Trump Says Russia Inquiry’s Overreach Is a Scandal ‘Bigger Than Watergate!’

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump asserted on Twitter on Thursday that federal investigators attempted to infiltrate his 2016 campaign with a confidential informant — a scandalous overreach, he said, that would be “bigger than Watergate!”

In some sense, many analysts have said, he is right: Efforts by a hostile foreign power to influence a U.S. presidential election — with or without the assistance or knowledge of the winning candidate — may well be a scandal “bigger than Watergate!”

The FBI and a team of special prosecutors are investigating whether any of Trump’s associates were coordinating with Russia to help Trump defeat his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. And, since the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller, the investigation has expanded to include inquiries into whether Trump has attempted to obstruct justice to bring an end to what he regularly calls a witch hunt.

Thursday is the anniversary of Mueller’s appointment. Since then, Trump has considered firing Mueller, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein — drawing parallels to the Watergate investigation more than four decades earlier, when Richard M. Nixon ordered his attorney general and deputy attorney general to fire the special prosecutor investigating abuses in the 1972 presidential election. Both Justice Department officials resigned rather than carrying out the order.

Trump marked the Mueller anniversary with a series of Twitter posts Thursday morning, reminding his 52 million followers of his belief that the investigation is a witch hunt.

The president also praised his administration, calling it “the most successful first 17 month Administration in U.S. history — by far!”

In the first year of Mueller’s investigation, the special counsel’s team has brought dozens of criminal charges against former associates of Trump as well as Russians and Russian companies involved in the influence campaign.

In one of his tweets, Trump also mentioned the use of a confidential informant. At least one government informant met several times with two of Trump’s former campaign aides, officials have said.