President Donald Trump on Wednesday denied reports that he is “angry” about the first charges filed in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible collusion between Trump’s team and Russia during the 2016 presidential election.
Muller filed the first charges in his investigation on Monday, indicting Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his business associate, Rick Gates, on charges of conspiracy against the United States and acting as an unregistered foreign agent, among other charges. George Papadopoulos, a former foreign policy adviser to Trump’s campaign, also pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.
“I’m actually not angry at anybody,” Trump told the New York Times on Wednesday, contradicting a report by the Washington Post that described him as “fuming” over the indictments.
Manafort’s indictment doesn’t mention Trump, who told the Times that it “has nothing to do with us.” Trump has sought to distance his campaign from those who were charged. “There is NO COLLUSION!” he tweeted on Monday.
Trump also denied that the news on Monday kept him from arriving in the Oval Office on time. “I’m in the office early and leave late; it’s very smooth,” Trump told the Times. “I’m really enjoying it.”
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Write to Katie Reilly at Katie.Reilly@time.com