The mainstream media and the liberal left will continue to push a "false narrative" that there was collusion between President Donald Trump's campaign and Russia, even following the two-hour meeting between the president and Russian President Vladimir Putin Friday, former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said Saturday.
"What we know now is that [former President] Barack Obama was the one who was informed in August of last year, before the election that Russia was trying to interfere in the elections and did nothing about it," Lewandowski told Fox News' "Fox News Saturday" show.
"What we saw yesterday and what's been reported yesterday is that the president took this issue directly to Vladimir Putin, questioned him if they were involved in meddling in the elections in any way, shape, or form, and from what we are hearing, the Russians have denied this," he added.
After Putin's denial, said Lewandowski, "I don't know what else the mainstream media can talk about other than the fact that there was no collusion," said Lewandowski. "There was no coordination. Now, the president is taking this issue directly to the president of Russia and raised it so now I think the issue is officially dead."
Lewandowski said Trump is a "great negotiator, and probably the greatest negotiator that has ever occupied the Oval Office," and that he likely had a conversation with Putin about matters on which the United States and Russia can work together, including in Syria to defeat ISIS.
He said the leaders probably also discussed that "if Russia did try to impact the U.S. elections, what were they doing and what steps can we take to make sure that that doesn't talk place in the future... I'm sure the president was very firm, very direct."
On Friday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Trump and Putin had a "robust and lengthy" discussion about the interference, though Putin denied involvement. However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov offered a different view of the conversation, saying Trump accepted Putin's assurances that Russia didn't meddle in the U.S. election.
Lewandowski said the media had predicted that Trump would not mention Russian hacking, and that's why the public doesn't respect the press.
"They are not on television today saying, 'You know what? Thank you, Mr. President, for bringing up this issue,'" said Lewandowski. "All they want to do is go after the president with a false story that he is not going to bring up something."
Lewandowski also defended Tillerson against claims made by Rep. Maxine Waters and others who complain about his foreign policy experience.
"You have to remember what Rex's job was before he was a secretary of state," said Lewandowski. "He was the CEO of one of the largest companies in the world. He had more employees than the State Department did. He did business all over the world."
Tillerson also knows Russia and Putin, said Lewandowski.
"For Maxine Waters to make such an egregious statement shows her ignorance and how she has no understanding of what actually takes place," he continued. "It goes back to the specific narrative that Democrats never want to give the president credit for doing exact opposite of what they think he is going to do, which is to stand up for the American people,"
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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