President Donald Trump is obsessed with the Russia investigation, even months after the arm led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller concluded. After Mueller’s first Congressional testimony connected to his special counsel role concluded this Wednesday, Trump stumbled out to the White House lawn for a belligerent statement to reporters in which he went so far that when one reporter directly quoted the special counsel to the president and asked for comment, Trump claimed Mueller never even said the quote, adding that the reporter was supposedly being untruthful. His paranoia has pushed him over the edge!
He began:
‘We had a very good today, the Republican Party, our country — there was no defense of what Robert Mueller was trying to defend. In all fairness to Robert Mueller, whether his performance was a bad one or a good one, I think everybody understands that. I think everybody understands what’s going on. There was no defense to this ridiculous hoax, this witch hunt that’s been going on for a long time, pretty much from the time I came down on the escalator with our First Lady and it’s a disgrace what happened. I think today proved a lot to everybody. In fact, some of my biggest opponents wrote things today that I wouldn’t have believed they would have written and I appreciate that they did that. This has been a very bad thing for our country.’
What is he talking about? Watch:
“We had a very good day today,” Trump said following the #MuellerHearings. “There was no defense to this ridiculous hoax, this witch hunt” pic.twitter.com/atnJCX4Dr3
— Bloomberg TicToc (@tictoc) July 24, 2019
It’s unclear what the president is even trying to refer to with his ambiguous at best claim that some of his opponents switched sides or something in the wake of Mueller’s testimony. It’s more clear in the meantime though that the Russia investigation has not been proceeding since Trump first announced his 2016 presidential bid, which kickstarted with a ride down an elevator. The president’s suggestion to the contrary demonstrates his continued general egomania and his false but continued contention that the Russia probe as a whole was founded as a political enterprise with an absence of evidence. We can all read, see, and hear what happened.
Speaking of tapes, Trump eventually got to a question from PBS White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor, who brought up that Mueller told Congress that Trump’s written answers submitted to his office as part of the probe were “generally untruthful.” Trump retorted, completely in the wrong:
‘He didn’t say that… When you ask that question, you’re being untruthful.’
In fact, Alcindor followed up on Twitter afterwards:
‘I quoted Robert Mueller directly to President Trump and he replied that I was being “untruthful” in my question. He was totally wrong.’
There are other remaining issues too, like the aforementioned possibility that Trump gets indicted after he leaves office. At one point during his Congressional testimony, Mueller seemed to suggest that the only reason the president hasn’t been indicted already was because of department policy against doing so, and although he eventually clarified otherwise, the reason is still among the drivers and we can all read his office’s report about the obstruction Trump committed.
California Congressman Eric Swalwell (D) suggested Trump should remove the ban on indicting sitting presidents if he’s so sure of his innocence.
Featured Image via screenshot
