President Trump ripped former President Barack Obama early Monday in a series of tweets hours before a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
President Obama thought that Crooked Hillary was going to win the election, so when he was informed by the FBI about Russian Meddling, he said it couldn’t happen, was no big deal, & did NOTHING about it. When I won it became a big deal and the Rigged Witch Hunt headed by Strzok!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 16, 2018
In the following tweet, Trump said the nation’s relationship with Russia has “NEVER been worse,” citing “many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity” and the “Rigged Witch Hunt.”
Our relationship with Russia has NEVER been worse thanks to many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 16, 2018
Trump told CBS News in an interview broadcast on Sunday that Strzok’s testimony last week on Capitol Hill was “a disgrace to our country.”
“I watched some of the testimony, even though I’m in Europe, of Strzok. And I thought it was a disgrace to our country. I thought it was an absolute disgrace,” he said. “Where he wants to do things against me before I was even, I guess before I was even the candidate. It was a disgrace. And then he lied about it,” Trump added.
Strzok’s quickly devolved into rancorous partisan bickering after he declined to answer questions about special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election meddling and possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and Moscow. The president has frequently labeled that investigation a “witch hunt.”
Strzok exchanged text messages critical of Trump during the 2016 campaign with former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, with whom he was having an affair. He was removed from the Russia investigation when the messages came to light, but Republicans have targeted him as key to uncovering what they allege was systemic FBI bias against Trump during the campaign. Democrats, however, have labeled that effort as politically motivated.
Strzok also investigated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server.
