Conservative strategist: ‘Ludicrous’ to say there was no Russian interference in 2016

Conservative strategist Lance Lemmonds told Hill.TV on Friday that it’s “ludicrous” to suggest Moscow did not meddle in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

“The idea that there was no Russian interference, especially through social media, is a ludicrous idea,” Lemmonds, who is communications director at the Faith and Freedom Coalition, told host Jamal Simmons on “What America’s Thinking.”

“The proof is there,” he added. “It was the preface of the Mueller investigation.”

Special counsel Robert Mueller submitted his final report on the Russia investigation to the Justice Department last month. Attorney General William Barr said in his summary of the report that Mueller found no evidence of coordination or conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 campaign.

The U.S. intelligence community concluded in January 2017 that the Kremlin executed a widespread cyber operation to interfere in the 2016 elections.

Lemmonds went on to say that attempts at misinformation continue on the internet.

“I can look at a meme that comes across my personal feed now, and I can almost instantly tell you whether or not that is a Russian troll or bot, sitting somewhere in a basement in the Ukraine, or who knows where,” he said. “It’s patently untrue information from a source of which you’ve never heard of because it’s not an actual news source. It is a made up website that someone has claimed is a news organization.”

— Julia Manchester