WASHINGTON, March 21 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump was described as angry and his chief of staff frustrated on Wednesday over a leak of information saying Trump had been cautioned by advisers not to congratulate Russian President Vladimir Putin for winning an election that was widely seen as rigged.

Trump told reporters on Tuesday that he had congratulated Putin on his re-election and that the two leaders made tentative plans to meet in the "not too distant future."

Trump´s overture to Putin was criticized by senators in his own Republican party, who called Sunday´s election a sham. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said there was a "lack of credibility in tallying the result."

The Washington Post later reported that Trump did not follow specific warnings from his national security advisers about Putin, including a phrase in his briefing materials that said, "DO NOT CONGRATULATE."

A Trump confidant who asked not to be named said that Trump was angry about the leak and a White House official said Kelly was "frustrated and deeply disappointed."

Administration officials did not dispute the accuracy of the Post's report about the warning, but said it was unclear if the president had actually seen the memo and that his verbal briefing did not include the warning.

"If this story is accurate, that means someone leaked the president's briefing papers. Leaking such information is a fireable offense and likely illegal," said a senior White House official, who requested anonymity. Trump's congratulating Putin has revived criticism that he has been too reluctant to criticize the Russian leader and retaliate for Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election that Trump won.

White House officials have said that Trump is less trusting of Putin because of Russian activities in Ukraine, Syria and elsewhere.

Last week, after initially equivocating about a chemical attack on a former Russian double agent in Salisbury, England, the White House joined a statement by the leaders of Britain, France and Germany in which they said they "abhor the attack" and blamed it on Moscow.

Moscow has denied any involvement in the poisoning.

The issue came up on Wednesday in a telephone call between Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron, who is scheduled to visit the White House in late April, according to a White House statement.

"The presidents reiterated their solidarity with the United Kingdom in the wake of Russia´s use of chemical weapons against private citizens on British soil and agreed on the need to take action to hold Russia accountable," it said. (Reporting By Steve Holland Editing by Toni Reinhold)</s>(CNN) — President Donald Trump’s lead lawyer, John Dowd, has resigned from the President’s personal legal team handling the response to the Russia investigation.

“I love the President and wish him well,” Dowd said in a statement to CNN.

Dowd’s resignation comes as Trump has stepped up his attacks on special counsel Robert Mueller and days after Dowd said in a statement the investigation should end, initially claiming he was speaking for the President before saying he was only speaking for himself.

“John Dowd is a friend and has been a valuable member of our legal team. We will continue our ongoing representation of the President and our cooperation with the Office of Special Counsel,” said Jay Sekulow, counsel to the President.

Trump’s attorneys are in the midst of negotiations with the special counsel’s team over a potential interview with the President.

It was not immediately clear who would take over as the President’s lead personal attorney, but Trump earlier this week hired another veteran Washington attorney, Joseph diGenova, to join his legal team. diGenova was expected to play a forward-facing role on the legal team, filling what Trump felt was a lack of voices publicly defending him and challenging the special counsel. DiGenova had publicly argued that Trump had been “framed” by FBI and Justice Department officials.

The New York Times and The Washington Post first reported Dowd’s resignation.

Dowd previously was criticized for his handling of the response to the guilty plea of Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who became the first Trump administration official to face charges in Mueller’s investigation. The President first shook up his legal team over the summer, removing Marc Kasowitz as his lead attorney in the matter.

Dowd landed himself and the President in hot water after a tweet he says he authored suggested Trump knew Flynn lied to the FBI in January, reviving questions of whether Trump committed obstruction of justice when he allegedly asked then-FBI Director James Comey to drop the Flynn investigation.

“I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI. He has pled guilty to those lies,” the tweet on Trump’s account said.

The tweet led Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, to note that the committee is investigating obstruction of justice and said: “What we’re beginning to see is the putting together of a case of obstruction of justice.”

In a testy exchange with CNN, Dowd said he authored the tweet, but then suggested it was incorrect, claiming that “at the time of the firing no one including Justice had accused Flynn of lying.”

He declined to answer additional questions, saying: “Enough already … I don’t feed the haters.”

The response was characteristic of Dowd’s hard-charging style, which initially endeared him to the President and made him the lead attorney on the President’s legal team after Trump all but discarded Kasowitz in July.

The latest shake-up now leaves questions about whether Trump’s legal team will pursue the strategy that Dowd laid out in the wake of Flynn’s guilty plea, when Dowd claimed that Trump could not be prosecuted for obstruction of justice because he is the US President and therefore its “chief law enforcement officer.”

