Mueller Report Reveals Trump's Outburst After Learning Special Counsel Was Appointed
President Donald Trump reacted with anger and despair after learning of the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller in May 2017, proclaiming, “This is the end of my presidency.”
According to the newly released Mueller report, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions told Trump of the appointment at the White House.
The report quoted notes written by Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt following the May 17, 2017, who recounted upon hearing the news, Trump “slumped back in his chair” and said, “Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my presidency. I’m f–ked.”
“The President became angry and lambasted the Attorney General for his decision to recuse from the investigation, stating, ‘How could you let this happen, Jeff?,'” the Mueller report reads.
“The President said the position of Attorney General was his most important appointment and that Sessions had ‘let him down’ contrasting him to Eric Holder and Robert Kennedy.”
The attorney general later recalled that Trump said, “you were supposed to protect me” or words to that effect.
By Hunt’s account, the president lamented the consequences to his presidency of Mueller’s appointment.
“Everyone tells me if you get one of these independent counsels it ruins your presidency. It takes years and years and I won’t be able to do anything,” Trump said.
He added, “This is the worst thing that ever happened to me.”
On multiple occasions, Trump has publicly stated his frustration that Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation.
In May 2018, he quoted House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, a former federal prosecutor, who rejected the notion the president was wrong to be angry over the Sessions’ recusal.
Rep.Trey Gowdy, “I don’t think so, I think what the President is doing is expressing frustration that Attorney General Sessions should have shared these reasons for recusal before he took the job, not afterward. If I were the President and I picked someone to be the country’s….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2018
The lawmaker was specifically asked on “CBS This Morning” if the president had asked Sessions to un-recuse himself from overseeing the investigation, as The New York Times reported he had, if that amounted to obstruction of justice.
“I don’t think so, I think what the President is doing is expressing frustration that Attorney General Sessions should have shared these reasons for recusal before he took the job, not afterward,” Gowdy said.
“If I were the President and I picked someone to be the country’s chief law enforcement officer, and they told me later, ‘Oh by the way I’m not going to be able to participate in the most important case in the office,’ I would be frustrated too,” the congressman added.
“‘Senator Sessions, why didn’t you tell me before I picked you.’ There are lots of really good lawyers in the country, he could have picked somebody else!”
….There are lots of really good lawyers in the country, he could have picked somebody else!” And I wish I did!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2018
Trump responded to Gowdy’s observation, tweeting, “And I wish I did!”
The president celebrated the findings of the Mueller report with a tweet on Thursday, following a news conference by Attorney General William Barr.
Trump posted a “Game of Thrones”-inspired meme which read: “No collusion, no obstruction. For the haters and the radical left Democrats — Game Over.”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 18, 2019
The chief executive also took a victory lap at a Wounded Warriors event at the White House on Thursday morning.
.@realDonaldTrump says he’s having a good day today.
“It’s called no collusion, no obstruction. This should never happen to another president again, the hoax, it should never happen again.” pic.twitter.com/5Xu0Yzr77r
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) April 18, 2019
“They’re having a good day,” Trump said. “I’m having a good day too: It’s called no collusion, no obstruction,” drawing applause from those at the ceremony.
“We do have to get to the bottom of these things, I will say,” he continued.
“This should never happen to another president again, this hoax, this should never happen again.”
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