President Trump lashed out at Robert Mueller in a trio of tweets on Tuesday, claiming he’s a “conflicted prosecutor gone rogue” and harming the “Criminal Justice System” — a day after the special counsel dumped a plea deal for Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort for lying to the feds.
“The Phony Witch Hunt continues, but Mueller and his gang of Angry Dems are only looking at one side, not the other. Wait until it comes out how horribly & viciously they are treating people, ruining lives for them refusing to lie,” Trump wrote on his Twitter account. “Mueller is a conflicted prosecutor gone rogue.”
Moments later, he continued his Twitter assault on the special counsel.
“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 concluded in a third.
“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. Where is the Server? Let these terrible people go back to the Clinton Foundation and ‘Justice’ Department!,” Trump said in the posting.
Mueller’s team of prosecutors in court filings on Monday said Manafort breached an agreement he had to cooperate with the investigation and now faces a stiffer sentence.
“After signing the plea agreement, Manafort committed federal crimes by lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Special Counsel’s Office on a variety of subject matters, which constitute breaches of the agreement,” the court filings say.
They did not immediately detail what Manafort lied about, saying his “crimes and lies” would be revealed at another time.
Manafort’s legal deal disputed Mueller’s claims.
“He believes he has provided truthful information and does not agree with the government’s characterization or that he has breached the agreement,” a court filing by Manafort’s lawyers says.
Both sides are now ready to move into the sentencing phase.
The 69-year-old Manafort was found guilty of eight counts of financial fraud after a federal trial in August in Virginia.
He then pleaded guilty in September to conspiring to defraud the US and conspiring to obstruct justice and agreed to cooperate with Mueller’s investigation to avoid another trial in federal court in Washington, DC.
The charges were connected to his work in Ukraine for a Kremlin-connected politician.
Manafort, who is being held behind bars, is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 8, 2019.
He faces a maximum sentence of 80 years in prison.