President Trump Donald John TrumpUS reimposes UN sanctions on Iran amid increasing tensions Jeff Flake: Republicans 'should hold the same position' on SCOTUS vacancy as 2016 Trump supporters chant 'Fill that seat' at North Carolina rally MORE is pressuring Attorney General Jeff Sessions Jefferson (Jeff) Beauregard SessionsTrump's policies on refugees are as simple as ABCs Ocasio-Cortez, Velázquez call for convention to decide Puerto Rico status White House officials voted by show of hands on 2018 family separations: report MORE to open an investigation into the Obama administration over Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Trump took to Twitter on Wednesday to vent that Democrats are not under investigation, as special counsel Robert Mueller Robert (Bob) MuellerCNN's Toobin warns McCabe is in 'perilous condition' with emboldened Trump CNN anchor rips Trump over Stone while evoking Clinton-Lynch tarmac meeting The Hill's 12:30 Report: New Hampshire fallout MORE’s probe into allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia heats up.

Question: If all of the Russian meddling took place during the Obama Administration, right up to January 20th, why aren’t they the subject of the investigation? Why didn’t Obama do something about the meddling? Why aren’t Dem crimes under investigation? Ask Jeff Session! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 21, 2018

So far, Mueller has induced guilty pleas out of Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former campaign adviser George PapadopoulosGeorge Demetrios PapadopoulosTale of two FBI cases: Clinton got warned, Trump got investigated Trump says he would consider pardons for those implicated in Mueller investigation New FBI document confirms the Trump campaign was investigated without justification MORE for lying to the FBI. Both men are cooperating with the special counsel.

Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort Paul John ManafortOur Constitution is under attack by Attorney General William Barr Bannon trial date set in alleged border wall scam Conspicuous by their absence from the Republican Convention MORE and his associate Richard Gates face a litany of charges over alleged financial crimes. Gates is believed to be in talks about working with the special counsel to build the case against Manafort.

ADVERTISEMENT

And last week, the special counsel announced indictments against 13 Russians, exposing an alleged ring of foreign nationals who used social media platforms to sow divisions in the U.S. and undermine Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonJeff Flake: Republicans 'should hold the same position' on SCOTUS vacancy as 2016 Momentum growing among Republicans for Supreme Court vote before Election Day Warning signs flash for Lindsey Graham in South Carolina MORE.

That indictment was careful to note that there is no evidence at this point to suggest that any Americans knowingly worked with the Russians.

But Trump and his allies in conservative media have been sounding the alarm for months over what they say is evidence that Democrats ignored warning signs of Russian meddling and in some cases bent the law to ensure the president and his associates would be investigated.

The Mueller indictment of the Russian internet trolls says their work predated the 2016 election, provoking Republicans to accuse the Obama administration of not taking the threat seriously enough.

That has led to a round of bickering between Trump officials and former Obama administration officials over who has been tougher on Russia.

Ned Price, a former member of Obama’s national security council, argued Tuesday on MSNBC that the Obama administration focused on preventing Russians from manipulating voter rolls and votes and that they were successful in that area.

“This is a rich line of attack coming from a president who spills secrets to the Russians in the Oval Office, who relishes time with [President Vladimir] Putin both on the phone and in person and a person who refuses to enact punitive sanctions on Moscow for its attack on our democracy,” Price said.

Democrats have hammered Trump for not yet implementing new sanctions against Russia that were passed by Congress.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Tuesday that those sanctions are still under review as she defended the administration as being tough on Moscow.

“The president has been extremely tough on Russia,” she said, arguing that Trump pushed through $700 billion to rebuild the military, has “helped export energy” to Eastern Europe, arm the Ukranians and close diplomatic properties in the U.S. while upholding Obama-era sanctions there.

“There are a number of places that Obama was too weak and refused to take and put pressure on Russia, where this president has,” Sanders said.

Meanwhile, a political fight rages over the infamous dossier compiled by British spy Christopher Steele and paid for in part by Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

The FBI and Department of Justice used that dossier, which relied heavily on intelligence from Russian officials, in part to secure warrants to spy on Carter Page, a former Trump campaign adviser.

Republicans have alleged that law enforcement officials hid from the surveillance court the Democratic origins of the dossier.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes Devin Gerald NunesSunday shows preview: Justice Ginsburg dies, sparking partisan battle over vacancy before election Sunday shows preview: With less than two months to go, race for the White House heats up Sunday shows preview: Republicans gear up for national convention, USPS debate continues in Washington MORE (R-Calif.) sent letters this week to former senior Obama administration officials demanding answers on what they knew about the dossier and when they found about it.

Conservatives have also sought to draw attention to Clinton operatives Sidney Blumenthal and Cody Shearer, who passed along their own research on Russia to a State Department official when John Kerry John Forbes KerryThe Memo: Warning signs flash for Trump on debates Divided country, divided church TV ads favored Biden 2-1 in past month MORE was secretary of State.

That work got passed along to Steele, who gave it to the FBI along with his own work.