Donald Trump Says He Won't Lay off Bothersome Robert Mueller

The White House has said Donald Trump
does not intend to fire the special
counsel leading the investigation into
Russian involvement with the
President's electoral campaign.




Mr Trump had earlier questioned Robert
Mueller's integrity in an interview with Fox
News.




He described the special counsel, who is a
former FBI director, as "good friends" with
the former head of the FBI, James Comey.




Mr Comey had been overseeing an
investigation into whether Mr Trump's
campaign colluded with Russia to swing
the election when he was abruptly fired by
the President in May.



Mr Mueller was appointed by the US
Department of Justice shortly after Mr
Comey's termination.




When asked directly whether Mr Mueller's
friendship with the fired FBI director
meant he should recuse himself from the
investigation, the President said:


"Well,
he's very, very good friends with Comey,
which is very bothersome. But he's also...
we're going to have to see."



"I mean we're going to have to see in
terms - look, there has been no
obstruction. There has been no collusion.




There has been leaking by Comey."




Mr Trump criticised Mr Mueller for having
appointed "all Hillary Clinton supporters" to
his staff for the investigation.




Reports in the US have suggested that
three staffers hired by Mr Mueller made
campaign contributions to candidates
running for the Democratic Party.




The President later said he believed Mr
Mueller was an "honourable man" and a
statement from the White House explained
that the President has no intention of
firing Mr Mueller.




After he fired Mr Comey in May, Mr Trump
tweeted that the former FBI director
"better hope that there are no 'tapes' of
our conversations before he starts leaking
to the press!"




He later claimed that he did not tape his
meetings with the former FBI boss,
although his adviser Kellyanne Conway told
CNN that the President was leaving "open
the possibility that they may exist."




While testifying before the House
Intelligence Committee, Mr Comey said he
hoped there were tapes.




These claims were made ahead of Friday's
deadline on turning over any recordings
of the meetings between the President
and the FBI director to the House
Intelligence Committee.




During the interview with Fox, the
President said he made the claim to keep
Mr Comey honest, saying: "When he found
out that I, you know, that there may be
tapes out there, whether it's governmental
tapes or anything else, and who knows, I
think his story may have changed."




"It wasn't very stupid, I can tell you that,"
said Mr Trump.