For a second straight day, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to vent his frustration at the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 elections, as he publicly said that he was "being investigated" for firing FBI Director James Comey last month, appearing to confirm news reports that he is facing a possible probe dealing with obstruction of justice.
"I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director!" Trump said on Twitter, appearing to refer to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
"After 7 months of investigations & committee hearings about my "collusion with the Russians, nobody has been able to show any proof. Sad!" Mr. Trump said on Twitter.
That tweet from this morning seemed to be a swipe at Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who chose former FBI Director Robert Mueller to lead the Special Counsel probe of Russian election interference.
Rosenstein prepared a memo for Attorney General Jeff Sessions back in early May, which raised repeated questions about how Comey had handled the Hillary Clinton email investigation - at first, that seemed to be the basis for Comey's firing by the President, until Mr. Trump said a few days later that the Russia investigation was on his mind.
Late on Thursday night, Rosenstein issued a written statement about leaks in the Russia probe.
Credit: Jamie Dupree
Credit: Jamie Dupree
It was not immediately clear what prompted the release of that statement by Rosenstein, whether it was in response to recent stories that suggested the President was under investigation for obstruction of justice, or some other reason.
On Capitol Hill, Democrats saw only one headline from the latest series of Trump missives on Twitter.
"Today the President of the United States confirmed he's under criminal investigation. Let that sink in," said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA).
Mr. Trump's latest tweets drew a concerned statement from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who said she's worried that the President will try to fire both Mueller and Rosenstein.
"The message the president is sending through his tweets is that he believes the rule of law doesn’t apply to him and that anyone who thinks otherwise will be fired. That’s undemocratic on its face and a blatant violation of the president’s oath of office," Feinstein said in a written statement.
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