President Donald Trump on Friday seemingly confirmed that he's the subject of an obstruction probe, tweeting that it's a "witch hunt" - aimed at Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein - for an investigation over his decision to terminate former FBI Director James Comey.
Trump reverted to his first justification for firing Comey - the Rosenstein memo.
Rosenstein, No. 2 at the Justice Department, appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate all angles of a probe into Russia-Trump, including the termination of Comey.
The Washington Post reported Wednesday that Mueller is investigating Trump for obstruction, a notion that Trump and his lawyer Marc Kasowitz strongly denounced Thursday.
Earlier Friday, Trump noted on Twitter that "nobody has been able to show any proof" about his campaign's alleged collusion with Russia.
He followed 20 minutes later with a post touting his own "very powerful Social Media" that lets him bypass "The Fake News Media."
Trump couldn't resist referring to the probe's "Witch Hunt" a half hour later in a tweet that touted the economic recovery during his young presidency.
The president's latest tweets come on the heels of a barrage of remarks he issued on the social media platform a day earlier.
Friday's tweet followed a series of Twitter posts Thursday, in which Trump called special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign a "WITCH HUNT" based on the "phony" premise of possible collusion between Russia and a cadre of Trump campaign associates.
The president complained the probe is unfair and wondered why his defeated Democratic opponent wasn't getting the same scrutiny.
"Why is that Hillary Clintons family and Dems dealings with Russia are not looked at, but my non-dealings are?" he asked.
"They made up a phony collusion with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. Nice," Trump wrote in his first tweet. "You are witnessing the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history - led by some very bad and conflicted people! #MAGA."
The Twitter attacks came as Vice President Mike Pence hired a personal lawyer to represent him in the intensifying investigation. Pence's office confirmed he had retained Richard Cullen, a former Virginia attorney general and U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, to assist "in responding to inquiries" from Mueller.
The Mueller investigation appeared to be reaching a broadening circle of current and former officials. The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the investigators were looking into possible obstruction of justice.
The newspaper noted Mueller had requested interviews with CIA Director Dan Coats, National Security Agency chief Michael Rogers and Richard Ledgett, the former NSA deputy director. Recent news reports have suggested Trump sought all three officials' help in pressuring FBI Director James Comey to drop his investigation into former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn.
Comey testified last week that he also felt pressured to drop the Flynn probe. Comey said he believes Trump ultimately fired him "because of the Russia investigation."
Coats met behind closed doors for more than three hours Thursday with the Senate intelligence committee, which is conducting a separate investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Trump's Twitter response followed days of intensifying criticism of Mueller from some conservatives who have charged the former FBI director and his team with political bias and have claimed his relationship to Comey and an earlier meeting with Trump amount to conflicts of interest.
Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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