President Donald Trump criticized Sunday the Federal Bureau of Investigation and lawmakers probing alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. According to him, excessive focus on Russia led investigators to miss signs that could have prevented the school shooting in Florida, Reuters reports.
The president dedicated several tweets to these events and said that congressional investigations and political hatred showed Russia had succeeded in sowing discord, disruption and chaos in the U.S. According to Trump, former President Barack Obama failed to do enough to stop Russian election interference.
“They are laughing their asses off in Moscow,” Trump wrote.
He also criticized the FBI for missing warning signs in the case of Nikolas Cruz, who is charged with killing 17 people at a high school in Parkland. The bureau admitted that it had not investigated a warning that Cruz possessed a gun and the desire to kill.
“Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable. They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign – there is no collusion,” Trump tweeted.
Trump did not offer any evidence of a connection between the Russia investigation and the FBI’s failure. His remarks were criticized by student survivors of the shooting.
“Oh my god. 17 of my classmates and friends are gone and you have the audacity to make this about Russia???!! Have a damn heart,” Morgan Williams, 16, tweeted.
Some lawmakers also rejected Trump’s remarks.
“So many folks in the FBI are doing all that they can to keep us safe. The reality of it is, is that they are two separate issues,” Republican Senator Tim Scott said.
At the same time, former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates tweeted that Trump used the tragedy to attack the investigation. According to Yates, that is shameful. Trump also used his Twitter account to belittle Representative Adam Schiff, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee that is investigating Russia’s actions.
“Finally, Liddle’ Adam Schiff, the leakin’ monster of no control, is now blaming the Obama Administration for Russian meddling in the 2016 Election. He is finally right about something. Obama was President, knew of the threat, and did nothing. Thank you Adam!” Trump wrote.
Schiff said details of the indictment provided overwhelming and unequivocal evidence of the threat from Russian interference. He also countered Trump’s assertions that the Russia investigation was a hoax.
Previously, Special Counsel Robert Mueller charged 13 Russians and three Russian companies with conspiracy to tamper in the 2016 U.S. election.
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