Trump’s wild claims about ‘Russia hoax’ named PolitiFact’s ‘lie of the year’

The fact-checking news site PolitiFact has called President Donald Trump's claim that Russian interference in the 2016 election is a hoax as the 2017 "Lie of the Year."

"The Russia hoax continues, now it's ads on Facebook. What about the totally biased and dishonest Media coverage in favor of Crooked Hillary?" Trump tweeted in September. However, nothing could be further from the truth.

According to the site, the evidence against Trump is overwhelming. Classified reports as well as public ones from 17 United States intelligence agencies have confirmed that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an interference in the 2016 election. Russia's attack went from cyber-theft to propaganda placement and an "overall effort to undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process," they wrote Tuesday.

Trump's White House has called the Russia interference a "made-up story," all the while, elected members of Congress agree that it happened. Tech sites like Google, Facebook and Twitter have also made it clear that Russia was involved.

Trump claimed that during an Asian summit earlier in the year, Putin told him that he didn't do it. Trump said that he believes the Russian leader over the U.S. intelligence agencies, the U.S. tech companies, members of Congress and reporters.

"When the nation’s commander-in-chief refuses to acknowledge a threat to U.S. democracy, it makes it all the more difficult to address the problem. For this reason, we name Trump’s claim that the Russia interference is a hoax as our Lie of the Year for 2017," PolitiFact wrote in their assessment.

A recent CNN survey revealed that 22 percent of Americans see the Russia scandal as a “crisis.” An additional 44 percent believe it is a “major problem.” A full two-thirds of the United States believes that Trump's Russia scandal is an important story. A full 59 percent of Americans said that Trump personally knew during 2016 that people in his campaign were in contact with Russian operatives.

According to Politico, another Pew poll found that Republican confidence in Putin doubled to 34 percent from 17 percent in 2015. Most Republicans (83 percent) also believe that the allegations were nothing more than a distraction.

Coincidentally, Trump tweeted another declaration moments later, claiming the Russia scandal is a hoax.