Trump links FBI’s missteps in Florida school shooting to Russia investigation

President Donald Trump has rebuked the FBI for missing signals before Wednesday’s school shooting in Florida.

The agency was “spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign”, Mr Trump tweeted.

“There is no collusion. Get back to the basics and make us all proud.”

The FBI has admitted it failed to act on a tip-off about suspected shooter Nikolas Cruz, who has confessed to the shooting at a high school in Parkland in which 17 people died.

It was the deadliest US school shooting since 2012 and has re-ignited long-running debates about tougher firearm restrictions.

Earlier, students who survived the shooting rallied in Florida, demanding tighter legislation on gun control and criticising the president for receiving financial support from the National Rifle Association during his presidential campaign.

In his tweet, President Trump wrote: “Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable.”

He appeared to link the agency’s failures in the specific case to the time it has spent investigating possible collusion between Russia and the Trump team during the 2016 presidential campaign.

He has repeatedly denied any links with Moscow.

Earlier this week, 13 Russians were charged with interfering in the US election, in a major development in an FBI investigation now led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Three Russian companies were also named in the indictment.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday dismissed the charges as “blather”, saying he would not comment further until he saw “facts”.

The FBI said it did not properly follow up on a tip-off about Mr Cruz last month when a person close to the suspect contacted the agency to provide “information about Cruz’s gun ownership, desire to kill people, erratic behaviour, and disturbing social media posts, as well as the potential of him conducting a school shooting”.

The 5 January tip was not the only information the FBI received.

In September, a Mississippi man reported to the law enforcement agency a disturbing comment left on a YouTube video under Mr Cruz’s name.

Mr Cruz, 19, was also reportedly investigated by local police and the Department of Children and Family Services in 2016 after posting evidence of self-harm on the Snapchat app, according to US media reports.

Child services said he had planned to buy a gun, but authorities determined he was already receiving adequate support, the reports say.