The White House on Tuesday defended President Trump’s weekend tweetstorm against special counsel Robert Mueller, claiming the president has been “attacked mercilessly” and was within his right to fight back.
Trump slammed Mueller in a series of tweets on Sunday, accusing him of stacking his team of investigators with Democrats and supporters of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign. The president also said the federal investigation “should never have been in started” because it was based on “fraudulent activities and a fake dossier.”
The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime. It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2018
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the president has “not been shy” about his frustrations with the special counsel investigation, or the length of the continuing federal probe.
“We would like it to end quickly and soon and the president has contended since day one and will continue to do so that there was absolutely no collusion between his campaign and any outside force or country and so I don’t understand why it’s hard for anyone to process,” Sanders said.
She continued, “If you had been attacked mercilessly and continuously day in, day out, every single second while you’re trying to work hard to do good things for this country and literally every day you wake up to an onslaught saying you’re there because of reasons that are completely false, that’s frustrating.”
Trump has grown increasingly irritated with Mueller and his team since reports this month indicated they were beginning to dig into his financial dealings. The president said last July that an investigation into his finances would cross a “red line” for him.
Sanders said it is “fair” for Trump to be critical of Mueller given the direction of the probe.
