WASHINGTON, April 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — President Donald Trump says he has spoken to the US attorney general about tracing the origins of the inquiry that cleared him of colluding with Russia.
Trump described the investigation by former FBI director Robert Mueller as “an attempted coup”.
Attorney General William Barr meanwhile said he believes US authorities did spy on the Trump campaign.
US intelligence officials have previously said they were spying on the Russians, not the Trump campaign.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Wednesday morning, Trump railed against the Department of Justice inquiry into whether the Trump campaign had conspired with the Kremlin to sway the 2016 election.
The investigation cleared him and his aides of collusion, making no determination on whether they had tried to obstruct justice.
Trump said: “This was an attempted coup. This was an attempted take-down of a president. And we beat them. We beat them.
“Because I knew how illegal this whole thing was. It was a scam.
“Because this was an illegal witch hunt, and everybody knew it. And they knew it too. And they got caught. And what they did was treason.”
While Trump was flying off to Texas, America’s top law official was appearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee.
William Barr was asked whether spying occurred on the Trump campaign during the 2016 White House race.
“I think spying did occur,” said the attorney general. “The question is whether it was adequately predicated.”
He later clarified: “I’m not saying improper surveillance occurred, I am looking into it.”
Barr also told lawmakers he will release the nearly 400-page Mueller report next week after he has finished redacting sensitive material.
President Trump and his conservative allies have repeatedly suggested the Obama administration planted a mole in his presidential campaign to undercut his candidacy.
In March 2017, President Trump made the explosive claim on Twitter that his predecessor, Barack Obama, had ordered phones at his Trump Tower office to be wiretapped during the 2016 White House race. — NNN-AGENCIES
