Trump: Allegations of Collusion with Russia Are ‘Fake News’

President Donald Trump blasted as “fake news” the storyline his presidential campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election in a series of Monday morning tweets, just hours before FBI Director James Comey was set to testify in Congress.

Comey’s testimony before the House Intelligence Committee concerning the level of Russia’s involvement in the 2016 presidential election, as well as addressing Trump’s claims that former President Obama “wiretapped” Trump Tower before the election, has been eagerly anticipated.

“The real story that Congress, the FBI and all others should be looking into is the leaking of Classified information. Must find leaker now!”

“[Former Director of National Intelligence] James Clapper and others stated that there is no evidence Potus colluded with Russia,” Trump tweeted Monday morning. “This story is FAKE NEWS and everyone knows it!”

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Trump noted that no one has yet come forward with any concrete evidence tying his associates to plotting with the Russians, and yet Democrats and several large media outlets have tirelessly continued to push the collusion narrative.

“The Democrats made up and pushed the Russian story as an excuse for running a terrible campaign,” Trump tweeted. “Big advantage in Electoral College & lost!”

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The president also sought to remind the country that a crime did occur in conjunction with the Russian hacking investigation, and yet the mainstream media and Democratic members of Congress haven’t devoted a proportional amount of attention and outrage to it.

Trump’s former national security adviser, Gen. Michael T. Flynn, resigned from his position in February after leaked information revealed that he had not been entirely forthcoming with Vice President Mike Pence regarding the details of his phone conversation with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak prior to Trump’s inauguration. Flynn initially denied discussing Russian sanctions with Kislyak when Pence questioned him.

The president noted the leak of the phone call’s contents and participants to the press was illegal.

“The real story that Congress, the FBI and all others should be looking into is the leaking of Classified information,” Trump tweeted. “Must find leaker now!”

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House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) said on “Fox News Sunday” that the “one crime” he knew of that had been committed was the leaking of Flynn’s name through the FISA system.

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“We should not be going after our diplomats and making it wrong to be talking to diplomats in this town. That is their job,” Nunes said. “I think it was largely people maybe who were there, had classified information, who are now no longer there and decided to leak it … Clearly to leak Michael Flynn’s name talking to the Russian ambassador … that was clearly designed to hurt Gen. Flynn and the president’s national security adviser.”

As the country awaits Comey’s three-hour testimony, beginning at 10 a.m., both Republicans and Democrats hope he will shed light on the Russian hacking allegations, the leaks, and Trump’s claims that he was subjected to surveillance at the hands of the Obama administration.