Trump and his White House repeatedly denied that there were any contacts between members of the Trump campaign and Russia. They were lying — now we know Russians interacted with at least 16 Trump associates during the campaign and transition.
Trump denied any campaign contact with Russia, “with a firm ‘no.’”
Jim Acosta: “Fortunately ABC’s Cecilia Vega asked my question about whether any Trump associates contacted Russians. Trump said no.”
Cecilia Vega: “?? @DavidGroff you must have missed the part of my reporting that said trump came back and answered my first question with a firm ‘no.’”
Trump said “nobody that I know of” on the campaign had contacts with Russians.
Question: “Can you say whether you are aware that anyone who advised your campaign had contacts with Russia during the course of the election?”
Trump: “No. Nobody that I know of. Nobody…”
Kellyanne Conway on whether any members of the Trump campaign had contact with Russians: “Absolutely not.”
Question: “Did anyone involved in the Trump campaign have any contact with Russians trying to meddle with the election?”
Conway: “Absolutely not.”
Sarah Sanders said “no contacts took place” between the Trump campaign and Russians.
Sanders: “‘This is a nonstory because to the best of our knowledge, no contacts took place, so it’s hard to make a comment on something that never happened,’ Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a White House spokeswoman, said on Monday.”
Hope Hicks: “There was no communication between the campaign and any foreign entity during the campaign.”
Hicks: “It never happened. There was no communication between the campaign and any foreign entity during the campaign.”
Reince Priebus said there were no contacts between Trump associates and Russia in 2016.
Question: “One, do you flatly deny any contact, any coordination between Mr. Trump, his campaign, his associates and the Russians in interfering?”
Priebus: “Even this question is insane. Of course, we didn’t interface with the Russians.”