President Trump on Thursday labeled investigations that House Democrats are launching using their newfound majority a “continuation” of special counsel Robert Mueller’s “witch hunt.”
“So now Congressman Adam Schiff announces, after having found zero Russian Collusion, that he is going to be looking at every aspect of my life, both financial and personal, even though there is no reason to be doing so. Never happened before! Unlimited Presidential Harassment….,” Trump said in the first of two early morning tweets.
“….The Dems and their committees are going ‘nuts.’ The Republicans never did this to President Obama, there would be no time left to run government. I hear other committee heads will do the same thing. Even stealing people who work at White House! A continuation of Witch Hunt!” he added in a second post.
“PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT! It should never be allowed to happen again!” he said in a tweet later Thursday morning.
{mosads}Schiff, the new chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, on Wednesday moved forward with plans for a sweeping investigation into Russia’s election interference and Trump’s finances.
Trump then called the California Democrat a “political hack who’s trying to build a name for himself” who has “no basis” for launching the probe.
“It’s just presidential harassment, and it’s unfortunate and it really does hurt our country,” Trump told reporters in the White House.
Schiff responded by saying that he “won’t be distracted or intimidated” by the president’s “threats or attacks.”
“I can understand why the idea of meaningful oversight terrifies the president,” he tweeted. “Several of his close associates are going to jail, others await trial, and criminal investigations continue.”
Schiff’s investigation and others by House Democrats are expected to last well into the president’s 2020 reelection campaign.
Mueller, who is looking into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and Moscow, is reportedly close to wrapping up.
Trump in his State of the Union address earlier this week slammed Democrats for “ridiculous partisan investigations.”
“If there is going to be peace and legislation, there cannot be war and investigation,” Trump said late Tuesday. “It just doesn’t work that way!”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) later dismissed Trump’s characterization of the investigations, saying that oversight is a congressional responsibility.
“If we didn’t do it, we would be delinquent in that,” she said on Wednesday.
–Updated at 7:43 a.m.