Already registered? Click here to log in By registering with theweek.com , you accept and hereby explicitly consent to our processing of your Personal Information in accordance with the terms of our Privacy Policy You've read 4 or more articles this month. To continue reading for free, please join other loyal fans of The Week by registering below. If you are an existing subscriber to The Week magazine please register with the email address you subscribed with. For assistance or further information please contact us. Log in You've read 4 or more articles this month. To continue reading for free, please log in below. Email address Password Login A link has been emailed to you - check your inbox.<doc-sep>President Donald Trump held a rally in Grand Rapids Tuesday night, speaking publicly for the first time since special counsel Robert Mueller concluded an investigation last week into whether the president colluded with Russia in his effort to win the 2016 election. More:President Trump returns to Michigan, says he'll fund Great Lakes effort According to Attorney General William Barr's summary of Mueller's report, Trump did not collude with Russia — ending the investigation into what the president has repeatedly referred to as a "witch hunt." By returning to Grand Rapids, Trump visits a city where he held a rally on the weekend before he won the presidency three years ago. Michigan, along with Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, was one of the key states that put Trump over the top in that election. More:Trump reverses course on Special Olympics, says it will be funded More:Devos calls questions from Democrats about Special Olympics cut 'disgusting' Contact Todd Spangler attspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler. Read more onMichigan politics and sign up for ourelections newsletter.<doc-sep>NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images President Trump said during his rally in Michigan Thursday night that Russia will not be happy about the United States becoming the No. 1 oil and gas producer in the world. “The United States – people don’t even believe this, it all happened very recently – is now the No. 1 oil and gas producer in the world,” Trump said. “And by the way, Russia’s not happy about that, but they’re fine. They’re doing just fine, but they’re not happy about that.” But is the US actually No. 1? Facts first: That’s true, but context is needed. Here’s what we’ve found:<doc-sep>CEO of ADL: Seeing a 'blitzkrieg of anti-Jewish' acts across US 'Stay out': Fulton County official reacts to potential GOP visit during audit Dana Bash: This is so telling about where the Republican party is NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 24: Trump Tower stands on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on August 24, 2018 in New York City. Following new allegations over hush money that former Trump attorney Michael Cohen paid to an adult-film actress, the Manhattan district attorneyÕs office in New York City may seek criminal charges against the Trump Organization in the coming days. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Why GOP is standing in the way of Capitol riot investigation WASHINGTON - NOVEMBER 08: US Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner (R-VA) remarks on the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at the US Capitol November 8, 2006 in Washington, DC. Warner said he supports President George W. Bush's nomination of former CIA Director Robert Gates for Secretary of Defense. Warner said he anticipates Gates' confirmation before the end of the year. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), joined by Senate Assistant Minority Leader John Thune (R-SD) (L) and Senate Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO), speaks following a Senate Republican Policy luncheon at the Russell Senate Office Building on May 18, 2021 in Washington, DC. Hear what Matt Gaetz said about Paul Ryan before his speech Former GOP senator: If McConnell said this, 'it's shameful' 'Some people have no shame': Biden calls out GOP lawmakers with list (CNN) — On Thursday night, President Donald Trump traveled to Grand Rapids, Michigan, for his first 2020 campaign rally since special counsel Robert Mueller wrapped up his investigation into Russian interference into the 2016 election and Attorney General William Barr gave the President a clean bill of health on allegations of conspiracy and obstruction. And, as you might expect, Trump spent a good chunk of his 85-minute speech spiking the football on Democrats and the media who, he alleges, knew all along that he had never colluded with Russia. Those riffs – plus a whole lot of other memorable lines from the President of the United States – are below. 1. “After three years of lies and smears and slander, the Russia hoax is finally dead. The collusion delusion is over.” For the record, the Mueller probe produced 199 charges against 37 people and entities. Seven people pleaded guilty. Five people were sentenced to prison. So, this investigation was not quite a “hoax.” And away we go! 2. “The Special Counsel completed its report and found no collusion and no obstruction.” Not true! Yes, Mueller has ended his investigation. And, yes, according to the attorney general’s summary of the Mueller report, there was no collusion established. But Mueller specifically wrote that while his investigation did not conclude the President committed a crime, that decision “does not exonerate” Trump on the matter. 3. “Total exoneration. Complete vindication.” “Does not exonerate.” 4. “The crazy attempt by the Democrat Party and the fake news media right back there and the ‘deep state’ to overturn the results of the 2016 election have failed.” To be clear: The special counsel investigation was launched by a Trump appointee – Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein – and run by a lifelong Republican (Mueller). It is not clear how that amounts to a “deep state” conspiracy aimed at overturning the results of the 2016 election. 