Mueller on Trump’s WikiLeaks embrace: ‘Problematic is an understatement’

President Trump’s repeated embrace of WikiLeaks and its distribution of Clinton campaign emails was “beyond problematic,” former special counsel Robert Mueller testified Wednesday.

Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) read Mueller several quotes from Trump in October 2016 after WikiLeaks released scores of hacked emails from Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign in which the president spoke approvingly of the organization.

“Problematic is an understatement in terms of what it displays in terms of giving some, I don’t know, hope or some boost to what is and should be illegal activity,” Mueller said when asked for his reaction.

Mueller says that Trump’s praise and encouragement of WikiLeaks is more than problematic, characterizing it as providing “hope or some boost” of illegal activity. pic.twitter.com/x9zlzwOEWh

— Zack Ford (@ZackFord) July 24, 2019

Trump mentioned WikiLeaks regularly during campaign rallies in October 2016 as damaging emails about his opponent trickled out.

“I love WikiLeaks,” Trump said in one instance. {mosads}

“Boy I love reading those WikiLeaks,” he said in another.

Trump mentioned WikiLeaks 145 times in the final month of the campaign alone, according to NBC News.

In April of this year, however, Trump sought to distance himself from Wikileaks founder Julian Assange following his arrest.