On June 16, President Donald Trump appeared to have confirmed that he is under investigation for obstruction of justice for his alleged connections with the Russians meddling with the 2016 presidential election. He also claimed he is being investigated for firing FBI Director James Comey by “the man” who asked him to take that step. POTUS’s legal team made clear to news reporters that the president is not under investigation for obstruction of justice. Trump’s personal lawyer, however, made it clear that the legal team is not sure for certain regarding the ongoing investigation against him.
Jay Sekulow, Trump’s latest member of the legal team, said on CBS’s Face the Nation that the 45th President of the United States of America “has not been and is not” under any investigation whatsoever. When asked on Fox News Sunday about Trump’s recent outburst , Jay Sekulow said that he could not be certain that he was under any sort of investigation, but no one from his legal team had been notified if that was the case.
“The fact of the matter is the President has not been and is not under investigation.”
After firing of James Comey, Robert Mueller was appointed a special counsel to investigate Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election and the alleged collusion between Trump campaign associates and the Russians. On Twitter, Trump dismissed as “phony” the idea his campaign colluded with any Russian effort to sway the 2016 U.S. election.
“They made up a phony collusion with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. Nice,” Trump wrote on Twitter earlier, later repeating his accusation the probe was a “witch hunt.”
I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 16, 2017
You are witnessing the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history – led by some very bad and conflicted people! #MAGA
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2017
Sekulow added Trump’s tweet were in reaction to a story published in the Washington Post , claiming that the president and his administration was being examined by Mueller. He further acknowledged that he could not be certain that the report by Post was false.
“I cannot read the mind of the special prosecutor,” he said.
It is still not clear whether he was basing his series of tweets on any prior knowledge that he is under said investigation.
In the tweets, the POTUS did not identify who “the man” was but according to ABC News , it appeared that he was questioning the integrity of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein — the same official from the Justice Department who appointed Robert Mueller.
James Comey, who was fired on May 9, told a Senate panel last week he believed the POTUS dismissed him to undermine the bureau’s ongoing investigation. He told the Senate Intelligence Committee in his June 8 testimony he believed the president had directed him to drop a related agency investigation into former national security advisor Michael Flynn.
That being said, Barak Cohen, a former Justice Department lawyer, said there was no requirement that the special counsel notifies the president was under investigation.
[Featured Image by Alex Wong/Getty Images]
