Donald Trump Urges Jeff Sessions On Twitter To End Russia Probe: “Stop This Rigged Witch Hunt”

On Wednesday morning, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to demand that Attorney General Jeff Sessions stop special counsel Robert Mueller‘s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Trump repeated his dismissal of the probe as a “witch hunt” and again accused Mueller of being biased toward Democrats.

According to the New York Times, the president’s lawyers claimed this was not a command to the Justice Department’s highest-ranking official “but merely an opinion.”

Trump’s relationship with Sessions has reportedly grown increasingly tense in recent months, with the president even saying he regretted having named the former Alabama senator as attorney general. Trump said this after Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation.

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Rudy Giuliani, another of Trump’s lawyers, also told the Times that the president’s request was not an order.

“It’s not a call to action,” the former New York City mayor told the newspaper. “He’s expressing his opinion, but he’s not talking of his special powers he has [as president].”

Trump’s tweet comes one day after the trial for his former campaign manager Paul Manafort started in Virginia. Manafort is being charged with bank and tax fraud related to his work for pro-Russia political entities in Ukraine.

In a separate tweet, Trump slammed the FBI and took particular aim at Peter Strzok, who testified before lawmakers last month because of text messages he exchanged with a colleague about potentially stopping Trump from being elected in 2016. The president quoted noted attorney Alan Dershowitz for some of his statements.

Mueller is now investigating Trump’s tweets for potential obstruction of justice. Last month, 12 Russian intelligence agents were indicted for interfering in the election and hacking the Democratic National Committee’s emails. These indictments came just three days before a summit between Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Helsinki. Trump was severely criticized by many lawmakers, including Republicans, and top U.S. intelligence officials for believing Putin over American institutions about Russian interference in the 2016 election.

One Democratic lawmaker, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, noted on Twitter how plainly obvious it has become that Trump has tried to obstruct justice: