Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said President Trump’s tweet Wednesday calling on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to end the federal Russia investigation “an attempt to obstruct justice hiding in plain sight.”
“The President of the United States just called on his Attorney General to put an end to an investigation in which the President, his family and campaign may be implicated,” tweeted the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee. “This is an attempt to obstruct justice hiding in plain sight. America must never accept it.”
The President of the United States just called on his Attorney General to put an end to an investigation in which the President, his family and campaign may be implicated.
This is an attempt to obstruct justice hiding in plain sight. America must never accept it. https://t.co/F8b6a0IGOh
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) August 1, 2018
In a flurry of tweets, Trump made his most forceful push yet for a swift end to the “rigged witch hunt” — a phrase Trump often uses to denounce special counsel Robert Mueller’s inquiry.
“This is a terrible situation and Attorney General Jeff Sessions should stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now, before it continues to stain our country any further. Bob Mueller is totally conflicted, and his 17 Angry Democrats that are doing his dirty work are a disgrace to USA!” Trump said in one tweet.
The investigation is examining Russian interference in the 2016 election, along with possible collusion between members of the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. Mueller is also looking into whether Trump has attempted to obstruct justice. According to a recent New York Times report, Mueller is sifting through Trump’s tweets to see if what he has said about Sessions and former FBI Director James Comey amounts to obstruction.
[Byron York: Why Trump doesn’t admit Russian election interference]
While Sessions is the top official at the Justice Department, he recused himself from the Russia investigation last year much to Trump’s chagrin. Overseeing Mueller’s team is Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, whom Trump allies in Congress have sought to impeach over accusations that he has impeded Congress’s constitutional oversight role amid multiple document requests.
The House Intelligence Committee, on which Schiff is the top Democrat, released a report in April concluding there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. However, Democrats on the panel castigated the GOP majority, accusing them of conducting an incomplete and misleading investigation. Schiff said in February he had seen evidence of both collusion and obstruction.
