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Donald Trump

Washington — President Donald Trump says it’s “bothersome” that the man investigating possible ties between Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia is good friends with fired FBI director James Comey.

Trump told Fox and Friends in an interview broadcast yesterday that special counsel Robert Mueller was “very, very good friends with Comey, which is very bothersome”.

Comey was overseeing the investigation until Trump fired him last month out of frustration with the inquiry.

Asked whether Mueller should step down from the investigation because of his friendship with Comey, Trump said: “We’re going to have to see.”
Mueller and Comey worked together at the Justice Department in the Bush administration.

Meanwhile, a top US Justice Department official has denied rumoured plans to sack Mueller, the special counsel running the probe into Russia’s election meddling, amid reports Trump wants him fired.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who named Mueller to lead the investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russian interference, testified there was no reason to dismiss him and said he alone has the authority to do so, but he himself could do so.

Asked in a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing if there was any cause to fire Mueller, Rosenstein flatly replied: “No.

“As long as I’m in this position, he’s not going to be fired without cause,” he added.

Asked if he would fire Mueller on the president’s orders, he said:

“I’m not going to follow any orders unless I believe those are lawful and appropriate orders.

“I appointed him. I stand by it. . . and I am going to defend the integrity of that investigation,” he said.

Rosenstein said he was also unaware of any “secret plan” to get rid of Mueller.

Mueller has been silent since he was named to head the Russia investigation on May 17, a week after Trump fired Comey expressing frustration over the probe.

But the investigation by the Justice Department and probes carried out by two congressional committees have moved closer to the president, with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and other former campaign staff having received requests and subpoenas for information from investigators. — AFP