President Donald Trump’s strategist warned him not to fire FBI director James Comey. His advisors told him to stop tweeting about the Russia investigation.…
President Donald Trump’s strategist warned him not to fire FBI director James Comey. His advisors told him to stop tweeting about the Russia investigation. And his lawyers encouraged him to cooperate.
Trump ignored them all, and could still claim vindication Thursday after the Mueller report cleared him of collusion charges.
He beat back the investigation that threatened his presidency with constant attacks on investigators and the media, a canny narrative that denied obvious facts, nonstop trolling of opponents on Twitter, and a crafty legal stall.
It was hugely risky, but it appears to have paid off — notwithstanding further investigations Congressional Democrats have promised into Trump’s alleged abuse of his authority.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report Thursday ruled that Trump’s campaign did not criminally conspire with Russians to skew the 2016 election, and drew no conclusion on allegations of obstruction.
That allowed Trump’s hand-picked Attorney General Bill Barr to declare the president fully cleared.
“As I have been saying all along, NO COLLUSION – NO OBSTRUCTION!” Trump tweeted in a fist-pump of victory.
– ‘Witch hunt’ –
Then FBI director James Comey was fired by Trump in May 2017, which led to the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller
MARK WILSON, GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File
Trump began his campaign well before Mueller arrived, denying during 2016 that Russia was interfering in the election, even though US spy chiefs said they were.
He could have just accepted it, but the claim marred his election victory. So he called it “fake news” and said the intelligence community was out to undermine him.
He made things worse in May 2017 when, angered by the ongoing probe into Russian meddling, he fired Comey.
The result was Mueller’s appointment to lead the Russia investigation, expanding it to include obstruction of justice.
Cursing, Trump said that day, “This is the end of my presidency,” according to Mueller’s report.
But the next day, he switched gears into offense, launching a grinding public relations war guided mostly by his own instincts.
