President Trump said Tuesday the conviction of former campaign chairman Paul Manafort for tax evasion “doesn’t involve me,” and blasted special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation for going far beyond its original scope.
“I feel very badly for Paul Manafort,” Mr. Trump told reporters in Charleston, West Virginia. “It doesn’t involve me, but I still feel it’s a very sad thing that happened. This has nothing to do with Russian collusion.”
A federal jury convicted Manafort on eight criminal charges Tuesday afternoon, and was unable to reach a verdict on 10 other counts.
The president said of the Mueller probe, “This is a witch hunt that is a disgrace. But this has nothing to do with [what] they started out looking for Russians involved in our campaign. There were none.”
“I feel very badly for Paul Manafort — he worked Bob Dole, he worked for Ronald Reagan, he worked for many people,” the president said. “And this is the way it ends up. It was not the original mission, believe me. It was something very much different. So, with nothing to do with Russian collusion, we continue the witch hunt.”
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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