President Donald Trump tweeted Thursday morning that he is being subjected to what he called “the single greatest witch hunt” in U.S. history, following the announcement of a special counsel to lead an inquiry into possible ties between his campaign and Russian officials. He later said at a joint news conference with the president of Colombia that he respected the move to appoint a special counsel but added the whole Russia probe “has been a witch hunt.”

SPECIAL COUNSEL NAMED AND TRUMP CRIES ‘WITCH HUNT!’

Trump’s Thursday-morning tweets generated swift and vigorous reaction — particularly, in the wake of the Wednesday appointment of former FBI director Robert Mueller to oversee an independent probe into potential collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign, Trump’s claim that the “witch hunt” to which he contends he’s been subjected is historic in magnitude.

He followed that up with a tweet accusing former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and associates of “illegal acts” that were more deserving of special-counsel scrutiny.

The tweets in question (the latter was posted contemporaneously but deleted and replaced two hours later with a new tweet that corrected the spelling of the word counsel):

A day earlier, as the featured speaker at the Coast Guard Academy’s commencement exercises, Trump had similarly voiced the belief that “no politician in history ... has been treated worse or more unfairly.”

Also read: Why the White House should worry: Special counsels usually result in criminal charges.

NAFTA RENEGOTIATION LETTER SENT

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer notified Congressin a letter that Trump will start negotiations with Canada and Mexico to modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement. Trump has called Nafta a “disaster” for the U.S. and was reportedly prepared to end U.S. participation in it last month, until he spoke with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The letter means talks can begin in 90 days.

MEETING WITH ANCHORS

Trump met with anchors of major television networks and told them the special-counsel probe “hurts our country terribly,” also calling it a “pure excuse” for Democrats having lost the presidential election.

TRUMP SAYS THERE WAS ‘NO COLLUSION’ AT NEWS CONFERENCE

Trump said at a news conference with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos that there was “no collusion” with Russia and called the whole probe a “witch hunt,” even as he said he respected the decision to appoint a special counsel. He replied “no” when asked if he told former FBI Director James Comey to halt a probe into ex-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. Trump also said he’d name a new FBI director “very soon.”

The news about the special counsel overshadowed the bilateral discussions between Trump and Santos, who was reportedly planning to try to convince Trump to maintain the U.S. support for Colombia’s peace process.