Trump lashes out at Russia probe revelation

A heightened sense of unease gripped the White House on Thursday as President Donald Trump lashed out at reports he's under scrutiny for obstructing justice, aides repeatedly deflected questions about the probe and Vice President Mike Pence acknowledged hiring a lawyer to handle fallout from investigations into Russian election meddling.

Pence's decision to hire Richard Cullen, a former U.S. attorney, came less than a month after Trump hired his own private lawyer.

The hiring of Cullen was made public a day after the Washington Post, citing unnamed sources, reported that special counsel Robert Mueller was widening his investigation to examine whether the president attempted to obstruct justice.

A defiant Trump at multiple points Thursday expressed frustration with reports about that development, tweeting he is the subject of 'the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history.”

Trump, who a day earlier had called for a more civil tone in Washington following shootings at a Republican congressional baseball practice, fired off several more tweets voicing disbelief he was under scrutiny while his 'crooked” Democratic opponent in last year's election, Hillary Clinton, escaped prosecution for her use of a private email server while secretary of state.

Before the day ended, the White House was hit with the latest in a series of headlines relating to the Russian probe: a Post story reporting that Mueller is investigating the finances and business dealings of Jared Kushner, Trump's son-law and adviser.

At a previously scheduled off-camera briefing for reporters, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the principal deputy White House press secretary, was peppered with more than a dozen questions about ongoing investigations. In keeping with a new practice, she referred one after another to Trump's own attorney.

Sanders, for example, was asked if Trump still felt 'vindicated” by the extraordinary congressional testimony last week by James Comey, the FBI director whose firing by Trump has contributed to questions about whether the president obstructed justice.

'I believe so,” Sanders said, before referring reporters to Marc Kasowitz, Trump's attorney.

As Trump's No. 2 and as head of the transition team, Pence has increasingly found himself drawn into the widening Russia investigation.

Pence - along with Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Kushner, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and White House Counsel Donald McGahn - was one of the advisers the president consulted as he made his decision to fire Comey.

Pence also was entangled in the events leading up the dismissal of Michael Flynn, Trump's former national security adviser, who originally misled the vice president about his contact with Russian officials.

In the same time, the Republican National Committee appears to be girding for a fight.

A series of 'talking points” sent Wednesday night to Trump allies provided a road map for trying to undercut the significance of the latest revelation.

The RNC encouraged Trump allies to decry the 'inexcusable, outrageous, and illegal” leaks on which it said the story was based and to argue that there is a double-standard at work.

The document said there was 'an obvious case” of obstruction that never was investigated against former Attorney General Loretta Lynch over the FBI investigation of Clinton's emails.

In his afternoon tweets, Trump picked up on that argument. In one, the president wrote: 'Crooked H destroyed phones w/ hammer, ‘bleached' emails, & had husband meet w/AG days before she was cleared- & they talk about obstruction?”

'Why is that Hillary Clintons family and Dems dealings with Russia are not looked at, but my non-dealings are?” Trump said in another.

Trump restricted his comments Thursday on Mueller's investigation to social media, passing on opportunities to talk about it in public.