Trump lashes out at 'Fake News Media' over Mueller indictments

Source: The Hill | February 17, 2018 | Jordan Fabian

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Trump on Saturday attacked the news media for its coverage of special counsel Robert Mueller’s indictment of more than a dozen Russians accused of interfering in the 2016 election.

In a series of tweets, Trump said news outlets have not highlighted the ways he believes the charges exonerate his campaign from colluding with Moscow’s election-meddling efforts.

“Funny how the Fake News Media doesn’t want to say that the Russian group was formed in 2014, long before my run for President. Maybe they knew I was going to run even though I didn’t know!” the president tweeted.

Trump has repeatedly seized on the charge, included in Mueller’s indictments released Friday, that the Russian efforts began well before the business mogul entered the presidential race. There were signs, however, that Trump was exploring a run as early as 2014.

The president on Saturday also cited a New York Post column that called the indictment “a big win” for Trump, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s statement that it did not include allegations that “any American was a knowing participant in this illegal activity” and a Facebook executive’s claim that most Russian ad spending came after the election.

The tweets are part of Trump’s efforts to spin the indictment in his favor, even though it undercut his longstanding claim that Russia’s election meddling was a “hoax.”

Trump’s critics have accused the president of misrepresenting Mueller’s charges.

The Justice Department has said the special counsel’s investigation is still ongoing and has yet to definitively conclude whether Trump’s campaign cooperated with the Kremlin’s efforts to interfere in the election. Mueller’s probe is also believed to be exploring whether Trump obstructed the federal investigation into Russian interference.

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