US President Donald Trump has attacked special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the US presidential election he won in 2016.
Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images/AFP
He tweeted that the inquiry was unfair - and reiterated there had been "no collusion" between his election campaign and Russia.
He added that it was dominated by "hardened Democrats" and supporters of his defeated opponent Hillary Clinton. Mr Mueller himself, a highly regarded former head of the FBI, is a Republican.
The president's comments came a day after his lawyer, John Dowd, said it was time for the special counsel's investigation to end. Initially Mr Dowd said he was speaking for the president but later clarified he was "speaking for myself".
Mr Trump's latest tweet - apparently the first time he has mentioned Mr Mueller by name in attacking the inquiry - drew warnings from fellow Republicans about interfering with the investigation.
Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans? Another Dem recently added...does anyone think this is fair? And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2018
In earlier tweets, the president also berated former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, who was fired by Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Friday just two days before he was due to retire with a federal pension.
News that Mr McCabe had kept records of his conversations with Mr Trump at the time he was acting FBI director emerged on Saturday.
US media reported he gave the memos to the Mueller inquiry, and that they supported former FBI director James Comey's account of the circumstances of his dismissal last May, which initially led to the Mueller investigation.
Mr McCabe had been under internal investigation by the FBI and had already stepped down from his deputy post in January pending the review.
Mr Trump also criticised Mr Comey, who has testified that Mr Trump had asked him for his "loyalty" and requested he drop an inquiry into his disgraced former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.
Mr Trump accused him of lying under oath before Congress, and described the contemporaneous notes that Mr McCabe and Mr Comey took following discussions with him as "fake memos".
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said Mr Mueller should be allowed to proceed without interference, and that many Republicans shared his view.
He also warned Mr Trump against any attempt to dismiss Mr Mueller.
"If he tried to do that, that would be the beginning of the end of his presidency, because we're a rule of law nation," Mr Graham said.
Republican Senator Jeff Flake, a frequent Trump critic, said it appeared the president's latest comments seemed to be preparing the ground for the firing of Mr Mueller.
"I don't know what the designs are on Mueller, but it seems to be building toward that, and I just hope it doesn't go there, because it can't. We can't in Congress accept that," he told CNN.
"I'm just puzzled by why the White House is going so hard at this, other than that they're very afraid of what might come out."
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer accused Mr Trump of "floating trial balloons about derailing" the investigation.
"Our Republican colleagues, particularly the leadership, have an obligation to our country to stand up now and make it clear that firing Mueller is a red line for our democracy that cannot be crossed," the Democrat said in a statement.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions said an "extensive and fair investigation" had concluded that Mr McCabe "made an unauthorised disclosure to the news media and lacked candour - including under oath - on multiple occasions".
Although the decision to fire Mr McCabe was made by Mr Sessions, Mr Trump had criticised him for months.
He has publicly pointed to donations that Mr McCabe's wife, a Democrat, received from a Clinton ally when she ran unsuccessfully for the state Senate in 2015 as evidence that Mr McCabe was politically biased.
He welcomed the news of his dismissal almost immediately after Mr Sessions announced it, calling the move a "great day for democracy".
In a statement responding to his firing on Friday, Mr McCabe vehemently denied wrongdoing.
"I am being singled out and treated this way because of the role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of James Comey," his response said.
The statement alleges that the justice department report recommending his firing was "accelerated" after he indicated that he would corroborate Mr Comey's version of events.
On Saturday Mr Comey - who is due to release a book - said Americans would soon be able to judge for themselves "who is honourable or not".
The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime. It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2018
- BBC
