The White House was riding high the day after the president’s first speech to Congress. Trump himself was reportedly basking in the positive feedback and news coverage that broke up the near constant stream of critical commentary from political pundits. Unfortunately for our commander-in-chief the positivity barely lasted a full 24 hours. The rain on his parade came from none other than Alabama’s own Jeff Sessions when it was reported that then-Senator Sessions spoke with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak two times in September, and then failed to report those meetings over the course of Sessions’s attorney general confirmation hearings. This adds yet again to the steadily growing list of shady events surrounding Trump’s rise to power and the Russian government. It is time for a formal public investigation, and now we definitely need a special prosecutor.
Let’s recap just to put this latest news in perspective, starting with what is maybe the most odd. The hacking of the Democratic National Committee – you know, the hacking that made everyone say the word “emails” until their heads hurt – has been all but confirmed by the Russian government itself to have been an effort to hurt Hillary Clinton’s chances of becoming president. Judging by who is in the oval office I would say that it was at least marginally effective. The response from Republicans in Congress to an outwardly unfriendly foreign power meddling in the election of our highest ranked public servant has been a collective shrug of the shoulders. The silence is unacceptable and particularly loud when coupled with the other not-so-kosher goings on from around our friend Vladimir Putin.
Paul Manafort resigned as chairman of Trump’s campaign with only three months left to go before the election amidst concerns about his business ties to Russia, specifically Manafort working for a pro-Russian organization in Ukraine. Clinton attempted to use Manafort’s resignation as an admission of guilt from the Trump campaign of inappropriate ties to Russian interests. Even two Republican congressmen expressed support for an investigation into Manafort. That look-see led by the FBI is ongoing. Manafort would not be the first to resign from working under Trump over bad optics with a Russian connection.
More recently Michael Flynn resigned after misleading Vice President Mike Pence about conversations Flynn had with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador that Jeff Sessions is now in hot water for talking to. Kellyanne Conway reassured reporters that Trump was in control of his administration and had “full confidence” in Michael Flynn mere hours before he officially resigned. Flynn was also being investigated by the Army for possibly unlawfully taking money from Russia in 2015. It was weeks before action was taken after Trump was made aware that Flynn had lied to Vice President Pence. To be fair Sean Spicer did reassure us that the president is unbelievably decisive, so that’s nice.
Trump has consistently refused to release his tax returns, first with a bogus claim that he wasn’t able to do so while under an audit from the IRS, then by claiming that the American people don’t care about them. His staunch unwillingness to release them has sparked speculation of what might be in those tax returns regarding possible ties to foreign financiers, like Russia, that would be a serious conflict of interest during his presidency. Trump’s refusal to release them breaks the tradition of releasing tax returns for public vetting that Republican nominees have followed since Ronald Reagan. Clinton released hers going back to 2000.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson served as CEO of ExxonMobil and had extensive contact with Russian government officials and business people. ExxonMobil has a vested interest in getting rid of sanctions on Russia, but Tillerson has pledged to keep his former role at the company and his new obligation to the American people separate. Personally I am not that worried about Tillerson, but he is another person positioned around Trump who has troubling ties to Russia.
The reports about Attorney General Jeff Sessions are the cherry on top of a cake shaped like a spire in the Kremlin. There needs to be bipartisan support for a congressional investigation into Donald Trump’s administration and Russia. How these events are not at the very least worth talking about for most Republican lawmakers is baffling.
Mason Estevez is a junior majoring in economics and journalism. His column runs biweekly.
