Trump’s Administration Latest Russian Scandal: What We Know So Far

In the recent news, Donald Trump’s rumored association with Russia has taken a drastic turn. President Donald Trump’s senior aide, Jared Kushner, and his advisor, General Michael Flynn, reportedly met with the Russian ambassador to the United States at a time when his administration’s alleged relationship with the Kremlin was under close scrutiny.

Here is what we know so far about Donald Trump’s alleged contacts with the Russians.

In Oct. 2016, U.S. intelligence agencies publicly blamed the Russia and its officials for meddling with the elections. According to the agencies, Russia hacked and leaked embarrassing documents that hampered the election results in many ways.

Three months later, on Jan. 6, U.S. intelligence chiefs released a report citing that they are confident that Vladimir Putin was behind an effort to damage the chances of Hillary Clinton winning the election.

As of now, the Justice Department and intelligence agencies are continuing to investigate the alleged Russian interference during the elections.

According to CNN, both Kushner and Flynn sat down in December at Trump Tower with Sergey Kislyak. According to a senior administration official, the 10-minute long meeting between them was an “inconsequential hello.”

Following the revelation, Jeff Sessions has recused himself from any probe into the election. Mr. Sessions has said that he had not misled anyone. “I don’t recall any specific political discussions” with the Russian ambassador, he said. Instead, Sessions claimed that meeting in question had been a natural part of his work on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

So how is Donald Trump involved in all of this?

The various leaked reports and allegations were looking into the alleged contacts between the Donald Trump campaign and the Kremlin, both before and after the November 8 election, to determine whether there was any secret agreement with Russian attempts that influenced the results.

Donald Trump has defended the recent allegations against Jeff Sessions. The 45th President of the United States of America has accused all the Democrats of having lost their grip on the reality and carrying out a total witch hunt against his administration.

On the other hand, national security adviser to the Donald Trump campaign, J.D. Gordon, has also talked about his meeting with Kislyak. Gordon told CNN that along with Walid Phares and Carter Page, he stressed to the Kremlin envoy that he would like to improve the relationships between America and Russia.

“This is not any different than anything I said publicly and on panels,” Gordon added.

Even Carter Page has confirmed his meeting with Kislyak in Cleveland. During his recent interview with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, he said that he does not deny his meeting.

Meanwhile, there are many who thinks that the recent allegations could work against Donald Trump and may lead to his resignation before the end of his first year as president.

In the released transcript of Maxine Waters’ recent interview, the Congresswoman has openly revealed that Jeff Sessions had dug a hole for himself by knowingly refusing to disclose the conversations he supposedly had with the Russian officials. Furthermore, she also believed that the best thing for Jeff Sessions to do would be to recuse himself before he gets fired from his post just like former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. Evidently, Mr. Sessions has already taken the said step.

In addition, Congresswoman further revealed that now is the right time for all the Democrats to work together, and everyone should follow the proverbial money trail that could finally lead to Donald Trump’s impeachment.

“We’ve got to connect the dots. And we’ve got to follow the money. Remember, I’ve been saying this for a long time and even though some people didn’t like it, I said that I believe that if we do the work, it will lead to the impeachment of the president. And I still mean that.”

[Featured Image by Win McNamee/Getty Images]