Trump's initial reaction to Mueller's appointment was "this is the end of my Presidency": report
Washington: Donald Trump's first reaction to Robert Mueller's appointment as special counsel was "this is the end of my Presidency" and the US President was so furious that he reacted with an expletive, according to the counsel's report.
In a major relief to President Trump, the nearly two-year probe by Mueller found "no evidence" of a "collusion" between the Trump campaign and the Russian government during the 2016 US elections, Attorney General William Barr announced Thursday.
Barr said the redacted report released Thursday made it clear that the Russian government sought to interfere in American elections, "but thanks to the special counsel's thorough investigation, we now know that the Russian operatives who perpetrated these schemes did not have the cooperation of President Trump or the Trump campaign".
Trump first learned that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller as special counsel from then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions during a meeting to interview candidates for FBI director in May 2017, the report said.
Also present were Sessions' chief of staff Jody Hunt and then-White House counsel Don McGahn, the CNN reported.
After Sessions delivered the news, "the President slumped back in his chair," the report said, citing notes from Hunt.
"Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm f****d," Trump said, according to the report.
Trump became "angry and lambasted" Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia investigation, it said. "How could you let this happen, Jeff?" Trump asked his attorney general.
Trump told Sessions, "'you were supposed to protect me,' or words to that effect," Sessions recalled, the Mueller report stated.
"Everyone tells me if you get one of these independent counsels, it ruins your presidency. It takes years and years and I won't be able to do anything. This is the worst thing that ever happened to me," Trump said, according to the report.
He then told Sessions he should resign, the report said.
Sessions agreed, left the Oval Office, and the next day returned to the White House to hand Trump his resignation letter, it said.
Trump tucked Sessions' resignation letter in his pocket, but then proceeded to ask Sessions multiple times if he wanted to remain attorney general, the report found.
Sessions said he wished to remain attorney general, but said it was up to Trump, the report said.
Sessions would continue serving as attorney general for another year, but was ousted in November 2018 by Trump, who remained upset over his decision to step away from the Russia probe, the CNN repot said.
Mueller was appointed following the firing of FBI Director James Comey to oversee the federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, including potential collusion between Trump's campaign associates and Russian officials. Mueller's team also investigated whether Trump obstructed justice.
The probe could not clear Trump, saying that it was unable to determine that "that no criminal conduct occurred".
Earlier on Thursday, President Trump said the Mueller probe was "Greatest Political Hoax of all time!"
"Crimes were committed by Crooked, Dirty Cops and DNC/The Democrats," tweeted Trump, who refers Clinton as "Crooked".
Meanwhile, Democratic Congressman Jerry Nadler said he had sent a letter to Mueller - requiring his testimony before the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee by May 23.
"We cannot take Attorney General Barr's word for it. We must read the full Mueller report, and the underlying evidence," Nadler said.
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Voting begins for high-stakes civic polls in Maharashtra; all eyes on big battle for Mumbai
Mumbai (PTI): Voting in 29 municipal corporations across Maharashtra began on Thursday morning with spotlight on Mumbai, where the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance is locked in an intense battle with the reunited Thackeray cousins for control of India's largest and richest civic body.
Polling for 2,869 seats spread across 893 wards in these municipal corporations began amid tight security at 7.30 am and will conclude at 5.30 pm. A total of 3.48 crore voters are eligible to decide the fate of 15,931 candidates.
In the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), whose annual budget is over Rs 74, 400 crore, 1,700 candidates are vying for 227 seats in elections being held after nine years, after a four-year delay. More than 25,000 police personnel have been deployed across Mumbai to oversee elections.
Except for Mumbai, the other urban bodies have multi-member wards. Vote count will take place on January 16.
These are the first BMC polls since the 2022 split in the Shiv Sena when Eknath Shinde, now Deputy Chief Minister, broke away with a majority of the party’s MLAs and allied with the BJP to become the chief minister.
The undivided Shiv Sena held sway over India's richest civic body for 25 years (1997-2022).
In a significant political turn of events ahead of the elections, estranged cousins Uddhav and Raj Thackeray, who head Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS, respectively, reunited last month after two decades in their bid to consolidate Marathi votes even as rival NCP factions forged a local alliance in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad.
The Congress, once a formidable political force in Maharashtra, has asserted its presence in Mumbai by stepping out of the shadow of its Maha Vikas Aghadi allies - Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP).
The grand old party has joined hands with Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) and the Rashtriya Samaj Paksh in the state capital.
Elections to the 29 municipal corporations are being held after a gap of several years, with terms of most of them having ended between 2020 and 2023. Of these, nine fall in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), the most urbanised belt in India.
Voting is underway in the following municipal corporations: Mumbai, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Navi Mumbai, Vasai-Virar, Kalyan-Dombivli, Kolhapur, Nagpur, Solapur, Amravati, Akola, Nashik, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Pune, Ulhasnagar, Thane, Chandrapur, Parbhani, Mira-Bhayandar, Nanded-Waghala, Panvel, Bhiwandi-Nizampur, Latur, Malegaon, Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad, Jalgaon, Ahilyanagar, Dhule, Jalna and Ichalkaranji.
