Shortly after it was reported that Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, and George Papadopoulos—all on President Trump’s campaign—were charged by special counselor Robert Mueller in the investigation into Russian meddling in the U.S. election, the president himself, predictably, fired off a series of tweets weighing in on the bombshell news. “Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign,” he raged. “But why aren’t Crooked Hillary & the Dems the focus?????....Also, there is NO COLLUSION!” In reality, Papadopoulos’s actions, as laid out in court papers, were taken during the campaign, thereby undercutting Trump’s attempt at a deflection.
