Trump reelection manager contradicts Mueller report: There was ‘never any help’ from Russia

President Trump’s 2020 campaign manager on Wednesday dismissed a key finding from special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, saying that Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign never received help from Russia. 

“It’s a joke,” Brad Parscale said in an interview on ABC affiliate WJLA when asked if the Trump campaign would accept aid from the Kremlin in the 2020 election. “There was obviously never any help from the Russians. I don’t even know what the Russians would have done.”

{mosads}Parscale, the data and digital director for Trump’s 2016 campaign, argued that the president beat Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton because he had a better strategy. 

“What we were spending per minute is what they spent in the entire election,” Parscale said, referring to Clinton’s campaign. “Hillary Clinton made 66,000 ads, I think the Russians made 3,500 ads. We made 5.9 million ads … It’s not even the same ballpark.”

The comments from Parscale come about a week after the Justice Department released a redacted version of Mueller’s report on his 22-month investigation into Russian interference and whether Trump obstructed justice. 

Mueller did not establish that a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin existed. But the report noted that the Russian government worked to secure a Trump presidency and the Trump campaign expected it would benefit from Russia’s illegal efforts to influence the election. 

“Although the investigation established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome, and that the Campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts, the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities,” the report said.

Parscale said last week that Mueller’s 400-plus-page report represented a complete exoneration of the president. 

“Now the tables have turned, and it’s time to investigate the liars who instigated this sham investigation into President Trump, motivated by political retribution and based on no evidence whatsoever,” he said in a statement.

Parscale added in the interview that the 2020 Trump campaign expects to spend at least $1 billion in its effort to get Trump reelected.