President Donald Trump took to Twitter early Sunday morning with perhaps his most bizarre false equivalency yet, delivering his latest dismissal of the allegations that his campaign illegally colluded with Russia to win the 2016 elections.
Trump defended his son Donald “Don” Trump Jr., who released emails Tuesday that showed the Trump campaign took a meeting with multiple Russians after being told they had “very high level and sensitive information” on their opponent. The information was “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.” Trump’s argument now: It’s unfair that Don is being “scorned” by the media because Hillary Clinton may have violated the rules in a March 2016 Democratic debate.
HillaryClinton can illegally get the questions to the Debate & delete 33,000 emails but my son Don is being scorned by the Fake News Media?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 16, 2017
With all of its phony unnamed sources & highly slanted & even fraudulent reporting, #Fake News is DISTORTING DEMOCRACY in our country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 16, 2017
The Trump administration has variously denied every meeting with Russians, dismissed its importance, claimed Trump didn’t know about it, and admitted he may have.
While stolen emails published by WikiLeaks did reveal that a then-CNN contributor Donna Brazile gave Clinton’s campaign a heads-up about some debate questions, it is a novel concept to suggest that this was somehow illegal. Moreover, a senior aide to her chief primary opponent, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), has confirmed that Brazile routinely helped both campaigns.
The greatest irony is that if Trump believes that breaking primary debate rules is illegal and equal to collusion with foreign governments, he too is guilty. Trump repeatedly broke GOP debate rules, consulting with his campaign manager during commercial breaks.
Trump continues to focus much of his time as president attacking his 2016 general election opponent and the media’s coverage of his presidency. A CNN analysis from last month found he has tweeted attacks on the media more than he’s mentioned jobs or the military and veterans.