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Trump launches wide-ranging attack on Democrats day before charges expected in Russian collusion investigation

He said the timing of the charges was not 'coincidental' given that Republicans are pushing for a tax reform bill 

Mythili Sampathkumar
New York
Sunday 29 October 2017 15:28 GMT
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US President Donald Trump is contending with low approval ratings
US President Donald Trump is contending with low approval ratings (AFP/Getty)

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President Donald Trump once again took to Twitter to express his displeasure with opposition Democrats, this time just one day before the first charges are expected to be filed as a result of the investigation into whether his campaign team colluded with Russian officials during the 2016 US election.

Mr Trump and former campaign members have denied any wrongdoing in the matter which Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller, a former FBI Director, has been investigating for several months.

The President posted yet another public rant about Hillary Clinton, adding that there is "Republican ANGER and UNITY" about the "lack of investigation" into a dossier produced by former MI6 officer Christopher Steele.

Protester throws Russian flags at president shouting "Trump is treason! Trump is treason!"

The dossier, produced by Mr Steele through Washington DC research firm Fusion GPS and made public in January 2017, contained information about Mr Trump's alleged illicit behaviour during a 2013 trip to Russia as well as illustrating alleged ties between Trump surrogates and Russian officials.

It has been confirmed that it was paid for by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

Mr Trump then tweeted a series of other issues that have irked him about Ms Clinton and Democrats, including a deal made during the Obama administration to sell uranium to a Russian firm.

A report last week claimed the Obama administration potentially knew of corruption at a Russian nuclear supplier years before it agreed to sign over 20 per cent of US's uranium supply to the company, and it was widely covered by the media.

The matter was investigated by the US Department of Justice for nearly four years beginning in 2010, headed by Rod Rosenstein who is now Mr Trump's Deputy Attorney General but had been appointed by Barack Obama at the time.

Employees at Tenex, a subsidiary of Rosatom – the regulatory body of the Russian nuclear complex – received bribes and kickbacks from American companies as early as 2009, according to The Hill newspaper.

However, then-Secretary of State Clinton did not have the power of veto or approval over the deal with the firm.

Mr Trump then launched into a series of tweets about how the parallel investigations being carried out by Congress and Mr Mueller are meaningless because the scandal of whether Trump campaign team members colluded with Russian officials during the election is "phony".

He has often described it as he did today: a "witch hunt".

The President then tweeted that Republicans are now "fighting back" but does not describe how given repeated legislative losses on repealing and replacing Obamacare and drawing criticism for allowing programmes like the Children's Health Insurance Programme (CHIP), which covered 9 million American children, to expire.

Mr Trump claimed that Ms Clinton and Democrats feel a lot of "guilt," but it is not readily apparent from his tweets what he feels they are remorseful over. He also wrote: "Do something" but it is unclear what he meant by that.

His last tweet in the wide-ranging attack was regarding the timing of the charges expected to come on 30 October in Mr Mueller's investigation.

"Is this coincidental? NOT!" Mr Trump posted, referring to the charges being made public the same week Republicans attempt to push through a tax refom bill in Congress.

The tax reform vote is not expected to take place within the next few weeks. There has been no word yet when Mr Mueller plans to announce the first charges as a result of his team's investigation.

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