Trump Pressured Senate GOP to End Their Russia Probe

One of the things that Robert Mueller is reportedly investigating is whether Donald Trump attempted to obstruct justice by firing FBI Director James Comey. Now it looks like he's got another potential obstruction incident to investigate: A report at the New York Times reveals that Trump repeatedly pressured members of the Republican leadership to end the Senate's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina, the intelligence committee chairman, said in an interview this week that Mr. Trump told him that he was eager to see an investigation that has overshadowed much of the first year of his presidency come to an end.

"It was something along the lines of, 'I hope you can conclude this as quickly as possible,'" Mr. Burr said. He said he replied to Mr. Trump that "when we have exhausted everybody we need to talk to, we will finish."

In addition, according to lawmakers and aides, Mr. Trump told Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, and Senator Roy Blunt, Republican of Missouri and a member of the intelligence committee, to end the investigation swiftly.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat who is a former chairwoman of the intelligence committee, said in an interview this week that Mr. Trump's requests were "inappropriate" and represented a breach of the separation of powers.

Naturally, Trump's defenders immediately returned to their favorite excuse: "Republicans played down Mr. Trump's appeals, describing them as the actions of a political newcomer unfamiliar with what is appropriate presidential conduct."

You know what they say about ignorance of the law.

In any other administration, this would be a tremendous scandal. If any other president had tried to bully members of the Senate to stop investigating him, it would have been on the front page of every newspaper and been discussed ad nauseum on the cable news channels for days. It would be trending on social media, and no one would be paying attention to anything else, as the public conversation would center around whether the president had broken the law and whether he should resign.

In Trump's administration, this is barely a blip. And that fact may be even more terrifying than the fact that this president has utter contempt for the rule of law.