Former Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich on Saturday criticized President Donald Trump over his conduct described in special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on now-debunked collusion with Russia in the 2016 presidential election.
“.@realDonaldTrump‘s behavior described in the #MuellerReport is more than disappointing. It’s unacceptable & not behavior we should expect from our president. It’s worse than I’ve seen in my career observing & working with presidents or public officials. America deserves better,” tweeted Kasich, who is considering launching a primary challenge to the president in 2020.
Kasich’s remarks follow blistering criticism from fellow NeverTrumper Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), who declared in a statement Friday that he was “sickened” by President Trump’s behavior and that of his aides laid out in the 448-page report.
Romney said in a statement posted to Twitter:
I am sickened at the extent and pervasiveness of dishonesty and misdirection by individuals in the highest office of the land, including the President. I am appalled that, among other things, fellow citizens working in a campaign for president welcomed help from Russia—including information that had been illegally obtained; that none of them acted to inform American law enforcement.
On Saturday, President Trump responded to the Utah senator in a tweet, writing “If Mitt Romney spent the same energy fighting Barack Obama as he does fighting Donald Trump, he could have won the race (maybe)!” He also shared footage of an emotional following his defeat to President Barack Obama in the 2012 election.
The Justice Department on Thursday released the long-awaited report from special counsel Robert Mueller, with redactions, which specifies the two-year Russia investigation and details how the team found no evidence of collusion involving the Trump campaign before the 2016 election.
The report, 448 pages in length, describes in detail how the Russian GRU intelligence unit hacked the Clinton campaign’s emails, which were subsequently leaked by WikiLeaks.
The report reads:
The investigation … identified numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump campaign. Although the investigation established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency … the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election activities.
Mueller’s report echoes the summary given last month by Attorney General William Barr, saying there was insufficient evidence of collusion between the campaign and Russia. One question that has lingered for weeks regards the report’s details on potential obstruction of justice charges against President Donald Trump. Thursday’s release detailed ten episodes in which questions over such charges were weighed.
The investigation ultimately failed to find sufficient evidence that the episodes amounted to obstructing justice.
The UPI contributed to this report.