Carlos Barria/Reuters
President Donald Trump on Thursday claimed Democrats “made up a story—RUSSIA” in order to cover for their loss in the 2016 presidential election. “The Democrats had to come up with a story as to why they lost the election, and so badly (306), so they made up a story—RUSSIA. Fake news!” Trump tweeted, referring to the number of electoral votes he won. It is unclear which particular story Trump is referring to, but in recent days it has been reported by The New York Times and CNN that top Trump advisers had frequent contact with Russian officials during the campaign. Trump has also been briefed on Russia’s attempts to launch cyberattacks in order to influence the outcome of the election, which U.S. intelligence agencies believe was done with the goal of propping up Trump and damaging Hillary Clinton.