‘End of my presidency’: Document shows that Trump was terrified of Mueller investigation
US President Donald Trump believed the Mueller investigation into his campaign’s ties with Russia would be “the end of my presidency” according the the newly released report.
Trump delivered the remarks when then-attorney general Jeff Sessions told him that a special counsel was being appointed to look into allegations of a conspiracy, according to the newly released Mueller report.
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Mueller’s report, released earlier today, reads: “When Sessions told the President that a special counsel had been appointed, the President slumped back in his chair and said, ‘Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my presidency. I’m f***ed’.”
“How could you let this happen Jeff,” Trump reportedly asked his attorney general. He added that he felt “let down”. “You were supposed to protect me,” Sessions remembers the President saying.
The report, which is redacted and runs into over 400 pages, shows a series of incidents where the President took actions which would impede the investigation.
Mueller did not draw any conclusion on whether Trump’s actions amounted to obstruction of justice, but it did not exonerate him.
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His report detailed “10 episodes involving the president and discusses potential legal theories for connecting these actions to elements of an obstruction offence,” Barr said at a press conference earlier today.
The report said there is “some evidence” that Trump knew about calls between former national security adviser Michael Flynn and the Russian ambassador before the President took office. But the evidence was “inconclusive”, Mueller said.