Trump Invokes Facebook Executive's Comments on Russian Meddling
February 17 2018 - 06:32PM
Dow Jones News
By Julie Bykowicz
WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump said Saturday that an
alleged Russian plot to influence the 2016 election didn't benefit
his campaign, invoking comments by a Facebook Inc. executive to
support his position.
"The Fake News Media never fails," Mr. Trump wrote as part of a
series of afternoon posts on Twitter. "Hard to ignore this fact
from the Vice President of Facebook Ads, Rob Goldman!"
The president's reference was to a post on Twitter from earlier
in the day by Mr. Goldman which said that "Most of the coverage of
Russian meddling involves their attempt to effect [sic] the outcome
of the 2016 US election. I have seen all of the Russian ads and I
can say very definitively that swaying the election was *NOT* the
main goal."
The comments came a day after special counsel Robert Mueller
indicted three Russian companies and 13 Russian citizens on charges
of engaging in a widespread effort to interfere in the 2016 U.S.
presidential election.
Mr. Mueller's indictment referred to paid promotion by Russian
operatives on social media, and engagement such as the formation
and maintenance of Twitter accounts and Facebook groups, which
doesn't cost any money.
The indictment also said that the Russian effort was "primarily
intended to communicate derogatory information about Hillary
Clinton," Mr. Trump's rival in the general election, as well as Mr.
Trump's competitors for the Republican nomination from earlier in
2016.
Mr. Goldman later made another post in response to people
accusing him of obscuring the intent of the Russians accused in the
indictment.
"As to the substance: the Russian campaign was certainly in
favor of Mr. Trump," he wrote.
Democrats, including former communications aides to Mrs.
Clinton, shared via Twitter Mr. Goldman's subsequent assertion that
the Russian activity was in favor of Mr. Trump.
Mr. Trump also wrote on Twitter on Saturday that the Russian
behavior cited in the indictment began in 2014, "long before my run
for President. Maybe they knew I was going to run even though I
didn't know!"
Mr. Trump didn't become an announced presidential candidate
until the spring of 2015, but he had been publicly floating the
idea for many years before that.
Mr. Trump's posts came as he was at his Mar-a-Lago resort in
Florida for the long Presidents Day weekend. He hasn't spoken
publicly about the indictment other than Friday night and Saturday
on Twitter.
Other members of Mr. Trump's campaign team also shared and
amplified Mr. Goldman's tweets.
Brad Parscale, who served as data and digital director for the
Trump campaign, wrote: " The hoax is the LIE that the campaign
colluded with this Russian campaign. The hoax is that the Democrats
want you to believe the Russians had real influence over the
election. We never denied that the Russians attempted."
Mr. Trump has repeatedly branded as a "hoax" allegations of
Russian interference in the U.S. election, a conclusion not only
spelled out in the indictment but in an early 2017 report from the
intelligence community. He has also called efforts by Mr. Mueller
and congressional committees to investigate whether his campaign
had anything to do with that interference a "witch hunt."
Write to Julie Bykowicz at julie.bykowicz@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 17, 2018 18:17 ET (23:17 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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