Conflict of Interest: Mueller wanted to be FBI Director, I said no - Trump

President Donald Trump has lashed out at recently retired Special Counsel Robert Mueller, accusing the ‘Russiagate’ investigator of a conflict of interest, after Trump turned him down for a job at the head of the FBI.

“Robert Mueller came to the Oval Office (along with other potential candidates) seeking to be named the Director of the FBI,” Trump tweeted on Thursday. “He had already been in that position for 12 years, I told him NO. The next day he was named Special Counsel - A total Conflict of Interest. NICE!”

Days after firing James Comey, Trump interviewed Mueller as a potential replacement on May 16, 2017. After being passed over, Mueller was appointed special counsel a day later. Trump would go on to appoint Christopher Wray as FBI director. Prior to his appointment as special counsel, Mueller served as FBI Director from 2001 to 2013.

Trump’s latest broadside came a day after Mueller held a rare press conference to discuss the ‘Russiagate’ investigation and announce his retirement as special counsel. Mueller stated that his final report - which cleared Trump of colluding with Russia in the runup to the 2016 election, and found insufficient evidence to prosecute him for obstruction - “speaks for itself.”

Mueller did, however, emphasize that the lack of evidence did not clear Trump of any crime. He also pointed out that a sitting president cannot be indicted for a crime. Though this has long been Justice Department policy, some Democrats and pundits interpreted Mueller’s statement as a call for further investigations and impeachment.

Trump has accused Mueller of bias before, calling the special counsel’s team of prosecutors “angry democrats,” and the investigation itself a “witch hunt.” However, since the release of Mueller’s final report in March, the president has been content to hold the report up as proof of his innocence.

That changed following Mueller’s public appearance on Wednesday. “I think Mueller is a true never-Trumper,” the president told reporters on Thursday morning, after calling the two-year investigation against him “the greatest presidential harassment in history.”

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