WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Donald Trump has lashed out at congressional and FBI investigations into Russian interference in last year’s election campaign, calling the allegations a hoax.
Trump made the remarks in a series of Twitter posts on June 22, one day after former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson testified before a House of Representatives committee about Russian meddling.
Trump claimed that Johnson was the “latest top intelligence official to state there was no grand scheme between Trump & Russia."
Johnson said he hadn't seen any evidence of collusion between Trump associates and Russian officials beyond what the intelligence community has said publicly.
Trump also appeared to blame his predecessor, Barack Obama, for not responding more forcefully to Russian interference.
"By the way, if Russia was working so hard on the 2016 Election, it all took place during the Obama Admin. Why didn't they stop them?" he wrote.
The U.S. intelligence community in January released an assessment that concluded Moscow had engaged in a hacking-and-misinformation campaign in an attempt to sway the 2016 vote.
Multiple congressional committees are looking into the matter, and the FBI has been investigating interactions between Trump associates and Russian officials.
