Trump Honors War Dead — but First a Word About Mueller and Pelosi

COLLEVILLE-SUR-MER, France — With marble crosses and Stars of David marking the graves of those who died fighting the Nazis on D-Day visible in the background, President Trump used the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy to bash the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, in an interview with Fox News.

“He made such a fool out of himself,” Mr. Trump told the interviewer, Laura Ingraham, in a discussion taped minutes before the president stepped onto the dais with a few dozen surviving D-Day veterans on Thursday.

His remarks about Mr. Mueller, a decorated military veteran who served in Vietnam, were not particularly surprising on their own — Mr. Trump has been criticizing him for months.

But Mr. Trump chose to renew his attack on the man who oversaw the investigation into Russian election interference in an interview carved out shortly before a solemn occasion: the commemoration of one of the most consequential military victories in American history.

It was reminiscent of a television interview he gave earlier in the week, when he struck a dismissive tone about the Vietnam War. Mr. Trump, who avoided serving in that war, said he was “never a fan” of it. Though he had made such remarks before, the timing — as leaders of allied nations gathered to commemorate D-Day — was notable.

Speaking to Fox New before the ceremony on Thursday, the president decided to air his grievances with Mr. Mueller.

“What people don’t report is the letter he had to do to straighten out his testimony because his testimony was wrong,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Mueller. It was unclear what he meant by “testimony.” Mr. Mueller has not testified, and has said he will not voluntarily do so before Congress.

But the “letter” appeared to be a reference to a roughly 10-minute statement that Mr. Mueller delivered last week as he formally resigned his special counsel post. In the statement, he made clear that his team had not exonerated Mr. Trump, despite the president’s claims to the contrary.

Mr. Mueller was not the only adversary to fall into Mr. Trump’s cross hairs as he carried politics with him beyond the water’s edge. He also used the Fox interview to criticize the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, who also attended the D-Day commemoration.

A day earlier, Politico reported that Ms. Pelosi had told her Democratic colleagues who want to see Mr. Trump face impeachment proceedings that she would rather see him lose — and then be indicted and put “in prison.”

“Nancy Pelosi is a disaster,” Mr. Trump said, dismissing her as “Nervous Nancy” and declaring, “Let her do what she wants.”

Of the Democrats, Mr. Trump said: “You know what? I think they’re in big trouble.”

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