--- title: Trump Gets Mocked on Twitter for Smocking Gun Tweet description: After tweeting spelling error "smocking gun," President Donald Trump got mocked on Twitter by people like Monica Lewisnky and Kathy Griffin. canonical: https://time.com/5475262/trump-smocking-gun/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-12-10T14:08:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-12T16:06:35.000Z og:title: Trump Tweeted 'Smocking Gun' and the Internet Got Crafty og:description: Monica Lewinsky and Kathy Griffin are weighing in og:url: https://time.com/5475262/trump-smocking-gun/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb2e3786eb2fc3462/698940f4bc6cfc6d123e7a4e/trump-mueller.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Trump Mueller og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Tweeted 'Smocking Gun' and the Internet Got Crafty twitter:description: Monica Lewinsky and Kathy Griffin are weighing in twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb2e3786eb2fc3462/698940f4bc6cfc6d123e7a4e/trump-mueller.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Tweeted 'Smocking Gun' and the Internet Got Crafty > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=568ddde4-9067-4c96-9ab6-1e103f2f6351&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: How Trump Changes His Story on the Russia Investigation [Watch (HLS stream): How Trump Changes His Story on the Russia Investigation](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jtYJYHg3.m3u8) (3:51)  _Published 2018-12-06. As special counsel Robert Mueller and various news reports have dug up information about Russian meddling in the 2016 election, Trump has followed a predictable pattern._ by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Updated: Dec 12, 2023 4:06 PM UTCPublished: Dec 10, 2018 2:08 PM UTC As special counsel Robert Mueller and various news reports have dug up information about Russian meddling in the 2016 election, Trump has followed a predictable pattern. by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Updated: Dec 12, 2023 4:06 PM UTCPublished: Dec 10, 2018 2:08 PM UTC The internet is not done schooling President Trump on his [Twitter typos](http://time.com/5371804/chris-evans-on-trump-2/). President Donald Trump began the week with a missive claiming that prosecutors have been unable to find evidence of collusion between his Russia and his presidential campaign, tweeting: “Democrats can’t find a Smocking Gun tying the Trump campaign to Russia after James Comey’s testimony. No Smocking Gun…No Collusion.” @FoxNews That’s because there was NO COLLUSION. So now the Dems go to a simple private transaction, wrongly call it a campaign contribution,…” > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1072095127894667265) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1072098604599394305) The pair of tweets from early Monday morning were the latest in his ongoing criticism of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Suffice it to say the smocking mockery was swift as the commander-in-chief’s frequent critics wasted no time in targeting the word usage. > [](https://twitter.com/zachbraff/status/1072127313096138752) > [](https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/1072167680545882114) > [](https://twitter.com/MerriamWebster/status/1072174100355923968) > [](https://twitter.com/danieljgay/status/1072166576928030720) > [](https://twitter.com/MrBrandonStroud/status/1072187367237316608) > [](https://twitter.com/LibyaLiberty/status/1072188408951435264) > [](https://twitter.com/kenrudin/status/1072164612043345920) > [](https://twitter.com/ditzkoff/status/1072116705005133824) > [](https://twitter.com/kathygriffin/status/1072099881278332929) > [](https://twitter.com/GlennThrush/status/1072110483124174849) > [](https://twitter.com/MonicaLewinsky/status/1072108744211861504) > [](https://twitter.com/CharlesPPierce/status/1072110709121650689) > [](https://twitter.com/JeffreyGoldberg/status/1072100409618120704) > [](https://twitter.com/ChuckWendig/status/1072108867453095936) > [](https://twitter.com/rgay/status/1072104410724163586) > [](https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1072099875729367040) > [](https://twitter.com/MalcolmNance/status/1072105509652709376) > [](https://twitter.com/peterdaou/status/1072101125430611968) Some suggested the snafu was no mistake. > [](https://twitter.com/ashleyfeinberg/status/1072118160281735169) [Merriam Webster](http://time.com/4770763/merriam-webster-corrects-donald-trump-tweet/) defines smocking as “a decorative embroidery or shirring made by gathering cloth in regularly spaced round tucks.” And while jokes about the administration’s wording and typos have been consistent, a pattern repeated as people took to Twitter to remind POTUS about the importance of one misplaced letter, this was no new misspelling. Trump has tweeted “smocking gun” before, an error late night hosts like Stephen Colbert couldn’t resist digging into. > [](https://twitter.com/shaunking/status/1072119091983515649) > [](https://twitter.com/NumbersMuncher/status/1072117069632684033) ## Transcript Donald Trump has changed his story several times during the Russia investigation. As Special Counsel Robert Mueller and various news reports have dug up information about Russian meddling in the 2016 election, Trump has followed a predictable pattern. Here's how it works. Trump begins by broadly denying that something happened. First, he denied that Russians had hacked Democratic emails. But I notice any time anything wrong happens, they like to say the Russians. She doesn't know if it's the Russians doing the hacking, maybe there is no hacking. The campaign also denied that it had any contacts with Russia. I joined this campaign in the summer, and I can tell you that All the contact by the Trump campaign and associates was with the American people. [ MUSIC ] And Trump denied that he had any business connections with Russia in July of 2016. Just weeks after his former lawyer Michael Cohen stopped working on a project to bring a Trump Tower to Moscow. So I mean I have nothing to do with Russia. I don't have any jobs in Russia. I'm all over the world, but we're not involved in Russia. As facts emerge which make the denial harder to maintain, Trump downplays their significance. He did that when he admitted Democratic emails had been hacked but cast doubt on who did it. I think it was Russia but I think it was probably other people and / or countries and I see nothing wrong with that statement. Nobody really knows. Nobody really knows for sure He did it when he admitted that his campaign chair, son, and son- in- law had met with a Kremlin- connected lawyer in Trump Tower during the election. He took a meeting with a lawyer from Russia. It lasted for a very short period and nothing came of the meeting. And he did it when he argued that the Trump Tower Moscow project was not a big deal. Everybody knew about it. It was written about in newspapers It was a well known project, and so he's lying about a project that everybody knew about. I mean, we were very open with it. We were thinking about building a building. This deal was a very public deal. Everybody knows about this deal. I wasn't trying to hide anything. [ MUSIC ] Finally, Trump makes an Mission, but argues that it's not that important. He did that when he argued that Russian medling had no influence on the election. Well, Russia's actions had no impact at all on the outcome of the election. Let me be totally clear in saying that, and I've said this so many times, I accept our intelligence Mention communities conclusion. That Russia's meddling in the the 2016 election took place. He did it when he argued that meetings with foreign nationals promising dirt on a political opponent are routine. So I think from a pratical standpoint Most people would have taken that meaning. It's called opposition research or even research into your opponent. I've had many people, I have only been in politics for two years, but I've had many people call up, OG, we have information on this factor or this person or, frankly, Hillary That's very standard in politics. And he did it when he argued there would ne nothing wrong wit perusing a business deal with a foreign government while running for president. We decided, I decided ultimately not to do it. There would have been nothing wrong if I did do it. If I did do it, there would've been nothing wrong. That was my business. Even if he was right, it doesn't matter. Because I was allowed To do whatever I wanted during the campaign. I was running my business. A lot of different things during the campaign. One problem for Trump with this pattern, it undercuts other denials he's made. And it raises the question, if there was nothing wrong with it, why deny it in the first place? 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