- President Donald Trump, at his first rally since the Mueller report was submitted, tore into a list of enemies he accused of perpetuating the "hoax."
- As he called for opponents to be held "accountable," supporters chanted "lock them up."
- Trump has focussed on calls for payback since the Mueller report was submitted.
- In his summary of the report, Attorney General William Barr said that Mueller found no evidence of collusion with Russia, but left open the possibility of obstruction of justice.
President Donald Trump, at his first political rally since the Mueller report was submitted, reeled off a list of opponents from whom he wants payback, as the crowd chanted "lock them up."
Speaking in Michigan Thursday night, the president falsely claimed that he had been completely exonerated by Mueller's report into allegations of Russian collusion, and tore into a list of opponents he held responsible for instigating and perpetuating an investigation he labeled a "hoax" and "delusion."
He said: "They tried to divide our country to poison the national debate and to tear up the fabric of our great democracy, the greatest anywhere in the world."
He singled out Democratic House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff, whom he mocked as a "pencil neck."
He also named New York Representative Jerry Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and said that he "beat" him "many times" in his past ventures as a Manhattan property developer.
"These are sick people and there has to be accountability because it's all lies and they know it's lies," said the president. He attacked "Democrat politicians, the media bosses-bad people-the crooked journalists, the totally dishonest TV pundits."
He described the Russia probe as "the single greatest hoax in the history of
Trump's words at the rally follow other moves towards payback since the report dropped.
On Monday officials for Trump's 2020 campaign sent a memo to TV networks urging them to ban or otherwise oppose a list of critics who had talked up the potential of the Mueller report to damage Trump's presidency.
And in an interview Wednesday with Fox News's Sean Hannity, he said those behind the probe are "traitors" whom he hopes will be held "accountable."
At the rally, Trump in went on to accuse his opponents of spying on his 2016 campaign, declaring "in this country we cannot criminalize political differences, political differences," to which a supporter responded with a shout of "lock them up."
In his summary of the Mueller report submitted to Congress Sunday, Attorney General William Barr wrote that special counsel Robert Mueller found no evidence that Trump's campaign conspired with Russia to win the 2016 presidential election.
However, contrary to what Trump has claimed since, he said "while this report does not conclude the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him."