The president appears to have heard only one part of that statement—the one that exculpates him.

Yoni Appelbaum: The Mueller report is an impeachment referral

To be fair, Trump’s reaction is that of a man who says he was unjustly accused of a crime that could have cost him his election victory. According to Mueller’s report, Trump even said that the special counsel’s appointment marked “the end of my presidency.” Still, while the Mueller report might have cleared the president of collusion and indeed obstruction of justice, it confirms what American intelligence agencies have been saying since Trump’s unexpected win over Clinton: that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. The president has commented on one part of that—the accusations against him—but has declined to criticize Russia publicly for anything it has done.

Trump’s silence on Russia’s role pre-dates the Mueller report’s release, and indeed his presidency. He has a history of either blaming others for what Russia did, or equivocating about the Kremlin’s role in the 2016 election. He has variously blamed the DNC (yes, the same one that got hacked), China, “somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds,” or “some guy in his home in New Jersey.” On the rare occasion that he has agreed with the assessment of the overwhelming majority of U.S. intelligence agencies on Moscow’s role, Trump has quickly pivoted, as he did during his famous news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin: “I accept our intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election took place,” the president said at the time. “Could be other people also. There’s a lot of people out there.”

On Thursday, even that ambiguity was gone. He had two words for “the haters”: game over.