© Yana Paskova for The New York Times
Michael Caputo, a former Trump campaign aide, said that he doesn't think anybody should work on a Republican campaign ever again, unless they are compensated for any legal fees that may come out of it.
Speaking out Wednesday evening, Caputo also said he believes there is a "punishment strategy" to "destroy" Trump and deter any other billionaires in the future from thinking about running for president.
Just out of an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller, Caputo told Fox News' Tucker Carlson he's certain that federal investigators are fixated on collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Caputo said he firmly believes there was never any collusion.
Caputo also griped about the crushing legal costs of being a witness in the Russia investigations. He excoriated the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday in his closing remarks, blaming the investigation for forcing his family out of their home due to mounting legal costs and death threats. He concluded the statement saying,
"God damn you to hell."
Expounding upon his frustration with Carlson, Caputo said he would never work for a Republican campaign ever again, unless guaranteed legal indemnification, and advised anyone else to do the same.
"I certainly didn't sign up for this one," he said, before discussing what he described as a "punishment strategy."
"I think they want to destroy the president, they want to destroy his family," Caputo said. "They want to destroy his businesses. They want to destroy his friends so that no billionaire in let's say 50 years wakes up and tells his wife, 'You know this country is broken and only I can fix it.' His wife will say, 'Are you crazy? Did you see what happened to Donald Trump and everybody around him?' That's what this is about."Caputo indicated that despite all the hardship he has gone through as a witness, no one is charging him with wrongdoing or accusing him of committing a crime.Daniel Chaitin is the night news editor for the Washington Examiner
. He previously worked as an associate editor for Federal Information
and News Dispatch
. He graduated from Penn State University and is from Rockville, Md.
Comment: Caputo had
more to say abut the Mueller team interview:
In Caputo's closing statement obtained by the Washington Examiner, he said the panel's investigation "forced" his family out of their home and "crushed" his children due to mounting legal costs associated with the inquiry.
"Today, I can't possibly pay the attendant legal costs and live near my aging father, raising my kids where I grew up," Caputo said. "Your investigation and others into the allegations of Trump campaign collusion with Russia are costing my family a great deal of money - more than $125,000 - and making a visceral impact on my children."
Caputo accused members of the Senate Intelligence Committee of working together and contributing to the "swamp" - a term often used by President Trump to describe the bureaucracy in Washington, D.C.
This point Caputo illustrated by arguing Daniel Jones, a former Senate Intelligence staffer to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., was one of two sources in a recent McClatchy report about Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen - a report that Cohen himself denies.
"But who is McClatchy's second source? It couldn't be Dan; he was the first source ... So who could it be - perhaps one of his former Senate Intelligence colleagues? I mean, you're all in this together. You're the swamp."
Caputo called for an "investigation of the investigators" and said he wanted to know who was "coordinating this attack on President Donald Trump."
"Forget about all the death threats against my family. I want to know who cost us so much money, who crushed our kids, who forced us out of our home, all because you lost an election," Caputo said. "I want to know because God damn you to hell."
Caputo's interview before the panel lasted approximately three hours, according to the Buffalo News. Caputo said that he was asked about approximately 20 people affiliated with the Trump campaign and whether he was aware if they had been in touch with Russian officials.
"My answer for each of them was the same," Caputo said. "There was none."
Comment: Caputo had more to say abut the Mueller team interview: