President Donald Trump touted U.S. military strength at the world’s largest naval base Saturday, but clouded his own message with a series of early-morning tweets about the topic that has plagued his presidency — the Russia investigation.

Prior to his visit to Virginia’s Naval Station Norfolk, Trump tweeted at 6:35 a.m. that "all agree" that he has full power to pardon, following reports that his legal team is exploring his ability to pardon not only his allies and family members, but also himself.


"While all agree the U. S. President has the complete power to pardon, why think of that when only crime so far is LEAKS against us.FAKE NEWS," Trump tweeted in advance of attending the commissioning of the new aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford.

The Washington Post reported earlier this week that Trump's lawyers are looking into his pardon powers, a move that prompted a swift rebuke from the Democratic leaders of the House and Senate intelligence committees conducting wide-ranging Russia-related probes.

Special counsel Robert Mueller is also leading a sprawling Russia probe and is said to be investigating whether Trump obstructed justice, in part by firing James Comey, the former FBI director then leading the Russia probe.

Trump’s claim about the broad scope of his pardoning power was unfounded: many legal experts say it’s far from a settled question. According to Richard Primus , a University of Michigan law professor, Trump would be entering uncharted territory if he tried to pardon himself.

"The Constitution doesn’t specify whether the president can pardon himself, and no court has ever ruled on the issue, because no president has ever been brazen enough to try it," he wrote for POLITICO Magazine. “Among constitutional lawyers, the dominant (though not unanimous) answer is “no,” in part because letting any person exempt himself from criminal liability would be a fundamental affront to America’s basic rule-of-law values.”

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Trump on Saturday also appeared to push for investigations into Hillary Clinton and Comey, amid the intensifying probes into his own orbit.

"So many people are asking why isn't the A.G. or Special Council looking at the many Hillary Clinton or Comey crimes. 33,000 e-mails deleted?" Trump tweeted, adding, "...What about all of the Clinton ties to Russia, including Podesta Company, Uranium deal, Russian Reset, big dollar speeches etc."

He wrote that his son, Donald Trump Jr., who is under scrutiny for meeting with a Kremlin-linked lawyer during the campaign, was more forthcoming with his emails regarding that meeting.

"My son Donald openly gave his e-mails to the media & authorities whereas Crooked Hillary Clinton deleted (& acid washed) her 33,000 e-mails!" Trump tweeted.

Trump, facing multiple probes into whether his campaign colluded with Russian officials, has repeatedly tried to push the attention onto Clinton for her own Russia ties and on Comey for sharing information about his conversations with the president to a friend, with the idea it would become public.

At the Norfolk commissioning ceremony, Trump stood on stage with former Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, two Ford administration veterans, and commented, "They look good."

The president praised the ship as “100,000-ton message to the world” that would cause enemies to "shake with fear."

He closed his "Made in America" theme week with a message about the American steel used to build the ship.

"American steel and American hands have constructed a 100,000-ton message to the world: American might is second to none, and we're getting bigger, and better, and stronger every day of my administration," he said. "That I can tell you."

After the event, he headed to his Trump Virginia golf course where he had lunch with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and his wife Louise Linton, as well as senior aide Stephen Miller and Chief of Staff Reince Priebus.

Priebus had a particularly tough week, after losing his longtime ally and colleague, press secretary Sean Spicer, who resigned after Trump appointed financier Anthony Scaramucci to be his communications director. White House officials said that Priebus fiercely objected to the appointment. One aide and an outside advisor told POLITICO that Priebus has signaled that he may not make the one-year deadline that he has set for his tenure at the White House.

Senior aide Steve Bannon, who also objected to the hiring of Scaramucci, has been laying low, especially since a book by journalist Josh Green appeared to be giving him credit for winning the election for Trump.

When asked at a Friday press conference if Scaramucci will report to his foe Priebus, he said that he will report directly to the president. Special assistant and Trump's social media guru Dan Scavino seemed to echo those remarks in his own tweet on Saturday morning: "I plan on continuing to serve and report directly to President @realDonaldTrump at the @WhiteHouse, as I've done since 1/20/2017."

Some interpreted both comments as a blow to Priebus, who is the chief of staff.

Meanwhile, Scaramucci has hinted that he will clean out a communications shop that is filled with former Republican National Committee staffers from Priebus’ tenure as chairman, by promising an "audit" on Friday.

Josh Dawsey contributed to the report.