President Donald Trump and his allies have made special counsel Robert Mueller’s budget one of their recurring points of criticism. | Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images White House Trump claims 'heroes' will emerge from Mueller's Russia probe

President Donald Trump on Tuesday continued to rail against Robert Mueller, attempting to sow doubt about the special counsel and his team and suggesting that "heroes" will emerge from the investigation into Russian election meddling.

In a string of tweets, Trump accused Mueller of being a “conflicted prosecutor gone rogue,” while providing no evidence to support his claim, and said Mueller and his investigators were leaving “ruined lives” in the wake of their investigation.


“The Fake News Media builds Bob Mueller up as a Saint, when in actuality he is the exact opposite. He is doing TREMENDOUS damage to our Criminal Justice System, where he is only looking at one side and not the other,” Trump wrote.

He continued: “Heroes will come of this, and it won’t be Mueller and his terrible Gang of Angry Democrats. Look at their past, and look where they come from. The now $30,000,000 Witch Hunt continues and they’ve got nothing but ruined lives.”

Trump’s comments come a day after a number of new developments in the investigation, including a former Trump campaign aide beginning a two-week prison sentence and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort being accused by Mueller’s team of breaching his plea deal by lying to investigators.

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Also on Monday, an associate of Trump confidant Roger Stone said that he would not take a plea deal from the special counsel for allegedly committing perjury.

Trump did not cite where his estimate for the investigation’s cost came from, though Trump and his allies have made Mueller’s budget one of their recurring points of criticism, and the issue is likely to come up in the next 10 days as the possibility of a partial government shutdown looms. Mueller so far has reported spending more than $17 million since his probe launched in May 2017.

His next spending report — covering the bulk of 2018 — is likely to be released next month, and a spokesperson for Mueller declined to comment on Trump's latest tweet about the budget.

In his tweets on Tuesday, Trump also appeared to mock his Justice Department, complaining that no one was investigating his 2016 election opponent Hillary Clinton for issues that dogged her during the campaign and insinuating that Mueller’s investigators work for Clinton.

“Where is the Server? Let these terrible people go back to the Clinton Foundation and ‘Justice’ Department,” he wrote.

Darren Samuelsohn contributed to this report.