--- title: Donald Trump on Special Counsel: Single Greatest Witch Hunt description: President Donald Trump decried the appointment of a special counsel to oversee the investigation into ties between his associates and Russia canonical: https://time.com/4784040/donald-trump-special-counsel-twitter/ author: Dan Hirschhorn article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-18T12:29:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T10:58:20.434Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Lashes Out at 'Single Greatest Witch Hunt' og:description: "This is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!" og:url: https://time.com/4784040/donald-trump-special-counsel-twitter/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt70a5016bbf031831/6988cdd62dce01d6af9ed89b/donald-trump4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4760 og:image:height: 2678 og:image:alt: 170518_donald trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Lashes Out at 'Single Greatest Witch Hunt' twitter:description: "This is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt70a5016bbf031831/6988cdd62dce01d6af9ed89b/donald-trump4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Lashes Out at 'Single Greatest Witch Hunt' After Special Counsel Named > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=8519d66d-d7e0-4ad9-8621-7b1d1eaafd02&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Dan Hirschhorn](https://time.com/author/dan-hirschhorn/) ## Dan Hirschhorn May 18, 2017 12:29 PM UTC  President Donald Trump looks on as he hands out diplomas to Coast Guard cadets at the commencement ceremony at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, May 17, 2017 in New London, Connecticut. President Donald Trump looks on as he hands out diplomas to Coast Guard cadets at the commencement ceremony at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, May 17, 2017 in New London, Connecticut. Drew Angerer—Getty Images by [Dan Hirschhorn](https://time.com/author/dan-hirschhorn/) ## Dan Hirschhorn May 18, 2017 12:29 PM UTC President [Donald Trump](http://time.com/4783929/president-trump-loyalty-test/) on Thursday decried the appointment of a [special counsel](http://time.com/4774442/robert-mueller-special-counsel-independent-prosecutor-donald-trump-russia/) to oversee the investigation into ties between his associates and Russia as “the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history.” His angry statement in early-morning Twitter posts came barely 12 hours after a more measured response to the appointment of [former FBI Director Robert Mueller](http://time.com/4783549/robert-mueller-fbi-special-counsel-donald-trump-russia/) as special counsel. In that Wednesday evening statement released by the White House, Trump said the investigation will confirm “there was no collusion between my campaign and any foreign entity,” adding that “I look forward to this matter concluding quickly.” But as is often the case, he took a different tone Thursday morning on Twitter. “With all of the illegal acts that took place in the Clinton campaign & Obama Administration, there was never a special councel appointed!” Trump said. He did not specify what exactly he saw as “illegal acts.” “This is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!” Trump added. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/865169927644340224) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/865173176854204416) Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s appointment of Mueller as special counsel, to [oversee the investigation independently from the Trump Administration](http://time.com/4783610/robert-mueller-donald-trump-special-counsel-fbi-justice-department-rod-rosenstein/), came amid a series of damaging revelations that have heightened some politicians’ calls for [Trump’s impeachment](http://time.com/4711273/donald-trump-impeachment-odds-challenges/) and have led even some [Republicans to move away from him](http://time.com/4783450/comey-memo-donald-trump-russia-republicans/). News reports this week have revealed that Trump shared sensitive intelligence with Russian officials, and that he asked then-FBI Director James Comey to back off the investigation of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. White House officials have denied those reports but have offered conflicting accounts in the process. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4784040/donald-trump-special-counsel-twitter/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4784040/donald-trump-special-counsel-twitter/"},"headline":"President Trump Lashes Out at 'Single Greatest Witch Hunt' After Special Counsel Named","datePublished":"2017-05-18T12:29:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T10:58:20.434Z","description":"\"This is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!\"","url":"https://time.com/4784040/donald-trump-special-counsel-twitter/","keywords":["White House","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt70a5016bbf031831/6988cdd62dce01d6af9ed89b/donald-trump4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Hirschhorn","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/dan-hirschhorn/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt70a5016bbf031831/6988cdd62dce01d6af9ed89b/donald-trump4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"170518_donald trump","caption":"Donald Trump Delivers Commencement Address At U.S. Coast Guard Academy","creditText":"Drew Angerer—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4784040/donald-trump-special-counsel-twitter/","name":"President Trump Lashes Out at 'Single Greatest Witch Hunt' After Special Counsel Named"}}]}] ```