Originally Posted by ZNPaaneah
Stephanopoulos: "Are there any ties between Mr. Trump, you or your campaign and Putin and his regime?"
Manafort: "No, there are not. That's absurd. And, you know, there's no basis to it." (July 24, 2016)
Tapper: "(Robby Mook) seemed to be suggesting that this is part of a plot to help Donald Trump and hurt Hillary Clinton. Your response?"
Trump Jr.: "Well, it just goes to show you their exact moral compass. I mean, they will say anything to be able to win this.*I mean, this is time and time again, lie after lie. You notice he won't say, 'Well, I say this.' We hear 'experts.' You know,*'His house cat at home once said that this is what's happening with the Russians.'*It's disgusting. It's so phony. I watched him bumble through the interview, I was able to hear it on audio a little bit. I mean, I can't think of bigger lies, but that exactly goes to show you what the DNC and what the Clinton camp will do.*They will lie and do anything to win." (July 24, 2016)
Hope Hicks, then-spokesperson for Trump's campaign, told The Associated Press there was no contact between the Trump campaign and Russian representatives.
"It never happened," Hicks told The AP. "There was no communication between the campaign and any foreign entity during the campaign." (November 11, 2016)
Top aide Kellyanne Conway answered "absolutely not" when asked by CBS' John Dickerson if there was contact with "Russians trying to meddle with the election."
"Absolutely not," Conway said. "And I discussed that with the President-elect just last night. Those conversations never happened.*I hear people saying it like it's a fact on television. That is just not only inaccurate and false, but it's dangerous and it does undermine our democracy." (December 18, 2016)
Mike Pence issued a blanket denial to Chris Wallace on Fox News.
Wallace: "I'm asking a direct question: Was there any contact in any way between Trump or his associates and the Kremlin or contacts they had?"
Pence: "I joined this campaign in the summer, and I can tell you that all the contact by the Trump campaign and associates was with the American people. We were fully engaged with taking his message to make America great again all across this country. That's why he won in a landslide election."
Wallace: "... if there were any contacts, sir, I'm just trying to get an answer."
Pence: "Yes. I -- of course not.*Why would there*be any contacts between the campaign? Chris, the -- this is all a distraction, and it's all part of a narrative to delegitimize the election and to question the legitimacy of this presidency. The American people see right through it."
Pence later repeated that "of course" there had not been contact between the Trump campaign and Russia in an interview with CBS' Dickerson. (Jan 15, 2017)
Trump Jr. told The New York Times that he did not have any meetings with Russians that were "set up."
"Did I meet with people that were Russian? I'm sure, I'm sure I did," Trump Jr. said. "But none that were set up. None that I can think of at the moment. And certainly none that I was representing the campaign in any way, shape or form." (March 2017)
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