Rarely a day goes by without an exciting new twist in The Russian Connection, the John Le Carré novel none of us signed up for. This has left something of an impression on the American people, at least according to a CNN poll out today, which shows 55 percent of us are somewhat or very concerned about the allegations. Perhaps more to the point, fully 65 percent want Congress to appoint a special prosecutor to follow the trail rather than investigate it themselves. That number even includes 46 percent of Republican respondents.

The results should bolster the already strong case for an independent figure to lead the investigation. Attorney General Jeff Sessions compromised his own potential involvement by claiming he hadn't met with Russian officials during the campaign when he most certainly did—twice. Sessions has since recused himself from any campaign-related investigations.

House Intelligence Committee chair Devin Nunes, for instance, was enlisted by the Trump White House to quash news reports of meetings between Trump associates and the Russians—despite the fact his committee was simultaneously tasked with investigating the reports. Nunes agreed to spin for the executive branch, then told reporters he didn't see any conflict. Meanwhile, House Oversight chairman Jason Chaffetz has repeatedly deferred to Nunes' committee to conduct any potential investigation, reinforcing the notion that Chaffetz isn't particularly interested in providing oversight of anyone with an (R) near their name.

(Meanwhile, Nunes, who warned against a "witch hunt" on the Russian issue last week while adding "we still don't have any evidence of them talking to Russia," has already announced he will investigate the president's baseless 5 a.m. claims that President Obama tapped his phones during the campaign.)

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However, there are Republicans in Congress who are at least talking a good game. Darrell Issa acceded to the idea of a special prosecutor on Real Time with Bill Maher, then promptly backtracked. In a CNN town hall last week, Senator Lindsey Graham said that "if there is something there" in terms of criminal charges, "then for sure you need a special prosecutor." In a New York Magazine profile last month, mythical maverick John McCain made noises about a special Congressional committee to look into the matter, "which could ultimately put pressure on the Justice Department to appoint a special prosecutor." So far McCain's opposition to Trump has been more talk than action, however.

While the special prosecutor crowd has more ammo with today's report—just 32 percent of respondents said Congress was capable of handling the investigation on its own—it's not all bad news in Trumpworld. His approval rating remains steady at a miraculous 45 percent, according to CNN, while 54 percent of Trump's Republican base has no concerns "at all" about the allegations. When you consider that Trump voters' support for Vladimir Putin has jumped to 35 percent—26 points higher than their approval of President Obama—that's not all that surprising. That lines up with CNN's results, which see Democrats and Republicans switching places in terms of who views Russia as a serious threat. Democrats, at 51 percent, are about twice as likely to consider Putin's oligarchic paradise a "very serious threat." Whatever happened to country over party?

Jack Holmes Politics Editor Jack Holmes is the Politics Editor at Esquire, where he writes daily and edits the Politics Blog with Charles P Pierce.

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