Trump: “I have absolute right to do what I want to do with Justice Department”
Developments on Day 343 of the Trump Administration:
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Trump Mixes Optimism and Warnings
Donald Trump gives an impromptu 30-minute interview to The New York Times about the Trump-Russia investigation, declaring that he will soon be absolved but also implicitly warning that he can step in at any point to limit the inquiry.
Trump said he believes Special Counsel Robert Mueller will treat him fairly, a change of tone from weeks of denigration of Mueller and his team by Trump’s allies, including White House officials, Republican legislators, and Fox News. Those outlets have been trying to undermine the inquiry by claiming that it is compromised by anti-Trump bias, with Fox and some GOP Congressmen speaking of a “coup” against Trump by the “Deep State”.
Trump’s more charitable line on Mueller — “There’s been no collusion. But I think he’s going to be fair” — appeared to be prompted by his expectation of absolution. However, the President also put out a series of warnings as he insisted — 16 times — that he did not collude with Russian officials during the 2016 campaign and transition.
He said of the inquiry, which has already led to guilty pleas by two Trump advisors — including former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn — and the indictments of campaign manager Paul Manafort and top aide, “It makes the country look very bad, and it puts the country in a very bad position. So the sooner it’s worked out, the better it is for the country.”
Defying the independence of the Justice Department under the US Constitution, Trump asserted, “I have absolute right to do what I want to do with [it].” He indicated that he would not need to impose his authority because of his supposed innocence: “For purposes of hopefully thinking I’m going to be treated fairly, I’ve stayed uninvolved with this particular matter.”
Trump reinforced his warning by criticizing Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who leads the Justice Department, for recusing himself from the investigation because of Sessions’ own contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak: “I thought it was a terrible thing he did….I thought it was certainly unnecessary.” He continued:
I don’t want to get into loyalty, but I will tell you that, I will say this: [Attorney General Eric] Holder protected President Obama. Totally protected him. When you look at the things that they did, and Holder protected the president. And I have great respect for that, I’ll be honest.
Soon after his inauguration, Trump asked for the personal loyalty of FBI Director James Comey, according to Comey’s sworn testimony to Congressional hearings. Comey declined and also rebuffed Trump’s request to halt the investigation of Michael Flynn, before the director was fired in May.
No aides were at the interview, with Trump sitting alone with a New York Times reporter in the dining room of his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Occasionally, club members and friends — including an informal advisor, Christopher Ruddy, chief executive of the conservative website and TV company Newsmax — stopped by to speak with Trump.
To prop up the assertions of his innocence, Trump declared — without producing any supporting information — that it was the Democrats who had worked with Moscow during the 2016 campaign. He said the Democrats had then invented allegations against him “as a hoax, as a ruse, as an excuse for losing an election”.
Trump added the assurance that, after his absolution, he will be re-elected in 2020 because of the media’s need for “ratings”:
Another reason that I’m going to win another four years is because newspapers, television, all forms of media will tank if I’m not there because without me, their ratings are going down the tubes. Without me, The New York Times will indeed be not the failing New York Times, but the failed New York Times.
So they basically have to let me win. And eventually, probably six months before the election, they’ll be loving me because they’re saying, “Please, please, don’t lose, Donald Trump.”
