President Donald Trump said Friday that the ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential is not only bad for the country, "it's really unfair for our midterms."
Trump also said special counsel Robert Mueller should have wrapped up the inquiry a "long time ago."
Asked about the investigation, which he has repeatedly denounced as a "witch hunt," Trump reiterated to reporters that there was no collusion between anyone one his presidential campaign and the Russian government. But he said the time had long past for the investigation to have ended.
"We have to get it over with. It's really bad for the country. It's really unfair for our midterms. Really, really unfair for the midterms," Trump said. "This thing should have been over with a long time ago."
The president addressed reporters in the midst of a two-day campaign swing through states where Republicans hope to expand their narrow 51-49 majority in the Senate by knocking off vulnerable Democrats from Montana and North Dakota.
Trump was flying from Billings, Montana to Fargo, North Dakota, for fundraising events when he visited the press cabin aboard Air Force to address reporters accompanying him on the trip, part of an intense schedule of campaigning that Trump plans through the November 6 elections.
Asked if he would consider allowing a government shutdown before the November elections, Trump said, "I would do it because I think it's a great political issue." But he said some Republican lawmakers would "rather not do it because they have races, they're doing well, they're up."
The president told Fox News in an interview broadcast earlier Friday that a government shutdown "is up to me, but I don't want to do anything that's going to hurt us or potentially hurt us because I have a feeling that the Republicans are going to do very well.
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