President Trump on Friday afternoon declared on Twitter that a new round of indictments in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation show his campaign “did nothing wrong” and prove there was “no collusion” with Russia.
“Russia started their anti-US campaign in 2014, long before I announced that I would run for President,” Trump tweeted. “The results of the election were not impacted. The Trump campaign did nothing wrong - no collusion!”
Earlier Friday, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced the indictments of 13 Russian nationals and three Russian groups. They were charged with multiple counts as part of their attempts to interfere in the 2016 election.
“The indictment alleges that the Russian conspirators want to promote discord in the United States and undermine public confidence in democracy,” Rosenstein said.
The indictment states that the Russians tried to influence the US election beginning in 2014 as part of an operation mounted by the Internet Research Agency, a Russian operation based in St. Petersburg that used social networks to spread divisive messages in the lead up to the 2016 election.
The indictment alleges the goal of the Russians was to support then-candidate Trump and hurt Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. Some of the Russians posed as Americans and communicated with “unwitting individuals associated with the Trump Campaign and with other political activists to seek to coordinate political activities.”
Rosenstein noted that there is no allegation in the indictment that Americans had any knowledge of the operation.
"There is no allegation in the indictment on the outcome of the election," he said.
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