‘The Walls Are Closing In’ On Trump, Nadler Says

Congressman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) Image by Getty Images

By Josh Nathan-Kazis May 21, 2018

Rep. Jerry Nadler said President Trump is acting like someone who’s guilty.

The Manhattan Democrat slammed Trump’s push to force the Department of Justice to investigate the FBI probe of Russian links to his campaign.

“What the president is doing here is acting as someone who…who knows he’s guilty and is very upset that the walls are closing in, and that the investigators are closing in on him,” Nadler told WNYC’s Brian Lehrer.

I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes – and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 20, 2018

Nadler, who represents parts of Brooklyn and Manhattan, is the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. He was responding to a tweet the president posted on Sunday saying that he would order the DOJ to investigate whether the FBI “infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes.”

“I think it’s another act in an ongoing obstruction of justice,” Nadler told Lehrer. “It’s not only an intimidation, but this is going off on a complete tangent.”

Nadler said that he thought the president feeling the pressure from investigators. “He’s obviously not confident that Mueller will exonerate him,” Nadler said.

Josh Nathan-Kazis is a staff writer for the Forward. He covers charities and politics, and writes investigations and longform.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.

This year, we have stood together in strength and sorrow. Our Forward team has worked around the clock to help you find clarity amid the chaos.

If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.

Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO