President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Monday morning to blame the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election — not the interference itself — for chilly relations between Washington and Moscow, just hours before he was slated to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland.
“Our relationship with Russia has NEVER been worse thanks to many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt!” Trump tweeted, deploying his favorite derogatory nickname for special counsel Robert Muellers sprawling investigation.
“President Obama thought that Crooked Hillary was going to win the election, so when he was informed by the FBI about Russian Meddling, he said it couldnt happen, was no big deal, & did NOTHING about it. When I won it became a big deal and the Rigged Witch Hunt headed by Strzok!” the president wrote earlier in the morning, referring to Agent Peter Strzok, who has come under criticism for personal texts he sent that were critical of Trump.
The broadsides were nothing new for the president, who has long railed against the investigation and questioned the intelligence communitys conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to aid his chances of winning.
The tweets come at a charged time, however, after Mueller indicted 12 Russians on Friday for their role in hacking the Democratic National Committee during the campaign and leaking the emails. Whether Trump will press Putin on the hacking and broader interference campaign on Monday remains an open question.
Trump has repeated Putins claim that Russia had nothing to do with the hacking, after past meetings with the Russian leader. The Helsinki summit will be their first formal one-on-one gathering and comes after Trump caused controversy last week at a NATO summit and in meetings in Britain.
Trump rehashed the NATO summit on Twitter on Monday, declaring it a success even after he spent much of the gathering berating allies for not spending enough on defense.
“Received many calls from leaders of NATO countries thanking me for helping to bring them together and to get them focused on financial obligations, both present & future,” Trump tweeted. “We had a truly great Summit that was inaccurately covered by much of the media. NATO is now strong & rich!”
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