Trump's seventeenth week in office began on Monday with the bombshell report by the Washington Post that stated that the President had revealed highly classified information about an ISIS plot to Russian officials when said officials visited the White House. In disclosing this information, officials report, President Trump violated an important agreement with an established ally in the Middle East. The New York Times the next day stated that Israel had provided the intelligence that Trump disclosed to Russian officials. While not technically illegal, Trump's actions have sparked outrage amongst both Republicans and Democrats. Republican Arizona Senator John McCain said that the news of Trump's intel disclosure was "disturbing." House Speaker Paul Ryan stated that he was hoping for "a full explanation of the facts." Democratic Virginia Senator Mark Warner, the highest ranked Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, asserted that Trump's actions were "a slap in the face to the intel community" and are "inexcusable."
On Twitter, Trump defended his actions by declaring that he had the "absolute right" to share "facts" during a White House meeting with Russian officials. The incident, however, has created a state of heightened scrutiny regarding ties between the Trump administration and Russia. The Justice Department has appointed Robert S. Mueller III (a former FBI director) as a special counsel to oversee the department's ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. As a special counsel, Mueller will have more autonomy in running the investigation as opposed to a United States attorney. Trump has continued to decry the investigations and accusations, stating that, "No politician in history, and I say with surety, has been treated worse, more unfairly."
The news of Trump's intel leak came in conjunction with more information regarding the firing of FBI director James Comey as well as the investigation into former US National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, who was fired after only one month in office. Trump revealed to Russian officials in the White House that removing Comey had relieved "great pressure" on him, and called Comey a, "nut job." If Trump indeed fired Comey in order to relieve legal pressure on himself and his administration, then the move constitutes an obstruction of justice.
Regarding the former US National Security Advisor, a McClatchy report on Wednesday has stated that during the transition between the Obama and the Trump administration, Flynn personally stopped a military endeavor pioneered by the Obama administration to fight against the Islamic State. Flynn's actions in this regard aligned with the interests of Turkey, which had paid him half a million dollars to represent their interests in the US-a fact that he neglected to disclose at the time. Ten weeks prior to President Trump's inauguration, Flynn told the Trump transition team that he was under federal investigation for his undeclared work as a lobbyist for Turkey, yet he still accepted the position of National Security Advisor. CNN has reported that Russian officials bragged during the 2016 campaign that they could make use of Flynn to exert influence over the president-however CNN has been keen to emphasize the possibility that these officials were exaggerating their own authority. Senator McCain has gone on the record to state that Trump's actions are "not good for the country", and that the president's violations are reaching "Watergate size and scale."
