As his legal team readies a more aggressive approach to dealing with special counsel Robert Mueller, President Trump is channeling former President Bill Clinton — husband of the candidate he defeated in the 2016 election — as he argues the Russia investigation is distracting him from more important public business.
“We have the best employment numbers we’ve virtually ever had and yet all we ever hear about is this phony Russia witch hunt,” Trump told NRA members Friday. “Let me tell you, folks. We’re all fighting battles, but I love fighting these battles.”
Asked about shifting explanations of the Stormy Daniels payout before leaving Washington for the NRA gathering, Trump berated the reporter. “All I’m telling you is that this country is right now running so smooth,” the president said. “And to be bringing up that kind of crap, and to be bringing up witch hunts all the time — that’s all you want to talk about.”
“But what I do want you to do is look at our economy,” Trump later added. “Today, we broke 4 percent; 3.9 percent we hit today for the first time in many, many years. We’re really proud of it, and we’ll talk to you folks later.”
It’s not all that different from Clinton’s response to the Monica Lewinsky scandal and other matters being pursued by independent counsel Kenneth Starr, under the news media’s watchful eye.
“These allegations are false,” Clinton said. “And I need to go back to work for the American people.”
Top Clinton aides decried the Starr investigation as “corrupt,” “out of control,” and, yes, a “witch hunt.”
‘There are serious questions of wrongdoing here,” Clintonite Paul Begala told NBC News’ ”Meet the Press” back in 1998, ”and I think we need a truly independent investigation of the investigation itself, so that we can know who’s behind these lies, who is behind these leaks, and let the investigation continue.”
Just as Clinton and his defenders (including Hillary) cast Starr as part of the “vast right-wing conspiracy,” Trump and his supporters have sought to undercut the Mueller team’s nonpartisanship and impartiality.
“The problem we have is that you have 13 people — they’re all Democrats, and they’re real Democrats; they’re angry Democrats,” Trump told reporters Friday. “And that’s not a fair situation.” He said he would be willing to sit down with Mueller if he was sure he would be treated fairly.
This week saw a shakeup in Trump’s personal legal team. Ty Cobb, who preached cooperation with Mueller, is out. Former Clinton impeachment lawyer Emmet Flood, also a veteran of pitched legal battles involving former President George W. Bush and former Vice President Dick Cheney, is in. Rudy Giuliani, a former two-term mayor of New York City, has been all over the media defending Trump.
Yet Giuliani’s blitz has been undisciplined and possibly error-laden, drawing complaints even from Trump allies who feared the ex-mayor was exposing the president to further legal jeopardy. Trump vowed Giuliani would get up to speed.
“The problem is you can’t do with 40 percent approval what Bill Clinton did with 60 percent approval,” said a Republican strategist. Still, Trump’s approval ratings have been improving and there has been some movement in public opinion in his direction on the Russia investigation — especially among Republicans, but also independents.
A Quinnipiac poll found that 52 percent believe Mueller is conducting a fair investigation, but that is the “the lowest level of support for Mueller” since the firm started asking the question. Fifty-four percent of Republicans did not think the probe was fair.
Similarly, an NPR/Marist poll conducted around the same time found public belief in Mueller’s fairness had fallen 7 points to 45 percent while for the first time a majority of Republicans (55 percent) said the investigation was unfair.
A Monmouth poll out this week found 54 percent want the Mueller investigation to continue, down from 60 percent in March. The share of the public that wants it to end has risen from 37 percent to 43 percent.
Republican candidates in Tuesday’s upcoming Senate primaries have been falling all over themselves to stand with Trump against Mueller. Rep. Todd Rokita, R-Ind., introduced a resolution calling on Mueller to close down the investigation within 30 days if he can’t show Congress evidence of collusion.
Rokita also unveiled a campaign ad suggesting his GOP primary opponents weren’t tough enough to oppose the “witch hunt.” “They’re using Fake News to destroy our president,” the narrator said. “Who’s tough enough to stop the witch hunt?”
Two candidates running in West Virginia’s Republican senatorial primary, Rep. Evan Jenkins, R-W.Va., and state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, have also called the Mueller investigation a “witch hunt.”
Trump claimed vindication on Friday when a “respected” federal judge questioned whether Mueller was exceeding his authority in some of his charges against former campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
“Just when I’m walking on the stage, a highly respected judge in Virginia made statements, it says, Wall Street Journal, ‘Judge questions Mueller’s authority to prosecute Manafort,'” Trump said in his NRA speech, referring to U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis.
Later Friday two top advisers to former FBI Director James Comey resigned, potentially giving the president more ammunition — or at least Twitter fodder.
Trump has also pointed out that Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee found no collusion between his campaign and Russia, although Democrats have strenuously objected to that conclusion. Nevertheless, the top Democrat on that panel tapped the brakes on impeachment talk Friday.
“There is much more work to do before any of us can say whether the evidence rises to the level that we should consider a remedy beyond the one that voters will render at the ballot box,” Schiff wrote in the New York Times. “Given the evidence that is already public, I can well understand why the president fears impeachment and seeks to use the false claim that Democrats are more interested in impeachment than governing to rally his base. Democrats should not take the bait.”
“Democrats should keep their focus on the economy and a return to decency,” Schiff added on Twitter. “Let the investigations run their course before reaching any conclusion.”
Expect Trump’s offensive to continue, as he points to the growing economy and upcoming nuclear talks in North Korea as evidence he doesn’t need to be distracted by Mueller. If it doesn’t culminate in Mueller’s firing, it might remain squarely in the Clinton tradition.
