Trump Stands By His Legal Team On Russia Investigation In Sunday Morning Tweet Storm
Donald Trump defended his legal team on Sunday morning, posting an angry series of tweets in response to a New York Times report that suggested he was unhappy with the way his lawyers were handling the ongoing Russian investigation, Yahoo News is reporting.
On Saturday, the Times published a report indicating that powerful Washington attorney Emmet T. Flood had stopped by the White House to offer his services to the 45th president. Back in the 1990’s, Flood represented Bill Clinton during his impeachment process. Although Clinton was impeached – being only the second American president to be impeached, following Andrew Jackson – he, like Jackson, was not convicted of any crimes and was able to finish his term as president.
As of this writing, Flood does not appear to have offered any specific help beyond being there for Trump as he navigates his day-to-day dealings with the Justice Department. It’s unclear what even that means. Similarly, Flood would not replace Ty Cobb, Trump’s lead attorney in his dealings with the Russia investigation.
According to the Times, Flood didn’t express any “new concerns” about the Russia investigation. However, Flood’s offer for help is seen as an indication that the Mueller investigation is not coming to an end anytime soon.
As matters started to really go south on him this week, Trump consulted with Emmett T. Flood, one of Bill Clinton’s former attorneys during the Lewinsky scandal, for help in navigating the Special Counsel’s inquiry. https://t.co/jKFGMAnhom
— Donald Koelper (@Donald_from_HI) March 10, 2018
In a series of tweets Sunday morning, Trump denied the whole story, every word of it. He started by insisting that he is happy with his legal team and that no other attorneys will be joining.
The Failing New York Times purposely wrote a false story stating that I am unhappy with my legal team on the Russia case and am going to add another lawyer to help out. Wrong. I am VERY happy with my lawyers, John Dowd, Ty Cobb and Jay Sekulow. They are doing a great job and…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 11, 2018
He then called the story’s writer, Maggie Haberman, “a Hillary flunky.”
…have shown conclusively that there was no Collusion with Russia..just excuse for losing. The only Collusion was that done by the DNC, the Democrats and Crooked Hillary. The writer of the story, Maggie Haberman, a Hillary flunky, knows nothing about me and is not given access.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 11, 2018
In a final salvo, Trump went on to praise his party, the Republicans, for a series of victories in local election races. He also took the “Fake News media” to task for failing to provide what he believes as sufficient coverage of those victories.
The Republicans are 5-0 in recent Congressional races, a point which the Fake News Media continuously fails to mention. I backed and campaigned for all of the winners. They give me credit for one. Hopefully, Rick Saccone will be another big win on Tuesday.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 11, 2018
In fact, Yahoo News reporter Michael Walsh points out that both Yahoo News and The New York Times, among other publications, did in fact report extensively on Republican special election victories in Pennsylvania and Kansas. In the Pennsylvania case, reported by Yahoo News, writer Garance Franke-Ruta points out that National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Steve Stivers celebrated these recent victories. And in the Kansas case, reported by the Times, the paper points out that Kansas State Treasurer Ron Estes easily won a special election in a district that Trump carried by 27 points.
