Trump, White House Seize On Mueller Indictment As Proof Of ‘NO COLLUSION’

US President Donald Trump responds to a reporter's question on domestic violence following a working session regarding opportunity zones following the recently signed tax bill in the Oval Office of the White House on... US President Donald Trump responds to a reporter's question on domestic violence following a working session regarding opportunity zones following the recently signed tax bill in the Oval Office of the White House on February 14, 2018 in Washington, DC. / AFP PHOTO / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

President Donald Trump on Friday insisted that special counsel Robert Mueller’s indictment of 13 Russians and three Russian entities supported his claim that there was “no collusion” between members of his campaign and Russia.

“Russia started their anti-US campaign in 2014, long before I announced that I would run for President,” he tweeted. “The Trump campaign did nothing wrong – no collusion!”

The White House also claimed in an emailed statement that the indictment exculpated Trump and his campaign of any suspicion of collusion.

“President Donald J. Trump has been fully briefed on this matter and is glad to see the Special Counsel’s investigation further indicates—that there was NO COLLUSION between the Trump campaign and Russia and that the outcome of the election was not changed or affected,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in the statement.

In the same statement, Trump said, “It’s time we stop the outlandish partisan attacks, wild and false allegations, and far-fetched theories, which only serve to further the agendas of bad actors, like Russia, and do nothing to protect the principles of our institutions.”

“We must unite as Americans to protect the integrity of our democracy and our elections,” he went on.

But a person with knowledge of Mueller’s probe told Bloomberg Friday afternoon that the special counsel haven’t finished investigating whether Trump or members of his campaign colluded with Russia.

And despite the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia will attempt to interfere again in this year’s midterm elections, Trump has done little to address such potential disruption efforts.

FBI Director Christopher Wray on Tuesday testified that, while the bureau is undertaking “a lot of specific activities” against the possibility of interference, Trump did “not specifically” direct the FBI to do so.

Latest Livewire

Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for imkmu3 imkmu3 says:

    No Collusion, no collusion, you’re the collusion!

  2. Prisons are full of people who will assure you that they have proof of their innocence.

  3. Yeah, keep your hopes up donny boy that everybody is to stupid to believe you.
    Mueller is saving the big dog, top guy, President for the last hooray, biggest celebration ever coming.
    Sleep well tonight.

  4. Shorter sTumpy: Okay, so that whole “Russian Trump hoax” was maybe, kinda real, but hey I had no part in it. I’m as unwitting as they come.

  5. Dear “Mr. President*”

    If what’s good for America is bad for Russia, and the Russians clearly favoured you over Mrs. Clinton, will you publicly call the Russians fools for supporting you, or call them geniuses for damaging America?

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

134 more replies

Participants

Avatar for xpurg8d Avatar for littlegirlblue Avatar for sysprog Avatar for matthew1961 Avatar for mattinpa Avatar for cervantes Avatar for teenlaqueefa Avatar for bluinmaine Avatar for inversion Avatar for murgatroid Avatar for geofu54 Avatar for khaaannn Avatar for darrtown Avatar for tena Avatar for jtx Avatar for rickjones Avatar for tiowally Avatar for dannydorko Avatar for erik_t Avatar for redhand Avatar for the_loan_arranger Avatar for pegasus46 Avatar for karlwlewis Avatar for bcgister

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: