President Trump took a victory lap on Wednesday after Robert Mueller’s hours of testimony before Congress — saying the hearings proved the Russia probe was a “hoax” and a “witch hunt.”
“We had a good day today. The Republican Party, our country, there was no defense of what Robert Mueller was trying to defend. I think everybody understands what is going on,” Trump told reporters as he left the White House for a fundraiser in West Virginia.”There was no defense to this ridiculous hoax, this witch hunt.”
The president also slammed Democrats, singling out House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Reps. Jerry Nadler and Adam Schiff, chairs of the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees that held the hearings.
“They should be ashamed of themselves. Absolutely ashamed. And you know who knew it was a phony cloud more than anyone was Schiff and Nadler and Schumer and Pelosi, every one of them. They all knew it was phony stuff,” he said.
The president said Mueller did “a horrible job” testifying as well as the handling the investigation.
“He had a lot of problems,” Trump said about Mueller.
And he added that Democrats” hurt themselves very badly” heading into the 2020 election.
“Their party is in shambles right now. This was a devastating day for the Democrats,” he said.
But he had nothing but praise for the GOP lawmakers who defended him during the hearings while attacking Mueller, calling them “warriors.”
“I very much appreciate those incredible warriors that you watched today on television, Republicans that defended something and defended something very powerful, very important because they were really defending our country more than anything else,” he said.
The president also celebrated on Twitter, writing: “TRUTH IS A FORCE OF NATURE!”
In between hearings, he tweeted: “I would like to thank the Democrats for holding this morning’s hearing. Now, after 3 hours, Robert Mueller has to subject himself to #ShiftySchiff — an Embarrassment to our Country!” the president tweeted earlier, referring to Schiff.