Reuters
FILE PHOTO: FBI Director Mueller testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill
- In a series of explosive Friday tweets, President Donald Trump claimed that special counsel Robert Mueller's findings on Russian interference and possible collusion shouldn't become public.
- While he has frequently decried Mueller's appointment, the tweet marked the first time Trump called for his findings to be quashed from the public.
- Mueller was appointed in May of 2017 to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible illegal coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia to tilt the race in Trump's favor.
In a series of explosive Friday tweets, President Donald Trump claimed that special counsel Robert Mueller's findings on Russian interference and possible collusion shouldn't become public.
Trump tweeted that Mueller "should never have been appointed and there should be no Mueller Report." While he has frequently decried Mueller's appointment, the tweet marked the first time Trump called for his findings to be quashed from the public.
"This was an illegal & conflicted investigation in search of a crime. Russian Collusion was nothing more than an excuse by the Democrats for losing an Election that they thought they were going to win," he added, despite the fact the Mueller probe's legality has been upheld in multiple courts.
Mueller was appointed in May of 2017 to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia.
So far, Mueller has charged 35 people, three Russian companies, and eight Americans affiliated with the Trump campaign with a range of crimes including lying to investigators and Congress about the Trump campaign's contacts with Russia, obstruction of justice, and financial crimes.
The investigation has engulfed numerous people in Trump's orbit, including former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, Trump ally and occasional strategist Roger Stone, and Michael Cohen, Trump's long-time personal lawyer and fixer.
Under the legal guidelines for special counsel investigations, Mueller is required to write a report on his findings and submit the report to Attorney General William Barr. The attorney general will then present Mueller's findings to Congress - but there's no guarantee all of them will be made public.
On Thursday, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a resolution by a vote of 420-0 calling for the Mueller report to be made available to Congress and to the public.
As Republicans for the Rule of Law noted in a Friday statement to INSIDER, some of Trump's most reliable allies who have previously criticized the Mueller probe including Reps. Mark Meadows, Jim Jordan, and Devin Nunes were among those voting in favor of the resolution.