What, Exactly, Is the ‘Russia Hoax’?
The phrase "Russia hoax" has become a favorite talking point of Donald Trump's, and whenever it's mentioned, it's usually a sign that the president is agitated about something.
In recent weeks, as questions about the administration's handling of files related to Jeffrey Epstein have dominated headlines, Trump has been vocal about his claims of a "Russia hoax." Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, also released documents last week that her office said shed new light on this controversy. Attorney General Pam Bondi has reportedly ordered a grand-jury investigation into claims that Obama-administration officials broke laws while investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
But what exactly is the "Russia hoax"? The answer is complex, and it's largely due to Trump's own efforts to define it. Since spring 2017, he has used the phrase off and on, often changing its meaning along the way. At times, he has claimed that the federal government under Barack Obama had wiretapped or improperly surveilled him. Other times, he has referred to it as a "witch hunt." Recently, he has used the term to describe any allegations about Russian involvement in the 2016 election.
Separating Fact from Fiction
The truth is that there was no hoax. The US intelligence community concluded that Russia sought to meddle in the 2016 election and wanted to help Trump. Special Counsel Robert Mueller wrote in a report summarizing his findings: "The Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion."
Trump's son Donald Trump Jr., his son-in-law Jared Kushner, and his campaign chair Paul Manafort met at Trump Tower in June 2016 with Russians who they believed would hand over "dirt" on Hillary Clinton. A Trump campaign aide boasted to an Australian diplomat that Russia was trying to help the Trump campaign, and then lied about his Russian contacts to FBI agents. Trump publicly called on Russia to hack Clinton's emails in July 2016—jokingly, he has since said—and Russian agents attempted to do so that very day, according to the Justice Department.
The Consequences of a Hoax
Trump's use of the phrase "Russia hoax" has had real-world consequences. Attorney General Bill Barr misrepresented Mueller's findings, and Trump used pardons to obstruct justice. The "Russia hoax" defense has become a successful one for Trump supporters who might otherwise be troubled by his behavior.
PolitiFact named this claim as its lie of the year in 2017, and The Washington Post reported that "Trump's Russia 'Hoax' Turns Out to Be Real" in 2018. In 2019, a report by the Justice Department's inspector general concluded that the "Russia hoax" defense is itself a hoax, aimed at reassuring Trump supporters who might otherwise be troubled by his behavior.
A New Low
Despite this evidence, some in the mainstream press have begun to treat the whole thing as a weird passing obsession. The journalist Ben Smith, who made the decision to publish the Steele dossier, now contends vaguely that "Trump was treated unfairly." Meanwhile, Trump world continues to cook up new iterations of the hoax claim.
The most recent ones are driven by CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Tulsi Gabbard, who have both repeated Kremlin talking points. Last month, Ratcliffe alleged that in 2016, three top intelligence officials "manipulated intelligence and silenced career professionals—all to get Trump," but he didn't have evidence to back it up. Gabbard has released documents intended to bolster the claim, but still nothing that matches the claims.
A Real Russia Hoax
On the other hand, there is one Russia hoax that's actually true: a forgery by Russian agents that was uncovered by special counsel John Durham. As The New York Times reported, "The special counsel went to great lengths to try to prove that several of the emails were real, only to ultimately conclude otherwise."
Rather than working to fight it, Trump's aides are once more colluding with Russia to mislead the American people and further Trump's political fortunes. The idea that the whole thing was a chimera has taken hold even within some precincts of the mainstream press.