The Republican National Committee, also known as “Trump Headquarters,” sent an email this morning with the subject line “Vindicated.” The line seems to be a reference to Trump saying yesterday that he felt “somewhat" vindicated after House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes ran to the White House with information suggesting that some communications of members of Trump’s transition team were “incidentally” intercepted by intelligence agencies as part of investigations of other individuals.
Of course, even if what Nunes has said publicly is accurate, it does nothing to vindicate Trump’s repeated claim that former President Barack Obama had ordered wiretaps against him. FBI Director James Comey testified on Monday that neither the FBI nor Department of Justice have any information to support those tweets.
The email includes a “poll” in which either choice—“I Stand with President Trump” or “I Believe Democrats & Fake News”—leads to a page that says Trump has “prevailed time and time again” even though “Democrats, the media, and the entire opposition have tried to take down President Trump by attacking him, spreading fake news and fake polls, and inciting witch hunts.” [Update: the landing page has been edited to remove references to fake polls and witch hunts.]
TIME published an interview with Trump this morning on issues of truth and credibility, in which Trump, true to form, refused to acknowledge making any false claims, asking “what have I said that is wrong?” and insisting that it is legitimate for him to say things as long as he can point to some news item as his source. Trump even tagged the famously conservative editorial page of the Wall Street Journal as “fake news” based on a recent editorial slamming his “seemingly endless stream of exaggerations, evidence-free accusations, implausible denials and other falsehoods.”
