While he believes the U.S. needs to develop better strategies to deal with the “sophisticated Russia malign influence campaign,” Congressman Matt Gaetz doesn’t believe the illegal tactics outlined in the Mueller indictment impacted the 2016 presidential election.
“I don’t believe that in a country of 320 billion people, with over a million people working in public relations and communications and the influence business, would a hundred trolls in Russia and St. Petersburg fundamentally alter the outcome of an election,” said Rep. Gaetz on “Pensacola Speaks” on Monday. “Of course. I think that if a hundred people in a warehouse could alter a national election, with the focus of an entire country, then campaigns certainly would not cost as much as they do.”
He continued, “I think that the tactics of the Russians have to be blunted, but the impact of their effort should in no way undermine the credibility of the Trump win.”
Did the indictment released on Friday change his opinion of Mueller?
“I think that Mueller’s still has constructed a team that is largely biased against the President, and I don’t think they’re done,” said Gaetz. “I think that they’re going to continue to try to build some type of a case against the President. I think that the facts don’t support any claim of collusion, and certainly that wasn’t well played out in this indictment.”
He added. “But nothing seems to indicate that the Mueller probe is over, but I do take the facts alleged by Mueller with regard to Russia’s malign influence campaign, with great seriousness because I have seen evidence of these very things all over the world.”