President Donald Trump said in a joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin Monday that special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 election “is a disaster for our country.”
“I think it’s kept us apart,” Trump continued. “It’s kept us separated. There was no collusion at all. Everybody knows it.”
He’d been asked about a tweet of his from earlier in the day that the Mueller probe was to blame for the strained tensions between the United States and Russia — notably leaving out Russia’s alleged election meddling.
“Do you hold Russia at all accountable for anything in particular?” Reuters’ Jeff Mason had asked.
Trump added: “People are being brought out to the fore. So far, that I know, virtually none of it related to the campaign. And they’re going to have to try really hard to find somebody that did relate to the campaign.”
Trump said he’d run a “clean campaign.”
“We won that race,” he said. “It’s a shame that there could even be a little bit of a cloud over it. People know that. People understand it.”
He said the “main thing” — “we discussed this also,” he noted, referring to Putin — “is zero collusion.”
“It has had a negative impact upon the relationship of the two largest nuclear powers in the world,” he concluded. “We have 90 percent of nuclear power between the two countries. It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous what’s going on with the probe.”
Watch below:
Standing beside Putin, Trump calls Mueller probe "a disaster for our country.” pic.twitter.com/NVtEk7GYFi
— Matt Shuham (@mattshuham) July 16, 2018
Glad the two of them cleared that up.
#SummitsAintWhatTheyUsedToBeIGuess
Dude. Imma put this in terms you’ll be able to understand:
The probe is a disaster for Trump.
You, though, are a disaster to this country.
“Trump At Putin Presser: Mueller Probe Is ‘A Disaster For Our Country’”
Close, but no gold ring there Agent Orange. The underlying conduct on Russia’s and your parts is a disaster for our country.
The next shoe to drop by Mueller is going to be a doozy.
And he keeps on with
No Collusion No Collusion
Except for
probe
George Papadopoulos, former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser, pleaded guilty in October to making false statements to the FBI.
Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser, pleaded guilty in December to making false statements to the FBI.
Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chair, was indicted in October in Washington, DC on charges of conspiracy, money laundering, and false statements — all related to his work for Ukrainian politicians before he joined the Trump campaign. He’s pleaded not guilty on all counts. Then, in February, Mueller filed a new case against him in Virginia, with tax, financial, and bank fraud charges.
Rick Gates, a former Trump campaign aide and Manafort’s longtime junior business partner, was indicted on similar charges to Manafort. But in February he agreed to a plea deal with Mueller’s team, pleading guilty to just one false statements charge and one conspiracy charge.
5-20) 13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies were indicted on conspiracy charges, with some also being accused of identity theft. The charges related to a Russian propaganda effort designed to interfere with the 2016 campaign. The companies involved are the Internet Research Agency, often described as a “Russian troll farm,” and two other companies that helped finance it. The Russian nationals indicted include 12 of the agency’s employees and its alleged financier, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Richard Pinedo: This California man pleaded guilty to an identity theft charge in connection with the Russian indictments, and has agreed to cooperate with Mueller.
Alex van der Zwaan: This London lawyer pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI about his contacts with Rick Gates and another unnamed person based in Ukraine.
Konstantin Kilimnik: This longtime business associate of Manafort and Gates, who’s currently based in Russia, was charged alongside Manafort with attempting to obstruct justice by tampering with witnesses in Manafort’s pending case this year.
24-35) 12 Russian GRU officers: These officers of Russia’s military intelligence service were charged with crimes related to the hacking and leaking of leading Democrats’ emails in 20