This Is The Fox & Friends First Segment That Inspired Trump’s ‘Smocking Gun’ Tweet

President Donald Trump incurred a blizzard of ridicule Monday morning by tweeting that “Democrats can’t find a Smocking Gun tying the Trump campaign to Russia,” but it turns out that he was quoting a Fox News segment. The punchline? He lied about what the Fox hosts said in that segment.

On Monday morning’s edition of Fox & Friends First, guest host Carley Shimkus teased a debate segment that was, word-for-word, identical to the first part of Trump’s tweet (except for the references to smockery), as Matt Gertz noted on Twitter.

“Democrats can’t find their smoking gun to tie the Trump campaign to Russia after James Comey’s testimony,” Shimkus said.

Trump’s tweet went on to quote the hosts saying No “Smocking Gun…No Collusion,” but neither of them said that.

Co-host Rob Schmitt completed the tease by saying “All right, so what about all the talk of collusion? Will this have any impact? We debate that coming up next.”

So neither Fox News host said anything about “smocking” (which, according to Merriam-Webster, is “a decorative embroidery or shirring made by gathering cloth in regularly spaced round tucks.”),  and neither of them said “No Collusion.”

This is also not the first time Trump has tweeted the word “smocking.” In August, Trump tweeted, and then deleted, another quote using the term “smocking gun,” a capability which modern firearm technology has yet to achieve.

Trump sent a follow-up tweet that also appears to have been inspired by Fox News, this time a Fox & Friends segment that sought to falsely equate the felonies in which Trump has been implicated with campaign violations for which the Obama campaign was fined. The tweet was sent minutes after the segment aired.

Watch the segment above, via Fox News.

[image via screengrab]