People are responding to Donald Trump's claim that 'collusion is not a crime' - Independent

August 1, 2018.

People are responding to Donald Trump's claim that 'collusion is not a crime'
Posted about 23 hours ago by Jake Hall in news 
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There’s honestly not a lot left to say about Donald Trump’s Twitter account.

It seems that everything he ever writes is destined to make headline news - from ‘covfefe’ to sassy takedowns of Meryl Streep, there’s a wealth of meme-worthy material which rarely escapes scrutiny.

But this morning’s misstep was more concerning.

Not only did he accuse (for approximately the millionth time) Hillary Clinton of collusion, he also made a factually dubious claim: that collusion is not a crime.


Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
 Collusion is not a crime, but that doesn’t matter because there was No Collusion (except by Crooked Hillary and the Democrats)!

9:58 PM - Jul 31, 2018

This information seemingly came courtesy of lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who also went viral this week for tweeting the word ‘you’.

Yes, really.

There’s a lot to unpack here: if collusion isn’t a crime, why is he so determined to crucify Clinton for it? Will the nickname ‘Crooked Clinton’ ever catch on? Is this just another example of the President trying to avoid accountability for his alleged ties to Russia by arguing that the whole investigation is based on nothing?

Apparently so.

Shortly after Trump tweeted, Global News stepped in to fact-check his claims.

Although their exploration of the law acknowledges that ‘election collusion’ actually isn’t a precise legal term, it goes on to unpack the allegations made against Trump and finds that, in the context of the ongoing FBI investigation, his reported collusion could definitely have legal consequences.

The article concludes:

In other words, ‘collusion’ might be shorthand. But if it relates to Russia and U.S. elections, it can still be very much against the law.

Now that’s cleared up, it’s time to look at the inevitable slew of hilarious responses that ensued.

Some made jokes about the president’s willingness to defend his own missteps whilst simultaneously placing blame on others.

TechnicallyRon
✔
@TechnicallyRon
 STEALING A TIGER FROM THE ZOO IS NOT A CRIME BUT THAT DOESN'T MATTER I DIDN'T STEAL A TIGER FROM THE ZOO BUT HILARY DID AND SHOULD GO TO JAIL BECAUSE STEALING TIGERS FROM THE ZOO IS ILLEGAL.

Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
Collusion is not a crime, but that doesn’t matter because there was No Collusion (except by Crooked Hillary and the Democrats)!

11:19 PM - Jul 31, 2018

Others made jokes linked to his recent claim that he would introduce tax cuts for the mega-rich, or just generally outlined his willingness to flip-flop on his statements.

TechnicallyRon
✔
@TechnicallyRon
 STEALING A TIGER FROM THE ZOO IS NOT A CRIME BUT THAT DOESN'T MATTER I DIDN'T STEAL A TIGER FROM THE ZOO BUT HILARY DID AND SHOULD GO TO JAIL BECAUSE STEALING TIGERS FROM THE ZOO IS ILLEGAL.

Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
Collusion is not a crime, but that doesn’t matter because there was No Collusion (except by Crooked Hillary and the Democrats)!

11:19 PM - Jul 31, 2018

dylan
✔
@dyllyp
Replying to @realDonaldTrump
Donald Trump in 2016: Lock Hillary up for collusion!

Donald Trump in 2017: There was no collusion with the Russians!

Donald Trump in 2018: Collusion is not a crime!

I hope they let you tweet from prison, because this shit is hysterical.

12:04 AM - Aug 1, 2018


Matthew Yglesias
✔
@mattyglesias
 Small brain: No collusion
Big brain: Collusion isn’t illegal
Galaxy brain: Hillary did the collusion

10:34 PM - Jul 31, 2018 · Washington, DC


Jokes aside, people were quick to point out that the issue was related to language as opposed to actual legislation.
‘Election collusion’ might not technically be a crime, but conspiracy is.


Brian Krassenstein
@krassenstein
 Trump this morning: "Collusion is not a crime."

Yeah but...

'Conspiracy to defraud the United States'

and

'Conspiracy to commit Fraud and related activity in connection with computers'

ARE CRIMES!!

11:53 PM - Jul 31, 2018