President Trump interrupted his Labor Day holiday to launch a raging mid-afternoon tweetstorm at Attorney General Jeff Sessions — apparently blaming him for last month’s indictments of a pair of “very popular” GOP lawmakers.
“Two long running, Obama era, investigations of two very popular Republican Congressmen were brought to a well publicized charge, just ahead of the Mid-Terms, by the Jeff Sessions Justice Department. Two easy wins now in doubt because there is not enough time. Good job Jeff,” he wrote, referring to California Rep. Duncan Hunter and New York Rep. Chris Collins, who were both smacked with corruption charges by the feds.
“The Democrats, none of whom voted for Jeff Sessions, must love him now. Same thing with Lyin’ James Comey. The Dems all hated him, wanted him out, thought he was disgusting – UNTIL I FIRED HIM! Immediately he became a wonderful man, a saint like figure in fact. Really sick!” the commander-in-chief ranted in a second tweet.
Earlier Monday, the president appeared headed to his golf course in Virginia to unwind — after happily tweeting “Celebrate Labor Day!” to his 54.2 million followers.
The White House summoned the press pool about 10:30 a.m. for a road trip, and the president emerged from the White House 10 minutes later rocking a red polo shirt, dark pants and a white MAGA hat.
But after taking a look around — and possibly noting the swamp-like heat and humidity engulfing the capital — he strolled back inside the White House at 10:42.
The investigation into Hunter began more than a year ago, apparently during the early stages of Trump’s own administration — not President Barack Obama’s.
Collins’ indictment on insider trading charges also stemmed from a call he made to his son in June 2017 — during a congressional picnic at the White House, five months after the president took office.
Hunter and his wife, Margaret, illegally used campaign funds to pay personal bills big and small, from luxury vacations to kids’ school lunches and even a plane ticket for their pet rabbit, according to a stinging, 47-page indictment.
They were charged with wire fraud, falsifying records, campaign finance violations and conspiracy after a Justice Department investigation that lasted more than a year.
The indictment portrays the Hunters as living well beyond their means and said they “knowingly conspired with each other” to convert campaign funds to personal use.
During his arraignment, Hunter threw his wife under the bus, whining that she was in charge of his personal and congressional spending.
The Hunters overdrew their personal bank accounts more 1,100 times in a seven-year period, according to the indictment, resulting in $37,761 in “overdraft” and “insufficient funds” bank fees.
Collins was accused in a 30-page indictment of tipping off his son — while attending the picnic — about the results of a failed drug trial that was about to crash the stock price of an Australian biotech company.
Collins, who sat on the board of Innate Immunotherapeutics and was its biggest shareholder, got the privileged information moments earlier in an email from the company’s CEO, the feds said.
Passing along the information allegedly allowed Collins’ son, Cameron, and six other investors to avoid a combined $768,000 in losses by selling shares of Innate before their price plunged 92 percent.
Collins, a Republican who represents the area between Buffalo and Rochester, was the first member of Congress to endorse Trump’s candidacy. Hunter was the second.
Collins allegedly spoke with Cameron after the two frantically exchanged six missed calls to each other between 7:10 p.m. and 7:15 p.m. during the picnic.
After receiving the inside information from his dad, Cameron sold nearly 1.4 million shares of Innate stock, avoiding more than $570,000 in losses, according to the feds.
The president adopted a cheerier tone in a later tweet — reacting to news reports that former Secretary of State and Massachusetts Democrat John Kerry was considering a run for the presidency in 2020.
“I see that John Kerry, the father of the now terminated Iran deal, is thinking of running for President. I should only be so lucky – although the field that is currently assembling looks really good – FOR ME!” he tweeted.