President Donald Trump on Thursday once again vouched for the innocence of Russian President Vladimir Putin when it comes to his country’s interference in the 2016 presidential election.
“Russia continues to say they had nothing to do with Meddling in our Election!” the president wrote. “Where is the DNC Server, and why didn’t Shady James Comey and the now disgraced FBI agents take and closely examine it? Why isn’t Hillary/Russia being looked at? So many questions, so much corruption!”
The president’s insistence on taking Putin’s word that he didn’t interfere flies in the face of the conclusions reached by the entire intelligence community and members of his own party.
Even the hyper-partisan report released by Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee concluded that Russia interfered directly in the 2016 election, although they hedged this by claiming that it didn’t do so with the explicit intention of helping Trump get elected.