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- President Donald Trump again renewed his attacks on the news media, days after special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation ended, and praised Attorney General William Barr, The New York Times reported on Tuesday night.
- "I love the [attorney general]," Trump reportedly said during a luncheon with Republican senators. "He works fast. I love this guy. You told me I would."
- "People love it when you attack the press," he added, according to The Times.
- Trump reportedly suggested to the group not to leak information from the luncheon.
President Donald Trump again renewed his attacks on the news media and praised Attorney General William Barr for his "fast" work at the Justice Department, a person with knowledge of his remarks said in a New York Times report published Tuesday.
"I love the [attorney general]," Trump reportedly said during a luncheon with Republican senators. "He works fast. I love this guy. You told me I would."
"People love it when you attack the press," Trump said, according to The Times.
Trump reportedly asked the group not to leak information from the luncheon.
The president has been publicly gloating in the days since the Justice Department delivered a summary of the special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
Barr’s four-page summary said Mueller "did not establish" that Trump or his campaign conspired to collude with Russia during the 2016 US presidential election. However, Mueller declined to answer the question of whether Trump obstructed justice in the course of the investigation, instead leaving that for the Justice Department to answer.
Barr and the Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein concluded that the evidence Mueller gathered during the investigation was "not sufficient to establish … an obstruction-of-justice offense."
The public has not yet seen Mueller’s findings, and there are still many unknowns about what the special counsel discovered over the course of the nearly two-year-long investigation. The inquiry has led to the indictments and convictions of several people who worked with Trump and his 2016 campaign — as well as several Russian nationals.
Trump and his allies have relished in his recent slew of political victories, including the arrest of one of his fiercest opponents, attorney Michael Avenatti. Additionally, Trump’s plan to divert unspent military funds to finance his border barrier was green-lit after the Senate failed to obtain a two-thirds majority vote to override his first presidential veto.
See Also:
- Prosecutors left a trail of breadcrumbs about Trump’s finances, and House Democrats are now digging deeper
- Republican congressman reads Hitler quotes on the House floor to slam Democrats and the press
- Lindsey Graham warns Democrats not to ‘go too far’ after Trump like Republicans did with Bill Clinton
SEE ALSO: Trump responds to Mueller report summary: ‘Total EXONERATION’
Source: Business Insider – dchoi@businessinsider.com (David Choi)