Fact Check of the Day
President Trump claimed “all these investigators” are Democrats — an overstatement — and incorrectly said that Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, served under President Obama for eight years.
President Trump said
“So you have all these investigators; they’re Democrats. In all fairness, Bob Mueller worked for Obama for eight years.”
the facts
This is exaggerated.
At least nine of the 17 lawyers on the team led by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, have donated to Democratic campaigns, according to Federal Election Commission records. One has previously identified as a Democrat in a blog post.
Three others are registered as Democrats, The Washington Post and PolitiFact have reported. But the political affiliations of the remaining four lawyers are unclear.
A spokesman for the special counsel’s office confirmed the names of the lawyers who are on the team.
Mr. Mueller is a registered Republican and Mr. Trump’s characterization of his work history is not entirely accurate.
A Republican president, George W. Bush, chose Mr. Mueller to lead the F.B.I. for a 10-year term that began in 2001. Mr. Mueller was asked to stay on by President Barack Obama in 2011. Two years later, Mr. Mueller retired from the F.B.I. after having served under Mr. Obama for around four and a half years.
And Mr. Mueller was appointed to lead the Russia investigation by the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, also a Republican.
Linda Qiu is a fact-check reporter, based in Washington. She came to the Times in 2017 from the fact-checking service PolitiFact.
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