Asked by reporters about the tweet a few minutes later at the White House, the President seemed to quickly back track from his tweet.
“No, Russia did not help me get elected,” Mr. Trump said.
President Trump: "Russia did not help me get elected. You know who got me elected? You know who got me elected? I got me elected. Russia did not help me at all." pic.twitter.com/B7Bb2M32Sq
— CSPAN (@cspan) May 30, 2019
The Mueller investigation found that Russia had undertaken what the Special Counsel described Wednesday as a 'concerted attack' on the U.S. political system in 2016, with a goal of harming the candidacy of Hillary Clinton.
In a series of posts on Thursday morning, Mr. Trump labeled accusations made against him by political critics as 'horrendous,' noting that Mueller brought no criminal charges against him for any election conspiracy with Russia.
"Mueller didn't find Obstruction either," the President said, without mentioning how Mueller repeatedly said on Wednesday that he was restricted by Justice Department policies from bringing any charges at all against a sitting President.
"Presidential Harassment!" the President added.
How do you impeach a Republican President for a crime that was committed by the Democrats? WITCH-HUNT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2019
The Greatest Presidential Harassment in history. After spending $40,000,000 over two dark years, with unlimited access, people, resources and cooperation, highly conflicted Robert Mueller would have brought charges, if he had ANYTHING, but there were no charges to bring!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2019
Russia, Russia, Russia! That’s all you heard at the beginning of this Witch Hunt Hoax...And now Russia has disappeared because I had nothing to do with Russia helping me to get elected. It was a crime that didn’t exist. So now the Dems and their partner, the Fake News Media,.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2019
....say he fought back against this phony crime that didn’t exist, this horrendous false acquisition, and he shouldn’t fight back, he should just sit back and take it. Could this be Obstruction? No, Mueller didn’t find Obstruction either. Presidential Harassment!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2019
The President's comments came as Democrats in Congress were wrestling with their next step, as more calls for impeachment proceedings bubbled up from rank-and-file lawmakers after Wednesday's public statement by the Special Counsel.
Democrats focused repeatedly on Mueller's statement - about possible obstruction of justice charges against the President - “if we had confidence that the President clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said that.”
“The Special Counsel’s office did their job; now it’s time for Congress to do our job,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA).
In the Senate, Democrats used Mueller's statement to call for action on election security legislation, arguing Mueller's warning about future cyber-meddling should not be ignored.
Robert Mueller just made it crystal clear: Russia interfered in our elections in 2016 in a "systematic" way. So why won't @senatemajldr let us vote on any election security bills to prevent foreign adversaries from doing it again?! pic.twitter.com/7AIGkjnx78
— Tammy Duckworth (@SenDuckworth) May 29, 2019
In the House, Democrats said all options were on the table, including impeachment proceedings, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi continued to make clear she was not ready to jump into that political wildfire at this point.
“Mueller needs to testify and help the Public learn about his important work and crimes committed by Trump,” tweeted Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN).
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