Venting his frustration in a series of tweets on Sunday, President Donald Trump again demanded to know how the Justice Department, FBI, and Obama Administration handled questions of Russian interference in the 2016 election, saying he would request a new review specifically to see if an investigation was opened for 'political purposes' involving his campaign.
"I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes - and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!" the President said.
It was one of a number of tweets where Mr. Trump flashed aggravation with the investigation into questions of Russian interference in the 2016 elections this weekend, as he repeated his charge that the feds had gone easy on Hillary Clinton and Democrats, while focusing investigative resources on his own campaign.
What seemingly set off Mr. Trump on Sunday was a report in the New York Times, which said Donald Trump Jr. had held a meeting at Trump Tower in the months before the elections, to hear an offer of help from emissaries of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
"The Witch Hunt finds no Collusion with Russia - so now they’re looking at the rest of the World," the President tweeted.
The President's call for a review of how the FBI handled questions about Russian interference is already the subject of a review inside the Justice Department - officials decided to simply expand that to include a review of what the President had asked for, and not be pressured into an investigation.
"There are rules," said Carrie Cordero, a former Justice Department national security lawyer, who is now a professor at Georgetown University Law School.
In Congress, Democrats saw the President's tweets as a signal of one thing - that he's worried about what investigators are finding out about the 2016 probe, as they raised questions of whether the President is trying to exert political pressure on the Justice Department.
"Trump’s claim of an embedded “spy” is nonsense," said Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA). "His “demand” DOJ investigate something they know to be untrue is an abuse of power, and an effort to distract from his growing legal problems."
"The President has sent 8 tweets in 5 hours on Hillary and the Mueller investigation," said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA). "He is unhinged."
"You need to be subpoenaed for obstruction of justice/conspiracy/money laundering," said Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX). "Let Mueller do his job."
Democrats also questioned how the FBI did anything improper with regards to the Trump Campaign, because while then-Director James Comey spoke out about the Hillary Clinton email investigation just before the election, he said nothing about an ongoing counter-intelligence probe involving Mr. Trump's campaign and Russia.
"A President who has nothing to hide would not have done another series of tweets this Sunday Morning smearing the DOJ investigation," said Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA).
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