Trump says he has ‘no intention’ of stopping Mueller investigation

President Trump in a new interview Tuesday said he has “no intention” of stopping special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, but stopped short of explicitly vowing not to do so.

“The Mueller investigation is what it is. It just goes on and on and on,” Trump told The Washington Post in an interview.

{mosads}“This question has been asked about me now for almost two years,” Trump added.

“And, in the meantime, he’s still there,” he continued. “He wouldn’t have to be, but he’s still there, so I have no intention of doing anything.”

The president did not speak on the record with the Post about a new filing from Mueller’s team that accuses former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort of violating his plea agreement by lying to federal prosecutors.

Asked earlier Tuesday about the latest developments in Manafort’s case, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that Trump did nothing wrong, and said she was unaware of discussions about a possible pardon for Manafort.

Manafort was convicted on eight counts of bank and tax fraud over the summer in a case in Northern Virginia. He agreed to cooperate with Mueller in September to avoid a second, separate federal trial in Washington, D.C., but now faces jail time if he is found to have lied to prosecutors.

In addition to Manafort, Mueller’s investigation has implicated former Trump associates Michael Flynn, George Papadopoulos and Richard Gates. The special counsel has also obtained indictments against more than 20 Russian nationals.

The president frequently derides the Mueller investigation as a “witch hunt” and has repeatedly denied he colluded with Russia.

On Thursday night, Trump tweeted that the investigation is “a total disgrace,” and questioned why the special counsel was not looking into Hillary Clinton’s deleted emails.

The Mueller Witch Hunt is a total disgrace. They are looking at supposedly stolen Crooked Hillary Clinton Emails (even though they don’t want to look at the DNC Server), but have no interest in the Emails that Hillary DELETED & acid washed AFTER getting a Congressional Subpoena!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 28, 2018

Trump’s decision to fire former Attorney General Jeff Sessions earlier this month and name Matthew Whitaker as his acting replacement raised alarms among Democrats over the fate of the Mueller investigation.

Whitaker wrote opinion pieces and appeared on cable news programs prior to joining the Justice Department in which he spoke critically of the special counsel. He suggested the attorney general could stifle its funding, and called for limits on the scope of the investigation.

Trump told “Fox News Sunday” in an interview earlier this month that he was unaware of Whitaker’s past comments before naming him acting attorney general.

The president added he believes Whitaker will “do what’s right” when faced with decisions about the special counsel.

Trump’s lawyers submitted written answers last week to questions from Mueller’s team, but the president has said he is unlikely to sit for an in-person interview.

Updated at 7:53 p.m.