Q What about the fact that Congressman Nadler opposed the release of the Starr report in 1998?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, that’s a good thing. That’s very nice that you bring that up. The fact is that Jerry Nadler was on the opposite side of this. And he thought it was a disgusting, terrible thing to even think about giving the Starr report but now we should give the Mueller report.

And actually, the Mueller report is actually much tighter because the Starr report went to Congress. The Mueller report goes to the Attorney General. So there’s a big difference. They made that because the Starr report got out of control with respect to going to Congress, because I guess lots of people had it that maybe shouldn’t have had it and did bad things with it.

So now they limited it to the Attorney General and they did that specifically for that reason. So Jerry Nadler thought the concept of giving the Starr report was absolutely something you could never do. But when it comes to the Mueller report, which is different on our side, that would be something that he should get. It’s hypocrisy and it’s a disgrace.

I will say this: Look, there was no collusion. There was no obstruction. They were very disappointed. I don’t know what they were thinking, because they all know. I guarantee you, they go into a room — between Nadler, Schiff, and the group — and they laugh like hell at how they’ve kept this thing going for two years. They laugh like hell.

And I hope that this investigation now, which is finished — it’s totally finished. No collusion. No obstruction. I hope they now go and take a look at the oringes [origins] — the origins of the investigation, the beginnings of that investigation. If you look at the origin of the investigation — where it started; how it started; who started it, whether it’s McCabe or Comey or a lot of them; where does it go; how high up in the White House did it go — you will all get Pulitzer Prizes, okay? You’d all get Pulitzer Prizes. You should have looked at it a long time ago.

And that’s the only thing that’s disappointing to me about the Mueller report. The Mueller report, I wish, covered the oringes [origins] of how it started — the beginnings of the investigation and how it started. It didn’t cover that. And for some reason, none of that was discussed.

Now, if you look at the IG report, it’s very serious. Now, we have another IG report coming out, hopefully, very soon. And I think you’re going to learn a lot.

But you should look at the beginnings and where it started — the whole situation. Because this has been a very, very bad thing for our country. The question was asked before about Russia, about Germany, about all of the different things that you and I discuss so often.

This has been a very bad thing for the United States. It’s been a total waste of time. But what hasn’t been a waste of time is some very bad people started something that should have never been started. And I hope that’s going to continue forward because people did things that were very, very bad for our country and very, very illegal and, you could even say, “treasonous.” Okay?

Thank you very much everybody.

END

2:16 P.M. EDT