President Trump Accuses President Obama Of 'Collusion' And 'Obstruction"

WASHINGTON, DC — President Trump attacked Democrats, Obamacare, Hillary Clinton, President Obama and the Russia investigation in a series of disjointed and incendiary tweets Monday morning. He accused Obama of having "colluded" and "obstructed" — two charges that have been leveled at Trump himself in recent months — though he did not make it at all clear what he actually meant with these accusations, nor did he provide any evidence to support the statements.

"The reason that President Obama did NOTHING about Russia after being notified by the CIA of meddling is that he expected Clinton would win," Trump wrote, "and did not want to 'rock the boat.' He didn't 'choke,' he colluded or obstructed, and it did the Dems and Crooked Hillary no good." (For more information on this and other political stories, subscribe to the White House Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

Trump here referred to a widely read article in the Washington Post that detailed the Obama administration's reticence to respond to Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election, despite the CIA becoming aware of the attempts early on. Most reports do suggest, as Trump notes, that Obama's hesitance to address the issue was due in part to his belief that the Russian influence to hurt Clinton's campaign would fail.

However, Trump's accusation that Obama "colluded or obstructed" appears to be less grounded in fact. He is erroneously conflating two completely distinct charges while providing no reason to think Obama is guilty of either.

Trump himself has been accused of "colluding" with Russia to influence the election, though it's not clear exactly what this charge entails or what would count as evidence for it. More concretely, many critics argue that Trump did commit obstruction of justice by firing then-FBI Director James Comey, a decision which Trump has said was driven by his belief that the Russia investigation is a hoax. In these tweets, Trump tries to deflect these charges on to Obama. (Trump previously accused Obama of "wiretapping" Trump tower, again with no evidence.)

Comey has since said that the investigation into possible collusion between Russia and Trump campaign did not directly target the Trump; however, reports suggest that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is investigating Trump on potential obstruction of justice charges.

"The real story is that President Obama did NOTHING after being informed in August about Russian meddling. With 4 months looking at Russia," he continued, "under a magnifying glass, they have zero 'tapes' of T people colluding. There is no collusion & no obstruction. I should be given apology!"

Since Mueller is currently leading the investigation into the Trump campaign and Russian interference behind closed doors, there's no way to know what, if any, evidence of collusion exists. According to Comey, Trump said that he would want to know if any of his associates worked with the Russians; Trump's lawyers even pointed to this fact as evidence that Trump was not trying to obstruct justice. In these tweets, however, Trump reaches a conclusion about an ongoing investigation, despite the fact that he should not have and likely does not have any direct knowledge of its progress.

Congressional Democrats were the other major subject of Trump's ire Monday morning.

"The Democrats have become nothing but OBSTRUCTIONISTS, they have no policies or ideas. All they do is delay and complain.They own ObamaCare!" he said. "Republican Senators are working very hard to get there, with no help from the Democrats. Not easy! Perhaps just let OCare crash & burn!"

It is true that Senate Democrats have refused to help craft the Republican alternative to Obamacare, since they continue to support the law. However, Senate Republicans have made their plans to exclude the Democrats from deliberation explicitly, intentionally using a parliamentary procedure that means they don't need any Democratic votes. And most Senate Republicans appear to have been completely left out of the process of drafting the health care; Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his aides worked on the bill largely in secret and without outside input.

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