Dowd’s claim signaled the President’s legal team plans to rely on an untested theory that is heavily disputed by legal scholars: whether a sitting President can be charged with obstruction of justice or indicted at all.</s>Lt Gen HR McMaster on Friday became the second National Security Advisor, after Mike Flynn, to be fired from a tumultuous White House under President Donald Trump. In his typical style of firing his aides, Trump used Twitter to inform the NSA of his replacement, former UN Ambassador John Bolton.

Trump tweeted, “I am pleased to announce that, effective 4/9/18, AmbJohnBolton will be my new National Security Advisor. I am very thankful for the service of General H R McMaster who has done an outstanding job & will always remain my friend. There will be an official contact handover on 4/9.”

While the presidency is already under intense pressure over the Mueller investigation into the alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians, the constant firing and the piling up of vacancies on critical posts have made the White House increasingly unstable. According to the CNN, more than one in three Trump staffers have left White House in last one year.

Here is a comprehensive list of people who have been fired or have left the White House so far:

McMaster, a three-star general was one of the few among what Democrats called ‘sane voices’ in the Trump White House in terms of counselling the President, alongside Rex Tillerson and James Mattis. However, Trump had his own reservations with the general, according to a Washington Post report, “The president has complained that McMaster is too rigid and that his briefings go on too long and seem irrelevant.” McMaster, a highly decorated military man was one of those rare Trump picks that were approved and praised by the Democrats and Republicans alike.

The former secretary of state received his pink slip on Twitter, though the White House insisted that he was in the loop on the decision and had been conveyed of the Trump’s decisions in advance. The firing came just days after Tillerson agreed with British PM Theresa May, who accused Russia of poisoning a British spy and his daughter. Trump tweeted, “Mike Pompeo, Director of the CIA, will become our new Secretary of State. He will do a fantastic job! Thank you to Rex Tillerson for his service! Gina Haspel will become the new Director of the CIA, and the first woman so chosen. Congratulations to all!” The relation between the two had come under a strain after Tillerson allegedly referred to Trump as “moron”.

The economic advisor to the President, Cohn left White House after Trump decided to initiate a likely global trade war by increasing tariffs on aluminium and steel imports. Cohn was reportedly against the proposed taxes and left the White House. “Gary has been my chief economic adviser and did a superb job in driving our agenda, helping to deliver historic tax cuts and reforms and unleashing the American economy once again. He is a rare talent, and I thank him for his dedicated service to the American people.”

The White House communications director, resigned from his position after she was grilled by the House Intelligence Committee in which she confessed to telling ‘white lies’ on behalf of Donald Trump. Hope was the longest-serving Trump aide and was previously his press secretary during the campaign phase. Like others, Hicks too had no political experience prior to joining the Trump campaign.

While McMaster was shown the gate today, Powell left the White House on surprisingly good terms with the President. Dina was a crucial player in the Trump administration’s middle east policy and the Israeli-Palestine peace team, headed by Jared Kushner. According to the White House, Powel had committed to working with Trump for a year, McMaster had called her “one of the most talented and effective leaders,” with whom he had served.

Appointed as Secretary of Health and Human Resources, Price resigned after a controversy broke over his use of private jets for travelling on official duties. Accused of taking at least over 25 such flights, the overall expense was estimated to $1 million of taxpayers money. Adding to that, the secretary was not in the good books of President Trump, after his continuous failures at repealing the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare.

Unhappy with the recent Afghanistan strategy unveiled by the President calling for continuing the deployment of American Troops on Afghan soil, Gorkha leaving the White House said, ” I read the text of your speech on Afghanistan this week. The fact that those who drafted and approved the speech removed any mention of Radical Islam or radical Islamic terrorism proves that a crucial element of your presidential campaign has been lost.” Gorka had worked on issues related to counterterrorism, Qatar crisis, designing new security strategy for US.

Known as the architect of the Trump presidency and rewarded with the position of Chief Strategists in the White House, Steve was also the brain behind the widely criticised travel ban and immigration policy which largely targeted Muslim-dominated countries. Bannon drew the President’s ire over his immensely critical statements in the book Fire and Fury, after which Trump said that he felt betrayed by Bannon, and added, “I always liked Steve, but Steve became very ineffective because he was such a lightning rod. And Steve, in the end, I fired Steve.”

The Wall Street financier served the Trump White House in a capacity of Communications Director for a period spanning less than a week. The decision to let go of Scaramucci came on the backs of an article published in the New Yorker calling Reince Priebus a “paranoid schizophrenic” and expletives directed towards Steve Bannon. “The president certainly felt that Anthony’s comments were inappropriate for a person in that position, and he didn’t want to burden Gen. Kelly,” said the White House.

In usual fashion, the firing of the Chief of Staff came through Twitter, with Trump tweeting, “I would like to thank Reince Priebus for his service and dedication to his country. We accomplished a lot together and I am proud of him!” The tweet was sent from onboard Air Force One.

