Trump hinted at the need to improve relations with Russia on the campaign trail, even has his administration would go on to increase tensions with Moscow through new sanctions, diplomatic expulsions, and a NATO military buildup on Russia's western borders.
Give peace a chance! KV
President Trump took aim at his 'Russiagate' critics on Saturday, tweeting that he has been "FAR tougher on Russia" than his predecessors, including Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, but adding that he expects to see "good relations" between the US and Russia "someday."
I have been FAR tougher on Russia than Obama, Bush or Clinton. Maybe tougher than any other President. At the same time, & as I have often said, getting along with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing. I fully expect that someday we will have good relations with Russia again!
The president tweeted the remark after taking aim at the "Failing New York Times" and "the corrupt former leaders of the FBI," who reportedly opened a probe to find out if Trump was "secretly working on behalf of Russia" after he fired director James Comey in 2017.
In the string of tweets on Saturday morning, Trump accused Comey of "rigging" and "botching" the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails, and said that his "poor leadership" of the Clinton case put the FBI "in complete turmoil." Trump accused FBI special counsel Bob Mueller and the Democrats of having "NO interest in going after the Real Collusion (and much more) by Crooked Hillary Clinton, her Campaign, and the Democratic National Committee."
Trump's Democratic opponents have continually accused him of being beholden to Russia during the 2016 race and throughout his two years in office, despite multiple policy decisions which Moscow has vigorously criticised. These include his decision to repeatedly bomb Syria, expand anti-Russian sanctions, close Russian consulates, expel diplomats, expand NATO's presence along Russia's borders in Eastern Europe, and threaten to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, a key arms control treaty agreed on by the United States and the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War.
John Bolton will correct Trump's statement shortly.
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