5. “This is the one we want. We want ourselves. We want us and that’s what we got.” “We want us and that’s what we got.” – The President of the United States 6. “The Russia witch hunt was a plan by those who lost the election to try and illegally regain power by framing innocent Americans, many of them.” Not to beat a dead horse here but … seven people affiliated in a variety of ways with Trump and/or his campaign pleaded guilty to crimes ranging from financial fraud to lying to investigators about the breadth and depth of conversations with Russians. I am not sure how “those who lost the election” were able to make that happen. But remember that Trump and his base thrive on a) victimhood and b) conspiracy theories. And so, Trump leans heavily into both. 7. “And this group of major losers did not just ruthlessly attack me, my family and everyone who questioned their lies they tried to divide our country.” Victimhood + conspiracy, with a pinch of bullying (“major losers”) thrown in for flavor. 8. “They did it all because they refused to accept the results of one of the greatest presidential elections, probably number one, in our history.” “Probably number one.” 9. “Little pencil neck Adam Schiff … got the smallest, thinnest neck I’ve ever seen. He is not a long ball hitter.” Trump bullying at its most elemental here. Also, evidence of how much Trump equates physical size and presumed athletic ability with strength. (Sidebar: You know who was a long hitter? The Dalai Lama.) 10. “And our friends, Tucker, Sean, Laura, through the roof last night.” So a) Trump is referring to Fox News hosts as “our friends” and b) he is intimately aware of TV ratings. 11. “Just think of it, a fake, dirty dossier, millions and millions of dollars paid for it, by who? Crooked Hillary Clinton, the DNC and the Democrat Party.” Quick fact check: Parts of the so-called “Steele Dossier” have been confirmed by our intelligence community. And a conservative media site – the Washington Free Beacon – hired Fusion GPS to look into Trump and other candidates. Later, the DNC and Clinton campaign contracted with Fusion, work that led to the Steele dossier. 12. “Then it comes to a place called Michigan. Have you ever heard of Michigan?” Trump asked while in, um, Michigan. 13. “And I remember leaving and I said, so [Hillary Clinton’s] got 500 people and I had 32,000 people including the people outside.” According to contemporaneous reports, there were 4,200 people in the arena for Trump’s final rally of the 2016 campaign in Grand Rapids. That leaves a LOT of people outside… 14.<doc-sep>
Less than two minutes into President Donald Trump’s speech in Grand Rapids, Michigan, he lied about special counsel Robert Mueller’s final report. “The collusion delusion is over,” Trump said on Thursday night, in his first speech since Attorney General Bill Barr announced some of Mueller’s key conclusions on Sunday. “The special counsel completed its report and found no collusion and no obstruction.” We're one minute in and Trump has already blatantly lied about the Mueller report. (Mueller did not exonerate him of obstruction.) pic.twitter.com/AnFvt8KQuY — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 28, 2019 It is not true that the special counsel exonerated Trump of obstruction of justice. While we still can’t say for sure what the special counsel said — all we know of Mueller’s final report came by way of a brief summary of it sent to Congress on Sunday by Barr, Trump’s hand-picked attorney general — even Barr’s letter acknowledged Mueller did not exonerate Trump of obstruction. “While this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him,” says Mueller’s report, according to one of the few direct quotations from the special counsel’s report included in Barr’s summary. Barr, together with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, made the subsequent decision to clear Trump of possible obstruction of justice charges. The public still hasn’t seen the final report, which the New York Times reported on Thursday is more than 300 pages long. It remains unclear if the special counsel intended for Barr and Rosenstein to resolve the obstruction question, or if he primarily meant to use his report to present evidence to Congress. It’s also not quite the case that Mueller said “no collusion,” as Trump claimed. According to another quotation from the report included in Barr’s summary, Mueller concluded that “[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.” But not establishing a conspiracy is not the same as finding no evidence of collusion at all. After falsely claiming total exoneration, Trump used Barr’s letter to go on the attack against some of his most prominent Democratic critics — including the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, who went viral earlier in the day when he responded to a Republican effort to compel him to resign during a hearing by reciting the major pieces of evidence suggesting the Trump campaign did in fact collude with Russia. “Little pencil-neck Adam Schiff,” Trump said, prompting boos from the crowd. “He has the smallest, thinnest neck I have ever seen. He is not a long-ball hitter. But I saw him today — ‘well, we don’t really know, there could still have been some Russia collusion.’ Sick. Sick. These are sick people.” TRUMP: "Little pencil neck Adam Schiff. He has the smallest, thinnest neck I have ever seen. He is not a long-ball hitter." #BeBest pic.twitter.com/NW7oU3z4Il — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 28, 2019 While Trump and his allies have spent the week crowing over the fact that the special counsel apparently won’t be indicting Trump or any additional associates of his, it remains unclear when members of Congress or the public will be able to see more of the Mueller report beyond the less than 100 words quoted in Barr’s summary. Following a phone call with Barr on Wednesday, House Judiciary Committee chair Rep. Jerry Nadler said the attorney general made it clear that he won’t meet an April 2 deadline Democrats set for making the report public. “We’re not happy about that, to put it mildly,” Nadler said, according to the Times. During his speech in Michigan, Trump did not bother trying to explain the apparent disconnect between his misleading declarations of total exoneration on one hand, and his administration’s apparent reluctance to release the Mueller report on the other. After all, if the report is as exonerating as Trump has indicated, then why not make it public and take yet another victory lap? The news moves fast. To stay updated, follow Aaron Rupar on Twitter, and read more of Vox’s policy and politics coverage.