Washington: The probe into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and allegations of the Trump campaign's collusion with it should never have happened as it is based on a fake dossier, President Donald Trump said today.         

“The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime. It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign,” Trump said in a tweet as he slammed former FBI director Robert Mueller who is leading the federal investigation.          

“WITCH HUNT!” he alleged in his tweet. Trump is a prolific user of social media and it is his preferred medium of communicating with his supporters. Currently he has some 49.2 million followers on Twitter.          

Trump raised questions on the composition of the investigating team of Mueller. Most of them are known Democrats, he alleged. “Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big 'Crooked Hillary' supporters, and Zero Republicans? Another Dem recently added...does anyone think this is fair?” he asked.  

“And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!” he asserted. Trump has always insisted that there was no collusion between his presidential campaign and the Russians, whom the US intelligence agencies suspect of interfering in the 2016 election.  

Early this week, the Trump administration slapped sanctions on several Russian entities and individuals for their interference in the US election. In a series of tweets, Trump also slammed Andrew McCabe, former deputy director of the FBI, who was fired by Attorney General Jeff Sessions two days before his retirement for making unauthorised disclosure to the media.  

McCabe, has fired back, refuted the charges, and has documented his conversation with Trump in a memo. Trump questioned the authenticity of the memo. “Spent very little time with Andrew McCabe, but he never took notes when he was with me. I don't believe he made memos except to help his own agenda, probably at a later date. Same with lying James Comey. Can we call them Fake Memos?” tweeted president.  

“The Fake News media is beside themselves that McCabe was caught, called out and fired. How many hundreds of thousands of dollars was given to wife's campaign by Crooked H friend, Terry M, who was also under investigation? How many lies? How many leaks? Comey knew it all, and much more!” he said in another tweet.  

Trump also slammed former FBI director James Comey who was fired by him last year, and alleged that he lied under oath. “Wow, watch Comey lie under oath to Senator G when asked “have you ever been an anonymous source...or known someone else to be an anonymous source...?” He said strongly 'never, no'. He lied as shown clearly on @foxandfriends,” Trump said. PTI