Trump’s new conference

It is a fairly well known fact that President Donald J. Trump is not a huge fan of American journalism. This week Trump “lashed out” at the media during his news conference, bringing his administration out of the limelight and putting himself back in it. In efforts to prove his administration is doing well during its first month in office, Trump is leaving the comfort of the White House and hitting the trail once again with a rally in Florida.

However, the main focus that seems to be on everyone’s mind in regards to Trump’s latest press conference is his vigorous attempts to deflate any talk of a White House in disarray. According to CNN, President Trump stated, “I turn on the TV, open the newspapers and I see stories of chaos. Chaos. Yet it is the exact opposite. This administration is running like a fine-tuned machine.”

Not many agree with Trump’s declaration of success. After watching the past month, as his travel ban has fallen apart, members of his administration have stepped down and reports of contact with Russia have surfaced. Skepticism seems to be the theme of those watching the Trump administration.

President Trump’s game plan to avert attention from his “bad week” is to do exactly what got him elected in the first place, divert. Trump, according to CNN, is rallying his political base and putting on a show that will distract any questions about his campaign’s connections to Russia.

However, Trump had to call out the media for supposedly spreading “fake news.” Much controversy has surrounded Trump’s relationship with the media and reporters. During his news conference on Thursday, he asked April Ryan, a well-known White House correspondent, if she would be willing to arrange a meeting with him and the Congressional Black Caucus. Ryan, an African American, declined stating she was “just a reporter.”

Since then, the CBC has come out claiming that they invited President Trump to speak via letter, but never received a response from him or his administration. According to CNN, Kamara Jones, a CBC spokeswoman stated, “He hasn’t reached out to us. If he was serious about black issues, you would think he would reach out to the CBC.”

Trump and Russia

On top of a less than conventional news conference, President Trump is also facing issues regarding having been in contact with Russia during the campaign. CNN reported that high-level advisers close to Trump have claimed that U.S. intelligence along with law enforcement and administration officials were aware of the constant contact. These communications were intercepted during a routine intelligence screening, specifically targeting Russian officials and Russian nationals known to U.S. intelligence.

According to CNN, the communication with Russia appears to have been between Paul Manafort, the then-campaign chairman and then-advisor Michael Flynn. Investigators have yet been able to determine the intent of these conversations, while officials remind the public that communications between campaign staff and foreign governments is not uncommon.

Trump, however, denied the claim stating that his advisers had close connections with Russia, by tweeting, “This Russian connection non-sense is merely an attempt to cover-up the many mistakes in Hillary Clinton’s losing campaign.” Meanwhile, Manafort denied he was in contact with Russian officials that were known to U.S. intelligence. According to CNN, he stated, “ I have never had any connection to Putin or the Russian government before, during or after the campaign.

Michael Flynn, once national security adviser, resigned shortly after these accusations were made public, leading to the White House to answer difficult questions. CNN reported that Flynn was asked to resign on Monday after the public discovered that he had misled Vice President Mike Pence about his discussion of U.S. sanctions during pre-inauguration phone calls with the Kremlin’s, Sergey Kislyak.

On Tuesday, it was announced that Trump was well aware, for about two weeks, of potential issues with Flynn’s conduct. However, Mike Pence was left out, not discovering that he had been misled until Feb. 9.  According to CNN, an official stated, “It’s not that he (Pence) was being left out. It was a legal review.”

Trump’s spokesman Sean Spicer stated that Flynn’s resignation was not solely due to misconduct, but by the “gradual erosion” of Trump’s overall confidence in him as a national security adviser. However, if Flynn did indeed discuss details of policy with the Russian envoy, he could have, in theory, violated the Logan Act, which prevents private citizens from negotiating with foreign governments over their disputes with the United States, reported CNN.