Trump accuses Dems of peddling ‘bulls—’ amid rising scrutiny

President Trump on Saturday accused his political opponents of coming up empty-handed in their Russia probes and now resorting to peddling “bullshit” amid increasing scrutiny of his personal finances.

During a two-hour speech Saturday that often scorned its script, the president proclaimed repeatedly he had done nothing wrong and that Democrats are grasping for straws to take him down.

{mosads}“There’s no collusion, so now they go and morph into ‘let’s inspect every deal he’s ever done. We’re going to go into his finances, we’re going to check his deals,’ these people are sick, they’re sick,” he told a spellbound crowd. 

“Unfortunately you put the wrong people in a couple of positions, and they leave people for a long time that shouldn’t be there, and all of the sudden they’re trying to take you out with bullshit.” 

The comments come as Trump faces ongoing investigations from several powerful House committees and special counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly wrapping up his probe into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow in 2016. 

The House Intelligence Committee, led by chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), is conducting its own inquiry into Russian collusion and announced last month it would expand its probe into Trump’s personal finances.

“The president’s actions and posture towards Russia during the campaign, transition, and administration have only heightened fears of foreign financial or other leverage over President Trump and underscore the need to determine whether he or those in his administration have acted in service of foreign interests since taking office,” Schiff said in a statement in February.

Trump slammed the development, saying it amounted to presidential harassment. The president previously stated that investigating his personal business or his family members was “red line.”

“He has no basis to do that. He’s just a political hack who’s trying to build a name for himself,” Trump told reporters after Schiff’s announcement. “It’s just presidential harassment and it’s unfortunate and it really does hurt our country.”

“I saw little shifty Schiff … he went into a meeting and he said, ‘we’re going to look into his finances.’ I said, ‘where did that come from, he always talked about collusion! Collusion with Russia, collusion delusion,’ ” Trump added Saturday.

The House Oversight and Reform Committee has launched a slew of investigations, including one examining the White House security clearance process. 

The committee also held a high-profile hearing Wednesday with former Trump attorney Michael Cohen. The now-disbarred lawyer slammed the president as a “racist” and a “con man” who was engaged in a bevy of financial crimes and aware of Roger Stone’s efforts to coordinate with WikiLeaks on a dump of embarrassing Democratic documents during the presidential election. 

The House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee held another hearing earlier this year examining a tax law concerning presidential tax returns, another focal point of Democrats’ concerns after Trump refused during the campaign to make his finances more transparent.

Trump on Saturday repeated usual frustrations over his perceived restrictions in responding to the probes, saying criticism of Democrats’ efforts could lead to accusations the White House was obstructing justice. 

“If you use Article II, it’s called obstruction, but only for Trump, not for anyone else,” he said, referring to the section of the Constitution laying out executive branch powers. 

The congressional oversight efforts are all taking place as Mueller quietly wraps up his widespread probe, with observers estimating the final report could be filed in the coming weeks. The inquiry has led to indictments and guilty pleas for a litany of Trump associates.

Trump lashed out at the special counsel Saturday as well, noting that Mueller never received a confirmation vote to be special counsel, a position for which no congressional approval is required.

The ongoing investigative cloud hovering over the White House has plagued Trump nearly since his 2017 inauguration, resulting in repeated claims Mueller and House Democrats are leading a “witch hunt” to make up for an embarrassing loss in the 2016 election. 

However, Democrats have expressed no desire to stem the pace of their investigations, with the House Intelligence Committee most recently calling for testimony from Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg over Trump’s personal financial habits.