President Donald Trump has regularly complained that the multiple ongoing investigations into the possibility that his campaign colluded with Russian government efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election on his behalf amount to a “hoax.” | Evan Vucci/AP Photo Trump: Media is covering Wolff book because it's frustrated Russia probe is a 'hoax'

President Donald Trump said Friday that coverage of an incendiary new book about his administration is a response from the mainstream media that he said is frustrated because the ongoing investigation related to “Russia is proving to be a total hoax.”

“Well, now that collusion with Russia is proving to be a total hoax and the only collusion is with Hillary Clinton and the FBI/Russia, the Fake News Media (Mainstream) and this phony new book are hitting out at every new front imaginable,” Trump wrote on Twitter Friday morning. “They should try winning an election. Sad!”


The White House spent the bulk of this week disputing excerpts from Michael Wolff’s new book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,” which characterizes the West Wing as disorganized and back-biting and the president as ignorant, inept and in possession of diminishing mental faculties. Trump and others in his administration have attacked Wolff’s journalistic credibility and said the book is filled with falsehoods.

Trump has regularly complained that the multiple ongoing investigations into the possibility that his campaign colluded with Russian government efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election on his behalf amount to a “hoax,” as he said Friday, or a “witch hunt.” Allegations of collusion are little more than an excuse, Trump has said, created by Democrats embarrassed that Hillary Clinton lost the election.

The president has also sought to point fingers, at Clinton, the FBI and others, alleging misbehavior and bias against him and in favor of the former secretary of state.