President Donald Trump said in an interview on Thursday that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had assured his lawyers that the president was not a target of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe, the New York Times reported.
"He told the attorneys that I'm not a subject, I'm not a target," Trump said, according to the Times. The Times said when asked if that also covered the separate investigation by federal prosecutors in New York, Trump said, "I don't know about that."
Trump also said he never spoke with Roger J. Stone Jr., his longtime associate who was indicted last week, about WikiLeaks and the stolen Democratic emails it posted during the 2016 election, nor did he direct anyone to do so.
“No, I didn’t. I never did,” Trump told the Times. Did he ever direct anyone to get in touch with Mr. Stone about WikiLeaks? “Never did,” he said.
Mueller is leading an investigation into what U.S. intelligence agencies have said was Russian interference in the 2016 election to help Trump win the presidency, and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Trump frequently calls the investigation a witch hunt and denies any collusion with Russia, Moscow denies meddling in the election.
Stone pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to charges that he tried to obstruct a congressional investigation into the allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Charging documents after Stone's arrest a week ago alleged a senior Trump campaign official "was directed to contact Stone about any additional releases and what other damaging information" WikiLeaks had about the campaign of Trump's Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.
Trump also told the Times that congressional negotiations over border security are a "waste of time," while insisting he has "set the stage" to take action on his own if lawmakers don't provide funding for his border wall.
Trump told the Times that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "is hurting our country very badly by doing what's she doing and, ultimately, I think I've set the table very nicely."
Trump added: "I'll continue to build the wall, and we'll get the wall finished. Now whether or not I declare a national emergency — that you'll see."
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