President Donald Trump dubiously suggested investigators from special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe “will be meddling” in the upcoming midterm elections.
Trump tweeted Tuesday that “13 Angry Democrats” assigned to the investigation plan to attempt to interfere with the elections, most of which will be held on Nov. 6. As usual, he failed to mention that Mueller himself is a lifelong Republican.
Although Trump has refused to firmly accept that Russia attempted to swing the 2016 presidential election in his favor ― as confirmed by the U.S. intelligence community in January 2017 ― he tweeted with certainty that Mueller’s investigators would tamper with the midterms.
There is zero evidence to suggest Trump’s statement is credible. However, in February, then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that Russia was already attempting to meddle in the midterms. He warned that the U.S. is no more prepared now than it was before the 2016 election to prevent Russian interference.
“Really, I think it’s just important to continue to say to Russia, ‘Look, if you think we don’t see what you’re doing, we do see it and you need to stop. If you don’t, you’re just going to continue to invite consequences for yourself,’” Tillerson told Fox News in February.
“I don’t know that I would say we are better prepared, because the Russians will adapt as well,” Tillerson said. “The point is, if it’s their intention to interfere, they are going to find ways to do that. We can take steps we can take, but this is something that, once they decide they are going to do it, it’s very difficult to pre-empt it.”
Trump has repeatedly attempted to smear the credibility of Mueller’s investigation. On Sunday, he lamented the “young and beautiful lives” supposedly “destroyed” by the “phony” Russia probe, tweeting that many of them “went back home in tatters.” It’s unclear who he was referring to in his tweet, but at least 19 people, including several of Trump’s former campaign associates, have been charged in the investigation.
Minutes after accusing Mueller’s investigators of election meddling, Trump tweeted Tuesday that he needed to “start focusing my energy” on other issues.