Trump escalates attacks against Russia probe

U.S. President Donald Trump escalated his attacks against the ongoing Russia probe led by special counsel Robert Mueller, urging Attorney General Jeff Sessions to shut down the wide-ranging inquiry.

In a series of tweets Wednesday morning, Trump said Sessions should stop the Mueller probe, which he again labelled as "Rigged Witch Hunt," in his most direct call that demands Sessions intervene.

The attack also came as former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort, who was indicted by Mueller last fall, faces trial for bank and tax fraud for the second day in federal court in state of Virginia.

Sessions infuriated the president by recusing himself from the Russia investigation last March before Mueller was appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who's overseeing the inquiry and has defended the special counsel.

Mueller is looking into the alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and any potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow, among other matters that may arise from the investigation.

The special counsel has so far indicted or secured guilty pleas from 32 people, including several former Trump campaign aides, and three Russian entities since he began leading the probe from May 2017.

The New York Times reported last month that Mueller is also investigating Trump's tweets criticizing Sessions as to whether the president has obstructed justice.

Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, blasted Trump's tweets as "an attempt to obstruct justice hiding in plain sight."

Trump repeated his attacks against the probe on Wednesday by calling it "a hoax," claiming that Mueller is "totally conflicted" and what's his team is doing is "a disgrace" to the country.

The president also tried again to distance himself from Manafort, who joined the Trump campaign team in March 2016 and spent about two months working as campaign chairman before resigning over exposure of his Ukrainian lobbying work.

"Paul Manafort worked for Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole and many other highly prominent and respected political leaders," Trump said in another tweet. "He worked for me for a very short time."

Manafort, 69, went on trial on charges of bank and tax fraud Tuesday, becoming the first member of Trump's election team to face trial on charges arising from Mueller's investigation.

He has pleaded not guilty to 18 counts of bank and tax fraud associated with his lobbying work for the Ukrainian government years before Trump declared his candidacy in 2015.

Manafort's trial in Virginia is expected to last several weeks but prosecutors have said they will not present evidence of collusion this time.

The veteran political operative is facing a separate trial in Washington, D.C. scheduled for mid-September on charges of money laundering, failing to register as a foreign agent and witness tampering. He has also pleaded not guilty to those charges.

Legal observers said Mueller's primary aim in charging Manafort is to put pressure on him so that he would provide information about alleged Russian collusion with the Trump campaign.

As the Russia probe continues, Trump and his political allies have ratcheted up pressure on Mueller and his team in recent months.

Trump's attorney, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, made headlines on Monday by saying that "collusion is not a crime," a claim reiterated by Trump a day later.

Russia has denied allegations that it meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections.