Trump fumes over 'Fake News Media' as he distances himself from Russia indictments

AP Photo/Evan Vucci

President Donald Trump speaks during the National Prayer Breakfast, Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018, in Washington.

• President Donald Trump insisted there was no collusion in a series of tweets Saturday.
• He also said the Russians started conspiring against the US "long before" his 2016 run for president.
• Trump's tweets come a day after special counsel Robert Mueller indicted 13 Russians and three companies for their involvement in meddling in US politics beginning in 2014.

President Donald Trump lashed out at the "Fake News Media" in a series of tweets Saturday in which he distanced himself from special counsel Robert Mueller's ongoing investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election.

On Friday, Mueller's office charged 13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies with violating US law and interfering in the US political system. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced the indictments during a press conference, saying that Russians began preparing their interference campaign in 2014. He added that the indictment did not contain allegations of any effect on the outcome of the race.

"Funny how the Fake News Media doesn't want to say that the Russian group was formed in 2014, long before my run for President," Trump said in a tweet. "Maybe they knew I was going to run even though I didn't know!"

Several journalists, including New York Magazine correspondent Olivia Nuzzi, noted that Trump was in fact considering running for president as early as 2014.

"When I interviewed Trump in November 2014, he told me he was considering 2016," Nuzzi said in a tweet Saturday. She then linked to an article she published while she was working for The Daily Beast in December of that year that was titled, 'Trump is thinking about a run at the White House again."

Mueller's indictment filing said the Russians started their operation around June 2014, five months before Trump's interview with Nuzzi. The New York Times' Maggie Haberman also noted that Trump had been considering a presidential run since 2014, though it's unclear whether she made the statement in reference to Nuzzi's story or another report.

Nevertheless, the charges were hailed as a triumph by a president who frequently complains on Twitter and to advisers about the Russia investigation, which he has characterized as a "hoax," a "witch hunt," and "fake news." He has also cast doubt on the intelligence community's assessment that Russia's efforts were undertaken in an effort to boost him to the presidency.

In several tweets on Saturday, Trump cited a New York Post columnist and Facebook's vice president of ads to support his claims.

"'Charges Deal Don A Big Win,'" written by Michael Goodwin of the @nypost, succinctly states that 'the Russians had no impact on the election results.' There was no Collusion with the Trump Campaign. 'She lost the old-fashioned way, by being a terrible candidate. Case closed,'" Trump said.

Friday's indictment did not accuse any Americans of being knowingly involved in Russia's influence operation, but experts said the charges are likely an avenue to the next step: determining whether any US citizens or, more narrowly, members of Trump's campaign had knowledge of, aided, or abetted the Russian effort.

In addition to examining whether the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow, Mueller is also conducting a parallel investigation into whether Trump sought to obstruct justice in the Russia probe when he fired FBI director James Comey last May.