Clips of President Donald Trump’s wide-ranging interview with ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos have been going viral the past week. During the interview, as it has been widely reported, the president suggested that he would accept damaging information about a political opponent even if it came from a foreign adversary.
Trump, he indicated, would not report the entity offering such information to authorities. Following widespread outrage, the president backtracked, stating that he would “of course” report an offer of that kind to the FBI, according to Bloomberg .
A clip of another heated exchange between Trump and Stephanopoulos is gaining traction on social media, and elsewhere. While answering questions about Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, the president called the reporter “a little wise guy,” The Hill reports.
Stephanopoulos was pressing Trump on not answering questions from the special counsel’s office.
“Wait a minute. I did answer questions. I answered them in writing,” the president insisted, prompting the host to double down.
“Not on obstruction,” Stephanopoulos repeatedly said.
The president responded by calling the host a “little wise guy.”
“George, you’re being a little wise guy, OK, which is, you know, typical for you.”
Echoing many of his previous statements, Trump then went on to suggest that for there to be obstruction, there had to be a crime. There was no crime, according to the president, and he did not collude with Russia to win against Hillary Clinton, which means that there could not have possibly been obstruction.
“Just so you understand. Very simple. It’s very simple. There was no crime. There was no collusion. The big thing’s collusion. Now, there’s no collusion,” the president said, describing the Russia investigation as a “setup.”
Watch what happens when @GStephanopoulos repeatedly presses Trump on why he refused to answer questions about obstruction. pic.twitter.com/YKJ37i4NXH
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) June 14, 2019
Robert Mueller, who spent more than two years investigating Trump and his allies, concluded that there has been no Trump-Russia conspiracy. The special counsel’s office found evidence of Russian election meddling, however, and Mueller outlined in his report numerous instances of possible obstruction of justice by the president.
The prosecutor did not charge the president with a crime, however, adhering to longstanding Justice Department policy which states that no sitting president can be indicted.
Fox News legal analyst says Trump comments showed he’s “prepared to commit a felony to get re-elected” https://t.co/VkUX21g6DT pic.twitter.com/7F5IgRD8gV
— The Hill (@thehill) June 15, 2019
But some have suggested that the refusal to charge Trump with a crime sets a dangerous precedent, seemingly showing that presidents are above the law. Notably, as The Inquisitr reported, Fox News legal analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano accused Mueller of “dropping the ball,” suggesting that Trump should have been indicted for obstructing the investigation.
That has not happened, however, so the president frequently boasts about being cleared of both collusion and obstruction.
