Trump awaits action in Russia inquiry

Washington: Pushing back against the accelerating criminal investigation into his campaign’s ties to Russia, President Donald Trump argued on Sunday that its focus should instead be on his 2016 rival, Hillary Clinton, even as the special counsel’s inquiry was reportedly poised to produce its first indictment.

In a series of tweets, Trump said Republicans were now fighting the Russia allegations by looking into Clinton, apparently referring to new House investigations into her email practices and an Obama-era uranium deal with Russia. But the President made it clear he believed that Clinton should be pursued more forcefully, writing, “DO SOMETHING!”

He did not specify who should take action or what it should be, although critics have accused him of trying to sway the congressional and special counsel inquiries into Russian ties. Still, the outburst suggested that Trump, increasingly angry and frustrated about the investigations, is waging a concerted campaign to shift the focus to Clinton and other Democrats.

After long expressing anger that his allies have not done enough to protect him from the inquiries, he is now enlisting White House and administration officials, employing his vast social media presence, and putting pressure on the Republican-led Congress to deflect any potentially damaging reports.

Last week, Trump asserted that it was Clinton who was guilty of having colluded with Russia to sway the 2016 election, endeavouring to turn the tables on the crux of the allegations against his campaign, and then sent his spokeswoman to the White House briefing room to repeat that charge. He urged the Justice Department to lift a gag order on an informant in a federal investigation involving Russia’s efforts to gain a foothold in the US uranium industry during the Obama administration.

And on Sunday, in tweets to his more than 40 million followers, he offered a litany of accusations against Clinton and seemed to praise Republicans for starting the new congressional investigations.

“Never seen such Republican ANGER & UNITY as I have concerning the lack of investigation on Clinton made Fake Dossier (now $12,000,000?), the Uranium to Russia deal, the 33,000 plus deleted Emails, the Comey fix and so much more,” Trump wrote. “Instead they look at phony Trump/Russia ‘collusion,’ which doesn’t exist (sic).”

“The Dems are using this terrible (and bad for our country) Witch Hunt for evil politics, but the R’s,” he added, “are now fighting back like never before. There is so much GUILT by Democrats/Clinton, and now the facts are pouring out. DO SOMETHING!”

Trump was apparently referring to reports last week that Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee had paid for research that was included in a salacious dossier made public in January by BuzzFeed. The dossier contained claims about connections between Trump, his associates and Russia.

The President was also reviving unproved allegations that Clinton was part of a quid pro quo in which the Clinton Foundation received donations in exchange for her support as secretary of state for a business deal that gave Russia control over a large share of uranium production in the US.

And he was returning to questions about Clinton’s use of a private email server and how former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey handled an investigation into the matter, which was closed with no charges being filed. Trump initially cited the email case as a reason for firing Comey, before conceding that it was because of the Russia inquiry.

The President’s Twitter fusillade came as he and his advisers braced for the first public action by Robert S. Mueller III, the special prosecutor named after Comey’s ouster to investigate Russian meddling in the 2016 election. As part of his inquiry, Mueller is believed to be examining whether there was collusion between Trump’s campaign and Moscow, and whether the President obstructed justice when he fired Comey.

CNN reported on Friday that a federal grand jury in Washington had approved the first charges in Mueller’s investigation, and that plans had been made for anyone charged to be taken into custody as early as Monday. CNN said the target of the charges was unclear. The New York Times has not confirmed that charges have been approved.

Speaking on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, Senator Rob Portman, Republican-Ohio, said Trump had been “too defensive” about Mueller’s inquiry. “We ought to instead focus on the outrage that the Russians meddled in our elections,” said Portman, who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Representative Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, urged his fellow Republicans on Fox News Sunday to give Mueller “a chance to do his job”. But a Trump ally, Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, said on ABC’s This Week that if unspecified “new facts” put Mueller in a “compromised position”, he must recuse himself.

Ty Cobb, the White House lawyer handling the response to the Russia investigation, said the President’s tweets were “unrelated to the activities of the special counsel, with whom he continues to cooperate”.