President Trump called the justice department’s Russia investigation “a phony witch-hunt“ at the Conservative Political Action Conference Saturday, suggesting the probes are "trying to take me out with bullshit."
The big picture: Trump's comments come as Democrats ramp up their probes and the Mueller investigation is reportedly winding down. The investigation has already has resulted in 199 criminal charges, 37 indictments or guilty pleas and 4 prison sentences.
Driving the news: Trump dedicated a sizable chunk of his CPAC speech to ongoing tariff negotiations with China, disparaging trade between the 2 countries after announcing this week that the U.S. will not increase tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods, as was previously suggested. In the latter stretch of his speech, he announced plans to sign an executive order that will require colleges and universities to "support free speech if they want federal research dollars."
Catch up quick: Trump also gave a mini history lesson about the Great Tariff Debate of 1888, ridiculing the House Intelligence committee's planned investigations into his finances and claims of his administration's collusion with Russia. He asked for his old friends to call him "Don," and sarcastically endorsed the Green New Deal (again).
More from his speech: ...
- On Gavin Newsom: "He called me up the other day, let's say four weeks ago. He said 'I just wanna tell you you're a great president, and you're one of the smartest people I've ever met.' That's what he said. Will he ever admit it? No, I doubt it."
- On spending the holidays in the White House: "I figured it would look good. I was in the White House for a long time, months. If you've gotta have cabin fever, that's the place to do it."
- On Syria: "And by the way, as of probably today or tomorrow we will actually have 100% of the caliphate in Syria."
- On 'Medicare for All' bill: "Democrat lawmakers are now embracing socialism. Just this week, more than 100 dems in Congress signed up for a socialist takeover of American healthcare. ..would lead to colossal tax increases, take away private coverage for over 180 million Americans."
- More on the Green New Deal: "I think the auto industry isn't gonna do too well with this plan. [...] I think maybe you're gonna see some bad stock prices. It would end air travel."
- On the national emergency: "A lot