President Donald Trump refuses to comment on whether Mueller report should be made public on CBS’ “Face the Nation” interview that aired on Sunday.
The president was asked by “Face the Nation” anchor Margaret Brennan whether he’d have a problem with a public release of the report. Trump said: “I don’t know. It depends. I have no idea what it’s going to say. That’s totally up to the attorney general,”
“So far this thing’s been a total witch hunt,” Trump continued. “And it doesn’t implicate me in any way. There was no collusion. There was no obstruction. There was no nothing. Doesn’t implicate me in any way, but I think it’s a disgrace.”
Trump’s nominee for attorney general, William Barr said last month that while special counsel regulations require Mueller to submit a report to the Justice Department which is confidential and the report that goes public would be a report by the attorney general.
The acting attorney general, Matt Whitaker last week said that he thinks Mueller is close to wrapping up his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether the Trump campaign cooperated in secret with Russia.
There are many known indictments and plea deals in Mueller’s probe such as
Trump’s former campaign chair Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser. Manafort was convicted of several counts of tax and bank fraud and Flynn who pleaded guilty in December 2017 to making false statements to the FBI.
In January 2019, Mueller indicted longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone on seven counts. He accused Stone of lying to the House Intelligence Committee about his efforts to get in touch with Wiki Leaks during the campaign and tampering with a witness who could have debunked his story.
Trump called Stone “a character” and said, “it looks like he’s defending himself very well.”
13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies were indicted on conspiracy charges, with some also being accused of identity theft. The charges related to a Russian propaganda effort designed to interfere with the 2016 campaign. The companies involved are the Internet Research Agency, often described as a “Russian troll farm,” and two other companies that helped finance it. The Russian nationals indicted include 12 of the agency’s employees and its alleged financier, Yevgeny Prigozhin
Trump said “Face the Nation” that “many” of the Russians charged by Mueller “were bloggers from Moscow or they were people that had nothing to do with me, had nothing to do with what they’re talking about, or some people got caught telling a fib or telling a lie.”
Trump said “Remember this. Remember this,” Trump added. “There’s been no president that has been tougher on Russia than Donald Trump.”