Donald Trump had yet another controversial week in the White House and the majority of the mainstream media made sure to hold his feet to the fire. After the week concluded with the first charges being filled in the ongoing Russian investigation, Trump attempted to deflect from the issue with a tweet of his own.
Trump on Twitter
Even during the early days of the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump has been forced to hit back against allegations that he had been in cahoots with Russia.
Prior to the Republican National Convention last year, Trump was forced to replace his campaign manager with Kellyanne Conway after Paul Manafort was revealed to have had financial ties back to the Kremlin. In the year that followed, the former host of "The Apprentice" would continue to face allegations of collusion with Russia, with critics pointing out his constant praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and his refusal to release his tax returns. Since defeating Hillary Clinton last November, the pressure has only mounted as multiple news outlets and government reports have all concluded that Russia hacked the election with a Trump victory in mind.
Fast forward to present day and there has been an ongoing investigation taking place in regards to Russia, with Robert Mueller being brought on board as the special counsel to dig into what role the Kremlin played in the election. On Friday night, CNN broke the story that the first charges had been filed in the investigation, which led to the president tweeting about Hillary Clinton instead on October 27.
Taking to his Twitter account just an hour after the CNN report broke, Donald Trump promoted a New York Post story that accused Hillary Clinton of her own collusion with Russia. "What happened?" Trump rhetorically asked, before adding, "Now we know!" The allegations against Clinton date back to earlier in the week when the Washington Post reported that the Clinton campaign and the DNC had funded the research behind the controversial "pee tape" dossier.
However, an additional report was released on Friday night with the conservative website "Washing Free Beacon" admitting to being the outlet who funded the dossier's research.
CNN's bombshell story on Friday reported that the first charges had been filed in regards to the ongoing investigation into Russian election interference. Robert Mueller has led the investigation since being named special counsel, and according to CNN, "the charges are still sealed under orders from a federal judge." It's unknown who has been charged, but it's likely to come out on Monday or Tuesday, with Paul Manafort being one name that is a rumored possibility.
Next up
As the Russian scandal continues to pick up steam in recent days, the White House appears to be gathering their thoughts and only time will tell how they handle the sensitive situation moving forward. As far as Donald Trump himself, it's expected that the American people haven't heard the last from the president on the issue at hand.