President Trump and his allies are cranking up their attacks on the mainstream media for hammering the Russia collusion narrative now that Special Counsel Robert Mueller has determined no evidence supports the claims, renewing the controversial charge that they are the “enemy of the people.”
“The Mainstream Media is under fire and being scorned all over the World as being corrupt and FAKE. For two years they pushed the Russian Collusion Delusion when they always knew there was No Collusion. They truly are the Enemy of the People and the Real Opposition Party!” Trump tweeted Tuesday.
DEMS WON'T TAKE NO COLLUSION FOR AN ANSWER, SEEK MUELLER EVIDENCE AND MORE
The president’s tweets come after the investigation that rocked the White House for nearly two years drew to a close. According to a summary of Mueller’s report, released Sunday by Attorney General Bill Barr, the special counsel did not find evidence of collusion between members of the Trump campaign, or anyone associated with the campaign, and the Russians during the 2016 presidential election.
In the investigation's wake, Trump and his allies have called for scrutiny not only of the probe's origins at the FBI but the media's role in stoking the accusations.
The Republican National Committee has churned out stats and highlights of the heavy media coverage surrounding the probe -- by their count, this included nearly 1,200 stories in The New York Times. The Trump campaign on Monday also issued a memo to "Television Producers" challenging the "credibility" of prominent Democrats, including House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who have been on air discussing the Russia case.
Accusing those guests of "false claims," the campaign urged the media to consider whether to continue to bring them on air.
"At a minimum, if these guests do reappear, you should replay the prior statements and challenge them to provide the evidence which prompted them to make the wild claims in the first place," the memo from Communications Director Tim Murtaugh said.
The special counsel was also tasked with investigating whether the president committed obstruction of justice—an allegation prompted in large part by Trump’s decision to fire former FBI Director James Comey. Mueller reviewed evidence but decided not to come to a conclusion on the issue. Instead, Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein effectively cleared Trump, saying that the evidence from the case “is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense.”
BULK OF MUELLER CASES AGAINST TRUMP ASSOCIATES BASED ON FALSE STATEMENTS
Congressional Democrats blasted Barr for that statement, with the Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee saying it seemed “like the Department of Justice is putting matters squarely in Congress’ court.”
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., vowed to have Barr testify before the committee in “the near future” and said there “must be full transparency” on what Mueller uncovered “to not exonerate the President from wrongdoing.”
“DOJ owes the public more than a brief synopsis and decision not to go any further in their work,” Nadler tweeted Sunday, adding that since Mueller did not exonerate Trump on obstruction of justice, “we must hear from AG Barr about his decision and see all the underlying evidence for the American people to know all the facts.”
LINDSEY GRAHAM WILL PROBE ALLEGED FISA ABUSES AT FBI, CALLS ON BARR TO APPOINT NEW SPECIAL COUNSEL
Later, Nadler, along with other top Democrats like House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., issued a statement calling into question Barr’s “objectivity” and calling for the release of Mueller’s full report.
Fox News' Judson Berger contributed to this report.