Trump: ‘Jeff Sessions should stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now’

President Donald J. Trump was on Twitter Wednesday telling Attorney General  Jeff Sessions that he should “un-recuse himself” from Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Trump made clear that he wants his attorney general to shut down the entire Russia probe.

Trump tweeted on Wednesday morning:

“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,” the president wrote. “Bob Mueller is totally conflicted, and his 17 Angry Democrats that are doing his dirty work are a disgrace to USA!”

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This latest comment about the Mueller investigation is seen as a major escalation of the president’s attacks against the probe which began after he fired former FBI Director James Comey nearly 15 months ago. Since then the investigation has been constantly in the news and has been a thorn in the president’s side.

Attorney General Sessions recused himself in 2017 from being involved in any Russia investigation after it was discovered that he had inappropriately failed to disclose a meeting he had with former Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 presidential election. Sessions had previously given sworn testimony that he had no contacts with any Russian officials during the Trump campaign.

Because of his lies and the fact that he would likely be a witness in the investigation, Sessions rightly concluded he should not be leading the investigation.

After tweeting about Sessions, Trump wrote that he believed the U.S. government set him up by not warning him against hiring Paul Manafort as his campaign chairman in 2016. Manafort went on trial yesterday for 18 different alleged tax, financial and bank fraud crimes and could spend the rest of his life in jail.

“Paul Manafort worked for Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole and many other highly prominent and respected political leaders. He worked for me for a very short time. Why didn’t government tell me that he was under investigation. These old charges have nothing to do with Collusion – a Hoax!”

This of course is ridiculous since it has been well documented that Trump and Manafort first started working together in the 1980’s.

Then Trump went further off the deep end, tweeting that the Democrats were behind the Mueller probe:

“Russian Collusion with the Trump Campaign, one of the most successful in history, is a TOTAL HOAX. The Democrats paid for the phony and discredited Dossier which was, along with Comey, McCabe, Strzok and his lover, the lovely Lisa Page, used to begin the Witch Hunt. Disgraceful!”

This clearly is an attempt by the president to come up with “alternative facts” which have no relationship to the truth. He knows that millions of his mindless followers believe everything he tweets, and many in fact do not have other information or news sources.

Robert Mueller and almost all of his prosecutors and FBI agents are Republicans and always have been. Mueller has indicted 32 individuals so far, including four former Trump aides. Clearly there is no “hoax” and it is not a Democratic conspiracy against him.

When Donald Trump posts such desperate and unhinged tweets attacking Mueller we know he is acting out of fear. The beginning of the Manafort trial yesterday, coupled with reports of Michael Cohen’s impending cooperation with prosecutors, may be what set him off on this morning’s Twitter tirade.

Regardless of the cause, we know that Trump’s tweeting will not succeed in changing the real facts which will be proven by Mueller and his team in a court of law.

Leo Vidal

I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.