President Trump has his own theory about what’s behind recent scandals over Russia:
This Russian connection non-sense is merely an attempt to cover-up the many mistakes made in Hillary Clinton's losing campaign.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2017
Information is being illegally given to the failing @nytimes & @washingtonpost by the intelligence community (NSA and FBI?).Just like Russia
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2017
He later reiterated his attack against leaks from the intelligence community:
The real scandal here is that classified information is illegally given out by "intelligence" like candy. Very un-American!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2017
Wednesday’s tweets followed emerging reports about former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, whose forced resignation came after the public learned he may have lied about his Dec. 29 conversation with Russia’s ambassador, as well as a New York Times report that members of Trump’s 2016 campaign and other associates were in contact with the Russian intelligence community.
During the campaign, Trump had called for warmer relations with Moscow, though he has recently said he may end up not getting along with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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“I’ve had many times where I thought I’d get along with people and I don’t like them at all,” Trump said last month.
In July, then-candidate Trump urged Russian officials to publish whatever e-mails they may have stolen from his rival, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing,” he said.
The comments came shortly after the Democratic National Committee’s computer servers had been hacked, which US intelligence officials said they have “high confidence” the attack came from the Russians.
Trump’s remarks were also part of his rhetoric attacking Clinton over her use of private e-mail servers while she was secretary of State. The FBI twice concluded that Clinton should not face criminal charges over the issue.
Also on Wednesday, Trump singled out a news show for praise, barely a week after his senior adviser came under fire for promoting his daughter’s products from within the White House.
The fake news media is going crazy with their conspiracy theories and blind hatred. @MSNBC & @CNN are unwatchable. @foxandfriends is great!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2017
Nicole Hernandez can be reached at nicole.hernandez@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @NRHSJax.
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