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Brendan McDermid | Reuters
President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he arrives at U.N. headquarters in New York, Sept. 18, 2017.
President Donald Trump on Friday called reports of Facebook ads that were purchased by fake Russian accounts a “hoax,” less than a day after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company would share the content of the roughly 3,000 ads with congressional investigators.
“The Russia hoax continues, now it’s ads on Facebook,” Trump wrote in a tweet early Friday morning, before pivoting to attack his opponent in last year’s election, Hillary Clinton. “What about the totally biased and dishonest Media coverage in favor of Crooked Hillary?”
Trump Tweet
Trump Tweet
The tweet marked the first time the president has weighed in on the Russian ads, which Facebook says were aimed at “amplifying divisive social and political messages” in an apparent attempt to influence the 2016 elections.
A White House spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request from CNBC for clarification about what exactly the president thinks is false about the ads.
Facebook announced on Sept. 6 that it had discovered the ads while reviewing its content. It has since shared them with Justice Department Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 elections.
Mueller’s probe has so far ensnared a number of Trump’s presidential campaign aides, infuriating Trump in the process.
