President Trump took credit late last week for a cyberattack on Russia’s Internet Research Agency two years ago, citing it as evidence that he has responded strongly to Russian provocations, despite considerable evidence that he has often excused Moscow’s aggressions in cyberspace and on European territory.
Mr. Trump’s statement came in an interview with Marc A. Thiessen, a conservative columnist for The Washington Post who is a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.
In the Oval Office interview, Mr. Thiessen asked whether Mr. Trump had launched the attack that shut down the Internet Research Agency, a troll farm in St. Petersburg, Russia, that was behind much of the 2016 election influence campaign that ran on Facebook and other social media sites.
“Correct,’’ Mr. Trump said, but he added no other details.
The move against the Internet Research Agency, though classified, has been widely reported over the past two years.