April 19, 2019

“Total Bullshit”: Trump Lashes Out at Mueller Report

The president also warned against people who take notes.

Ting Shen/Xinhua/ZUMA

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Less than a month after declaring “total exoneration,” President Donald Trump on Friday attacked the findings of the Mueller report as “total bullshit” and claimed that the redacted version released to the public Thursday contained false allegations aimed at harming him.

The president also asserted, without evidence, that witnesses had fabricated notes they used to document conversations with him. “Watch out for people that take so-called ‘notes,’ when the notes never existed until needed,” Trump tweeted, a reference to those in his inner circle who recorded events involving the president as they happened. The special counsel relied on such notes, including one document from former Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ then-chief of staff that recorded Trump saying “I’m fucked” upon learning of Robert Mueller’s appointment as special counsel.

Trump’s denunciation of note-takers also underscores an account in the Mueller report that the president once complained to former White House counsel Don McGahn that he had been taking notes of their conversation. “I’ve had a lot of great lawyers, like Roy Cohn. He did not take notes,” Trump said, according to the report.

Shortly after the president’s angry tweets on Friday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D) subpoenaed for the full, unredacted Mueller report.

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And the stakes are high. Democracy is on the defense. We’ve been exposing corruption and scandal for five decades, and this is a pivotal moment in our country’s history. Will democracy prevail? We won’t wait for time to tell—independent journalism is essential for democracy, and we’ll keep doing our part to amplify the free press.

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