Former Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman said Thursday that President Trump is acting in regards to the Russia collusion investigation as if he knows “time is running out.”
“What we’re finding is, as time goes on, we keep learning new, additional facts. But we don’t know what Mueller’s staff knows. For all we know, we may just have the tip of the iceberg on this,” Akerman told MSNBC‘s Ari Melber.
Akerman referenced a Washington Post report that Trump had pushed back on legislation proposed in July that would block him from firing special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating ties between Trump’s campaign and Russia’s effort to influence the presidential election, without a federal judge’s approval.
“Now it appears he’s directly lobbying Congress to try and ensure that he has a way to get rid of this investigation,” Akerman said.
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CNN reported this week that congressional investigators had unearthed an email from now-White House aide Rick Dearborn to campaign officials last year relaying information about a person who was trying to connect top Trump officials with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Federal and congressional investigators had already shown an interest in a meeting that Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., held last summer between campaign officials and a Russian lawyer promising damaging information on then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
“At the same time that we keep getting more evidence, we also learn that Donald Trump has consistently, from day one, tried to stop this Russia investigation,” Akerman said.
Trump harshly criticized and later fired FBI Director James Comey amid the escalating Russia probe, and he slammed Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from the ongoing investigation after it was revealed Sessions had not disclosed in his confirmation hearings that he had met with Russia’s U.S. ambassador while acting as an adviser and surrogate for the Trump campaign.
“All of this comes down to one simple fact,” said Akerman. “You have someone who is acting extremely guilty, someone who is acting in a way that he realizes that time is running out, and he’s taking all kinds of desperate moves to try and stop this investigation.”