As he’s in the habit of doing, on Wednesday morning President Trump tweeted out a quote from a friendly conservative commentator — his goal this time being to justify the controversial firing of FBI agent Peter Strzok.
Trump shared a quote from former FBI official Chris Swecker, who wrote in a Fox News column that the Strzok firing “was a decision step in the right direction in correcting the wrongs committed by what has been described as Comey’s skinny inner circle.”
“The action (the Strzok firing) was a decisive step in the right direction in correcting the wrongs committed by what has been described as Comey’s skinny inner circle.” Chris Swecker, former FBI Assistant Director.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 15, 2018
But there’s a big problem with Swecker’s column that Trump seemingly missed — to make his case, he cited tweets posted by fake Peter Strzok Twitter accounts.
“Strzok is now engaged in an unhinged Twitter rant of vitriol towards President Trump that matches the hatred he expressed for Trump in his texts with Page. He has even revealed new and possibly classified or confidential investigative detail – or simply told lies – on Twitter,” Swecker wrote, paraphrasing fake Strzok tweets.
Donald Trump just quoted from a Fox News opinion column by Chris Swecker that references tweets sent by fake Peter Strzok accounts on Twitter. Good job, everyone, all around. pic.twitter.com/7jxgLp6UhH
— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) August 15, 2018
As this is published, the real Strzok has only posted two tweets, and neither of them attack the president.
Trump promoted a column featuring fake Strzok quotes just minutes after he posted a tweet that employed circular reasoning to make a case that the FBI is infected with anti-Trump bias.
The Rigged Russian Witch Hunt goes on and on as the “originators and founders” of this scam continue to be fired and demoted for their corrupt and illegal activity. All credibility is gone from this terrible Hoax, and much more will be lost as it proceeds. No Collusion!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 15, 2018
Trump’s flawed logic is that since so many FBI officials involved in investigating his campaign have been fired, they must have been up to no good. But as Trump has publicly admitted — including as recently as Tuesday on Twitter — the real reason those officials were fired is because they were investigating him.
Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch: “The Strzok firing is as much about the Mueller operation as anything else. There would be no Mueller Special Councel to investigate so called collusion but for the machinations of Strzok & his colleagues at the top levels of the FBI. We know this…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 14, 2018
As ThinkProgress detailed on Tuesday, tweets like the one in which Trump acknowledged Strzok’s firing “is as much about the Mueller operation as anything else” are evidence that Trump continues actively obstructing justice, even while special counsel Robert Mueller investigates him for obstruction of justce.
Trump, however, seems to conflate obstructing justice with “fighting back.”