WASHINGTON — President Trump said he would not overrule his acting attorney general, Matthew Whitaker, if he decides to curtail the special counsel probe being led by Robert Mueller III into Russian interference in the 2016 election campaign.
“Look, it’s going to be up to him … I would not get involved,” Trump said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”
In the weeks since Trump forced Jeff Sessions to resign as attorney general and chose Whitaker to serve as his interim replacement, Whitaker has faced calls from Democrats to recuse himself from oversight of the probe given his previous criticism of the investigation. Trump said in Sunday’s interview that he “did not know (Whitaker) took views on the Mueller investigation as such” before he appointed him to his position.
Trump also essentially shut the door to sitting down with Mueller, telling host Chris Wallace that his written answers mean “probably this is the end” of his involvement in the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign.
“I think we’ve wasted enough time on this witch hunt and the answer is probably: We’re finished,” Trump said. He said that he had given “very complete answers to a lot of questions” and that “that should solve the problem.”
Trump said Friday that he had answered a set of written questions from Mueller “very easily.” The president told Wallace in Sunday’s interview that it “wasn’t a big deal” and that he expects his legal team to submit the answers “at some point very soon.”
Trump’s answers had long been sought by Mueller during the course of his 18-month-old investigation. The probe has led to charges against 32 people, including 26 Russians. While four aides to Trump have pleaded guilty to various charges, Mueller’s team has not given any public indications as to whether it has concluded that Trump associates conspired with the Russians or whether the president obstructed justice by pressuring Justice Department leaders.
Trump also weighed in on the performance of several top members of his administration and maintained that his party had succeeded in the midterm elections despite losing the House.
Trump said there are people in “three or four or five positions” in his administration whom he is thinking about replacing and that of those, “maybe it’s going to end up being two.”
He declined to say whether chief of staff John Kelly will remain in his position through 2020 as previously indicated, saying only, “I mean, it could be. Let’s see what happens.”
“There are certain things I love what he does,” Trump said of Kelly. “And there are certain things that I don’t like that he does that aren’t his strength. … It’s not his fault; it’s not his strength.”
Trump praised Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen but also suggested that she may leave his administration at some point. Trump has voiced dissatisfaction about Nielsen’s performance on immigration enforcement and has previously told advisers that he has decided to remove her in the coming weeks.
He claimed that despite Republicans’ defeat in the House, where they have lost at least three dozen seats, their holding on to the Senate was “historic” and “a tremendous victory.”
“I didn’t run. I wasn’t running. My name wasn’t on the ballot,” Trump said. During the months leading up to Election Day, he repeatedly told supporters at his “Make America Great Again” rallies to “pretend I’m on the ballot.”
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