William Barr said it is ‘vitally important’ to protect special counsel’s investigation and publicize its findings

Donald Trump told reporters on Monday: “I never worked for Russia,” as his attorney general nominee said it was “vitally important” to protect the investigation of the special counsel Robert Mueller and to publicize its findings.

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The president was asked about Russia after the New York Times reported on Friday that law enforcement officials were so concerned about Trump’s behavior after he fired James Comey as FBI director that they launched a counterintelligence investigation into whether he was acting as a Russian agent, either intentionally or unwittingly.

On Saturday, Trump was asked by a Fox News host whether he had ever worked for Russia and said: “I think it’s the most insulting thing I’ve ever been asked,” but he did not give a yes or no answer.

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“I never worked for Russia,” Trump said on Monday in reply to a question as he departed the White House for a farmer’s convention in New Orleans. “And you know that answer better than anybody. I never worked for Russia. Not only did I never work for Russia, I think it’s a disgrace that you even asked that question because it’s a whole big fat hoax. It’s just a hoax.”

Trump also called former FBI and justice department officials “known scoundrels” and “dirty cops”.

Mueller is investigating Russian tampering in the 2016 presidential election and the nature of meetings and messages between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives.

While it is believed that Mueller will conclude his investigation with a report, the mechanism by which that report will reach the public has been the subject of some concern, particularly with a new Trump nominee, William Barr, preparing to take control of the justice department, including the special counsel’s office.

As Trump spoke, remarks that Barr is preparing to make at his Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday were obtained on Monday by the Associated Press.

The remarks attempt to address concerns that Trump intends for Barr to act as a firewall between him and the justice department or to sink the Mueller investigation.

“I believe it is vitally important that the special counsel be allowed to complete his investigation,” Barr said in prepared remarks. “I believe it is in the best interest of everyone – the president, Congress, and, most importantly, the American people – that this matter be resolved by allowing the special counsel to complete his work.”

Barr also said it was “very important” that Congress and the public be informed of what Mueller investigated and concluded.

“For that reason, my goal will be to provide as much transparency as I can consistent with the law,” Barr said. “I can assure you that, where judgments are to be made by me, I will make those judgments based solely on the law and will let no personal, political, or other improper interests influence my decisions.”

Before his nomination to be attorney general, Barr, a longtime Washington DC figure who last held the job during the George HW Bush administration, had emerged as a Trump apologist, defending the firing of Comey in an op-ed and submitting an ostensibly unsolicited memo to the justice department attacking Mueller’s investigation of alleged obstruction of justice by Trump as “fatally misconceived”.

Counter-intelligence

The status of any FBI counter-intelligence investigation into Trump is unknown. Trump told reporters he had done a “service” when he fired Comey.

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Trump also defended himself against a weekend Washington Post report that he had confiscated his translator’s notes of a meeting he held with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in Hamburg in 2017 and told the translator not to discuss what happened, and that he had walled off portions of at least four other meetings with Putin from top officials.

“That was a very good meeting,” Trump said about Hamburg, claiming the discussion was about Israel and an oil pipeline. “It was actually a very successful meeting … We have those meetings all the time. No big deal.”

A serial liar, Trump has in the past mischaracterized his dealings with Russia in particular, denying he had business interests in the country when he was in negotiations to build a tower there and claiming a campaign meeting to get dirt on Hillary Clinton from a Russian source was in fact about adoptions.

Clinton, the former Democratic presidential nominee, jumped on the latest revelations, tweeting debate footage from 2016 in which she blasted Trump for bending to Putin’s will and writing: “Like I said: A puppet.”