In Donald Trump’s Sunday appearance on “Face the Nation,” the president was unwilling to commit to a public release of the Special Counsel’s final report into Russian interference into his election.
The president instead claimed that the release of the report would be up to the Attorney General, a position that is currently not officially filled. Trump appointed an acting Attorney General, Matthew Whitaker, who has refused to recuse for interfering into the investigation. William Barr has been nominated as the replacement to Jeff Sessions, but a vote on him remains pending.
Meanwhile, the president was argumentative towards any discussion of the investigation in the interview, reiterating that it is a “total witch hunt” and “doesn’t implicate me in any way.”
“There was no collusion. There was no obstruction. There was no nothing. Doesn’t implicate me in any way but I think it’s a disgrace.,” said Trump.
He also continued to distance himself from recently indicted figure Roger Stone, saying that Stone, “didn’t work on the campaign, except way, way at the beginning long before we’re talking about.” The president also refused to commit to not issuing a pardon for Stone, saying he “hasn’t thought about that.”
President Trump also attempted to characterize the 34 charges brought forth so far from the investigation as being against, “bloggers from Moscow or they were people that had nothing to do with me.” It is unclear if he meant “hackers” instead of “bloggers,” of if he was deliberately lying about the charges in question.
Meanwhile, President Trump also claimed, once again, to have been, “I have been tougher on Russia than any president, maybe ever. But than any president.” This in spite of the Administration’s recent lifting of sanctions on three Russian firms controlled by Oleg Deripaska, amongst other pro-Russia moves.
The president also criticized Robert Mueller for “destroying” disgraced former general Mike Flynn, and the FBI for not going after Hillary Clinton.
Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license