Trump under siege

United States Donald Trump is under siege at home. He is dealing with a whole host of far-reaching allegations that could undermine his Presidency. The latest in a string of controversies is a report in the New York Times that Trump allegedly asked former FBI director, James Comey, to drop an investigation into his former national security advisor, Michael Flynn. "I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go," Trump told Comey, according to the latter's record of the meeting. The cloud of Russian influence on the Trump administration has already resulted in the firing of Flynn for reportedly lying about his contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. If the FBI investigation had indeed covered concrete proof that the Trump campaign had coordinated with Moscow, it would end up as a kind of scandal that could render the US President vulnerable to impeachment. This controversy comes just a day after the first reports emerged of Trump having shared classified intelligence with Russia during Oval Office talks.

Reports that Trump tried to undermine the FBI's investigation into the links between the Trump campaign team and Moscow are severe, as it details a President abusing his power to obstruct the course of justice. His decision to fire Comey is a major scandal. Trump threw further fuel to this fire by admitting that he had fired Comey with "this Russia thing" on his mind. Both Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon had faced impeachment proceedings for obstruction of justice. On the subject of sharing highly classified information with the Russian Foreign Minister during their meeting in the Oval Office, legal scholars believe that this could further jeopardise the credibility of the Trump administration. As per reports in the mainstream US media, unnamed intelligence officials had accused Trump of sharing classified information that could risk and derail US plans in the Middle East. Of course, on both instances, the White House has strongly refuted these allegations, although there are serious questions that need to be asked of its defence. Ever since he took over as President, Trump has remained dogged by one scandal or legislative failure after another. But it is also important to note that allegations made by "unnamed" sources against an elected President require greater scrutiny.