Former President Donald Trump on Saturday responded to a declare that Hillary Clinton was accountable for leaking a narrative about his alleged ties to a Russian financial institution in 2016.

Clinton's former marketing campaign supervisor, Robby Mook, testified Friday that the then-Democratic presidential nominee signed off on the discharge of knowledge allegedly connecting Trump to Russia's Alfa Financial institution forward of the 2016 election. His testimony got here as a part of the continuing trial of Clinton marketing campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann, who has been accused of mendacity to the FBI about working for Clinton whereas turning over knowledge about Trump.

"This is likely one of the biggest political scandals in historical past," Trump stated in an interview with Fox Information digital. "For 3 years, I needed to battle her off, and battle these crooked individuals off, and you will by no means get your status totally again."

Trump, Clinton Russia
Former President Donald Trump on Saturday reacted to a declare that Hillary Clinton personally accredited the leak of knowledge meant to attach him to a Russian financial institution. Above, Trump and Clinton are seen throughout a presidential debate on October 9, 2016 in St Louis.Scott Olson/Getty Photographs

"The place do I get my status again?" he requested, including "if we had actual management, as a substitute of individuals like Mitch McConnell, they might do one thing about it. And guys like Invoice Barr. They might have performed one thing about it."

Throughout his testimony, Mook stated the Clinton marketing campaign was not "completely assured" within the legitimacy of the info earlier than releasing it to the media. He stated the marketing campaign determined to contact a reporter so they might "run it down" themselves and determine if it was "correct" earlier than printing it.

"We thought this was extremely suspect, and, if it was true, we needed the American public to find out about it for positive," he testified, including that the marketing campaign had not thought the allegations would turn into a "silver bullet."

When the story was leaked, senior coverage adviser Jake Sullivanlaunched an announcement from Clinton's marketing campaign stating, "This might be essentially the most direct hyperlink but between Donald Trump and Moscow. Pc scientists have uncovered a covert server linking the Trump Group to a Russian-based financial institution." The story was closely promoted on Clinton's social media simply days earlier than People hit the polls, and has been seen as an try and sway voters away from Trump.

Former FBI basic counsel James Baker testified on Thursday that he was "100% assured" that when Sussman approached him with info on Trump he stated he was not engaged on behalf of a shopper. Sussman has pleaded not responsible to the costs.

Trump, for his half, has lengthy referred to the allegations of a Russian collusion as a fabricated "witch hunt." The FBI finally decided that the data shared by Sussman confirmed that "there was nothing there" to criminally hyperlink him to Moscow.