WASHINGTON--U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday scornfully rejected 'disgusting' talk among Democrats about launching an impeachment inquiry against him in the aftermath of the Russia probe, saying he did nothing to merit such an outcome.
Talking to reporters on the White House South Lawn ahead of a trip to Colorado, Trump grew animated in reacting to a statement from U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Wednesday. Mueller said his report on Russian collusion in the 2016 presidential campaign did not clear Trump of obstruction of justice and indicated it was up to Congress to decide whether he should be impeached.
Mueller's statement fueled an increase in calls from Democratic lawmakers for impeachment proceedings, and U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, reacting to Mueller's statement, said "nothing is off the table."
Asked if he expected to be impeached, Trump said: "I don't see how ... It's a dirty, filthy, disgusting word ... It's a giant presidential harassment."
He cited the U.S. Constitution's language that a president can be charged with "high crimes and misdemeanors." "There was no crime. There was no misdemeanor," he said.
While House Democrats have yet to decide whether to pursue impeachment, they are pressing forward with a number of investigations spinning off from the Russia probe. The Trump administration is fighting those congressional efforts, including an attempt by the Democratic chairman of the House tax-writing panel to obtain the president's tax returns.
The top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, Ron Wyden, said on Thursday the U.S. Treasury had been "unresponsive" to questions about Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin's decision not to comply with the House demand for Trump's returns, and he threatened to attempt to block any Treasury nominees if the department was not forthcoming.
"Congress has a constitutional obligation to conduct oversight of the executive branch," he said in a statement.
In a morning tweet, Trump had left the impression that he was acknowledging that Russian interference helped him win the 2016 election over Democrat Hillary Clinton. Answering questions from reporters, he later said the exact opposite.
"No, Russia did not help me get elected," he said, adding that he needed no help in winning the election.
Trump heaped scorn on Mueller, calling him "totally conflicted" in part because he had wanted to head the FBI. "I told him NO. The next day he was named Special Counsel - A total Conflict of Interest. NICE!," Trump said on Twitter, without providing evidence that Mueller, a Republican, had sought the FBI job.
Speaking to reporters, Trump also said that Mueller is a close friend of former FBI Director James Comey, who Trump fired weeks after taking office in early 2017. "I think Mueller is a true 'never Trumper,'" Trump said.
U.S. Attorney General William Barr said Mueller could have reached a decision on whether President Donald Trump obstructed justice, but chose not to.
Mueller said this week that he could not indict Trump because of a Justice Department policy that prohibits indicting a sitting president, and was not even willing to conclude if a crime was committed out of fairness to the president. But Barr, a Trump appointee who oversaw the final stages of the Russia investigation, gave a starkly different opinion than Mueller's - saying the special counsel could have made a judgment call even if he could not indict the president.
"I personally felt he could've reached a decision," Barr said, according to an excerpt released on Thursday from an interview with CBS "This Morning".
"The opinion says you cannot indict a president while he is in office, but he could've reached a decision as to whether it was criminal activity," Barr added. "But he had his reasons for not doing it, which he explained and I am not going to, you know, argue about those reasons."
