Reactions to charges run gamut

Reaction to the indictment of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his deputy Rick Gates, along with the guilty plea of former campaign aide George Papadopoulos, was swift and strong:

■ “Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign. But why aren’t Crooked Hillary & the Dems the focus ????? ,” Trump wrote on Twitter, referring to Clinton.

“Also, there is NO COLLUSION!”

— President Donald Trump

■ “We’ve been saying from Day One there’s no evidence of Trump-russia collusion, and nothing in the indictment today changes that at all.”

— White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders

■ “The rule of law is paramount in America, and the investigation must be allowed to proceed unimpeded.

The president must not, under any circumstances, interfere with the special counsel’s work in any way.”

— Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer

■ “When Trump LAUNCHED his 2016 run, Paul Manafort was NOT his Campaign Manager When he WON the Presidency, Paul Manafort was NOT his manager”

— Secretary of State Rex Tilllerson

■ “Despite what the president wants us to believe, today’s indictment is not fake news. Mueller’s investigation must continue with no outside influence or partisan bickering in order to get to the truth. We must do all we can to protect the integrity of our democracy, even if the path leads to the Oval Office.”

— Rep. Dina Titus, D-nev.

■ “Manafort. On tax charges going back 10 yrs. And a guy no one’s heard of who volunteered for Trump. No ‘collusion.’ No relevance to Trump.”

— Political commentator Ann Coulter ■ “#Indictmentmonday & guilty plea show a clear link btw Trump campaign officials & Russians seeking to influence our election. #Followthefacts”

— House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi

■ “The one thing that’s clear is there’s no reference to collusion, no reference to the president.”

— White House lawyer Ty Cobb

■ Papadopoulos’ guilty plea of lying to the FBI is “just the latest in a series of undisclosed contacts, misleading public statements, potentially compromising information and highly questionable actions from the time of the Trump campaign.”

— Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee

■ “It’s another distraction from passing the president’s agenda. The full focus should be on passing tax reform. At this point, unfortunately, it’s another major distraction from advancing his agenda.”

— Ryan Williams, a spokesman for 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney

■ “I think that this is a real issue for him, despite the divisions in our country. This is clearly the beginning of finding out what happened.”

— Democratic pollster Anna Greenberg

■ “They’ve gotten some fringe players … but there’s still no smoking gun as to Russian collusion.”

— Former Trump campaign adviser Barry Bennett