President Donald Trump side stepped a question about whether he’s considering a pardon for Michael Flynn, who has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and is now cooperating with the Mueller probe. | Nicholas Kamm/Getty Images Trump attacks FBI texts, ‘scam’ probes into Russia collusion

President Donald Trump unloaded Friday on the FBI's role in the Russia investigations, decrying the probes as a “scam” and “Democrat hoax” that has wasted “millions and millions of dollars“ that hasn’t come up with any evidence of collusion between his 2016 campaign and Moscow.

Speaking to reporters before boarding Marine One to travel to a law enforcement graduation ceremony at the FBI’s National Academy in Quantico, Virginia, Trump also took issue with a series of frank text messages exchanged between two FBI employees who referred to him last year as an “idiot” and then later got assigned to special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia team.


“It’s a shame what’s happened with the FBI, but we’re gonna rebuild the FBI. It’ll be bigger and better than ever,” Trump said. “But it is very sad when you look at those documents, and how they’ve done that is really, really disgraceful. And you have a lot of very angry people that are seeing it. It’s a very sad thing to watch, I will tell you that.”

At the Quantico event, Trump was briefly introduced by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has been subjected by the president to repeated public scoldings following his decision to recuse himself from the Russia probe, paving the way for Mueller's appointment.

The attorney general referred to the president as "our nation's highest law enforcement official," an unusual designation, and said he'd be clear in his instructions about how to run the Justice Department, which oversees the FBI.

“The day I was sworn in as attorney general, he sent us an order. You got to know, he knows how to send a clear order,” Sessions said. “The order was: reduce crime in America.

At a press conference at the Justice Department later Friday, Sessions gently pushed back against Trump's repeated attacks on the FBI.

"I believe the FBI is doing a great job around the country," the attorney general said in response to a question. "They're partnering with the state and local law enforcement, our DEA and our ATF agents and we're reaching higher level of unity and sophistication, I think, than we ever have."

Asked again about Trump's statement that the FBI is "in tatters," Sessions was a bit more direct. “I don’t share the view that the FBI is functioning—is not functioning at a high level all over the country.”

Sessions didn't offer much commentary about the anti-Trump text messages or the broader issues surrounding Mueller's probe, but the attorney general boasted about the ample information the Justice Department has handed over to Congress as it digs into those matters.

"We want to be open with them," Sessions said. "We recently provided Congress with text messages between an FBI agent and an FBI lawyer working on the investigation into the 2016 presidential election and the Clinton email server. We're going to do more—as much as we can."

Sessions also noted that Justice had turned over information to lawmakers on allegations regarding Hillary Clinton and the Uranium One firm, as well as what he called the "fusion center" issue—an apparent reference to controversy over private investigation firm Fusion GPS' preparation of an intelligence dossier on Trump funded by Clinton's campaign and the Democratic party.

Without giving specifics, Sessions said that any officials who have acted improperly will be held to account.

"We will not be reluctant to admit error. We will not hide and be excessively defensive," the attorney general said. " We will never fail to monitor our people. We are going to insist on the high standards of behavior, even the church treasurer is not protected from review. Everybody has to be accountable and responsible. You can have arrogance seep into an institution and that's not acceptable.

However, the attorney general also appeared to suggest that some of the most fevered accounts of alleged misconduct by Justice Department personnel may go too far.

"I got to tell you sometimes things that might appear to be bad in the press have innocent explanations. So, fairness and justice should also be provided to our personnel," Sessions said.

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During the graduation ceremony earlier Friday, there was no direct reference to the controversy swirling around the FBI or to Trump’s public attacks on the law enforcement agency.

However, one of those graduating from the FBI-run program alluded to issues of public trust. “Today our profession is facing challenges. We must remember what we stand for and we must always do the right thing,” said DEA Special Agent Craig Wiles. “We must always follow our internal values of excellence, behavior, ethics and we must never forget our obligation to our profession our citizens and our families.”

Trump’s GOP allies in Congress have seized on the text messages between FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page as proof of “extreme bias” in both Mueller’s probe and last year’s FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while running the State Department.

Strzok, who served as one of the lead FBI agents on the Clinton probe, was removed from Mueller’s investigation team in late July when DOJ officials learned about the text messages. Page ended her assignment to Mueller’s office earlier this summer.

Asked if he thought Mueller was biased, Trump demurred. “You'll have to make that determination,” the president said. But he then launched into a lengthy attack on the ongoing congressional probes into last year’s Russian meddling, as well as how the FBI handled the Clinton investigation.

“When you look at the committees, whether it's the Senate or the House, everybody — my worst enemies, they walk out, they say, ‘There is no collusion but we'll continue to look.’” Trump said. “They're spending millions and millions of dollars.”

“There is absolutely no collusion,” Trump added. “I didn’t make a phone call to Russia. I have nothing to do with Russia. Everybody knows it. That was a Democrat hoax. It was an excuse for losing the election, and it should have never been this way, where they spent all these millions of dollars.”

Trump then turned the tables on the Russia investigations, referring to the FBI officials’ texts and the work that Strzok did during the Clinton investigation.

“What we have found, and what they have found after looking at this, really, scam, is they found tremendous — whatever you want to call it; you're going to have to make up your own determination — but they found tremendous things on the other side,” Trump said.

“When you look at the Hillary Clinton investigation, it was — I've been saying for a long time — that was a rigged system, folks,” Trump went on. “That was a rigged system. When you look at what they did with respect to the Hillary Clinton investigation, it was rigged. And there's never been anything like it in this country that we've ever found before. It's very, very sad. Very, very sad.”

Trump later sidestepped a question about whether he’s considering a pardon for Michael Flynn, the former White House national security adviser who has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and is now cooperating with the Mueller probe.

“I don’t want to talk about pardons for Michael Flynn yet,” the president said. “We'll see what happens. Let's see.”

Trump has long been a critic of U.S. intelligence reports that have concluded Russia meddled in the 2016 election. During one of the presidential debates last year, he shrugged off the cyberespionage as the work of China or even “somebody sitting on their bed, that weighs 400 pounds.”

But the Russia probes have become a major distraction for Trump. Flynn’s guilty plea followed criminal indictments against former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and his deputy, Rick Gates, on charges that include money laundering and tax evasion. Both men have pleaded not guilty and a trial is expected next year.

Mueller has also obtained a guilty plea from former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos for lying to the FBI. On Capitol Hill, several committees are still examining Russia questions — Trump’s oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., spent nine hours earlier this week answering questions in private to the Senate Intelligence Committee — with testimony expected to extend into 2018.

Following the advice of his former White House strategist Steve Bannon, Trump for several weeks has also been critical of taxpayer spending on the Russia probes. Those dollar figures are just starting to surface.

The Department of Justice to date has reported spending $6.7 million on its investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election during a 4½ month period since Mueller’s appointment. That includes $3.2 million spent specifically by Mueller on travel, rent and equipment through September, as well as $3.5 million the DOJ has spent on Russia-related work that would have happened regardless of Mueller’s appointment.

Congress has also spent millions on its Russia work, though the three main House and Senate panels doing the bulk of the investigation haven’t provided any public accounting of their efforts.

