COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW – 26/03/2019
Nausicaa Renner
On Monday morning, glowing from the conclusion of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and the delivery of Attorney General William Barr’s letter to Congress, Donald Trump tweeted a quote from Bret Baier, of Fox News: “No American conspired to cooperate with Russia in its efforts to interfere with the 2016 election, according to Robert Mueller, and that is good.” He went on to tweet the same idea a second time. With these messages, Trump signaled not only that his campaign was found not to have colluded with Russia, but also that the allegation was itself part of a conspiracy, by the press and Democrats, against his presidency. The latter has been a persistent cry: “Without the phony Russia Witch Hunt . . . my approval rating would be at 75% rather than the 50% just reported by Rasmussen,” he tweeted in December. “It’s called Presidential Harassment!”