'It's going to be up to him': Trump says fate of Mueller probe is acting attorney-general's call

A protest in front of the White House in Washington this month on the Russia probe. Photo / AP file

US President Donald Trump said he would not overrule his acting attorney-general, Matthew Whitaker, if he decides to curtail the Special Counsel probe being led by Robert Mueller into Russian interference in the 2016 election campaign.

"Look, it's going to be up to him ... I would not get involved," Trump said in an interview on Fox News Sunday.

In the weeks since Trump forced Jeff Sessions to resign as Attorney-General and chose Whitaker to serve as his interim replacement, Whitaker has faced calls from Democrats to recuse himself from oversight of the probe given his previous criticism of the investigation.

Trump said that he "did not know (Whitaker) took views on the Mueller investigation as such" before he appointed him to his position.

Trump also essentially shut the door to sitting down with Mueller, telling host Chris Wallace that his written answers mean "probably this is the end" of his involvement in the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign.

"I think we've wasted enough time on this witch hunt and the answer is probably: We're finished," Trump said. He said that he had given "very complete answers to a lot of questions" and that "that should solve the problem".

Trump said on Saturday that he had answered a set of written questions from Mueller "very easily". The President told Wallace that it "wasn't a big deal" and that he expects his legal team to submit the answers "at some point very soon".

Trump's answers had long been sought by Mueller during the course of his 18-month-old investigation. The probe has led to charges against 32 people, including 26 Russians. While four aides to Trump have pleaded guilty to various charges, Mueller's team has not given any public indications as to whether it has concluded that Trump associates conspired with the Russians or whether the president obstructed justice.

During today's wide-ranging interview, Trump said he does not feel it is necessary for him to listen to an audio recording of journalist Jamal Khashoggi's killing inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul last month.

President Donald Trump confirms the U.S. has the tape of the killing of #JamalKhashoggi:

"We have the tape [...] I have been fully briefed [...] It's a suffering tape. It's a terrible tape [...] It was very violent, very vicious"#SaudiArabia #OOTT #oil pic.twitter.com/y8WTdSl9Yb

— Javier Blas (@JavierBlas) November 18, 2018

"We have the tape. I don't want to hear the tape. No reason for me to hear the tape," Trump said. He described it as "a suffering tape" and told Wallace, "I know everything that went on in the tape without having to hear it. ... It was very violent, very vicious and terrible."

The CIA has concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing of Khashoggi, a prominent critic of Saudi leaders and a contributing columnist to the Washington Post.

But Trump maintained on Fox News Sunday that the crown prince had told him "maybe five different times" and "as recently as a few days ago" that he had nothing to do with the killing. Aides have said that Trump has been looking for ways to avoid pinning the blame on Mohammed.

"Well, will anybody really know?" Trump said when asked whether the crown prince might have been lying to him. He added: "You saw we put on very heavy sanctions, massive sanctions on a large group of people from Saudi Arabia. But, at the same time, we do have an ally, and I want to stick with an ally that in many ways has been very good."