5 Things to Know About the Russia Investigation, Mueller Indictments, Trump Collusion
4. Trump denies collusion; some tweets conflict with past statements.
For his part, President Trump denies that he or any of his campaign team in any way colluded with Russia, and Friday's indictments show no evidence of Trump-Russia collusion. But some of his most recent words conflict with what he has said in the past.
In a statement, the White House said president was fully briefed on the indictment 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."
Over the weekend the president tweeted many times about the Russia case. Several pointed out that the content of those tweets contradicted his past statements.
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Early Sunday morning the President tweeted: "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.' The Russian 'hoax' was that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia - it never did!"
Washington Free Beacon reporter Alex Griswold tweeted in response: "This is a lie. At several times, Trump also referred to the Russia meddling allegations as a hoax as well, not just the collusion allegations," citing past Trump tweets and statements from 2017 and his remarks during the third presidential debate in Oct 2016 where cast doubt on the Russia hacking operations, including charging the DNC of orchestrating the cyber attack.
The president subsequently posted on Twitter: "If it was the GOAL of Russia to create discord, disruption and chaos within the U.S. then, with all of the Committee Hearings, Investigations and Party hatred, they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. They are laughing their asses off in Moscow. Get smart America!"
