The New York Times reveals that President Trump, on many occasions over the summer, reached out to Republican Senators and asked them either to end or encourage their colleagues to end the investigation into possible campaign collusion with Russia.
Most notable of Trump's contacts was Senator Richard Burr (R-NC), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee:
[Burr] 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.
The Times adds that Trump made these requests at a time during the summer when he "was particularly consumed with Russia:"
Mr. Trump often vented to his own aides and even declared his innocence to virtual strangers he came across on his New Jersey golf course.
While Senator Burr told the NYT he did not feel pressured by the president, he knew he was not the only Senator Trump contacted:
[He] acknowledged other members of his committee have had similar discussions with Mr. Trump. “Everybody has promptly shared any conversations that they’ve had,” Mr. Burr said.
(...)
Mr. Trump also called other lawmakers over the summer with requests that they push Mr. Burr to finish the inquiry, according to a Republican senator who requested anonymity to discuss his contact with the president.
This senator, who was alarmed upon hearing word of the president’s pleas, said Mr. Trump’s request to the other senators was clear: They should urge Mr. Burr to bring the Russia investigation to a close.
During this time, Mr. Trump made several calls to senators without senior staff present, according to one West Wing official. According to senators and other Republicans familiar with the conversations, Mr. Trump would begin the talks on a different topic but eventually drift toward the Russia investigation.
In conversations with Mr. McConnell and Senator Bob Corker, the Tennessee Republican who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Mr. Trump voiced sharp anger that congressional Republicans were not helping lift the cloud of suspicion over Russia, the senators told political allies.
According to Senator McConnell, President Trump's lack of knowledge about Russia and the history of U.S.-Russia relations compounded the problem:
Mr. McConnell — who over the summer was quickly notified of Mr. Trump’s calls to his Senate colleagues — told multiple associates that Mr. Trump appeared unable to distinguish traditional policy concerns about Russia from more specific questions about Russian interference in the presidential race.
The Senate leader told associates that Mr. Trump did not seem to recognize that the Republican Party traditionally took a suspicious view of Russia, or that lawmakers could favor punishing Russia without questioning Mr. Trump’s victory in 2016.
Full story: Trump Pressed Top Republicans to End Senate Russia Inquiry (NYT)