President Trump in a Tuesday tweet said the biggest story on Monday that has the “Dems in a dither” wasn’t the indictment against his former campaign manager in the Russia probe but a top Democratic lobbyist stepping down from his firm.
“The biggest story yesterday, the one that has the Dems in a dither, is Podesta running from his firm. What he know about Crooked Dems is earth shattering. He and his brother could Drain The Swamp, which would be yet another campaign promise fulfilled. Fake News weak!,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
Tony Podesta, the brother of Hillary Clinton’s former campaign manager John Podesta, told staffers and clients of his Podesta Group lobbying firm that he is stepping down after he became part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
John Podesta reacted to the tweets with his own postings, saying he was the victim of Russian hacking during the election and a “big lie” by Trump.
“Not bad enough that I was the victim of a massive cyber crime directed by the Russian President. Now I’m the victim of a big lie campaign by the American President,” he wrote, referencing how his emails were hacked and published by WikiLeaks during the election.
The probe into Podesta arose out of Mueller’s examination of the finances of Paul Manafort and his work for former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Manafort hired Podesta’s firm as part of a public relations campaign he created for the European Centre for Modern Ukraine.
Manafort was indicted along with his former business associate Rick Gates on charges of conspiracy and money laundering that allegedly occurred during their work for Yanukovych between 2006 and 2016.