Even with Congress on break this week, there was plenty of excitement in the U.S.

The Mueller investigation continues to dog the Trump administration. A New York Times report revealed that John Dowd, a Trump lawyer hired to defend him during the investigation, suggested that Trump may pardon Michael T. Flynn, Trump's former National Security Advisor, and Paul Manafort, Trump's campaign manager, even as special counsel Robert Mueller was investigating criminal cases against them.

It is possible that Mueller could now investigate Dowd to determine if he made this suggestion to undercut the special inquiry; however, legal experts are divided as to whether or not this constitutes obstruction of justice. Regardless, some see Dowd's suggestion as a sign that Trump's team of lawyers may have been concerned about what information Flynn and Manafort would reveal were they to cut a deal.

Meanwhile, the Mueller investigation carries on. A court document filed this week showed that a high-ranking Trump campaign aide, Rick Gates, had multiple calls with an associate linked to Russian intelligence in the weeks before the 2016 election. The associate has yet to be identified, and the exact nature of the calls is not at this time known, but the court filing states that they are "pertinent to the investigation."

Trump's administration continues to be plagued by high turnover, whether voluntary or otherwise. Trump dismissed David J. Shulkin as head of the Department of Veterans Affairs on Wednesday, announcing that the White House doctor, Ronny L. Jackson, would take his place. The Department of Veterans Affairs is the country's second-largest federal department, and many have questioned whether Mr. Jackson is sufficiently qualified - and sufficiently independent from Trump - to effectively lead the department.

Adding fuel to the fire of controversy, on Monday, the Commerce Department announced that the 2020 census will now ask respondents whether or not they are American citizens. The question has not appeared on censuses in 70 years, and some fear that the decision to include it appears politically motivated, particularly given the Trump administration's rhetoric on immigration. Several states have sued the Trump administration to prevent the inclusion of the question, concerned that respondents who are not citizens will be hesitant to provide such information to the U.S. government, and will thus not hand in their census forms at all - resulting in severe undercounting and unreliable data. Accuracy of census data is immensely important, as it forms the basis for drawing political boundaries and allocating federal funding.

In a rare moment of teamwork amidst Trump's isolationism, Trump coordinated with nearly two dozen countries to retaliate against Russia's assassination of a former Russian spy on British soil by expelling Russian diplomats. Though the expulsion is the largest ever, Trump sent mixed messages by failing to publicly condemn the attack and later calling President Putin to congratulate him on his re-election, even though the election is widely considered illegitimate, and even though he was explicitly advised not to do so.