President
Donald Trump has questioned the neutrality of Robert Mueller, who is
investigating Russian interference in last year's US election.
Mr Trump
said Mr Mueller's friendship with James Comey, who had been heading the inquiry
until sacked from his role as FBI chief, was "bothersome".
Asked on Fox
News whether Mr Mueller should step down, Mr Trump said: "We're going to
have to see."
However, Mr
Trump did call Mr Mueller an "honourable man". Mr Mueller was given the role of special
counsel by the justice department to lead its investigation into alleged
Russian interference after Mr Comey was sacked on 9 May.
Mr Mueller
has not given any details of his investigation but US media have reported he is
investigating Mr Trump for possible obstruction of justice, both in the firing
of Mr Comey and whether Mr Trump tried to end an inquiry into sacked national
security adviser Michael Flynn.
President
Trump has repeatedly denied any collusion with Russia, calling it a "witch
hunt".
He did so
again in his interview with Fox & Friends on Friday, saying "there has
been no obstruction. There has been no collusion." He called the
accusations of obstruction of justice "ridiculous". Asked whether Mr Mueller should recuse
himself from the inquiry because of his friendship with Mr Comey, Mr Trump
said: "Well he's very, very good friends with Comey which is very
bothersome. But he's also... we're going to have to see." He also said
that "the people that've been hired were all Hillary Clinton
supporters".
Media
captionTrump's love-hate relationship with Comey over a tumultuous year When Mr
Mueller was appointed Mr Trump was said to be furious, but the special counsel
won widespread initial praise from both Republicans and Democrats. However,
lately some influential conservatives have intensified their attacks, openly
calling for Mr Mueller's dismissal.
Trump
advocate Newt Gingrich urged the president to "rethink" Mr Mueller's
position, saying: "Republicans are delusional if they think the special
counsel is going to be fair."
The New York
Times has reported
that Mr Trump has considered firing Mr Mueller but has so
far been talked out of it by aides.
Ten days
ago, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said: "While the
president has every right to" fire Mr Mueller "he has no intention to
do so". On Friday,
her colleague Sean Spicer repeated there was "no intention" to
dismiss Mr Mueller. And in his
Fox interview, Mr Trump said: "Robert Mueller is an honourable man and
hopefully he'll come up with an honourable conclusion."
Media
captionDo Trump voters care about the Russia investigation?
Earlier this
month, Mr Comey testified to
Congress that Mr Trump had pressured him to drop the
investigation into Mr Flynn. Mr Flynn was
sacked in February for failing to reveal the extent of his contacts with Sergei
Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to Washington.
Mr Comey
testified he was "sure" Mr Mueller was looking at whether Mr Trump
had obstructed justice.
US media
said Mr Mueller was also examining whether Mr Comey's sacking was an attempt by
the president to alter the course of the investigation.
On 16 June,
Mr Trump sent out a tweet appearing to
accept he was under investigation, although later his aides
suggested that was not the intention.
On Thursday,
Mr Trump also made it clear that he had not made secret recordings of his
conversations with Mr Comey, despite an earlier hint to the contrary.
Media
captionTrump injects reality TV suspense into "Comey tapes" saga
His tweet
came a day before he was required by Congress to hand over any such tapes. Mr Trump had
kick-started speculation of the recordings in a tweet he posted days after
firing Mr Comey, saying: "James Comey better hope there are no 'tapes' of
our conversations." Allegations
of collusion between the Trump team and Russian officials during the election
have dogged the president's first five months in office. US
investigators are looking into whether Russian cyber
hackers targeted US electoral systems in order to help Mr
Trump win - something Moscow has strongly denied. Separately
on Friday, a Washington
Post article said the Obama administration had been made
aware by sources within the Moscow government last August of President Vladimir
Putin's direct involvement in the cyber campaign to disrupt the election. The article
said the administration debated a response for months before expelling 35
diplomats and closing two Russian compounds. Mr Obama had also approved
planting cyber weapons in the Russian infrastructure, the article said, but the
measure was not put into action.
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