President Donald Trump has called Democrats' demand for a probe into Russian influence in the presidential election a "total hoax" and an excuse for Hillary Clinton losing to him, so he cannot be happy with the appointment of former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel to look into the issue, a Democratic member of Congress said Wednesday.
"He certainly can't be happy, and he can't blame the press," California Rep. John Garamendi, a member of the House Armed Services Committee told CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
Trump's speech earlier in the day at the Coast Guard graduation ceremony was a "pretty good example of, 'Oh, woe is me. I'm so picked on,'" Garamendi said.
"Wait, man, you are picked on because you totally screwed up," he added. "He's made some terrible decisions. There's not only smoke, but there's fire going on here."
The special prosecutor is needed to protect American democracy, he said.
"It's an investigation about how we protect our democracy from influence by other nations, by other people that want to do us harm," Garamendi said
Mueller is "highly competent," Garamendi added. "They've got a great leader, and it's going to be independent. . . . Now we have to look at the rest of the story, which is how do we protect our democracy from interference by Russia or anybody else."
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