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President Trump, in an extensive interview Friday on “Fox & Friends,”\u00a0tore into what he termed \u201cdirty politicians\u201d\u00a0behind the Russia probe a day after transcripts were released<\/a> showing that top Obama officials said they knew of no \u201cdirect\u201d evidence of collusion involving the Trump campaign.<\/p>\n

“It was a very dangerous situation what they did,” he said. “These are dirty politicians and dirty cops and some horrible people and hopefully they’re going to pay a big price in the not too distant future.”<\/p>\n

HOUSE INTEL TRANSCRIPTS SHOW TOP OBAMA OFFICIALS HAD NO ‘EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE’ OF TRUMP-RUSSIA COLLUSION<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

It was a vague but ominous warning from the commander-in-chief, considering the history of the Russia probe is being reviewed to this day by U.S. Attorney John Durham.<\/p>\n

Trump was specifically reacting to newly released transcripts of interviews from the House Intelligence Committee\u2019s\u00a0Russia<\/a> investigation revealed top Obama officials acknowledged they knew of no \u201cempirical evidence\u201d of a conspiracy despite their concerns and suspicions,<\/p>\n

The officials’ responses align with the results of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller\u2019s investigation\u2014which found no evidence of criminal coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia in 2016, while not reaching a determination on obstruction of justice.<\/p>\n

The transcripts, which were released by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., revealed top Obama officials were questioned over whether they had or had seen evidence of such collusion, coordination or conspiracy — the issue that drove the FBI’s initial case and later the special counsel probe.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never saw any direct empirical evidence that the Trump campaign or someone in it was plotting\/conspiring with the Russians to meddle with the election,\u201d former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testified in 2017. \u201cThat\u2019s not to say that there weren\u2019t concerns about the evidence we were seeing, anecdotal evidence. … But I do not recall any instance where I had direct evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

OBAMA KNEW DETAILS OF WIRETAPPED FLYNN CALL<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Trump used those revelations to double down on his assertion that the entire investigation was a politically motivated hoax.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell absolutely I think most people knew it from the beginning and they knew it was just a total hoax, a made-up story, a total disgrace to our nation. It made it impossible to deal with other\u00a0countries, including Russia, because of what they were doing,” he said.<\/p>\n

Schiff published the files — approved in late 2018 for release by the committee — after facing pressure earlier this week from Republicans to do so.\u00a0Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell then notified Schiff that the redaction and declassification process was complete, and that the records were ready to be made public.<\/p>\n

Schiff, though, faulted the White House for the delay, accusing them of dragging their feet on the classification review.<\/p>\n

And even as officials in those interviews said they didn\u2019t have hard evidence of collusion, conspiracy or coordination, Schiff pointed to a variety of examples he described as “ample evidence of the corrupt interactions” between Trump associates and Russia.<\/p>\n

For instance, he cited how Trump\u2019s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., infamously accepted an offer of supposed Russian dirt\u00a0on Hillary Clinton.<\/p>\n

Schiff said in a statement:\u00a0\u201cThe transcripts released today richly detail evidence of the Trump campaign\u2019s efforts to invite, make use of, and cover up Russia\u2019s help in the 2016 presidential election. Special Counsel Robert Mueller identified in his report similar, and even more extensive, evidence of improper links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government.\u00a0A bipartisan Senate investigation also found that Russia sought to help the candidacy of Donald Trump in 2016.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump on Friday didn’t hold back in his opinion of the California Democrat.<\/p>\n

“So Schiff is a\u00a0crooked politician, crooked as can be, one of the worst I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen some beauties,” he said. “He’s a liar, he’s a terrible person, he\u2019s terrible for our country.”<\/p>\n

“Guys like that end up going down,” he said. “They’re crooked and bad.”<\/p>\n

The Justice Department also announced Thursday that it was withdrawing its case against former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn “after a considered review of all the facts and circumstances of this case, including newly discovered and disclosed information.”<\/p>\n

In late 2017, Flynn pleaded guilty to making false statements during a White House interview with FBI agents. But his team has sought to withdraw his guilty plea, citing “egregious” FBI misconduct.<\/p>\n

In filings, DOJ officials said they concluded that Flynn’s 2017 interview by the FBI was “untethered to, and unjustified by, the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation into Mr. Flynn” and that the interview was “conducted without any legitimate investigative basis.”<\/p>\n

“Yesterday was a BIG day for Justice in the USA. Congratulations to General Flynn, and many others. I do believe there is MUCH more to come! Dirty Cops and Crooked Politicians do not go well together!” Trump tweeted Friday morning.<\/p>\n

He said on “Fox & Friends” that there’s still “more to come,” hinting that more files may be\u00a0related both to former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Joe Biden’s role.<\/p>\n

Democrats overnight slammed Attorney General Bill Barr for the DOJ decision on Flynn,\u00a0even calling for a new inspector general investigation. But Trump on Friday praised Barr as an official of “unbelievable credibility and courage.”<\/p>\n

Trump also weighed in on the ongoing coronavirus crisis, particularly new unemployment numbers that show that the unemployment rate soared to 14.7\u00a0percent, saying that it was “fully expected.”<\/p>\n

“It’s fully expected, there’s no surprise, everybody knows that. Somebody said ‘Oh look at this’ but even the Democrats aren’t blaming me for that, but what I can do is bring it back,” he said.<\/p>\n