Alaska Congress Don Young said it’s fine with him that the Justice Department has appointed a special counsel to oversee its investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
The Justice Department “can do what they want to,” Young said. “In fact, it might be better if they go through with this process and find out the results. I don’t think there’s been anything wrong done. I’ve said that all along. This is all media hype.”
Young, who was leaving his Washington office for the day, didn’t specify what he meant.
“The media hype. You know what I’m talking about,” he said. “The constant – The Washington Post, every day something’s in there that doesn’t mean a damn thing. All right. We got to go.”
Young spokesman Matt Shuckerow said the congressman doesn’t dispute the report of the intelligence agencies in January that said Russia had a campaign to influence the U.S. election. Shuckerow said the congressman believes the media are hyping the details that have emerged in recent days.
The Justice Department on Wednesday appointed former FBI director Robert Mueller to oversee the investigation, including “any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump.”
The president issued a statement Wednesday saying a thorough investigation will confirm what he’s been saying – that there was no collusion between his campaign and “any foreign entity.”
Liz Ruskin is the Washington, D.C., correspondent at Alaska Public Media. Reach her at lruskin@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Liz here.
