Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Trump Blasts Media Report on Obstruction of Justice | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
Select Page
Media ID: 55376647
Caption:

US President Donald Trump speaks by phone in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, US January 29, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst


US President Donald Trump lashed out early Thursday after a report that he was under investigation for possible obstruction of justice by the special counsel probing alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

The Washington Post, citing unidentified officials, on Wednesday reported that special counsel Robert Mueller is probing Trump for possible obstruction of justice.

Mueller is leading the Russian probe after being appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in the Department of Justice, which oversees the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

“They made up a phony collusion with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. Nice,” Trump wrote on Twitter.

Last week, former FBI Director James Comey told Congress he believes he was fired by Trump to undermine the agency’s Russia probe.

The obstruction of justice investigation into Trump began days after Comey was fired on May 9, according to people
familiar with the matter, the Washington Post said.

Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, Mike Rogers, the head of the National Security Agency, and Richard Ledgett, the former deputy director at the NSA, had agreed to be interviewed by Mueller’s investigators as early as this week, the Post said. It cited five people briefed on the requests who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The New York Times corroborated the report, citing a person briefed on the investigation.

It also quoted an intelligence official who said Mueller’s office had asked the NSA for documents related to the agency’s interactions with the administration as part of the investigation into Russian meddling into the presidential election, and whether Trump campaign officials colluded with Moscow.

Mark Corallo, a spokesman for Trump’s legal team, on Wednesday denounced the reports, saying: “The FBI leak of
information regarding the President is outrageous, inexcusable and illegal.”