At a rally, President keeps mum on Comey’s comments, seeks support to ‘Make America Great Again’

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) confirmation that it is investigating the possibility of links between Russian officials and Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign officials has set off a political snowstorm, but the President offered no response on Monday. Speaking at a public rally in Kentucky on Monday night, hours after FBI Director James Comey made the sensational revelation at a legislative hearing, Mr. Trump steered clear of the issue and asked his audience to support his efforts to “Make American Great Again”.

The President — who had made light of allegations of Russian help for his campaign in tweets before the hearing — made no comments on Mr. Comey’s statement later in the day. Mr. Comey had also rejected President’s Trump’s claim that former President Barack Obama had wiretapped the Trump tower.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said there was no evidence of any collusion between Russian officials and Trump campaign personnel.

Mr. Comey’s unusual statement — the FBI does not confirm or deny ongoing investigations usually — has cast a long shadow over the Trump White House. While the investigation remains open, Mr. Trump will become more susceptible to attacks by Democrats and dependent on Republicans who could use this as leverage over him.

Grey cloud

“There is a big, grey cloud that you’ve now put over people who have very important work to do to lead this country,” Devin Nunes, Californian Republican and chair of the House Intelligence Committee, told Mr. Comey during the hearing. “And so the faster you can get to the bottom of this, it’s going to be better for all Americans.”

Mr. Spicer said: “There is no evidence, according to the people that have been briefed, of any collusion or activity that leads them to believe that that exists... My point to you is that despite the narrative that gets played over and over again... every person Republican and Democrat that has been briefed on it has come to the same conclusion, that there is no collusion and that that’s over.” Mr. Spicer also sought to distance Mr. Trump from two people who are accused of being in contacts with Russian agents — former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort, who was initially heading the campaign. Mr. Spicer said Mr. Flynn was only a “volunteer of the campaign”, and Mr. Manafort “played a very limited role for a very limited amount of time”.

While Mr. Comey’s new revelation will keep the White House on tenterhooks, supporters of Hillary Clinton, who lost to Mr. Trump in the November Presidential election, are livid at the FBI director. “Russia probe that Comey confirmed was, as best we can tell, in effect before Nov 8. Fair to ask why he didn’t think voters deserved to know,” Brian Fallon, former press secretary to Ms. Clinton, said on Twitter.

The Democrats had earlier accused Mr. Comey of interfering in the election by revealing that the agency was continuing with investigations into Ms. Clinton’s private e-mail server. Mr. Trump is trying to weather the storm with his continuing appeal among the Republican base.

At the Kentucky rally, the public booed U.S. Senator from the State and Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, who appeared with the President. “He is a good guy. And I look forward to working with him so we can get this bill [to replace Obamacare] passed in some form so that we can pass massive tax reform…,” Mr. Trump said, inviting the Senator to return to the stage.

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Kremlin clouds over White House - A timeline

With the FBI chief confirming a probe into Russia’s role in the presidential election, heat is rising on President Trump over his team’s alleged Moscow ties

2016

June 14: The Democratic National Committee announces it has been the victim of an attack by Russian hackers.

July 20: Sen. Jeff Sessions, an early Trump endorser, meets with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and a group of other Ambassadors at a Republican event

July 27: Trump calls on Russia to hack Hillary Clinton’s e-mails from the private server she used as Secretary of State.

Aug. 19: Manafort resigns after a report exposed his Ukraine ties

Nov. 10: Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Rybakov tells Interfax news agency that there “were contacts” between the Russian government and the Trump campaign

Dec. 29: Obama sacks 35 Russian diplomats and imposes sanctions on Russia after intelligence agencies concluded that Russia was behind the DNC hack

2017:

Jan. 10: BuzzFeed publishes a dossier compiled by former British spy with unverified allegations that Trump associates had colluded with Russian operatives and that the Russian government had compromising information about Trump.

Feb. 9: The Washington Post reports that NSA Flynn did discuss U.S. sanctions in his phone calls with Russian envoy Kislyak, contrary to Flynn’s previous statements.

Feb. 13: Flynn resigns.

March 1: The Washington Post reports that Sessions spoke with the Russian ambassador during the campaign, appearing to contradict his past statements.

March 4: Trump accuses Obama of having ordered a tapping of the phones at Trump Tower during the campaign, comparing it to Watergate. Obama denies the allegations.

March 20: FBI chief James Comey tells Congressional panel that the agency is investigating into the alleged link between the Trump team and Russia. He also rejects Trump’s claim about Obama wiretapping him, saying he doesn’t have any information in that regard.

Those under scanner