Amid the continuing push by Democrats and the liberal mainstream media on Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election, President Donald Trump trained his guns on his predecessor Barack Obama on Tuesday, virtually accusing him of inaction on that front.
“Obama was President up to, and beyond, the 2016 Election. So why didn’t he do something about Russian meddlingIJ” Trump tweeted, going on to assert: “I have been much tougher on Russia than Obama, just look at the facts. Total Fake News!”
He also accused Obama of changing his tune on the sanctity of the US election process. Saying Obama was dismissive of his fears of rigging possibility, Trump said his predecessor told him to “stop whining” and make his case to the people.
But the “whole game changed and the Russian excuse became the narrative of Dems” when he won the election, Trump said in another tweet, commenting: “That’s because he (Obama) thought Crooked Hillary was going to win and he didn’t want to “rock the boat”.
Trump’s latest outburst over the Russian probe came in the wake of a CNN report that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is now expanding his focus on Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner’s “efforts to secure financing for his company from foreign investors during the presidential transition”.
The report, citing people familiar with the probe, claimed that Mueller was now looking at Kushner’s bid to get potential foreign investors in not only Russia, but also China. At the same time, the report noted that Mueller’s team has so far not contacted Kushner Companies for information or requested interviews with its executives.
Trump has been engaged in a furious tweetstorm since Mueller’s indictment of 13 Russian nationals and three firms last week for conducting an illegal “information warfare” in the run-up to the 2016 election that was intended to help Republican Trump and hurt Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Trump who has all along been dismissive of the reported Russian meddling changed his own tune a bit, saying that his earlier “hoax” description was only in relation to reports of the alleged nexus between his campaign and the Russians – something that the Mueller probe has not determined as yet.
“I never said Russia did not meddle in the election,” Trump had tweeted on Sunday, adding: “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!”