Trump: ‘Russian officials must be laughing at the US’

President Trump early Tuesday said Russian officials are likely “laughing” at the U.S. amid continuing reports related to Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential race.

“Russian officials must be laughing at the U.S. & how a lame excuse for why the Dems lost the election has taken over the Fake News,” Trump tweeted Tuesday.

Russian officials must be laughing at the U.S. & how a lame excuse for why the Dems lost the election has taken over the Fake News.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2017

The president has claimed in the past that Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election is an excuse created by Democrats to explain his win over Hillary Clinton. He has referred to the related investigation as a “witch hunt” and criticized the recent naming of a special counsel to lead it. 

{mosads}Trump’s latest comments come after reports last week that son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner in December sought to establish a backchannel line of communication between the Trump transition team and Moscow.

The move came during a meeting with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

The FBI is looking at meetings that Kushner held with Kislyak and Russian banking executive Sergey Gorkov in December as part of the law enforcement investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow.

Former CIA Director John Brennan also testified last week that he was concerned over the intelligence he saw showing contacts between Trump’s campaign and Moscow.