Trump: ‘I’m actually not angry at anybody’

by Jordan Fabian - 11/01/17 5:20 PM ET

President Trump on Wednesday insisted he is “not angry at anybody” over charges filed by special counsel Robert Mueller in his investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

“I’m actually not angry at anybody,” Trump said in an interview with The New York Times.

{mosads}Trump pointed out the charges against his former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and top deputy, Richard Gates, did not contain allegations related to his campaign or the 2016 election.

“And even if you look at that, there’s not even a mention of Trump in there,” he said. “It has nothing to do with us.”

The charges against Manafort and Gates, which included money laundering, conspiracy against the U.S. and failure to disclose foreign lobbying, were tied to their work for a pro-Russia political party in Ukraine and not their positions on Trump’s 2016 campaign.

But George Papadopoulos, a former Trump campaign aide, did plead guilty to making false statements to the FBI about his contacts with Russians during the election. The admission from Papadopoulos was the clearest evidence yet of a connection between Trump’s campaign and the Kremlin’s interference efforts.

Trump argued his administration is on the right track, despite the escalating Russia probe and lack of major legislative achievements. He listed accomplishments, including a low unemployment rate and efforts to undo Obama-era regulations.

“I just got fantastic poll numbers,” the president said.

The president’s job approval ratings hit a new low of 33 percent in the latest Gallup poll.

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