With the news cycle once again squarely focused on Mike Flynn in particular, and the Trump Administration's ties to Russia in general following a volley of news last night from NYT, WaPo and CNN that Trump advisors allegedly communicated with members of Russian intellgience in the year preceding the election, it was expected that Trump's first comment of the day would be focused on the story du jour, and sure enough in his first tweet on Wednesday, President Trump blasted the “fake news media,” saying it is “going crazy with conspiracy theories and blind hatred.”
Trump also slammed MSNBC and CNN, but said Fox News’s “Fox & Friends” is “great!”
"The fake news media is going crazy with their conspiracy theories and blind hatred. @MSNBC & @CNN are unwatchable. @foxandfriends is great!" he tweeted.
The fake news media is going crazy with their conspiracy theories and blind hatred. @MSNBC & @CNN are unwatchable. @foxandfriends is great!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2017
In a follow up tweet, Trump also said "this Russian connection non-sense is merely an attempt to cover-up the many mistakes made in Hillary Clinton's losing campaign."
This Russian connection non-sense is merely an attempt to cover-up the many mistakes made in Hillary Clinton's losing campaign.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2017
Trump also blasted the continued "illegal leaks", saying it was "just like Russia":
"Information is being illegally given to the failing @nytimes & @washingtonpost by the intelligence community (NSA and FBI?).Just like Russia"
Information is being illegally given to the failing @nytimes & @washingtonpost by the intelligence community (NSA and FBI?).Just like Russia
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2017
As reported overnight, the president's tweets follow reports in The New York Times and CNN that Trump campaign aides were in "constant" contact with Russian officials.
The officials cited in the Times report said they have not discovered collaboration between the Trump campaign staff and Russian officials related to the hacking of Democratic organizations. The Intelligence Community in a report released last month concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin called for an influence campaign in an effort to help Trump win the White House. That report noted that it did not assess the impact of Russia's actions on the 2016 election.
Trump's tweets also come after a shake-up in the White House following the resignation of his national security, Michael Flynn, late Monday. Flynn resigned after reports that he misled White House officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, on conversations he had with Russia's ambassador to the United States before Trump's inauguration. Flynn originally said he did not discuss sanctions with the ambassador, Sergey Kislyak. The Washington Post later reported that the two did discuss sanctions prior to Trump taking office.