Did Trump Just Admit Attempted Collusion? These Reporters Think So
President Donald Trump blasted out a tweet Sunday morning — amongst many — declaring that reports saying he’s worried his son Don Jr. could be in legal trouble are a “complete fabrication.” But he also described the infamous meeting at Trump Tower as a “meeting to get information on an opponent.”
Fake News reporting, a complete fabrication, that I am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son, Donald, had in Trump Tower. This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics – and it went nowhere. I did not know about it!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 5, 2018
That’s interesting, because Don Jr.’s initial statement about meeting said its focus was “a program about the adoption of Russian children,” and not an attempt to seek out dirt from the Russians on Hillary Clinton
As Special Counsel Robert Mueller investigates potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election, the Trump Tower meeting has come under scrutiny.
NBC News’ Chuck Todd pointed out that in the tweet, “the president admits his campaign did willingly reach out to Russians for dirt on Clinton.”
“Attempted collusion?” he asked.
Um…In this tweet, the president admits his campaign did willingly reach out to Russians for dirt on Clinton. Attempted collusion? https://t.co/1b8L8hPy1b
— Chuck Todd (@chucktodd) August 5, 2018
Others drew the same conclusion, noting that Trump appears to have just given up on denying accusations of collusion.
POTUS deep-sixes the “adoption” lie. Collusion is fine and everyone does it. https://t.co/Pg0IIq6MBm
— Nick Confessore (@nickconfessore) August 5, 2018
Oh. My. God. https://t.co/xzJlzngoYH
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) August 5, 2018
Out: “NO COLLUSION!”
In: “SOME COLLUSION!” https://t.co/IsFqNh3u7p
— David Frum (@davidfrum) August 5, 2018
So not adoptions then? https://t.co/gz65pOAk0W
— Alex Ward (@AlexWardVox) August 5, 2018
Oh wow. Here’s a U.S. president, for the first time in American history, admitting that his campaign accepted offers of help from Russia: https://t.co/lmPtzs1jNz
— Casey Michel 🇰🇿 (@cjcmichel) August 5, 2018
Ooooopsie.
We are going to be hearing about this tweet a whole lot for a long time. As well as whatever insane nonsense Rudy comes up with to explain it. https://t.co/4UlhnAPYhz
— Adam Davidson (@adamdavidson) August 5, 2018
SOME COLLUSION! https://t.co/YW6mTzjovR
— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) August 5, 2018
oops you just admitted it was collusion! https://t.co/vTIEM2d3hS
— Topher Spiro (@TopherSpiro) August 5, 2018
You mean, a meeting about adoptions, the subject of which was “not a campaign issue”?https://t.co/7VHwAv8tyM
— Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) August 5, 2018
No need for a Trump tweet to confirm that! We had the email trail since last summer. I’ve been writing about this over and over: attempted collusion is proven. Attempted murder & murder are separated by outcome, not intent. Same with attempted collusion. https://t.co/0BfCHuHeL4 https://t.co/sBn53iDKri
— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) August 5, 2018
Recall that original explanation for this meeting, in statement from Don Jr that POTUS helped write was that this was “a short introductory meeting…primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children…” 1/ https://t.co/166X7pdHNA
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) August 5, 2018
4/ POTUS this morning said: “This was a meeting to get information on an opponent…”
So please feel free to be the judge as to who has been sharing fabrications.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) August 5, 2018
(Photo by Saul Loeb-Pool/Getty Images)
—
Follow Aidan McLaughlin (@aidnmclaughlin) on Twitter
Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com
Follow Mediaite