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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