Special Counsel Robert Mueller's first and only public statement about his two-year probe of Russia's interference in the 2016 election was a "disservice to the public," Newsmax Media CEO Christopher Ruddy said Wednesday.
In an interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo, Ruddy, a longtime friend of President Donald Trump, said he was with the president shortly after the news conference and Trump saw the statement as "highly political."
"I think it was a disservice to the public," Ruddy declared, adding, "at the end of the day, what does the report say? . . . After $40 million and 500 witnesses, I said to the president, 'They knew within four months there was no evidence'" the Trump campaign ever colluded with the Russians.
Ruddy also lashed out at the "very gray area" Mueller created with his inaction on the question of whether there was any obstruction of justice by the president.
"After that press conference, I'm glad [Trump] didn't testify," Ruddy said. "I was shocked . . . He's saying 'I'm not going to say'" either way if Trump obstructed justice.
"I think [Mueller] knows what I do, that there was no obstruction," he said. "Now they're putting it into this very grey area."
"It's bizarre," Ruddy said.
Ruddy also explained the president's multiple tweets following the Mueller news conference — including one Wednesday night tweet in which he repeats his oft-stated judgment of the Mueller investigation as a "witch hunt" — illustrates how "he doesn't take things sitting down."
"The president just got back from Japan" and "was in a really good mood," Ruddy said, citing continuing brisk job creation and a booming economy.
"Everybody thinks he's sitting around thinking about Mueller," Ruddy said. "His poll numbers are so good because . . . it's about the results he's delivering. That's not lost on the American people."
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