A member of President Trump’s legal team on Sunday said that there’s “no investigation into the president of the United States. Period.”
“Let me be clear: The president’s not under investigation,” Jay Sekulow said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “As [fired FBI director] James Comey said in his testimony that the president was not the target of an investigation on three different occasions, the president is not a subject or target of an investigation.”
Several media outlets reported last week that special counsel Robert Mueller had expanded his Russia probe to include whether Mr. Trump obstructed justice by firing Mr. Comey, who was heading the investigation.
In a tweet on Friday, Mr. Trump appeared to confirm the story.
“I am being investigated for firing the FBI director by the man who told me to fire the FBI director! Witch Hunt,” Mr. Trump said on Twitter, apparently referring to Deputy Attorney General Rob Rosenstein.
Mr. Sekulow said the president’s tweet should not be interpreted as confirmation that he is under investigation.
“That tweet was in response to a Washington Post story that ran with five unnamed sources, without identifying the agencies they represented, saying that the special counsel had broadened out his investigation to include the president,” he said. “We’ve had no indication of that.”
Former House speaker Newt Gingrich, a Trump ally, said the tweet has not helped clear the air around the Russia probe.
“Trump has a compulsion to counterattack and is very pugnacious. I don’t think it serves him well,” Mr. Gingrich said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” “I don’t think that tweet helped him. But it’s almost like, it’s who he’s been his whole life. He’s been a fighter his whole life.”
• Bradford Richardson can be reached at brichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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