What did Donald Trump do today?
He falsely claimed that it is "commonly agreed" that he and his campaign did not collude with Russia.
Trump's tweet seems to be part of a new strategy to accuse Hillary Clinton and other Democrats of the crimes that he is being investigated for. None of the five ongoing federal investigations nor the various state-level probes have concluded or indicated anything that would exonerate Trump or his campaign.
There is absolute certainty among intelligence and federal law enforcement agencies that the Putin regime in Russia actively interfered in the 2016 election for the purpose of helping Donald Trump get elected. What remains to be seen, and what those investigations are aimed at discovering, is which Trump campaign or family members took what specific actions in furtherance of a criminal conspiracy. The list of potential targets includes Trump's campaign chair Paul Manafort, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, his son Donald Trump Jr., his foreign policy advisor Carter Page, his former national security advisor Michael Flynn and his son, campaign official Michael Flynn Jr., and of course Trump himself.
Trump frequently attributes his own beliefs (or simply things he would like people to believe) to what "many people are saying" or "a lot of people think."
UPDATE: CNN is reporting tonight that the federal grand jury convened by independent counsel Robert Mueller has returned a bill of indictment. (The indictments are under seal and the identity of the target is not known.) It is possible Trump was told in advance about the indictments: by law, Mueller would have been required to inform Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein before asking a grand jury to approve charges.
Why does this matter?
- Things are not true just because a president desperately wants people to believe them.
- Attributing your own bad actions or characteristics to other people is called projection, and it is not a sign of good mental health.