The NRCC is undefeated in special elections this year, and I’m supremely confident that will continue.”
On Friday, former Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg appeared before a federal grand jury in Washington, just days after publicly threatening to defy the subpoena that sought his attendance. It was not immediately clear what he said or what documents he provided to the grand jury. Nunberg later told ABC News that the Russia investigation is “not a witch-hunt.”
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