The Kremlin on Tuesday rejected recent news reports about President Trump’s relationship with Russia as an unrealistic “conspiracy.”
Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, made the remark in response to news outlets reporting over the weekend that Mr. Trump was investigated by the FBI to determine if he was knowingly working on behalf of the Russian government, and that he allegedly went out of his way to hide details about his conversations with his Kremlin counterpart.
“This is a conspiracy that has no relation to reality,” Mr. Peskov told Russian tabloid Argumenty i Fakty, as translated by The Moscow Times.
“America has found itself in a unique situation: there’s both a social and government divide,” Mr. Putin’s spokesman added. “This results in difficult conditions which Trump has to work in.”
The New York Times reported Friday that the FBI opened a counterintelligence investigation in 2017 to determine if Mr. Trump had either been compromised by Moscow or was willingly working to advance Russian interests, and The Washington Post reported Sunday that Mr. Trump has “gone to extraordinary lengths” to conceal details about his conversations with Mr. Putin.
Mr. Trump dismissed the articles’ claims Monday as “a whole big fat hoax.”
Russian operatives targeted Mr. Trump’s opponent during the 2016 race, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, as part of a state-sponsored interference campaign likely authorized personally by Mr. Putin, U.S. officials previously concluded.
The U.S. Department of Justice subsequently appointed Robert Mueller, a former FBI director, to investigate allegations the race, and his probe has returned in prosecutors filing criminal charges against more than 30 individuals, including several Russians and members of Mr. Trump’s campaign.
Moscow has denied meddling in the race, and the White House has denied colluding with the Kremlin.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.