No Collusion, No Obstruction

About

No Collusion, No Obstruction is an oft-repeated defense by United States President Donald Trump when accused of obstructing justice in his alleged attempts to end a federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential Election.

Origin

The earliest known usage of the phrase by Trump was posted on June 26th, 2017, when he accused the Obama administration of "spying" on the Trump campaign. He tweeted,^[1][2] "The reason that President Obama did NOTHING about Russia after being notified by the CIA of meddling is that he expected Clinton would win…under a magnifying glass, they have zero "tapes" of T people colluding. There is no collusion & no obstruction. I should be given apology!" The initial tweet received more than 82,000 likes and 22,000 retweets in about two years (shown below, left and right).

Spread

Since this time, Trump has used the phrase as a means of defending himself from public charges and accusations that he had a hand in Russia's interference. For example, on July 4th, 2019, President Trump tweeted,^[3] "Great news for the Republican Party as one of the dumbest & most disloyal men in Congress is 'quitting' the Party. No Collusion, No Obstruction! Knew he couldn’t get the nomination to run again in the Great State of Michigan. Already being challenged for his seat. A total loser!" Within one month, the tweet received more than 115,000 likes and 25,000 retweets (shown below).

However, despite Trump's claims, former Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who led the investigation into allegations of collaboration with Russia, has contradicted Trump, stating that the answer is more complicated than Trump has advertised. In his testimony before the House Intelligence and Judiciary Committees, Mueller said that his office's report did not say that there had been a "total exoneration" of the president (video below).

Papa Roach Tweet

On July 29th, 2019, the verified Twitter^[4] account for the American rock band Papa Roach responded to one of Trump's "no collusion, no obstruction" tweets with a lyric from their song "Last Resort". The post received more than 384,000 likes and 118,000 retweets in 24 hours (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References