Now that the investigation of Donald Trump’s criminal activities is coming to a head, we’ve seen multiple avenues of approach for prosecutors and for the special counsel. That leaves it to Team Trump to attempt to deflect in any way possible, and with the upcoming release of former FBI Director James Comey’s memoir, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies & Leadership, Trump has decided that attacking the former intelligence chief is the plan he wants to use.

While we must of course give credit to this administration for successfully distracting Americans on many occasions with the kind of ridiculous, ironic, or hilariously hypocritical statements that both Trump and his Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders issued today, it seems less likely to work in this particular situation.

First, the president attacked Comey on Twitter:

James Comey is a proven LEAKER & LIAR. Virtually everyone in Washington thought he should be fired for the terrible job he did-until he was, in fact, fired. He leaked CLASSIFIED information, for which he should be prosecuted. He lied to Congress under OATH. He is a weak and…..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 13, 2018

….untruthful slime ball who was, as time has proven, a terrible Director of the FBI. His handling of the Crooked Hillary Clinton case, and the events surrounding it, will go down as one of the worst “botch jobs” of history. It was my great honor to fire James Comey!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 13, 2018

Then when Sanders was asked about Trump’s idiotic tweets, she doubled down at the press briefing, saying that “[the] American people see right through [Comey’s] blatant lies”:

Donnie and Sarah may want to brace themselves for this next part, though. According to a new poll from ABC News and the Washington Post, far more Americans see through the lies of the Trump administration, and believe James Comey far more than they believe Trump.

The poll was overarchingly about whether or not Americans support the Russia investigation — which they do, by a sizeable majority — but got even more specific than that.

From the poll:

“The Post-ABC poll finds Americans’ views of Comey include division and indifference, with 3 in 10 seeing him favorably, just over 3 in 10 unfavorably and the rest offering no opinion. But by 48 percent to 32 percent, Comey is seen as more believable than Trump, and adults disapprove of Comey’s firing by a similar margin.”

We’re pretty sure that’s the LAST thing Donald Trump wanted to hear today.

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Featured image via Win McNamee/Getty Images