U.S. President Donald Trump holds a joint news conference with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg in the East Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., January 10, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Thursday that messages exchanged between employees at the Federal Bureau of Investigation who were working on a special counsel investigation into whether Russia had meddled in the 2016 election amounted to treason.

The messages that Trump cited were critical of him. Both officials no longer work for Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is also looking into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia.