Fox’s Shep Smith fact-checks Trump on-air after Russia comments

Fox News’s Shep Smith on Wednesday fact-checked President Trump after the president again claimed during a news conference that the Russia investigation is a “Democratic hoax.”

“The president again calling the Russia investigation a ‘Democratic hoax’,” Smith said. “It is not. Fox News has been reporting and will continue to report that two people have pleaded guilty.”

He noted that former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos have both pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about their contacts with Russians.

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his associate Richard Gates have also been charged with multiple counts in the investigation.

{mosads}At a news conference earlier Wednesday, Trump repeated his claims that there was “no collusion” between his campaign and Russia. He said that it is “unlikely” he will be called to sit for an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller despite widespread speculation that Mueller is gearing up to interview Trump in coming weeks.

“There was absolutely no collusion, everybody knows it. I’ve been in office for 11 months, for 11 months they’ve had this phony cloud over this administration, over our government, and it has hurt our government,” Trump said.

“It is a Democrat hoax that was brought up as an excuse for losing an election that frankly the Democrats should have won because they have such a tremendous advantage in the Electoral College,” he continued.

Smith has hit Trump before for “inaccurate” claims related to the Russia investigation, saying in December that Flynn’s guilty plea undermines Trump’s claim that the Russia probe is “fake news.”