Since William Barr issued his brief “summary” of the report from special counsel Robert Mueller, Donald Trump has been claiming that the report gave him “total exoneration” and showed that there was “no collusion.” But on Thursday night, Trump extended his lies about the findings of the report in a new and fundamental way. In a pair of overnight tweets, Trump claimed that “The Mueller Report strongly stated that there was No Collusion with Russia (of course) and, in fact, they were rebuffed at every turn in attempts to gain access.”
That’s a massive shift from Rudy Giuliani appearing on television just two weeks ago to claim "There’s nothing wrong with taking information from Russians." And from Barr’s labored efforts to explain that just because the campaign was getting information from the Russians, and giving information to the Russians, it doesn’t mean it was working with the Russians. And it is a fundamental difference from what’s actually in the report.
Trump embedded this in a sort of can’t-we-all-get-along tweet about everyone forgetting the report and working together on infrastructure, and drug prices, and immigration. But what Trump is selling here isn’t just a minor bump to his framing. It’s a complete rewrite of the entire report, one hundred and eighty degrees at odds with the genuine findings. It’s a change that wipes away not only the actual report, but also everything Trump’s own team has said in his defense since the investigation began.
The special counsel report shows hundreds of instances of contact between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives, and rather than being rebuffed, many of these contacts were initiated from the Trump side. That’s true in the case of George Papadopoulos, who not only reached out again and again for contact, but “kept campaign officials apprised of his efforts.” It’s true of Paul Manafort, who began trying to arrange meetings with his longtime Russian employer even before he gained the chairmanship of the campaign. It’s certainly true of “If it’s what you say, I love it” Donald Trump Jr. and his eagerness to schedule the Trump Tower meeting and bring in other campaign officials.
“Welcomed” is the word the report uses in describing the Trump campaign’s acceptance of information stolen by Russia. The word “rebuffed” does not appear anywhere in the report. Because they didn’t. Carter Page didn’t. Papadopoulos didn’t. Michael Flynn didn’t. Jefferson Sessions didn’t. Jared Kushner didn’t. Manafort didn’t. Erik Prince didn’t. Sam Clovis didn’t. All of them—and more—responded to Russian outreach by reaching back—and in many cases, by initiating further contacts on their own.
And it wasn’t just campaign officials. Here are the investigation’s results regarding an early meeting among Trump’s advisers.
Papadopoulos told the group that he had learned through his contacts in London that Putin wanted to meet with candidate Trump and that these connections could help arrange that meeting. Trump and Sessions both reacted to Papadopoulos's statement. Papadopoulos and Campaign advisor J.D. Gordon-who told investigators in an interview that he had a crystal clear recollection of the meeting-have stated that Trump was interested in and receptive to the idea of a meeting with Putin.
When Papadopoulos told the campaign that Russia was on their side, and Putin wanted a meeting, Trump didn’t “rebuff” the idea. Instead, he was “interested in and receptive to” meeting the Russian leader. The difference isn’t semantics. It’s Mt. Everest versus oceanic trench.
But one thing that the report does show that hasn’t gotten a lot of attention is this: The Trump campaign was eager to cooperate with Russia, it knew it was benefiting from Russian actions, but it also knew what it was doing was wrong. In the back-and-forth between Papadopoulos and campaign officials, there is frequent discussion of the fact that they can’t make these connections officially. As “interested” as Trump may be, campaign officials steer him away. But … they still want to make them. Including that direct visit with Putin and Russian leadership.
Clovis copied Phares on his response, which said that he could not "travel before the election" but that he "would encourage [Papadopoulos] and Walid to make the trips, if it is feasible.
“Interested” is not rebuffed. “Welcomed” is not rebuffed. “Receptive to” is not rebuffed. “Encourage” is not rebuffed.
And the reframing that Trump is trying to sell now is nowhere close to reality.