President Trump and one of his top lawyers said Saturday that special prosecutor Robert Mueller’s court filings still haven’t tied the president to any collusion with Russia.
“We’re very happy with what we’re reading, because there was no collusion whatsoever. There never has been,” Mr. Trump told reporters Saturday as he left the White House for the Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia. “The last thing I want is help from Russia on a campaign.”
The president said of the Russia allegations, “you should ask Hillary Clinton about Russia, because she financed the fake dossier.”
Mr. Trump was referring to an opposition-research document on him eventually financed by Clinton campaign and the Democratic Party in 2016.
Attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani said on Twitter that Mr. Mueller’s “late Friday dump demonstrates yet again no evidence connected to President.”
He added that the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York is asking for a four-year prison term for former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen “because as we have said he’s still lying.”
Federal prosecutors said Friday that Mr. Trump directed illegal payments through Cohen to hush up potential sex scandals that threatened his chances of winning the White House in 2016. For the first time, the Justice Department implicated Mr. Trump in the alleged campaign finance violations, in which the president is referred to as “Individual 1.”
Asked by reporters Saturday if he directed Cohen to make the hush-money payments, Mr. Trump replied, “No, no, no.”
Mr. Trump said he didn’t read the Mueller court filings for himself.
“As far as the report we see, according to everybody I’ve spoken to, I have not read it, there’s absolutely no collusion, which is very important,” Mr. Trump said. “I think it’s all turning around very nicely.”
The president earlier tweeted on the Russia investigation.
“AFTER TWO YEARS AND MILLIONS OF PAGES OF DOCUMENTS (and a cost of over $30,000,000), NO COLLUSION!” Mr. Trump tweeted.
He said it is “Time for the Witch Hunt to END!”
Federal prosecutors said Cohen should serve a “substantial” prison term for tax evasion and paying hush money to the two women. But the highly anticipated court filings did not include evidence that Mr. Trump colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential election.
The government did disclose that a Russian national claiming to have ties with the Kremlin contacted Cohen in November 2015, offering the Trump campaign political and business “synergy” with Moscow, a contact that was earlier than previously known. The person offered to arrange a meeting with Mr. Putin; Cohen did not follow up with the individual.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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