Trump says Russia 'helped me get elected' for first time in furious outburst at Mueller

Authored by independent.co.uk and submitted by presspower
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Donald Trump has admitted Russia aided his election to the White House for the first time during a Twitter tirade attacking Robert Mueller.

It comes the morning after Mr Mueller, speaking publicly for the first time in two years, appeared to hint at the prospect of the president's impeachment by noting only congress has the authority to "formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing".

Reiterating on Wednesday the conclusions of his 448-page report into Russian election interference, the former special counsel declined to exonerate Mr Trump, saying he “would have said so” if his team “had confidence the president clearly did not commit a crime”.

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Mr Mueller's report outlined 10 occasions upon which Mr Trump potentially attempted to obstruct justice.

On Thursday morning, Mr Trump tweeted: "The Greatest Presidential Harassment in history. After spending $40,000,000 over two dark years, with unlimited access, people, resources and cooperation, highly conflicted Robert Mueller would have brought charges, if he had ANYTHING, but there were no charges to bring!"

Shape Created with Sketch. Most shocking remarks made by Trump at campaign rallies Show all 7 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. Most shocking remarks made by Trump at campaign rallies 1/7 Doctors and mothers killing babies At a rally in Wisconsin in April 2019, Mr Trump made this extraordinary claim. “The baby is born, the mother meets with the doctor, they take care of the baby,” Mr Trump said. “They wrap the baby beautifully and then the doctor and the mother decide whether they will execute the baby” Getty 2/7 "China rapes our country" At a rally in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 2016, Mr Trump said this in reference to the US trade deficit with China: "we can’t continue to allow China to rape our country and that’s what they’re doing. It’s the greatest theft in the history of the world" Getty 3/7 "EU formed to take advantage of US" At a rally for the midterm elections in October 2018, Mr Trump called the EU a "brutal" alliance that "formed to take advantage of us" AFP/Getty 4/7 "I will build a wall and Mexico will pay for it" Mr Trump first made this claim at the launch of his presidential campaign back in 2015: "I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will have Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words" AFP/Getty 5/7 "Horrible, horrendous people" At a Republican rally in Pennsylvania on August 3 2018, President Trump deemed all journalists in attendance "horrible, horrendous people". He later denounced the "fake, fake, disgusting news" for falsely reporting that he was late to his meeting with the Queen when visiting Britain AFP/Getty 6/7 "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody" Mr Trump said this in reference to his popularity during a rally in Iowa in 2016 AFP/Getty 7/7 "I wish I could punch him" Mr Trump said this in reference to a protester who was escorted out of his rally in Las Vegas on 22 February, 2016. There was often violence between protesters and supporters at Trump's campaign rallies AFP/Getty 1/7 Doctors and mothers killing babies At a rally in Wisconsin in April 2019, Mr Trump made this extraordinary claim. “The baby is born, the mother meets with the doctor, they take care of the baby,” Mr Trump said. “They wrap the baby beautifully and then the doctor and the mother decide whether they will execute the baby” Getty 2/7 "China rapes our country" At a rally in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 2016, Mr Trump said this in reference to the US trade deficit with China: "we can’t continue to allow China to rape our country and that’s what they’re doing. It’s the greatest theft in the history of the world" Getty 3/7 "EU formed to take advantage of US" At a rally for the midterm elections in October 2018, Mr Trump called the EU a "brutal" alliance that "formed to take advantage of us" AFP/Getty 4/7 "I will build a wall and Mexico will pay for it" Mr Trump first made this claim at the launch of his presidential campaign back in 2015: "I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will have Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words" AFP/Getty 5/7 "Horrible, horrendous people" At a Republican rally in Pennsylvania on August 3 2018, President Trump deemed all journalists in attendance "horrible, horrendous people". He later denounced the "fake, fake, disgusting news" for falsely reporting that he was late to his meeting with the Queen when visiting Britain AFP/Getty 6/7 "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody" Mr Trump said this in reference to his popularity during a rally in Iowa in 2016 AFP/Getty 7/7 "I wish I could punch him" Mr Trump said this in reference to a protester who was escorted out of his rally in Las Vegas on 22 February, 2016. There was often violence between protesters and supporters at Trump's campaign rallies AFP/Getty

In fact, Mr Mueller made clear on Wednesday that his office could not consider charging Mr Trump because Justice Department policy prohibits indicting a sitting president.

Mr Trump continued: "Russia, Russia, Russia! That’s all you heard at the beginning of this Witch Hunt Hoax...And now Russia has disappeared because I had nothing to do with Russia helping me to get elected.

"It was a crime that didn’t exist. So now the Dems and their partner, the Fake News Media say he fought back against this phony crime that didn’t exist, this horrendous false acquisition (sic), and he shouldn’t fight back, he should just sit back and take it.

"Could this be Obstruction? No, Mueller didn’t find Obstruction either. Presidential Harassment!"

The apparent claim Russia was effective in helping him get elected was a stunning U-turn by the president, who has previously flip-flopped between saying Russia's interference had no effect on the election and at other times that Moscow did not meddle at all.

Despite posting the same tweets twice - the second time to correct a typo - Mr Trump later backtracked while addressing reporters outside the White House before boarding Marine One.

In what amounted to a series of misleading statements about Mr Mueller's probe, Mr Trump said Russia "did not help get me elected" and instead falsely claimed Hillary Clinton had colluded with Moscow.

Pressed on his untruth that Mr Mueller could have charged him if the special counsel had found incriminating evidence, Mr Trump claimed investigators had "got nothing" and that Mr Mueller had "essentially" said he was innocent.

He also said Mr Mueller was a "total conflicted person" as well as a "never-Trumper" and described impeachment as a "dirty, filthy, disgusting word" when asked if he expected congress to attempt it.

Reba_All_Day_Err_Day on May 30th, 2019 at 12:28 UTC »

Russia helped the president get elected??? I certainly hope someone in the intelligence community would feel a duty to investigate that!

Laminatrix2 on May 30th, 2019 at 12:17 UTC »

"Russia, Russia, Russia! That’s all you heard at the beginning of this Witch Hunt Hoax...And now Russia has disappeared because I had nothing to do with Russia helping me to get elected." The hell kind of attitude is this?

intimatearguments on May 30th, 2019 at 12:15 UTC »

No amount of US intelligence gathering, operations, spies, technology, sophisticated systems, and databases has prevented the exploit of a basic element: human vanity for power: Trump & GOP thirst for power