President Trump’s criticism of special counsel Robert Mueller reached a new level Wednesday when he accused Mr. Mueller of committing a crime by destroying evidence.
During a 45-minute phone interview with Fox Business’ “Mornings with Maria,” the president tore into the “two pathetic lovers,” FBI agent Peter Strzok and Justice Department lawyer Lisa Page. Mr. Strzok was removed from Mr. Mueller’s team after he and Ms. Page became romantically involved and shared anti-Trump sentiment in private text messages.
“Well, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page wrote everything down, so we’ve got all the texts,” Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo said.
“Wait till you see the rest of their – here’s the problem, Robert Mueller, they worked for him, and two lovers were together and they had texts back-and-forth, e-mail back-and-forth,” Mr. Trump said.
“Mueller terminated them illegally. He terminated the emails, he terminated all stuff between Strzok and Page, you know, they sung like you’ve never seen. Robert Mueller terminated their text messages together, he terminated them. They’re gone! And that’s illegal! That is a crime,” he said.
When Ms. Bartiromo asked why these accusations hadn’t arisen in court, Mr. Trump said, “I guess it will be, and the Republicans know it.”
“Can you imagine what they said – how stupid they are – can you imagine what they said, these stupid lovers,” Trump continued. “He’s trying to show what a big man he is making statements, and she is back to him ’oh yes darling, yes darling.’ How stupid they were, this was a love serenade going on.”
Ms. Bartiromo sought more clarification, asking why Attorney General William Barr hadn’t declassified this information, but the president didn’t answer and changed topics to how the investigation was hurting his poll numbers.
Mr. Trump complained during the interview that the Russia investigation “never ends,” a day after House Democrats secured a date for Mr. Mueller to testify about his probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election — and whether anyone on Mr. Trump’s team conspired in that effort.
• Bailey Vogt can be reached at bvogt@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.