In Call With Times Reporter, Trump Projects Air of Calm Over Charges
President
Trump projected an air of calm on Wednesday after charges against his
former campaign chief and a foreign policy aide roiled Washington,
insisting to The New York Times that he was not “angry at anybody” and
that investigations into his campaign’s links to Russia had not come
near him personally.
“I’m not under investigation, as you know,” Mr. Trump said in a brief telephone call late Wednesday afternoon. Pointing to the indictment of his former campaign chief, Paul Manafort, the president said, “And even if you look at that, there’s not even a mention of Trump in there.”
“It has nothing to do with us,” Mr. Trump said.
He also pushed back against a report published Monday night by The Washington Post, which the president said described him as “angry at everybody.”
“I’m actually not angry at anybody,” Mr. Trump told The Times.
The
phone call seemed intended to dispel the impression of a president and a
White House under siege. The indictment of Mr. Manafort and his
longtime deputy, Rick Gates, on Monday came as little surprise to Mr.
Trump or his team, and they were relieved that the charges were not
directly related to last year’s campaign. Instead, both were indicted on
charges including money laundering, tax evasion and failing to properly
disclose lobbying on behalf of foreign governments.
But
the president’s advisers were surprised when another former aide,
George Papadopoulos, who was on the president’s hastily assembled
foreign policy team, pleaded guilty
to lying to federal investigators about his repeated efforts to connect
the campaign with Russians who might provide “dirt” on Hillary Clinton
drawn from “thousands of emails.” Most unnerving was the discovery that
Mr. Papadopoulos had been secretly cooperating with the special counsel,
Robert S. Mueller III, for three months.
John
F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, has acknowledged that the
investigation has taken its toll on the president. “It is very
distracting to the president, as it would be to any citizen, to be
investigated for something, while at the same time trying to carry the
weight of what being president of the United States means on his
shoulder,” Mr. Kelly told Fox News this week.
Mr.
Kelly said the investigation involved “multiple conversations a day,
generally in the morning when we first talk.” Many days begin with a
“general conversation” about it before they start other business, “but
it is very distracting for him.”
Still,
three advisers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss
internal dynamics, said reports of a shellshocked team had been
overstated, although some conceded that word that Sam Clovis, an early
aide on Mr. Trump’s team, had been interviewed by Mr. Mueller’s team had
caught some advisers off guard.
In
private moments, Mr. Trump, who is prone to venting, blows off steam
about the investigation but then moves on, according to one of the
advisers. The president is “annoyed” by the omnipresent Russia fever,
the adviser said, but he is comfortable with the strategy adopted by Ty
Cobb, a senior White House lawyer, who has insisted on cooperating with
Mr. Mueller without attacking him, in hopes of a speedy resolution.
There is no talk of firing the special counsel, the adviser said.
More
than Mr. Mueller, the adviser added, the president remains most
frustrated with the same person who has drawn his ire for months:
Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Mr. Trump has excoriated Mr. Sessions
for recusing himself from the investigation and handing it over to a
deputy to oversee, saying he should not have been appointed.
In
the interview, Mr. Trump added that he was buoyed by fresh polling he
said he had seen from swing states, supplied to him by the Republican
National Committee chairwoman, Ronna Romney McDaniel, earlier on
Wednesday.
“I
just got fantastic poll numbers,” the president said, listing what he
saw as his biggest accomplishments, including a focus on deregulation
and low unemployment rates.
He did not cite any specific polls or reveal any numbers from Ms. McDaniel. An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll
released on Sunday put Mr. Trump’s approval rating at 38 percent — the
lowest for the survey since February, when he was a month into his
presidency.
Additionally, the president said he was looking forward to his lengthy trip to Asia, which begins on Friday.
“I’m in the office early and leave late; it’s very smooth,” Mr. Trump said. “Honestly,” he added, “I’m really enjoying it.”
