Trump threatens to 'get involved' if Justice Dept., FBI don't 'start doing their job'

U.S. President Donald Trump warnedat a campaign-style rally in Indiana on Thursdaythat he would "get involved" if the FBI and Justice Department don't "start doing their job."

Speaking later at the eventin Evansville, Trumpsuggested the leadership of the department and bureauwere biased against Republicans and"people are angry."

Trump speaks at Indiana rally

6 years ago

Duration 0:47

U.S. President Donald Trump criticizes the FBI and Justice Department at a campaign-style rally.

"Our Justice Department and our FBI at the top of each,because inside they have incredible people but our Justice Department and our FBI have to start doing their job and doingit right and doing it now," Trump said.

"I wanted to stay out, but at some point if it doesn'tstraighten out properly ... I will get involved and I'll get in there if I have to."

Trump has held Attorney General Jeff Sessions responsible, in part, for the Russiainvestigation. After Sessions recused himself, Deputy AttorneyGeneral Rod Rosenstein appointed special counsel Robert Muellerto lead the probe into Russia's interference in the 2016presidential campaign, somethingTrump has called a "witch hunt."

Asked in the Bloomberg News interview whether he wouldcomply if Mueller issued a subpoena for him to appear for questioning, Trump said, "I'll see what happens."

"I view it differently," Bloomberg quoted Trump as saying."I view it as an illegal investigation" because "great scholars" have said that "there should never have been a special counsel."

Rare rebuttal

The president resumed his attacks on Sessions via Twitterlast week, saying the attorney general had never fully exertedcontrol over the Justice Department.

Sessions, in a rare rebuttal, responded that he took controlof the department the day he became attorney general and wouldnot allow it to be "improperly influenced by politicalconsiderations."

Trump said in a Twitter post on Saturday that Sessions"doesn't understand what is happening underneath his commandposition." He charged that Mueller's probe was "highlyconflicted" and that "real corruption goes untouched."

Some Republican lawmakers have predicted Trump would replaceSessions, a former U.S. senator, after the Nov. 6 elections.

Trump also told Bloombergthat Sessions, whom he has repeatedly attacked for recusing himself from oversight of the Russia probe, was safe in his job until the November congressional elections.

But he declined to say if he would keep Sessions on after that.