(KRON) — Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham says the Trump Russian investigation appears to be a criminal investigation.

The South Carolina Senator made those comments after the Deputy Attorney General briefed the entire U.S. Senate.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has told senators that he knew FBI Director James Comey was going to be fired even before he wrote a memo that provided a basis for Comey’s dismissal.

That’s according to Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill. She addressed reporters after a closed-door meeting where Rosenstein briefed senators.

The White House pointed to Rosenstein’s memo last week as justification for Trump’s abrupt decision to dismiss Comey. In the memo Rosenstein criticized Comey’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation.

But Trump himself has already said that he was going to fire Comey regardless – and the revelation from McCaskill appeared to bolster that version of events.

McCaskill said: “He did acknowledge that he learned Comey would be removed prior to him writing his memo.”

Rosenstein appointed former FBI head Robert Mueller as the special counsel to investigate the Trump administration and presidential campaign for collusion with Russia to interfere with November’s election.

President Donald Trump says the appointment of a special counsel to oversee the investigation of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election “hurts our country terribly.”

He says the move “shows we’re a divided, mixed-up, not unified country” and is “a very, very negative thing.”

The Justice Department announced Wednesday that former FBI Director Robert Mueller has been given sweeping power to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign, including potential links between Moscow and Trump campaign associates.

The president spoke at a lunch with news anchors at the White House.

Several attendees posted excerpts online.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi is mocking President Donald Trump’s complaints about unfair treatment by the news media.

Pelosi herself has long been a target of Republican criticism. She scoffed at Trump’s claim that he’s been treated “more unfairly” than any politician in history, saying Thursday, “Get some thick skin, OK?”

Pelosi also ridiculed Trump’s complaint about a “witch hunt” following the naming of a special counsel to investigate possible Trump campaign ties to Russia.

She asked, “How did he spell witch hunt?” a reference to Trump’s frequent misspellings on Twitter. He misspelled the word “counsel” on Thursday.

Pelosi calls the White House unruly and undisciplined and says it “needs adult supervision.”WHAT OTHERS ARE CLICKING ON:

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