Trump Lashes Out at New York Times in Morning Freak Out

President Trump was on Twitter early Sunday attacking one of his favorite targets, the “failing†New York Times. He called Richard Nixon’s White House Counsel John Dean “a rat†and said “I have nothing to hide.†He also called the Mueller probe “McCarthyism at its WORST†and said the special counsel was investigating the wrong targets.

In a later tweet he wrote “No Collusion and No Obstruction, except by Crooked Hillary and the Democrats.†He also wrote “What about the Brennan, Comey, McCabe, Strzok lies to Congress, or Crooked’s Emails!â€

Yesterday the Times published an article disclosing that White House Counsel Don McGahn has been cooperating with Robert Mueller’s Russia probe for a long time, disclosing intimate details of what had transpired in the White House between Trump, James Comey, Jeff Sessions and others.

In his initial tweet posted after the story came out, Trump did not seem upset. He said he had given McGahn permission to talk to Mueller, and seemed fine with the reporting of this news. “I allowed White House Counsel Don McGahn, and all other requested members of the White House Staff, to fully cooperate with the Special Counsel,” the president tweeted Saturday evening.

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In today’s tweets, however, Trump took an entirely different tone, writing:

“The failing @nytimes wrote a Fake piece today implying that because White House Councel Don McGahn was giving hours of testimony to the Special Councel, he must be a John Dean type ‘RAT.’ But I allowed him and all others to testify – I didn’t have to. I have nothing to hide……,†….and have demanded transparency so that this Rigged and Disgusting Witch Hunt can come to a close. So many lives have been ruined over nothing – McCarthyism at its WORST! Yet Mueller & his gang of Dems refuse to look at the real crimes on the other side – Media is even worse!”

Then later he added a third tweet saying that it is Hillary Clinton and the Democrats who should be investigated, not him.

“No Collusion and No Obstruction, except by Crooked Hillary and the Democrats. All of the resignations and corruption, yet heavily conflicted Bob Mueller refuses to even look in that direction. What about the Brennan, Comey, McCabe, Strzok lies to Congress, or Crooked’s Emails!â€

Over an hour after his initial tweets, the president continued his attack on the Times, and “the Fake News Media” and tweeted this:

“The Failing New York Times wrote a story that made it seem like the White House Councel had TURNED on the President, when in fact it is just the opposite – & the two Fake reporters knew this. This is why the Fake News Media has become the Enemy of the People. So bad for America!”

He then followed up with another tweet about the Times story, claiming “some members of the media are very Angry:”

“Some members of the media are very Angry at the Fake Story in the New York Times. They actually called to complain and apologize – a big step forward. From the day I announced, the Times has been Fake News, and with their disgusting new Board Member, it will only get worse!”

In yesterday’s Times article the prominent newspaper reported that White House Counsel McGahn had grown afraid that Trump was preparing to set him up for a fall over the issue of possible obstruction of justice. It was this fear, they said, that caused McGahn to decide to cooperate with Mueller and provide him and his team as much information as possible. He reportedly discussed Trump’s firing of James Comey and the president’s attacks against Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia probe.

John Dean, Richard Nixon’s White House counsel who feared he would be used as a scapegoat for Watergate, wrote Saturday on Twitter that McGahn did the right thing. “McGahn is doing right!” Dean tweeted

For over a year Trump and his allies have been calling the Mueller investigation a “witch hunt” and saying it should be shut down.

Contrary to the president’s comments, however, the probe has been very fruitful, resulting in several dozen indictments as well as a handful of guilty pleas.



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