Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump was on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, just 36 hours removed from one of the best moments of his presidency: Attorney General Bill Barr announcing -- via a letter to Congress -- that special counsel Robert Mueller did not establish any conspiracy or coordination between the President's 2016 campaign and the Russian government.

And yet, despite that clear political victory, Trump proved old habits die hard. He insisted the investigation, which was begun by the FBI and taken over by Mueller after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, was the result of some sort of targeted effort by high-ranking officials to bring him down. Here's the exchange:

TRUMP: "It went very high up, and it started fairly low, but with instructions from the high up. This should never happen to a president again. We can't allow that to take place."

REPORTER: "Do you think it reached the West Wing of the Obama White House?"

TRUMP: "I don't want to say that, but I think you know the answer."

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