MSNBC’s Geist: Trump told ‘a bedtime story’ on Mueller wrapping up probe

MSNBC’s Willie Geist on Friday said President’s Trump legal team had told the president “a bedtime story” to “make him feel better” when they previously told Trump that special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation was close to wrapping up.

Geist pointed to reports Thursday that Mueller had subpoenaed the Trump Organization for documents as part of the federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election as a signal that the probe would “continue for some time now.”

The conversation on “Morning Joe” was started when Geist asked New York Times reporter Michael Schmidt about the report. Schmidt noted that Trump’s lawyers last year had said the probe would end by Thanksgiving or Christmas. 

{mosads}

“I think at the end of the day the biggest takeaway that we have from this is that in the final months of last year there was repeatedly the arguments from the president’s lawyers that this was going to be over, this would be over by Thanksgiving, it was going to be over by Christmas, and now here we are in March and something like this is coming out,” said Schmidt. “So this investigation will certainly be around for several more months, if not longer.”

Geist responded by saying that he thought the lawyers were trying to make the president “feel better.”

“It sounds like that was a bedtime story the president’s lawyers were telling to make him feel better about this investigation, but it’s going to continue for some time now,” remarked Geist.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters at Thursday’s press briefing that the president would continue to cooperate with the  Mueller investigation.

“As we’ve maintained all along and as the president has said numerous times, there was no collusion between the campaign and Russia,” Sanders said.

“We’re going to continue to fully cooperate out of respect for the special counsel. We’re not going to comment for any specific questions about the Trump Organization. I’d refer you there.”

The president’s attorney, Ty Cobb, had offered a timeline back in December that he felt the Mueller investigation would end “in January or so.”