WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump took to Twitter on
Saturday to complain about the special counsel investigating possible ties
between his 2016
campaign and Russia while insisting that he, as president, has
"complete power to pardon."
Trump, who defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in last year's presidential
election but continues to use her as a foil, questioned why his attorney
general, Jeff Sessions, and special counsel Robert Mueller were not
investigating former FBI Director James Comey or Clinton, for her email
practices as secretary of state.
"So many people are asking why isn't the A.G. or Special Counsel
looking at the many Hillary Clinton or Comey crimes. 33,000 emails
deleted...," he wrote on Twitter.
"My son Donald openly gave his e-mails to the media & the
authorities whereas Crooked Hillary Clinton deleted (& acid washed) her
33,000 e-mails!"
The Federal Bureau of Investigation decided last year not to recommend
criminal charges against Clinton for her email practices. Trump fired Comey in
May.
Sessions had been Trump's first supporter in the Senate before being
named attorney general, but recently has become a lightning rod for Trump's
anger over the probe into allegations of Russia's meddling in the 2016
presidential election. Sessions recused himself from the probe in March after
having failed to disclose at his confirmation hearing that he had held meetings
last year with Russia's ambassador.
The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee said on Friday that Trump's eldest
son, Donald Trump Jr., and Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort had
agreed to negotiate whether to be interviewed by the panel in its Russia
investigation.
The Washington Post reported on Thursday that Trump had inquired about
his authority to issue pardons to aides, family members and perhaps himself as
Mueller’s Russia probe widens.
Trump cited his power to pardon in the series of tweets on Saturday that
focused ire on leaks to the news media.
"While all agree the U.S. President has the complete power to
pardon, why think of that when only crime so far is LEAKS against us. FAKE
NEWS," he wrote.
Scholars have raised questions about the scope of the president's legal
authority in issuing pardons. If sometime in the future Trump moved to pardon
himself, the U.S. Supreme Court might have to decide on the constitutionality,
some have speculated.
Trump also had words for Republican senators who have not been able to
agree on a way forward to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama's
healthcare law, the Affordable Care Act, which has become known as Obamacare
and which Trump promised to do away with as president.
"The Republican Senators must step up to the plate and, after 7
years, vote to Repeal and Replace. Next, Tax Reform and Infrastructure.
WIN!" he tweeted.
Trump left on Saturday morning for a short trip to Norfolk, Virginia,
where he will be present for the commissioning ceremony for an aircraft
carrier, the Gerald R. Ford, named after the former U.S. president.
Ford, who became president after Richard Nixon resigned, in 1974 pardoned
Nixon for any crimes he might have committed stemming from the Watergate
scandal that led to his resignation.
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