President Donald Trump has repeatedly denied allegations of collusion with Russian government officials. | Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images Trump on Manafort indictment: ‘There is no collusion'

President Donald Trump dismissed allegations of collusion with Russian government officials on Monday after his former campaign chairman and another campaign official were charged with various offenses, including money laundering.

Also on Monday, court records made public revealed that George Papadopoulos, 30, a former foreign policy adviser to Trump's 2016 campaign pleaded guilty earlier this month to lying to the FBI about his outreach to Russian officials.


“Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign. But why aren't Crooked Hillary & the Dems the focus?????” the president tweeted. Trump added: “Also, there is NO COLLUSION!”

Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, and Richard Gates, another former top Trump campaign official, were indicted Monday on charges including failure to disclose their work as foreign agents, money laundering and making false statements.

According to the charges, Manafort and Gates acted as "unregistered agents" for the government of Ukraine at least from 2006 to 2015.

The president and the White House repeatedly swatted away claims of cooperation between their campaign and foreign officials since clinching their electoral victory last November.

Earlier Monday, as reports of a looming indictment in Mueller’s probe intensified, Trump incorrectly claimed that former President Barack Obama’s campaign organization paid nearly $1 million to the private investigation firm behind the infamous dossier on alleged ties between his campaign and Russia.