President Donald Trump falsely asserted in a Twitter post on Monday that people “who were closest to me” were not called to testify as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election ― ignoring that several key witnesses had close ties to him. The Associated Press, in a fact check of Trump’s claim, stated flatly, “The president is wrong on multiple counts here.” In his tweet, Trump said, “Isn’t it amazing that the people who were closest to me, by far, and knew the Campaign better than anyone, were never even called to testify before Mueller.” He said the reason is that such witnesses “would all say ‘NO COLLUSION’ and only very good things!”

Isn’t it amazing that the people who were closest to me, by far, and knew the Campaign better than anyone, were never even called to testify before Mueller. The reason is that the 18 Angry Democrats knew they would all say ‘NO COLLUSION’ and only very good things! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 22, 2019

During its nearly two-year investigation, Mueller’s team spoke to numerous people with close ties to Trump, his presidential campaign and his administration. One of those major players was Trump’s former personal lawyer and longtime fixer, Michael Cohen, who became a cooperating witness and was sentenced to three years in prison on charges that included violating campaign finance laws and lying to Congress. Cohen also testified before Congress earlier this year about the inner workings of the Trump campaign, and he said Trump directed him to pay porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about their alleged affair. Another key cooperating witness for the Russia probe was former White House counsel Don McGahn, who refused the president’s orders to get rid of Mueller, according to Mueller’s report. After a New York Times story in January 2018 reported that several months previously Trump had pushed McGahn to fire Mueller’s orders, the Mueller report disclosed that the president tried to get McGahn to deny that he had given that directive. Mueller’s team also interviewed White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders ― who, according to the special counsel’s report, admitting lying to the media about the reaction within the FBI to Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey. Others offering testimony in the Mueller investigation included two former White House chiefs of staff, Reince Priebus and John Kelly, and Steve Bannon, who after playing a major role in Trump’s campaign briefly served as the president’s chief strategist in the White House. Mueller’s report also said that Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, “declined to be voluntarily interviewed” as part of the investigation. Trump Jr. and the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, were among the campaign officials who met in June 2016 at Trump Tower in New York with a Russian lawyer associated with the Kremlin. Days before the meeting, Trump Jr. received a message from a music promoter telling him a senior Russian government official was offering to provide damaging information on Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. Trump Jr. responded saying, “if it’s what you say I love it.”

The president's son and namesake, Donald Trump Jr., "declined to be voluntarily

interviewed" by Mueller's team, according to page 117 of the Mueller Report https://t.co/d6oEuOpqG0 — Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) April 22, 2019