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FACT CHECK: Trump Says Americans Are Over The Russia Investigation

BY April 4, 2019

President Donald Trump tweeted out a bold assertion on Thursday morning, claiming that the American people no longer care about the Russia investigation following a four-page summary produced by his Attorney General William Barr.

Photo by Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images

Trump suggested that the numbers in recent polls demonstrated as much. “According to polling, few people seem to care about the Russian Collusion Hoax, but some Democrats are fighting hard to keep the Witch Hunt alive,” he wrote in his tweet.

But Trump has it backwards — recent polls demonstrate just the opposite is true, with more Americans desiring direct access to Russia investigation special counsel Robert Mueller’s final report rather than just a four-page summary.

An NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, for example, shows that just 18 percent of Americans are satisfied with Barr’s letter alone. Fifty-six percent of Americans believe that there are questions that still persist following the conclusion of the investigation, and three-quarters of Americans, according to that poll, want to see the report for themselves.

Other polls cite a much higher number in support of releasing the report. A Washington Post/Schar School poll found that 83 percent want Mueller’s investigative findings made public “in its entirety,” while just 13 percent oppose releasing it.

Americans are split when it comes to Trump’s actions during the 2016 campaign. Forty-seven percent believe he committed a serious wrongdoing, while 46 percent say he did not.

But despite Barr’s letter asserting Mueller found no evidence of collusion, 57 percent of Americans remain concerned about the level of contact between Trump’s campaign staff and Russian agents during that time.

Finally, a Politico/Morning Consult poll demonstrates that Trump is wrong regarding people caring about the Russia investigation, with most expressing support for Democrats in Congress to continue their efforts to look into Trump’s activities.

Fifty-two percent of Americans still believe Russia has compromising information on Trump, and 50 percent say that Congress should subpoena the president’s tax records to divulge information found within them. Only 40 percent say doing so shouldn’t be a priority.

And 55 percent say Congress should investigate Trump’s business interests to determine whether he has conflicts of interests that would interfere with his responsibilities as president. Only 35 percent say such an investigation shouldn’t happen.

The question of obstruction of justice also appears to be on the minds of Americans, as 58 percent believe Congress should investigate further the firing of former FBI Director James Comey. In an interview shortly after Trump terminated Comey, the president explained he did so in part because of “this Russia thing,” referring to the Russia investigation, per reporting from CNN.

Despite previously saying he’d be open to making the Mueller report available to the public, Trump’s attitudes on the idea have shifted in the past few days, Politico reported. Trump’s complaints about efforts by Democrats to get a copy of the report have resulted in the president going back to a familiar talking point — labeling such efforts as “presidential harassment” in another tweet Thursday morning.



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