ratcliffe is well known for criticizing the fbi and the special counsel investigation as being biased against trump. ratcliffe has also alleged that russian interference may have benefited trump's 2016 rival candidate hillary clinton more than it benefited trump. american intelligence agencies, the senate intelligence committee and robert mueller have maintained that russia interfered to help trump. a week before trump's announcement, ratcliffe had argued that the special counsel investigation put trump "below the law" because it declined to exonerate trump. later, ratcliffe claimed on fox news that the special counsel investigation's report was not written by special counsel robert mueller, but by "hillary clinton’s de facto legal team".