President Donald Trump started Monday with a couple of tweets that instantly drew snickers over repeated spelling errors, but it’s the substance of what he said that appears more interesting to one of his biggest critics.
“Democrats can’t find a Smocking Gun tying the Trump campaign to Russia after James Comey’s testimony. No Smocking Gun…No Collusion,” Trump said in one tweet, misspelling “smoking” while quoting Fox New. He went on to say, “there was NO COLLUSION,” defending campaign finance violations he’s been tied to as “a simple private transaction” that, if illegal would be “only a CIVIL CASE.”
“Democrats can’t find a Smocking Gun tying the Trump campaign to Russia after James Comey’s testimony. No Smocking Gun…No Collusion.” @FoxNews That’s because there was NO COLLUSION. So now the Dems go to a simple private transaction, wrongly call it a campaign contribution,…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 10, 2018
….which it was not (but even if it was, it is only a CIVIL CASE, like Obama’s – but it was done correctly by a lawyer and there would not even be a fine. Lawyer’s liability if he made a mistake, not me). Cohen just trying to get his sentence reduced. WITCH HUNT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 10, 2018
He also claimed that only his lawyer (in this case, Michael Cohen, the one who implicated him in the first place) would be liable, not him.
While some notable Twitter users chose to focus on the spelling errors, former CIA Director John Brennan looked to what Trump meant to say, and he was not at all impressed.
“Whenever you send out such inane tweets, I take great solace in knowing that you realize how much trouble you are in & how impossible it will be for you to escape American justice,” Brennan said. “Mostly, I am relieved that you will never have the opportunity to run for public office again.”
Whenever you send out such inane tweets, I take great solace in knowing that you realize how much trouble you are in & how impossible it will be for you to escape American justice. Mostly, I am relieved that you will never have the opportunity to run for public office again. https://t.co/JzB6YH8C6H
— John O. Brennan (@JohnBrennan) December 10, 2018
This comes after Special Counsel Robert Mueller‘s office filed a sentencing memo in Cohen’s case, in which they said Cohen lied about Trump connections with Russia in order to throw off an ongoing investigation. Cohen had previously pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations related to payments he arranged for Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, who both claimed to have had affairs with Trump. Cohen claimed he arranged those payments at Trump’s direction, which was echoed in a separate sentencing memo from federal prosecutors in New York.
Brennan and Trump have been at odds over the course of the current administration. Brennan, who left his post as the CIA chief in January 2017, has not been shy of criticizing the president regarding allegations of Russian collusion. Trump, meanwhile, revoked Brennan’s security clearance in August 2018, calling him “the worst CIA Director in our country’s history.”
[Image via NBC screengrab]
