Jay Sekulow, an attorney for Donald Trump, on Sunday said the president is not being investigated for obstruction of justice.
On May 9, Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, who was investigating possible collusion between Trump's campaign and the Russian officials.
The attorney told both shows - as well as the NBC News and Fox News Sunday morning programs - that Trump was simply responding to a Washington Post report that said special counsel Robert Mueller's Federal Bureau of Investigation probe has widened to include a look into potential obstruction of justice and financial crimes by Trump associates. "When I have been crystal clear that the president is not and has not been under investigation".
On "Fox News Sunday", Sekulow said that he was certain the president was not under investigation because he had received no notification or other indication that he was.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller as special counsel following Comey's ouster in early May.
In a tweet on Friday, Mr. Trump appeared to confirm the story.
Separately, a former White House lawyer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there was nothing stopping Trump or his lawyers from asking Mueller whether Trump was under investigation.
"The tweet from the president was in response to the five anonymous sources purportedly leaking info to the Washington Post. That the president was not and is not a target of investigation".
"There's a limitation on Twitter, as we all know", the lawyer, who is chief counsel to the Washington, D.C. -based American Center for Law & Justice, told CNN.
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Sekulow, at one point, held up the letter from Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the Comey critique and said the president has a constitutional right to fire anyone in his administration.
Republican allies defended the president's "pugnacious" attitude in wanting to hit back against allegations that he obstructed justice, while other GOP senators suggested that the president should allow the Russian Federation investigation to proceed without interruption. Angus KingAngus KingSunday shows preview: Trump pushes back as Russian Federation probe heats up 'Crash Override" malware heightens fears for USA electric grid Angus King: I'm "really, really disturbed' by Sessions's testimony MORE (I-Maine), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
"You're right, Chris. I can not read the mind of the special prosecutor", Sekulow responded. "And as far as that goes, I'd say we're 20 percent into it", he said.
"That tweet was in response to a Washington Post story that ran with five unnamed sources", Sekulow said in an interview that aired Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union".
The president has directed some of his frustration at Rosenstein and Mueller. Sen. Host Jake Tapper pressed him on contradicting Trump's tweet, noting that people consider those to be official statements.
"It was 141 characters".
However in an interview with Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday" Sekulow admitted that he doesn't actually know for certain if Trump is under investigation or not because he can't read the mind of special counsel Robert Mueller.
This article has been updated with comments by Sekulow on CBS's "Face the Nation".
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