PRESIDENT Donald Trump said Sunday he believes Russia has been wildly successful in disrupting the United States political landscape with its interference in the 2016 election because of the subsequent months-long investigations it spawned.
“If it was the goal of Russia to create discord, disruption and chaos within the US,” Trump said in a Twitter comment, “then, with all of the Committee Hearings, Investigations and (Republican) Party hatred, they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. They are laughing their asses off in Moscow. Get smart America!”
Trump was also critical of H.R. McMaster, his national security adviser, who said Saturday there was “incontrovertible” evidence of Russian interference in the election, a day after special counsel Robert Mueller charged 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities with conducting an illegal “information warfare” campaign to disrupt the 2016 presidential election and help Trump win.
“I never said Russia did not meddle in the election, I said ‘it may be Russia, or China or another country or group, or it may be a 400-pound genius sitting in bed and playing with his computer,’ Trump tweeted. “The Russian ‘hoax’ was that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia – it never did!”
Trump said McMaster “forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only Collusion was between Russia” and his Democratic opponent, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and other Democrats. Trump said McMaster overlooked Democratic funding of political opposition research in a controversial dossier alleging shady Trump links to Russian operatives.
Trump sarcastically praised one of his political opponents, Congressman Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, for saying that the administration of former President Barack Obama could have done more to thwart overseas cyber attacks after the 2014 hack into the files of the entertainment company Sony Pictures.
“I think that others around the world watched that and determined that cyber is a cost-free intervention,” Schiff said in an interview on NBC.
Trump tweeted, “Finally, Liddle’ Adam Schiff, the leakin’ monster of no control, is now blaming the Obama Administration for Russian meddling in the 2016 Election. He is finally right about something. Obama was President, knew of the threat, and did nothing. Thank you, Adam!”
Trump added, “Now that Adam Schiff is starting to blame President Obama for Russian meddling in the election, he is probably doing so as yet another excuse that the Democrats, led by their fearless leader, Crooked Hillary Clinton, lost the 2016 election. But wasn’t I a great candidate?
Trump has long contended that his campaign did not colluded with Russia, even as the US intelligence community and now Mueller have concluded that Russia conducted a wide campaign to meddle in the election to help Trump win.
Mueller’s indictment of the Russian interests contended that the Internet Research Agency, a St. Petersburg-based social media company with Kremlin ties, 12 of its employees, and its financial backer orchestrated the effort.
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