Dogged by Russia investigation, Trump tweets turn increasingly defensive

David Jackson | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Johnson defends Comey judgment on Russia probe Fmr. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson spoke to the House Intelligence Committee Wednesday about Russian election interference. He suggested former FBI Director James Comey wouldn't have taken an inquiry into the Trump campaign lightly. (June 21)

WASHINGTON – Banged by a barrage of news about all those Russia probes, President Trump is turning his Twitter feed into his primary defense tool.

"Former Homeland Security Advisor Jeh Johnson is latest top intelligence official to state there was no grand scheme between Trump & Russia," the president tweeted Thursday, the latest in a series of posts about the ongoing investigations by Congress and a special counsel.

Former Homeland Security Advisor Jeh Johnson is latest top intelligence official to state there was no grand scheme between Trump & Russia. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2017

The investigations are probing possible links between Trump campaign associates and Russians who sought to influence last year's election by hacking Democrats close to Trump opponent Hillary Clinton.

While no public official in a position to know has pointed the finger directly at Trump himself, the president continues to return to the topic to defend himself.

Officials have said that Trump is under investigation for possible obstruction of justice in connection with his firing of FBI Director James Comey. The ex-director told Congress he believes the president dismissed him because he did not act on Trump's suggestions to somehow drop the Russia investigation, and Trump himself said in a television interview just after the May 9 firing that the Russia investigation was indeed on his mind when he booted Comey.

Johnson, who was secretary of homeland security during the Obama administration, was asked during a House hearing Wednesday if he had seen "any evidence that Donald Trump or any member of his campaign colluded, conspired or coordinated with the Russians or anyone else to infiltrate or impact our voter infrastructure?"

Replied Johnson: "Not beyond what has been out there open-source, and not beyond anything that I'm sure this committee has already seen and heard before, directly from the intelligence community."

However, Johnson also pointed out he hasn't been in office since January – and even then he was unaware that the FBI had opened a counterintelligence investigation into any links between Russia and the Trump campaign.

As part of his latest Twitter defense Thursday, Trump also said the Democratic National Committee failed to adequately protect its computer systems. In another tweet, he said: "By the way, if Russia was working so hard on the 2016 Election, it all took place during the Obama Admin. Why didn't they stop them?"

By the way, if Russia was working so hard on the 2016 Election, it all took place during the Obama Admin. Why didn't they stop them? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2017

For their part, Obama administration officials said they wanted to be careful with their public comments because they did not want to be seen as interfering with the elections themselves. Still, they said they opened an investigation into Russia activities in the middle of the election year, and issued public statements accusing Russia of organized hacking in the middle of the fall campaign.

One of those Obama officials: Jeh Johnson.

On October 7, Johnson's department of Homeland Security and the office of the Director of National Intelligence issued a joint statement that the intelligence community "is confident" that the Russian government directed the compromise and public disclosure of e-mails from political organizations.

“This was a very difficult decision but it was something that we needed to do,” Johnson told the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday of the Obama administration's decisions to inform the public of the digital campaign. “We needed to do it well before the election, to inform the American voters of what we knew and what we saw, and that it would be unforgivable if we did not, pre-election. And I'm glad we did it.”