President Trump said Thursday he has tried to stay out of controversies plaguing the Justice Department, but plans to get involved “if it doesn’t straighten out properly” in the coming months.
His comments came hours after he criticized Attorney General Jeff Sessions for being “weak” and declining to fire career officials at the agency who were involved in starting the Russia probe, which the president has repeatedly characterized as an expensive “witch hunt” aimed at damaging his administration.
“Our Justice Department and our FBI have to start doing their job and doing it right, because people are angry,” Trump said late Thursday at a rally in Evansville, Ind.
“What’s happening is a disgrace. I wanted to stay out … but I will get involved,” he added. “The whole world is watching and the whole world gets it and the whole word understands what is going on.”
The president also complained about his former Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, who he has called on his attorney general to investigate in recent weeks despite originally dismissing the idea after his victory in 2016. Last week, Trump wrote in a tweet that ex-National Security Agency contractor Reality Winner, who was sentenced to 63 months in jail for leaking classified information to a news outlet, was “small potatoes” compared to Clinton’s mishandling of classified materials.
“Look at what [Clinton] is getting away with, but let’s see if she gets away with it,” he told the crowd on Thursday.
Trump’s criticism of the Justice Department comes as he mulls an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller, whose appointment was largely a result of Sessions’ decision to recuse himself from the Russia probe last year.
[Also read: Trump legal team composing ‘counter-report’ to undermine Mueller investigation: Report]
