Trump lawyer: Why isn’t a special counsel investigating Obama?

An attorney for President Trump on Wednesday questioned why former President Barack Obama is not being investigated by a special counsel for his response to Russia’s attempts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.

“So here’s my question that I would ask John Podesta and I’d ask anybody else,” Jay Sekulow said in an interview with Fox News, referring to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman.

{mosads}“Why do we have a special counsel dealing with the Russia hacking when they had that evidence and did nothing? Why don’t we have a special counsel reviewing why President Obama did nothing after he assured the American people — he gets intelligence briefings, but then assures the American people that Russia did not interfere with the election — he does that in October.”

The Obama administration in October formally blamed Russia for hacking political organizations including the Democratic National Committee. The administration at the time said the hacking efforts were an attempt to interfere with the U.S. election process.

But a report in The Washington Post last week said the Obama administration was slow to respond to Russia’s activities. The administration was reportedly concerned that it would appear to be interfering in the election. 

Sekulow on Wednesday said Trump and the American people deserve an apology, calling the special counsel investigation into Russia’s efforts to meddle in the election and potential ties between Trump campaign staff and the Kremlin nothing more than a political witch hunt.

“I’m telling you what I think is owed here: an apology to the president, an apology to the American people, and you know when the president said early on that this was a witch hunt every day that goes by … I’m not sure that’s fair to witch hunts to keep calling it a witch hunt. It’s beyond that,” he said.