It seems that Donald Trump has always wanted to give the appearance throughout his career that he was a strongman and to never let anyone see him sweat. One could say that Trump's career of firing people could be how he reveals that something or someone is bothering him, despite the fact that he turned firing into a career with his television show "The Apprentice." As President, his firings have continued and most of them over obstacles to his agenda. But more and more he's revealed that he's firing people in order to try and put a stop to an investigation that continues to loom over him, over his campaign's possible connections to Russian officials.
Trump's obstruction of justice
Last year the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Intelligence Community, in general, determined that Russian hackers were working with top-level Kremlin officials to interfere with the 2016 Presidential Election and that there could be some connection to the Trump campaign. Under that determination, various government agencies and congressional committees have started their own investigations of the Trump campaign. But many feel that over the last several months, the Trump White House has continued to interfere with those investigations with more evidence coming out that shows this to be the case.
Over the last week, a government official read a memo to the Washington Post that was written by James Comey -- the former director of the FBI -- before he was fired, that described a conversation between Comey and President Trump in the Oval Office where the President told Comey to stop investigating his former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.
On Friday, the New York Times reported that a government official also read them a White House document that was apparently circulated as the official account of what was said in the Oval Office when Russian officials were there last week. The document reveals that the President bragged to those officials when he had fired Comey, saying that he "faced great pressure because of Russia" and that "that's taken off." A Blasting News article that talks about the administration's responses to this report show that President Trump's use of the word "pressure" seems to be left up to interpretation, such as the "that's taken off" comment, which could only confirm to the President's critics that he was referring to the removal of pressure building on him from the investigation.
Administration and congressional response
The Times also states that White House press secretary Sean Spicer did not dispute these details which are in contrast to how they've responded to other leaks in the past, which has been to deny them entirely. In fact, Spicer criticized Comey, saying that by "grandstanding" and "politicizing" the investigation, he had created "unnecessary pressure" that prevented the White House from establishing diplomatic relations with Russia.
The account of the President's discussions with the Russians has already been targeted in the headlines where it's said that President Trump revealed classified information to those officials which caused Congress to take notice. On Wednesday, special prosecutor Robert Mueller was named to continue the investigation on President Trump's connection to Russia.
Various members of Congress have been asked for their response to the information that's been leaked, with many saying that they want those documents turned over, as they have only been read to the media. Michael Flynn has reportedly refused to respond to a subpoena and President Trump has refused to turn over financial documents on Michael Flynn as well.
While Republicans and Democrats seem to come to some agreement that the allegations against the White House are very serious, Republicans have continued to lean on the leaks as the problem, suggesting that those who are leaking the information should be arrested.
