Amid the news that Facebook plans to arrange to turn over ads bought by Kremlin-linked entities during the 2016 campaign to Congress, President Donald Trump lashed out and dismissed the belief held by U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the 2016 election as a “hoax.”
Trump claimed that the real issues with the 2016 election were Hillary Clinton and the “fake news media” instead:
The Russia hoax continues, now it's ads on Facebook. What about the totally biased and dishonest Media coverage in favor of Crooked Hillary?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 22, 2017
The greatest influence over our election was the Fake News Media "screaming" for Crooked Hillary Clinton. Next, she was a bad candidate!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 22, 2017
Facebook announced Thursday it would turn over Russian ads from the 2016 election to Congress. A Kremlin-linked troll farm spent about $100,000 on political ads during the 2016 election, which Facebook has begun to remove.
Trump has long dismissed the Russia probe as a “hoax” and denied that his campaign tried to collude with Russia. In July, when news broke that Donald Trump, Jr. and other campaign aides met with a Kremlin-linked lawyer who promised dirt on Hillary Clinton, Trump called the investigation a “witch hunt.” At a rally in August, he called the probe a “total fabrication.”