Three prominent Trump loyalists didn’t react well to the news that special counsel Robert Mueller has filed the first indictment stemming from the investigation of the Trump campaign for possible collusion with Russia.
After the news broke on Friday evening, Sean Hannity, Roger Stone, and Sebastian Gorka each had their own Twitter meltdowns.
Hannity — the Fox News host who played a key role in encouraging Trump’s Republican supporters in Congress to announce this week that they’re launching new investigations into Hillary Clinton — posted a cryptic tweet suggesting the news is somehow bad for Mueller, and another wondering why Clinton isn’t being prosecuted.
This has been a HORRIBLE week for Mueller, Special Counsel’s office. THIS IS ALL A DISTRACTION. Monday I’ll have the details. TICK TOCK….!
— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) October 28, 2017
When will @HillaryClinton be indicted?
— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) October 28, 2017
Earlier this year, Hannity refused to stop pushing a dubious story about the DNC as part of his effort to muddy the waters about Russia’s interference in the election on behalf of Trump, even after Fox News retracted its erroneous coverage of it.
Gorka, the former White House official who suggested on Hannity’s show on Thursday that Clinton should be tried for treason and executed, reacted to the news by calling for a prosecution of Mueller.
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) October 28, 2017
Later, Gorka claimed that Mueller — who was appointed FBI director by Republican President George W. Bush — has a conflict of interest when it comes to Trump because of his personal relationship with former FBI director James Comey, who Trump fired amid the ongoing investigation into his campaign.
Stone, a longtime Trump confidante who has admitted to having private communications during the campaign with a Twitter account U.S. officials believe was used by Russian operatives, posted a number of crude personal attacks against employees of CNN, the outlet that first broke news of Mueller’s indictment. (UPDATE: Stone’s Twitter account has been suspended.)
.@jaketapper must be held accountable for his lies and very severely punished #Fakenewsasswipe
— Roger Stone (@RogerJStoneJr) October 28, 2017
.@donlemon stop lying about about the Clinton's and Uranium you ignorant lying covksucker !!!! You fake news you dumb piece of shit.
— Roger Stone (@RogerJStoneJr) October 28, 2017
No .@CharlesBlow YOU Lie- u have no cried you fast talking arrogant fake news piece of shit !
— Roger Stone (@RogerJStoneJr) October 28, 2017
Unfortunately for Stone, CNN’s reporting was quickly confirmed by a number of other outlets.
The White House is also trying to shift blame to Clinton. On Saturday morning, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders reacted to news of Mueller’s indictment by alleging that the true colluder is Clinton.
The evidence Clinton campaign, DNC & Russia colluded to influence the election is indisputable->https://t.co/nLRAMrJK3c
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) October 28, 2017
Sanders’ tweet echoed one posted by Trump himself on Friday.
“It is now commonly agreed, after many months of COSTLY looking, that there was NO collusion between Russia and Trump,” the president tweeted. “Was collusion with HC!”
It is now commonly agreed, after many months of COSTLY looking, that there was NO collusion between Russia and Trump. Was collusion with HC!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 27, 2017
Trump, who regularly live-tweets Fox News, didn’t detail exactly who he believes agrees with him on that point.
When Trump and his surrogates haven’t been trying to shift the blame to Clinton, they’ve been living in fantasy land. During a Fox & Friends interview on Saturday morning, former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski seemed to forget Trump was president and repeatedly called for new scrutiny on “the Clinton administration.”
Meanwhile, the website run by Trump’s former chief White House strategist — Breitbart News — pretended like the Mueller indictments aren’t happening at all.
As of Saturday afternoon, the site’s homepage didn’t feature a single article about it.