Donald Trump Presidency Still Under Trial?


Since Donald Trump became the 45th president of the United States, there have been several controversies that raised doubts over the U.S. electoral process.

The victory of the billionaire was linked to his illegitimate connections with Russian authorities. It was suspected that Trump won the election by taking help from foreign operatives, who tried to damage the reputation of his competitor while making him an ideal presidential figure at the same time.

After the announcement of the result of U.S. presidential election 2016, a handful of House Democrats challenged it as they suspected tampering of the vote counts. Consequently, all 538 electors gathered in their respective state capitals to cast their votes in December under the strict supervision of Vice-president Joe Biden.

While 304 votes went in favor of Donald Trump, his Democrat competitor Hillary Clinton managed to grab 227 electoral votes. The rest of the seven votes were cast for other candidates. To win the presidency, a candidate needs to secure 270 votes from Electoral College representatives and hence Trump ended up winning once again.

Despite the win of Donald Trump as the U.S. president for the second time, the speculations of his connections with Russia remained persistent. The FBI was asked to investigate the whole matter, the result of which was obtained only last week or so. The investigation bureau concluded that Trump and family have been found to have links either to or from Russia. FBI Director James Comey along with the NSA Director confirmed that the investigation, as concluded, depicted that Russia did intervene in the U.S. presidential elections in 2016.

FBI Director James Comey discusses Counterterrorism And Cybersecurity At DC Dinner. [Image by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]

The FBI director also stated that the bureau is likely to investigate Trump’s long-time whisperer Roger Stone, his former campaign manager Paul Manafort, his National Security Advisers Michael Flynn and Carter Page. Comey said that they might be the people letting Russia help Donald Trump win the elections in 2016.

While the FBI investigation report stood against Donald Trump, the president’s spokesman quite instantly pointed out the lack of evidence establishing the conclusion.

“Investigation is not proof,” the spokesman said as quoted by the BBC.

According to reports, the conclusion has been made on the basis of the materials that are hardly reliable. The first of such material was a series of reports drafted by Intelligence Officer Christopher Steele. He was found reporting in favor of the opponents of Donald Trump.

“A leading Russian diplomat, Mikhail KULAGIN, had been withdrawn from Washington at short notice because Moscow feared his heavy involvement in the US presidential election operation… would be exposed in the media there,” he wrote in one of his reports.

When assessed, it was found that there was no one in the Russian embassy by the name mentioned in Steele’s report. However, there was a Kalugin, who headed the embassy’s economics section. As a result, one of the supporters of Donald Trump, Roger Stone, commented on the reporter and said that “007” must take care of the spellings if he wanted “to be taken seriously.”

Another source that the FBI apparently took into consideration to reach the conclusion on Donald Trump and his Russia links was a 4Chan publication. It was considered the base behind the investigation. However, after a series of examinations, it was found that the story about Trump-Russia ties came to 4Chan from political consultant Rick Wilson.

Wilson, on the other hand, denied the claims. “I’ll settle it this way; if?—?arguendo?—?I had been their source, I hereby release the authors of the story, its editors, and BuzzFeed generally from any off-the-record/background protections of anonymity I would have asked for,” he defended.

Meanwhile, the matter has taken a twisty turn with The Associated Press revelations that state Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort worked to help Russian President Vladimir Putin. It has been almost 10 years since he worked to “greatly benefit the Putin Government.” Though Donald Trump and team tried to keep the report a secret, it picked the attention of Congress, thereby sparking a proof of the Russian links to one of the Trump associates.

Paul Manafort discusses upcoming Republican National Convention. [Image by Win McNamee/Getty Images]

[Featured Image by Pool/Getty Images]

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