Trump May Be Considering Legal Action Over Mueller Investigation

Since being acquitted by the Senate during the impeachment trial, President Donald Trump has been on a tear, going after those individuals and institutions he views as having crossed him. His latest target? The FBI and the Robert Mueller investigation.

In a series of tweets Tuesday morning, Trump once again attacked the Mueller probe, which sought to determine whether or not the Russian government had interfered with the 2016 presidential election and if Trump’s campaign had been involved. The president again referred to the investigation as a “witch hunt” that was “illegally set up” and “badly tainted.”

"If I wasn’t President, I’d be suing everyone all over the place...but maybe I still will," he tweeted.

Last April, the results of Mueller’s investigation were released by the Department of Justice. Though it resulted in no legal repercussions for Trump himself – which prompted him to claim that he had been completely exonerated – 37 individuals, many of whom worked in Trump’s 2016 campaign, were charged with federal crimes.

Although Trump and his team have continued to insist that the report cleared him of all wrongdoing, it appears he may be seeking to take legal action. While it is not entirely clear on what grounds the lawsuit would be filed – or against whom, although the FBI is a safe bet – it’s possible Trump could argue, as he often has, that the investigation was an act of harassment and defamation.

Trump’s renewed attacks on the Mueller investigation can be linked to the sentencing of Roger Stone, a former campaign adviser and one of the 37 charged as part of the probe. Last week a firestorm erupted when the Justice Department chose to revise its recommended sentence for Stone to be less than the previously advised seven to nine years of prison, seemingly at Trump’s behest.

Although U.S. Attorney General William Barr has denied it, the change in course came shortly after the president complained on Twitter that Stone’s potential sentence was far too harsh. Critics have expressed their concern that the president is exerting a worryingly high level of personal influence over the Justice Department.