In tweet, Trump denounces Russia probe as ‘phony story’

US President Donald Trump on Thursday denounced reports that the special counsel appointed to investigate Russian influence in the 2016 presidential campaign is now examining whether he tried to obstruct justice, calling it a “phony story.”

“They made up a phony collusion with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. Nice,” the president tweeted just before 4 a.m.

In a second early morning tweet Trump also called the investigation “the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history.”

The president’s tweets followed a report in the Washington Post Wednesday that said the special counsel overseeing the probe into Russia’s alleged meddling in the US election is now also looking at whether Trump attempted to obstruct justice.

Trump has consistently denied any collusion between himself or any of his associates and Russia.

They made up a phony collusion with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. Nice

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2017

An hour later Trump tweeted that it was a witch hunt.

“You are witnessing the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history – led by some very bad and conflicted people! #MAGA,” Trump tweeted, ending with the acronym for his campaign slogan, Make America Great Again.

You are witnessing the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history – led by some very bad and conflicted people! #MAGA

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2017

In a pivotal shift in the investigation that has riveted Americans like no other for decades, senior intelligence officials have agreed to be interviewed by investigators working for the special counsel, Robert Mueller, the Post said.

It quoted five people briefed on the requests and said those who have agreed to be interviewed are Daniel Coats, the director of national intelligence, Admiral Mike Rogers, the head of the National Security Agency, and his recently departed deputy, Richard Ledgett.

The interviews could come as early as this week, the Post said.

Trump’s personal lawyer Marc Kasowitz, who issued a statement which did not deny the story, but did say that the FBI was behind it, calling the leak “outrageous, inexcusable and illegal.”

The shift toward investigating the US president followed Trump’s firing of James Comey as FBI director on May 9, the Post said.

The stated focus of the investigation has been Russia’s alleged efforts to tilt last November’s presidential election Trump’s way and whether the winner’s campaign was involved in any way.

Mueller, himself a widely respected former head of the FBI, has now taken up the angle of possible efforts by Trump to obstruct justice in the investigation, the Post said.

Quoting officials, the newspaper said one event of interest to Mueller is an exchange on March 22, when Coats told associates that Trump had asked him to intervene with Comey to get him to back off the focus on Trump’s former national security advisor Mike Flynn as part of the FBI probe of the Russia affair.

A few days after the March 22 meeting, Trump spoke separately with Coats and Rogers and asked them to issue public statements to the effect that there was no evidence of coordination between his campaign and Russia. The Post said both men refused the president’s request.

Mueller briefed Senators Wednesday on his work.

“I’m going to acknowledge we had a meeting with the special counsel Mueller, but I’m not going to get into the contents,” Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told reporters later.