President-elect Donald Trump shot down unsubstantiated stories about his “deep ties to Russia” on Wednesday morning, after a spokesman for Vladimir Putin denied them. Trump ended his Twitter response asking, “Are we living in Nazi Germany?”
“FAKE NEWS – A TOTAL POLITICAL WITCH HUNT!” Trump tweeted Tuesday night, after a BuzzFeed story dropped with an alleged intelligence report detailing Trump’s connections with Russia. On Wednesday, he continued. “Russia has never tried to use leverage over me,” Trump declared. “I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA – NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO NOTHING!”
Russia has never tried to use leverage over me. I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA – NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO NOTHING!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2017
“Intelligence agencies should never have allowed this fake news to ‘leak’ into the public,” Trump tweeted. “One last shot at me. Are we living in Nazi Germany?”
Intelligence agencies should never have allowed this fake news to "leak" into the public. One last shot at me.Are we living in Nazi Germany?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2017
The president-elect also mentioned that “Russia” denied the alleged intelligence report. “Russia just said the unverified report paid for by political opponents is ‘A COMPLETE AND TOTAL FABRICATION, UTTER NONSENSE.’ Very unfair!”
Russia just said the unverified report paid for by political opponents is "A COMPLETE AND TOTAL FABRICATION, UTTER NONSENSE." Very unfair!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2017
Trump was summarizing a statement from Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Vladimir Putin, who dismissed the report as a “complete fabrication and utter nonsense.” CBS reported that Peskov insisted the Kremlin “does not engage in collecting compromising material.”
Peskov attacked the report as “an obvious attempt to harm our bilateral relations. In English, it is called pulp fiction. Surely, we should react to it with the same sense of humor.”
Nevertheless, the Putin spokesman said there was a “sad side to it,” explaining that people were “whipping up hysteria, going out of their way to keep up the atmosphere of a witch hunt.”
Multiple U.S. government and intelligence officials reportedly told CBS News on Tuesday that an addendum to the classified intelligence report on Russia’s attempts to interfere in the U.S. election contained unverified details of potentially compromising information that Russia has gathered on Trump. This information reportedly came from a former British intelligence officer, who turned it over to U.S. intelligence last year.
The report has caused a storm of controversy, as it included alleged stories of Trump requesting “golden showers” from prostitutes. These and other pieces of dirt are reportedly known by Russian bureaucrats, who could use it to blackmail the president-elect.
Trump is set to give a press conference at 11 a.m. Eastern time Wednesday, and many expect him to address this alleged report. His last press conference was in July.
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