Trump’s Republican primary challenger calls him a ‘one man crime wave’ after Mueller report

AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File

• Former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld is challenging Donald Trump for the 2020 Republican presidential nomination.
• Weld lambasted Trump on Friday reacting to the release of the special counsel report into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
• He referred to Trump as a "one-man crime wave" who Mueller gave a "mulligan" on obstruction of justice charges.
• Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories.

Former Massachusetts Gov Bill Weld, who is challenging President Donald Trump in the 2020 Republican primary, sounded off after the public release of the final report from the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Weld characterized Trump as a criminal and also criticized former FBI Director Robert Mueller for what he believes was giving a pass on obstruction of justice charges.

Read more: No sitting president has survived a serious primary challenge in the past 50 years. Here’s why Trump should be worried.

"This man is a one-man crime wave," Weld said in a statement. "He instructed senior legal officials, senior national security, senior intelligence officials to lie, he actively sought out and suborned perjury. That is obstruction of justice and the President is fortunate that in substance Bob Mueller gave him a mulligan"

Weld also echoed Democrats in calling for a public hearing with Mueller to delve deeper into the special counsel’s findings.

"The last thing that Mr. Mueller said in the report was to charge the President you would need evidence of corrupt intent. What would be evidence of corrupt intent?" he said. "Well, if the President tried to limit or stop investigation of him or his family to avoid embarrassment or criminal exposure, that would be massive evidence of criminal intent. Well, that’s exactly what the 60 previous pages of the report demonstrated."

Read more: There are 2 different ways for states to choose presidential nominees — and there are some major differences between them

The Republican National Committee is sticking by Trump, choosing not to remain neutral in the GOP presidential primary.

Historically, when sitting presidents receive serious primary challengers, they are able to retain the nomination. But the primary fight often damages the incumbent, who then goes on to lose in the general election.

There have been a handful of instances where the damaged sustained in ugly primary fights have tanked sitting presidents later in the general election, most recently in 1992 when Pat Buchanan challenged President George H.W. Bush, who lost to Bill Clinton later in the year.

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See Also:

• White House counsel Don McGahn refused the president’s order to publicly deny that Trump ordered him to fire Mueller
• Mueller says Trump was unsuccessful in influencing the Russia investigation — but mostly because his aides didn’t follow orders
• Trump’s inner circle celebrates the release of the Mueller report as a ‘complete and total vindication’ of the president

SEE ALSO: Democratic candidates are fighting to get enough attention and money to make the first debate stage — here’s everyone who’s qualified so far

Source: Business Insider – jperticone@businessinsider.com (Joe Perticone)