Trump denies collusion after major revelations in Russia probe

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U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday renewed his call to end a federal probe into Russian election meddling, describing the investigation as a “witch hunt” a day after U.S. prosecutors detailed a previously unknown attempt by a Russian to help his 2016 presidential election campaign.

“Time for the Witch Hunt to END!” Trump said in a message on Twitter. His tweet also quoted television host Geraldo Rivera, a Trump friend, dismissing any claim of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia as “collusion illusion.”

Screenshot of Trump's tweet

It was the president's second tweet of the day about Special Counsel Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and whether Trump's campaign colluded with Russia. Russia denies meddling allegations.

“After two years and millions of pages of documents (and a cost of over $30 million) no collusion!” Trump tweeted earlier on Saturday.

He repeated that contention later as he left the White House for the annual Army-Navy game in Philadelphia, saying, “We're very happy with what we are reading, because there was no collusion whatsoever.”

U.S. prosecutors, however, did not address in several federal court filings on Friday the question of whether they have found collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Moreover, Mueller said in one filing that Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, had provided his office with “useful information concerning certain discrete Russia-related matters core to its investigation that he obtained by virtue of his regular contact” with Trump's real estate company during the 2016 campaign.

Democrats and other Trump critics fear that newly appointed acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, a Trump loyalist, could fire Mueller or undermine the investigation by cutting off its funding. Prominent Republicans in Congress insist that there is no danger of interference.

U.S. House committees release Comey testimony transcript

The Republican chairmen of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee and House Oversight Committee on Saturday released a transcript of former FBI Director James Comey's closed-door testimony about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's emails.

Former FBI Director James Comey speaks to the media after giving a private deposition to the House Judiciary and House Government and Oversight committees on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., December 7, 2018. /Reuters Photo

The two Republican-controlled panels are investigating Clinton's use of a private email server while she was in office, and the handling of the probe into whether President Trump's campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 U.S. election.

The transcript covers Comey's Friday appearance in the House of Representatives, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte and House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy said in a statement. Comey is due to appear before the committees again on December 17.

The Republican-led inquiry has been lambasted by Democrats, who will take over the House of Representatives in January, as a partisan effort to undermine Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Russia has denied any interference.

“Our Republican colleagues seem intent on spending their final days in power attempting to provide cover to President Trump and attempting to re-litigate the Department of Justice's decision not to prosecute Secretary Clinton,” Democrats Jerrold Nadler and Elijah Cummings said in a statement.

At one point in the closed-door session, the transcript shows that Comey was asked to confirm his position that an FBI investigation of Clinton showed no prosecution was merited.

“Yep. I believed it then, I believe it now. And anybody that thinks we were on team Clinton trying to cut her a break is smoking something,” Comey replied, according to the transcripts.

Comey initially resisted appearing at a closed-door hearing, saying the session could have been conducted in public. But he dropped his opposition on December 2, after lawmakers agreed to provide a full transcript within 24 hours and said he would be permitted to make it public.

Source(s): Reuters