"This is a terrible situation and Attorney General Jeff Sessions should stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now," the president tweets, | Evan Vucci/AP Photo Trump calls on Sessions to stop Mueller probe

President Donald Trump called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to shut down special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation Wednesday, prompting a race by the president's legal team to try to contain the fallout.

"This is a terrible situation and Attorney General Jeff Sessions should stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now, before it continues to stain our country any further. Bob Mueller is totally conflicted, and his 17 Angry Democrats that are doing his dirty work are a disgrace to USA!" Trump said in a series of tweets.


Trump's personal lawyers quickly sought to downplay his comments, calling them an expression of his personal opinion — not an order to Sessions that could plunge the country into a political and constitutional crisis. And the Justice Department indicated it would take no action based on Trump's Twitter venting.

"We have been saying for months that it is time to bring this inquiry to an end," Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani said. "The president has expressed the same opinion."

Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders Wednesday afternoon said Trump's tweet was not an order, rather the "president's opinion."

"The president is not obstructing, he's fighting back," Sanders said. "The president has stated his opinion, he's stating it clearly. He is certainly expressing the frustration he has with the level of corruption that we've seen from people like James Comey, Peter Strzok, Andrew McCabe."

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"There's a reason the president is angry and frankly, most of America is angry as well and there is no reason he shouldn't be able to voice that opinion," she said.

Giuliani later echoed that sentiment, saying Trump didn't issue a presidential directive because "he used the word should, he didn't use the word must."

He added that Trump is "not going to direct" Sessions to squash the probe.

But Democratic lawmakers ripped the president's comments, which they called a blatant attempt to obstruct Mueller's ongoing investigation — which has already netted 25 indictments of Russians for interfering in the 2016 election, as well as guilty pleas from three former campaign aides to Trump. His former campaign chairman Paul Manafort has also been indicted for tax fraud and money laundering and is facing the first of two trials this month.

"The president of the United States just called on his attorney general to put an end to an investigation in which the president, his family and campaign may be implicated," said Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. "This is an attempt to obstruct justice hiding in plain sight. America must never accept it."

Maine Sen. Susan Collins, one of a few Republicans who have publicly criticized Trump's aggressive rhetoric about the Mueller probe, told reporters Wednesday that "Jeff Sessions does not even have the authority to fire Robert Mueller. He has recused himself, and appropriately so.

"I don’t think there’s any chance at all that Mr. Mueller is going to be fired," Collins added. "And it would be far better if the president just refrained from commenting, and Mr. Mueller proceeds with his investigation — which, after all, has already resulted in more than 30 indictments, including Russian nationals, and has led to a trial that is ongoing even as we speak."

House Republicans, who have departed Washington for a five-week recess, largely stayed silent following Trump's tirade, which also included a tweet distancing himself from Manafort.

The president has consistently disparaged Mueller's Russia investigation, calling it a "witch hunt," but he had not yet asked Sessions directly to call it off. He has, however, strongly criticized Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia probe, which is now overseen by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

While Trump and his allies have repeatedly highlighted donations that members of Mueller's team of prosecutors have made to Democrats, top FBI and DOJ officials have emphasized that they don't screen personnel based on political views — and many of Mueller's prosecutors are seasoned law enforcement veterans. Mueller himself is a Republican.

Trump also appears to have recalibrated the number of "angry Democrats" he claims are working for Mueller. While he's consistently railed against 13, he upped the figure to 17 for his Wednesday morning tweet.

This is not the first time someone in Trump's circle has called for the probe to end. Brad Parscale, Trump's 2020 presidential campaign manager, in June tweeted that the president should fire Sessions and end Mueller's investigation.

"You can’t obstruct something that was phony against you," Parscale wrote in a tweet.

The Senate Judiciary Committee this spring approved a bipartisan bill designed to shield Mueller from any attempted firing, but it did not appear that Trump's Wednesday outburst would lend any new momentum to legislation that GOP leaders have described as unnecessary. Collins suggested that the bill might be brought to the floor "to send a message to Mr. Mueller that he has strong support in Congress," but one of its chief Republican authors was unruffled by Trump's tweet and reiterated that the special counsel's investigation should "play out."

The Mueller protection bill's advancement, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) told reporters, "was never because I thought there was an immediate threat to Mueller. It’s something I think we should have in place for all future special counsels."

The president throughout the morning also continued to criticized the investigation, calling it a "total hoax" by Democrats who paid for a "phony" dossier. Trump specifically called out former FBI director James Comey, former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, in addition to Peter Strzok, an FBI agent, and Lisa Page, a former FBI lawyer, who exchanged anti-Trump texts with each other. He placed particular emphasis on Page, who reportedly had an affair with Strzok, referring to her as "[Strzok's] lover, the lovely Lisa Page."

Republicans on Capitol Hill who interviewed Page last month largely praised her as forthcoming and cooperative.

The dossier to which Trump referred, compiled by former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele, described a complex conspiracy by Trump and his campaign to work in concert with the Kremlin to influence the 2016 election. Trump has vehemently denied the allegations, and his allies have seized on the discovery that Steele's work was financed indirectly by the campaign of Hillary Clinton.

It is unclear as to what prompted Trump's tweets Wednesday. Fox News, however, mentioned Manafort's trial during its 8 a.m. block. It's the first trial connected to Mueller’s Russia probe, though Manafort is not accused of wrongdoing tied to the 2016 campaign. In addition, Fox News over the past couple of days has featured Alan Dershowitz, retired Harvard law professor and one Trump's defenders.

Trump tweeted a quote by Dershowitz during his series of tweets.

Dershowitz, who has criticized Mueller's investigation, on Tuesday spoke with Fox News host Tucker Carlson about the Manafort trial, saying that it was just a way for Mueller to get to Trump.

"This trial [Tuesday] is not about Manafort," Dershowitz said.

"It's an attempt to convict him of whatever they possibly can find against him, no matter how unrelated it is to the Mueller probe, in order to squeeze him to get him to sing and maybe even compose," he said, adding that Manafort will become "creative" and "make up information" in order to make a deal.