WASHINGTON, D.C.: Russia helped me (us) get elected – Trump (and Duterte?)

“Russia, Russia, Russia! That’s all you heard at the beginning of this Witch Hunt Hoax,” Trump tweeted, in an outburst against Special Counsel Mueller’s suggestion that Congress impeach him for obstructing the two-year investigation.

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“And now Russia has disappeared because I had nothing to do with Russia helping me to get elected,” Trump said.

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WASHINGTON, DC – MAY 30: Roger Stone, former adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, leaves the E. Barrett Prettyman United States Court House May 30, 2019 in Washington, DC. Lawyers asked a judge to dismiss the charges of obstruction, lying and witness tampering against Stone that stem from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. AFP PHOTO
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It appeared to be the first time that Trump accepted claims by US intelligence chiefs that Russian government meddling aided his stunning upset victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Shortly afterward he sought to walk back the admission, telling reporters as he left on a trip to Colorado that Russia “if anything, helped the other side,” or Clinton.

“Russia did not get me elected. You know who got me elected? I got me elected,” he said.

“Russia didn’t help me at all.”

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Trump has stridently rejected any suggestion his victory was illegitimate ever since US intelligence chiefs announced in January 2017 that Moscow interfered heavily in the election, hacking computers and manipulating social media largely to damage Clinton and boost Trump’s campaign.

His outburst came a day after Mueller — in his first public comments on the investigation he was named to lead in May 2017 — said it had established there “were multiple, systematic efforts to interfere in our election.”

“Russian intelligence officers who were part of the Russian military launched a concerted attack on our political system,” he said, with their hacking “designed and timed… to damage a presidential candidate.”

In related development, several candidates seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination seized upon remarks by Mueller to call for the impeachment of Trump.

“What Robert Mueller basically did was return an impeachment referral,” California Sen. Kamala Harris said in a tweet. “Now it is up to Congress to hold this president accountable.

“We need to start impeachment proceedings,” Harris said. “It’s our constitutional obligation.”

Mueller, in his report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, outlined at least 10 possible acts of obstruction of justice by Trump.

But Mueller, in his first public remarks on Wednesday since issuing the report, said longstanding Justice Department policy prohibited him from charging a sitting president with a crime.

Under the Constitution, any further action was up to Congress, the former FBI director said.

“Mueller’s statement makes clear what those who have read his report know: It is an impeachment referral, and it’s up to Congress to act,” said Massachusetts Sen.Elizabeth Warren. “They should.”

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, another 2020 Democratic hopeful, said “Mueller’s statement makes it clear: Congress has a legal and moral obligation to begin impeachment proceedings immediately.”

Former San Antonio mayor Julian Castro, another Democrat seeking the 2020 nomination, said Mueller “made clear this morning that his investigation now lays at the feet of Congress.

“No one is above the law — Congress should begin an impeachment inquiry,” Castro said.

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