A year to the day after former FBI Director Robert Mueller was named as Special Counsel to investigate allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 elections, President Donald Trump lashed out at the ongoing probe, again denying that he coordinated any actions with Russia, or obstructed justice in the resulting investigation, as Mr. Trump charged that the FBI 'spied' on his campaign.
"Congratulations America, we are now into the second year of the greatest Witch Hunt in American history," the President wrote on Twitter.
Mr. Trump's tweet came a day after the current FBI Director, Christopher Wray, rejected assertions that the probe was a 'witch hunt,' telling a Senate panel that his agents are doing the best they can to find the truth about Russian meddling in the 2016 race.
The President's frustration with the probe came on the heels of a large document dump from the Senate Judiciary Committee, which officially released testimony - for the first time - of Donald Trump Jr., and others who had been present for a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower, where Trump Campaign officials thought they would get 'dirt' on Hillary Clinton from a woman who had been described as a lawyer with ties to the Russian government.
Among the news items from over 2,000 pages of documents released by the panel:
+ Jared Kushner was described as “agitated” when he didn’t get Hillary Clinton ‘dirt’ in Trump Tower meeting.
+ Donald Trump Jr. denied that his father knew of that meeting or any collusion with Russia.
+ Wikileaks asked Donald Trump Jr. to leak his father’s tax returns to them – so they could then leak them on line.
+ Trump Organization lawyers coordinated the press response in 2017 when news of the Trump Tower meeting got into the press.
The bottom line for the President and his supporters remains straightforward - there was no collusion, no wrongdoing.
While the President and his allies said it was time for the Russia investigation to end, Mueller's team shows no signs of wrapping up that probe - which began well before he was tapped as Special Counsel - as many Democrats argue it's obvious much still needs to be learned.
"There’s a lot we still don’t know about the Trump-Russia connection," said Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO).
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