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Surprising revelations revealed that the FBI had opened an investigation while he feared that Trump would secretly work for Moscow and explained in detail his "extraordinary" efforts to conceal the contents of his private talks with Putin.
In an interview with Fox News Saturday night, Trump denied trying to hide details of his relationship with Putin.
"I'm not hiding anything, I'm plugging in. I mean, it's so ridiculous.These people are inventing that.," Trump said.
But the reported stories raise the question of why Trump, knowing that his campaign is the subject of an investigation for links with Russia, acts so often d & # 39; In a way that sharpens suspicions about his ties to Moscow.
Washington is also worrying more and more about the consequences of a situation in which the Kremlin knows exactly what happened at Putin's meetings with Trump around the world, but not his own prominent foreign policy collaborators.
Trump's past trade relations with Russia and the question of whether the Kremlin has information used to undermine the president and explain what often seems to be efforts to hinder the investigation into his behavior.
If, as the White House says, Trump has no compromised relations with Russia, why is he trying to hide his interactions with Putin? Maybe he does not trust his own team to not disclose the details of their meetings?
The latest reports are already exacerbating the feverish atmosphere in Washington, which is focused on a government closure triggered by a clash on the Trump border wall that is now entering its fourth week.
The possibility that Democratic House Democrats may eventually seek to remove the President has been a resounding presence in the capital for months and the latest reports on Trump and Russia will hardly calm the mood.
The Putin Mystery
The White House bitterly attacks the media after its cover of Trump and Putin, more recently in a pair of statements by spokeswoman Sarah Sanders this weekend .
But neither the president nor his aides has ever offered an adequate explanation of why the president says or does – his praise of Putin, his denigration of US intelligence agencies His interference and hostility to the allies United States often favor the Kremlin.
Although nothing proves so far that Trump is under the influence of Russia, such a scenario is staggering, even though he is president of the United States. – would help explain why his policy seems so often to favor Moscow.
This includes his hostility to NATO, the sudden announcement of a US withdrawal from Syria backed by the Kremlin, his recent commentary that the US government has said it will not be able to. Soviet Union was justified in invading Afghanistan in 1979 and its eagerness to accept the Russian version of the allegations of electoral interference.
Trump's warmth toward authoritarian leaders, his contempt for international organizations, his support for the UK's exit from the European Union and his coolness for international liberal democracy also contribute to the achievement of the goal of Putin. to discredit the political institutions and the credibility of the West.
Even the chaos and political polarization that Trump fomented in America Tin's desire to see the world's largest democratic powers discredited and in turmoil could be a lasting benefit for Russia's activity in 2016
Some observers have seen this activity as a form of collusion with Russia – a hostile power – in plain view, even as Trump's team is under investigation for alleged violations of its campaign.
Trump besieged
New developments follow weeks of revelations and damaging rankings surrounding the investigation of special advocate Robert Mueller, who revealed repeated links between Trump's associates and Russia at a time when the Kremlin was leading a 2016 intelligence operation to put him to his post, as well as a tendency to lie about these contacts.
The President reacted to the staggering reports of the weekend. the attack, again denying the existence of a "collusion" between his campaign and Russia in 2016 and reacting to the report that the FBI would have investigated the reasons for which the president had been arrested He seems to have acted in a way that has benefited Russia after firing office director, James Comey, claiming that it was a symptom of corruption with the largest body charged with letting it go. law enforcement in the country.
It is true that the Trump government has taken steps that are part of a truly uncompromising policy towards Moscow. . This includes sanctions against Russia for electoral interference and the approval of the sale of lethal weapons to Ukraine, a measure that the Obama administration has not crossed.
But Trump's felicity to Putin – exposed at the Helsinki summit last year – often seems to undermine the policy of his own government.
In the coming days, the Democrats will try to prevent the government from taking measures to ease the sanctions against Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch close to the Russian leader and associate of the former ex-prisoner jailed Trump. Campaign Chair Paul Manafort.
Top Democratic leaders on Sunday described the latest developments regarding Trump and Russia as a turning point in the investigation. They are preparing a huge effort to oversee what happened in 2016 and Trump's personal and commercial relations with Moscow.
"I think we are witnessing these independent, even independent actions of Mueller, which is the reason why this investigation was launched and why so many Americans, like me, have been preoccupied for so long," said Sunday Senator Democrat Mark Warner of Virginia, on the occasion of CNN's "State of the Union."
Warner mentioned the case of Konstantin Kilimnik, commercial partner of Manafort, considered an asset of the Russian intelligence services. Manafort's lawyers said their former campaign president sent confidential campaign data to Kilimnik.
The Trump legal team downplayed the problem. But the big question that remains unanswered is whether the president was aware of Manafort's behavior or whether he was acting alone.
There have been several other revelations that undermine the idea there is no collusion between Trump's associates in Russia. They include conversations between former National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, and the Russian Ambassador to Washington during the presidential transition. The president's son's desire to meet a Russian lawyer in hopes of "messing up" Hillary Clinton's campaign has also fueled suspicions.
Republicans fleeing the latest bombs
Republicans, at least publicly, have tried to downplay the latest developments.
"There is an incredible gap between Washington and the rest of the country with respect to Bob Mueller and the investigation of Russia," said Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on "Meet the Press" on NBC.
"The mainstream media, Washington, are obsessed with this, and when you leave the Beltway, I do not find anyone worried about it."
Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson is uncomfortable with the implications of the Post's report that Trump confiscated his interpreter's notes from his talks with Putin and prevented them from speaking what was happening with other officials in the administration.
"This president is not traditional.He has unorthodox means.But he is president of the United States.It is up to him to decide who he wants to read in his conversations with world leaders. It's just the basic fact, "Johnson said.
And South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham strongly rejected the report that the FBI opened an investigation into why Trump was working in a way that seemed to benefit Russia.
"I find it amazing and, for me, it says a lot about FBI officials. […] I do not trust them as much as I throw them," said Graham Graham in "Fox News Sunday" .
The solidarity of the GOP Senators was a sign that, for the moment at least, the new plot did not dominate Trump's position on the Republican base on Russia – a foundation maintained daily by experts from the United States. conservative media rarely releasing their attacks on Mueller.
But that does not guarantee that the political terrain will not change when Mueller returns his last report.
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