Russia's Election Meddling: Trump hits out at investigation
President Donald Trump, hitting out at the probes and congressional hearings into Russian election meddling, said yesterday Moscow is succeeding beyond its "wildest dreams" if its intention is to sow discord within the United States.
"They are laughing their asses off in Moscow. Get smart America!" Trump said in an early morning tweet.
It was one of a series of tweets posted by Trump in the wake of the indictments filed Friday by special counsel Robert Mueller against 13 Russians for meddling in the 2016 US presidential election.
The indictments lay out in detail an elaborate effort by Russians using social media and agents on the ground to accentuate political divisions to sway the election in favour of Trump and against his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
Trump has so far refrained from directly taking on Russia even though US intelligence chiefs warned that the interference was continuing and likely to target the upcoming US midterm elections.
"If it was the GOAL of Russia to create discord, disruption and chaos within the U.S. then, with all of the Committee Hearings, Investigations and Party hatred, they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams," Trump said.
In another tweet minutes before, he said: "I never said Russia did not meddle in the election, I said 'it may be Russia, or China or another country or group, or it may be a 400 pound genius sitting in bed and playing with his computer.'"
"The Russian 'hoax' was that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia - it never did!"
Trump said Saturday the FBI was so caught up in the Russia probe that it failed to heed signs which could have prevented the Parkland school shooting.
His comments came as he faces criticism from survivors of the attack over his ties to the powerful National Rifle Association, and after several thousand rallied in Florida to demand urgent action on gun control.
"Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable," he wrote on Twitter.
"They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign - there is no collusion. Get back to the basics and make us all proud!"
US authorities have come under mounting scrutiny for failing to act on a series of warning signs ahead of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in which 17 people were killed.
The FBI admitted Friday it received a chilling warning in January from a tipster who said the gunman Nikolas Cruz could be planning a mass shooting, but that agents failed to follow up.
But the attack, the 18th school shooting this year alone, has also renewed calls for greater gun control with several survivors leading the charge.
One of them, 18-year-old Emma Gonzalez delivered a fiery address to a crowd of students, parents and residents in Ft. Lauderdale.
"To every politician taking donations from the NRA, shame on you!" she thundered, assailing Trump over the multi-million-dollar support his campaign received from the gun lobby. The crowd chanted in turn: "Shame on you!"
"We are going to be the last mass shooting... We are going to change the law," she vowed -- slamming the fact 19-year-old Cruz was able to legally buy a semi-automatic firearm despite a history of troubling and violent behaviour.
"The question on whether or not people should be allowed to own an automatic weapon is not a political one. It is question of life or death and it needs to stop being a question of politics," Gonzalez told AFP following her speech.