WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump and the Russia investigation (all times local):
2:50 p.m.
Veteran Washington, D.C., lawyer Emmet Flood, who represented President Bill Clinton during his impeachment process, is joining the White House to represent President Donald Trump in the special counsel’s Russia investigation.
White House spokesman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement Wednesday that Flood would be joining the White House staff to “represent the president and the administration against the Russia witch hunt.”
The law firm of Williams & Connolly confirmed that Flood is departing.
Earlier Wednesday, the White House said Ty Cobb, the point person in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, is retiring at the end of this month.
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12:50 p.m.
The White House lawyer Ty Cobb is retiring at the end of the month.
Cobb has been the point person for the President Donald Trump’s White House regarding special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders says Cobb had been discussing his retirement for several weeks. She says Cobb informed White House chief of staff John Kelly last week that he would retire at the end of May.
Cobb’s retirement comes as the president’s personal legal team has been negotiating the terms of a possible sit-down between Trump and Mueller’s team.
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11:20 a.m.
President Donald Trump appears to be threatening to “get involved” in a dispute between the Justice Department and Congress over the release of documents.
In a Tuesday tweet, Trump blasts what he calls a “rigged system.”
Trump appears to be responding to frustrations from conservative Republicans that the Justice Department has not turned over documents related to controversial topics, including surveillance of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
He says: “What are they afraid of? Why so much redacting? Why such unequal ‘justice?’”
Trump adds: “At some point I will have no choice but to use the powers granted to the Presidency and get involved!”
Trump has been open about his frustrations with the department for its handling of the special counsel’s Russia investigation.
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10 a.m.
President Donald Trump is slamming a leaked list of questions that the Justice Department’s special counsel may want to ask him as part of the Russia investigation.
Trump on Twitter Wednesday promoted a comment from attorney Joseph diGenova describing the questions as an “intrusion” into the president’s constitutional powers and saying it would be “outrageous” to ask the president what he was thinking when firing members of the executive branch.
Trump had recently sought to add diGenova — a frequent Fox News guest — to his legal team. But his attorneys later said that conflicts of interest prevented the move.
Trump tweeted earlier that: “There was no Collusion (it is a Hoax) and there is no Obstruction of Justice (that is a setup & trap).”
He also promoted an upcoming book, called “The Russia Hoax: The Illicit Scheme to Clear Hillary Clinton and Frame Donald Trump.”
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9:30 a.m.
A former attorney for President Donald Trump says investigators looking into Russian election meddling have raised the prospect of issuing a grand jury subpoena to compel Trump to testify under oath.
The attorney, John Dowd, told The Associated Press the subject came up during a meeting to negotiate the terms of a possible interview with the president.
Dowd’s comments provide a new window into the interactions between Trump’s lawyers and the special counsel leading the Russia investigation.
Trump lashed out against the investigation in a familiar fashion Wednesday, saying on Twitter: “There was no Collusion (it is a Hoax) and there is no Obstruction of Justice (that is a setup & trap).”
