President Donald Trump told Fox News that special counsel Robert Mueller's friendship with former FBI Director James Comey is "very bothersome" and said it was "ridiculous" that Hillary Clinton supporters were hired to join the Russia investigation.
In an interview taped Thursday evening, Trump was asked by host Ainsley Earhardt whether he felt Mueller should recuse himself as special counsel due to being friends with Comey and the Democratic ties of attorneys Mueller has hired.
"He's very, very good friends with Comey, which is very bothersome, but he's also—we're going to have to see," Trump said. "Look, there has been no obstruction. There has been no collusion. There has been leaking by Comey, but there's been no collusion, no obstruction, and virtually everybody agrees to that."
A friend of Trump's suggested earlier this month that the president had considered firing Mueller, but reports emerged that White House staff talked him out of that decision.
Trump fired Comey from the FBI last month, which ultimately culminated in Mueller's appointment by the Justice Department to lead the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. It has since expanded to reportedly include a probe into whether Trump himself obstructed justice.
In the wake of election records showing three attorneys hired by Mueller had donated almost exclusively to Democrats, Trump said the hiring of Hillary Clinton backers was "ridiculous" but that Mueller himself was "honorable."
"The people that have been hired are all Hillary Clinton supporters," he said. "Some of them worked for Hillary Clinton. The whole thing is ridiculous if you want to know the truth from that standpoint, but Robert Mueller is an honorable man, and hopefully he'll come up with an honorable solution."