President Trump said that he isn’t ‘angry at anybody’ and that investigations into his campaign’s links to Russia have not come near him personally.
President Trump projected an air of calm on Wednesday after charges against his former campaign chief and a foreign policy aide roiled Washington, insisting to The New York Times that he was not “angry at anybody” and that investigations into his campaign’s links to Russia had not come near him personally.
“I’m not under investigation, as you know,” Mr. Trump said in a brief telephone call to The Times late Wednesday afternoon. Pointing to the indictment of his former campaign chief, Paul Manafort, the president said, “And even if you look at that, there’s not even a mention of Trump in there.”
“It has nothing to do with us,” Mr. Trump said.
He also pushed back against a report published Monday night by The Washington Post, which the president said described him as “ angry at everybody .”
“I’m actually not angry at anybody,” Mr. Trump told The Times.
Mr. Manafort and his longtime deputy, Rick Gates, were both indicted on a string of charges including money laundering, tax evasion and failing to properly disclose lobbying on behalf of foreign governments. The charges are unrelated to Mr. Trump’s campaign.
But another former aide, George Papadopoulos, who was on the president’s hastily assembled foreign policy team, pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators.
Mr. Trump added that he was buoyed by fresh polling he said he had seen from swing states, supplied to him by the Republican National Committee chairwoman, Ronna Romney McDaniel, earlier on Wednesday.
“I just got fantastic poll numbers,” the president said, listing what he saw as his biggest accomplishments, including a focus on deregulation and low unemployment rates. He did not cite any specific polls or reveal any numbers from Ms. McDaniel.
“I’m in the office early and leave late; it’s very smooth,” Mr. Trump said. “Honestly,” the president added, “I’m really enjoying it.”
Additionally, the president said he was looking forward to his lengthy trip to Asia, for which he departs on Friday.
