Inquisitr – Donald Trump’s odds of impeachment could be rising significantly amid reports that the White House may have tried to squash the Russia investigation by demanding that a key insider not testify against Trump.
The Trump administration was rocked last week by the revelation that the FBI is investigating possible collusion with Russia during the 2016 presidential election to harm Hillary Clinton’s chances of victory. American intelligence agencies have accused Russia of hacking into the emails of the Democratic National Committee and of Clinton’s campaign chief, John Podesta, which were then leaked to the organization WikiLeaks and released over the course of the campaign.
There had been allegations that Trump’s campaign team worked closely with Russian officials on the release of the materials, and claims that Russia had been working for years to cultivate Trump as a candidate, collecting embarrassing information to use as blackmail and dangling lucrative financial deals before Trump.
Now there is evidence that Donald Trump may be trying to grind the Russia investigation to a halt. A report from the Washington Post on Tuesday found that the White House tried to forbid former acting attorney general Sally Yates from testifying before the House Intelligence Committee.
Sources told the Washington Post that Yates would have likely uncovered some of the lies the White House has told about links with Russia.
“As acting attorney general, Yates played a key part in the investigation surrounding Michael T. Flynn, a Trump campaign aide who became national security adviser before revelations that he had discussed sanctions with the Russian ambassador to the United States in late December led to his ouster.
“Yates and another witness at the planned hearing, former CIA director John Brennan, had made clear to government officials by Thursday that their testimony to the committee probably would contradict some statements that White House officials had made, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Ken Wainstein, a lawyer for Brennan, declined to comment.”
That has led to an angry backlash among Democrats and hints that the Russia investigation is growing more likely to lead to Donald Trump’s impeachment. Just hours after the report was published, commentator Keith Olbermann predicted that Republicans would no longer feel motivated to protect Trump against impeachment.
