Trump lashes out at ‘nuts’ Democrat investigations

Donald Trump has lashed out at Democrats over the raft of inquiries into his life and finances.

US President Donald Trump hands out pens after signing a presidential order during an event to launch the Women's Global Development and Prosperity Initiative in the Oval Office of the White House February 7, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP)

Donald Trump has lashed out at Democrats over the raft of inquiries into his life and finances, claiming that no other US president has ever been subjected to such politically partisan scrutiny.

His barrage of comments via Twitter came as Republican and Democratic negotiators made ­upbeat assessments about ­reaching a possible agreement on border securi­ty as early as this weekend to take to the President for signing.

Yesterday an angry Mr Trump sent a volley of tweets accusing Democrat-controlled committees in the House of Representatives of going “nuts”.

“The Dems and their committees are going ‘nuts’. The Repub­licans never did this to President Obama, there would be no time left to run government,” he tweeted. “I hear other committee heads will do the same thing .. a continuation of Witch Hunt!’

The President also attacked the Democrat house intelligence committee chairman Adam Schiff, who will head a new broad investigation into any links betwee­n Mr Trump’s decisions and his financial interests.

“So now Congressman Adam Schiff announces, after having found zero Russian Collusion, that he is going after every aspect of my life, both financial and persona­l, even though there is no reason to be doing so. Never happene­d before! Unlimited Presidential Harassment,” Mr Trump tweeted.

The Schiff-led inquiry is just one of many Democrat-led house investigations seeking to uncover more details about Mr Trump’s business interests, his Russian connections and his tax returns.

Mr Schiff says his inquiry would scrutinise “credible reports of money laundering and financial compromise” involving Mr Trump’s businesses, as part of a fresh investigation into the President’s alleged ties with Russia.

The house judiciary committee will question Acting ­Attorney-General Matthew Whitaker today about the Russia investigation being conducted by special counse­l Robert Mueller.

But Mr Whitaker was so wary of what the Democrats might ask that he has asked the committee to guarantee in writing that it would not seek to subpoena him if he refuses to answer questions on the Mueller probe.

Mr Whitaker said in a letter he was willing to testify “provided that the Chairman assures me that the Committee will not issue a subpoena today or tomorrow, and that the Committee will engage in good faith negotiations before taking such a step down the road.”

Democrat house Speaker Nancy Pelosi responded to Mr Trump’s tweeting by accusing him of “projecting his own unruliness”, saying Democrats would “not surrende­r our constitutional respon­sibility for oversight”.

Despite the tensions between the President and the Democrats over investigations, congressional negotiators have given an upbeat assessment of talks aimed at solvin­g the impasse over border security that triggered the recent 35-day government shutdown.

The top Republican negotia­t­or, Richard Shelby, met with Mr Trump in the Oval Office yesterday, describing it as “the most positive meeting I’ve had in a long time”, adding that the President was “very reasonable”.

He said that Mr Trump had “urged me to get to yes” on an agreement with Democrats.

Republicans and Democrats are examining potential solutions, which would include more fencing along the US-Mexico border, although any package is unlikely to match the $US5.7 billion ($8bn) Mr Trump wanted for his “wall”.

Some reports say both parties could reach agreement by this weekend, but it is unclear whether the President would sign any deal that does not include ­substantial funding for a physical barrier that he could describe as a “wall”.

Ms Pelosi said yesterday that regardless of the outcome of ­negotiations she did not believe that the President would invoke another government shutdown because Republicans would ­oppose such a move.

“There will not be another shutdown,” Ms Pelosi predicted.

“I have a club that I started, it’s called the ‘Too Hot to Handle Club’. And this is a too-hot-to-handle issue.’’