WASHINGTON — If President Donald Trump was hoping to head out on his first big foreign trip with turmoil calmed at home, he’s going to have a disappointing Air Force One departuretoday.

Combative and complaining, Trump fell short Thursday in trying to resolve investigations into his campaign and his first four months in office. He’s departing having fervently denied that his campaign had collaborated with Russia or that he’d tried to kill an FBI probe of the issue — and claiming to be the most hounded president in history. Even his enemies, Trump declared, recognize his innocence.

Asked point-blank if he’d done anything that might merit prosecution or even impeachment, Trump said no — and then added of the lingering allegations and questions: “I think it’s totally ridiculous. Everybody thinks so.”

Not quite everybody.

While Trump tweeted and voiced his indignation, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed a special counsel to lead an independent federal Trump-Russia investigation, briefed the entire Senate in private. By several senators’ accounts, he contradicted Trump’s statements that Rosenstein’s written criticism of FBI Director James Comey had been a factor in Comey’s recent firing by the president.

Rosenstein was returning to the Capitol today for another closed-door session, this time with all members of the House.

Trump is leaving today for his first foreign trip, to the Mideast and beyond, and aides had hoped the disarray at home would have been calmed if not resolved by takeoff time. Republicans on Capitol Hill hoped the same, reasoning that the appointment of a special counsel could free them to work on a major tax overhaul — and other matters — without constant distractions.

Trump said he was about to name a replacement for Comey, another effort to settle the waters. Former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman was seen as the front-runner.

Trump denied allegations about collusion with Russia at a news briefing Thursday.

“The entire thing has been a witch hunt,” he declared, echoing one of the tweets he’d sent out just after dawn: “This is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!”

He said he respected the special counsel appointment but also said it “hurts our country terribly.”