Trump Compares Mueller Investigation To McCarthyism
According to CNN, President Donald Trump compared special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation to McCarthyism in a new tweet on Sunday. In his tweet, the President went on to claim that Mueller makes Senator Joseph McCarthy, who died in 1957, “look like a baby,” in comparison.
“Study the late Joseph McCarthy,” Trump tweeted early Sunday morning, “because we are now in period with Mueller and his gang that make Joseph McCarthy look like a baby! Rigged Witch Hunt!”
McCarthy claimed that communists had infiltrated the federal government, which led to the now infamous second “Red Scare” that took place in the 1940s and 1950s. His communist inquisition instilled paranoia and fear into anti-communist American citizens. After a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee conducted an investigation into McCarthy’s claims, however, the State Department concluded that his assertions were nothing more than “a fraud and a hoax.”
In 1953, McCarthy went on to serve as the chairman of the Senate Government Operations Committee’s subcommittee and soon after began an investigation of his own. McCarthy commenced his probe by looking into any potential communist activity within the Army. After three months of investigative hearings, however, McCarthy was eventually censured by the Senate and his reputation was destroyed.
President Trump’s McCarthyism tweet is just the latest in a series of attempts to delegitimize the Mueller probe this weekend as the end of the investigation draws nearer. Only the day before, Trump tweeted that he gave White House counsel Don McGahn permission to cooperate with Mueller after several unexpected reports of McGahn’s cooperation with the special counsel came to light.
Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, former CIA and NSA director Michael Hayden shared his thoughts on President Trump’s early morning McCarthy tweet. “So, Joe McCarthy was a demagogue,” Hayden said. “And we haven’t heard a public syllable from Bob Mueller in more than a year.”
“And I have got to add,” he continued, “that McCarthy’s lawyer, Roy Cohn, became Donald Trump’s personal lawyer — lawyer and mentor for decades. I mean, the irony here is just amazing.”
Some members of the media are very Angry at the Fake Story in the New York Times. They actually called to complain and apologize – a big step forward. From the day I announced, the Times has been Fake News, and with their disgusting new Board Member, it will only get worse!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 19, 2018
Roy Cohn began his working relationship with Trump in the 1970s, later going on to represent him in his lawsuit against the NFL.
The recent New York Times report indicates that McGahn spent over 30 hours being interviewed by Mueller and his team within the last nine months and provided the special counsel with “detailed accounts about the episodes at the heart of the inquiry into whether President Trump obstructed justice.”
