Trump Answers 'Most Insulting' Question

When Jeanine Pirro of Fox News posed it to him on Saturday, President Trump called it "the most insulting thing I have ever been asked." On Monday, he answered it. Pirro had asked about whether he had ever worked for Moscow, following a New York Times report that the FBI opened an investigation after he fired the FBI's James Comey into whether Trump was working on behalf of Russia. In speaking with reporters before departing the White House for Louisiana, he offered what Reuters calls his first "direct denial" of the report: "Not only did I never work for Russia, I think it's a disgrace that you even asked that question because it's a whole big fat hoax."

The AP notes Trump also called former FBI and Justice Department officials "known scoundrels" and "dirty cops." Politico reports that Trump had touched on the topic earlier Monday morning on Twitter. He first quoted a line from Fox and Friends about gas prices falling due to energy deregulation, then continued, "But this is bad news for Russia, why would President Trump do such a thing? Thought he worked for Kremlin?" (While speaking from the South Lawn, Trump also downplayed the idea of declaring a national emergency.)