JOIN USNew documents reveal Russians interfered in 2016 election for Democrats: Trump
US President Donald Trump has alleged that a new set of documents have revealed that Russians interfered in the 2016 presidential elections on behalf of his then rival and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
The alleged Russian interference in US elections in 2016 was one of the major topics for the Opposition Democrats in the first three years of Trump's presidency and also became the basis of the failed impeachment proceedings against him.
“I've been tarred with this horrible witch hunt for four years. And I didn't do it. Think of it. What would my numbers be, if I didn't go through almost four years of a Russian witch hunt that turned out to be just the opposite. They were the ones involved with Russia,” Trump said while addressing a Repubican campaign rally in Newport, Virginia on Friday.
“A new trove of documents …now prove that Russia interfered in 2016. Unfortunately, it was on behalf of Hillary Clinton, not Trump. They interfered with disinformation,” Trump said.
Trump alleged the 2016 presidential elections were interfered by the Russians on behalf of rival Clinton’s campaign.
“The newly released text messages make 100 per cent clear. The FBI knew that Democrats purchased Russian disinformation targeting me, your favourite president, which then formed the basis for the witch hunt,” he said as he praised several Fox News anchors for standing by him during those days.
Trump also accused the Democrats and the Russians of spying on him and his campaign.
“It was a whole big disinformation campaign,” he said amidst cheers and applause from his audience. Now it's turning out….Not turning out, turning out, it's done because if you look at everything, that's come out over the last few days, it's we caught them. They spied on my campaign and they tried for a coup,” he said.
“Can you believe it, in this day and age? And we caught them cold. … It turned out to be a total hoax. In fact, Biden's son was just revealed two days ago, got $3.5 million dollars from the wife of the mayor of Moscow,” he alleged.
The Trump administration earlier this month charged a Russian national in a sweeping plot to sow distrust in the American political process and imposed sanctions against a Russia-linked Ukrainian lawmaker accused of interfering in the US presidential election.
Those actions, combined with a Microsoft announcement on hacking attempts targeting US political campaigns, parties and consultants, underscore the extent to which the same cyber intrusions and foreign influence operations that defined the 2016 White House race remain a persistent concern, according to local media reports.
Meanwhile, latest polls show that Trump, 74, is fast catching up with his Democratic rival and former vice president Joe Biden, 77, with the latter leading by 6.7 per cent on a national average against a double-digit lead more than a month ago.
In the battleground States, the lead has now come down to 3.6 per cent ahead of the November 3 presidential election.
Trump in his rallies over the past 10 days has been attracting a huge crowd, with his supporters ignoring social distancing measures of coronavirus pandemic.
Biden on the other hand has not been doing large public rallies. His meetings are mostly virtual and small in-person ones at times.