President Trump lashed out at least twice at his acting attorney general, fuming about federal prosecutors referencing his own actions in court documents about his former fixer Michael Cohen’s crimes, according to a new report.
Trump questioned Matthew Whitaker, whom he appointed to the top Justice Department role in November, on why federal prosecutors in New York weren’t being reined in, CNN reported Friday.
The Southern District of New York implicated Trump in hush-money payments Cohen made to two women during the 2016 campaign who alleged they had affairs with Trump. The president has denied the payments were campaign contributions, which would violate campaign finance laws.
Cohen also pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about negotiations for a potential Trump Tower in Moscow.
Sources said Trump did not direct Whitaker to end any investigation, but rather, he was venting about a situation that he regards as being unfair to him.
Whitaker is overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation since former Attorney General Jeff Sessions stepped down last month. Trump often stewed publicly and privately about Sessions’ recusal from the overseeing the probe, which he refers to as a “witch hunt.”
Whitaker had previously been critical of the investigation, which he has refused to recuse himself from overseeing as acting attorney general.
Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, told CNN he could not confirm the conversations had happened, but he said the president does view the New York prosecutors as unchecked.
“The president and his lawyers are upset about the professional prosecutors in the Southern District of New York going after a non-crime and the innuendo the president was involved,” Giuliani said.