Spicer resignation came just hours after Trump introduced Sacrmucci as the Communications Director. A staunch Trump follower, Spicer pushed his agenda in the initial days of Presidency. The rejig in the communications department came at a time when the Republicans failed to push through the Trump proposed healthcare overhaul through the Senate floor. In a tweet trump called Spicer, “a wonderful person who took tremendous abuse from the Fake News Media – but his future is bright!”

Former FBI Director James Comey received the news of his firing from a television channel during an ongoing interview. Comey’s firing paved the way for Robert Mueller’s appointment as special counsel into the Russian collusion investigation. Receiving the pink slip from the Commander-in-Chief, Comey went on record and testified in front of the Congress inferencing that the order came as he refused to Trump’s demand of backing off on an investigation against Michael Flynn over Russian collusion.

Flynn, the first National Security Advisor of Donald Trump to be fired, was one of his favourites on the campaign trail who opened his rallies. His removal came after revelations that he mislead Vice president Mike Pence about the nature of his meetings with the Russian Ambassador to US Sergey Kislyak. During the meeting, the two allegedly discussed the lifting of sanctions levelled by then President Obama for Russia’s interference in the American presidential elections.

For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App</s>President Donald Trump is so unleashed/unhinged these days that TV news outlets and late-night show hosts struggle to keep up. Jimmy Kimmel, for instance, started his monologue noting Trump’s meeting on Tuesday with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia at the White House.

“Trump actually prepared for this meeting,” Kimmel assured viewers. “His aides say he watched almost all of the movie Aladdin just to get ready for it.”

Establishing relationships with friendly foreign leaders is important for Trump right now, because, “he needs to build a network of countries he can flee to when the time comes,” Kimmel explained.

During his sit-down with the Prince, Trump got asked about newly re-elected Russian ruler Vladimir Putin, who won another fixed election this week. “And guess who called his KGBFF to congratulate him on that? This guy just poisoned two people. Trump is calling to congratulate him,” Kimmel savaged.

Kimmel moved on, noting the President’s legal team, meanwhile, is working overtime to help him avoid a lengthy interview with special counsel Robert Mueller.

“And while the impeachment team is working on that, the extramarital sex team is busy with Stormy Daniels,” Kimmel hopscotched.

Among the revelations in recent days, the President of the United States has a fake name that he uses specifically for lawsuits with adult film stars: David Dennison.

“You know how Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about her affair with ‘David Dennison’? Now he says he paid her out of his own pocket because Trump is a good friend and that’s what lawyers do,” Kimmel explained.

“So let’s recap Michael Cohen’s version of this story: The President, his friend, did not have an affair with Stormy Daniels. In fact, they so didn’t have an affair, that Michael Cohen paid her $130,000 of his own money to get her to sign an NDA – and now is suing her for $20 million for breaking that NDA.”

“But what I want to know is, if he wins, who would get that $20 million? Would it be Michael Cohen?” Kimmel wondered. “And if the answer is yes, why? She didn’t say anything about Michael Cohen. Her story was about Donald Trump. If there were any damages, they were incurred by him. Wouldn’t he be entitled to that $20 million? Or would that go to David Dennison? This is gonna be great when Donald Trump winds up suing both Michael Cohen and David Dennison.”</s>GREENSBORO, NC - It wasn't exactly a 'happy birthday' for Donald Trump on Tuesday, but the billionaire did turn 70.

Trump didn't even get a "happy birthday" greeting from his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, who responded to 'The Donald's' comments following the Orlando nightclub shooting.

"What Donald Trump is saying is shameful. It is disrespectful to the people killed, wounded and their families," Clinton told a group of supporters who then cheered.

And President Obama didn't offer Trump a birthday card, but he did give him some criticism. "We now have proposals from the presumptive Republican nominee for President of the United States to bar all Muslims from immigrating to America," the president said. "Where does this stop?"

Meantime, Trump was busy putting out other political fires...like banning the The Washington Post newspaper from covering any Trump campaign events.

Trump didn't like a headline The Post wrote about him suggesting that President Obama was involved in the Orlando club shooting, so he "blacklisted" the newspaper just like some others he's disagreed with.

The Post says it's an attack on free press.

Trump can't like another story coming out of USA Today which highlighted an email scandal of his own from back in 2004 when apparently Trump Hotels told a judge in a lawsuit that years of emails had been deleted.

The case was settled out of court, but the irony of the disappearing email trail has come to light.

Trump will surely fire back with his busy campaign stops in Georgia and Texas, eventually visiting Houston later this week.

And now Trump is spending his birthday among supporters in North Carolina.

"I wanted to be first in line to see Donald Trump," one female supporter there shared. "I support him. I believe in all his policies, and I think he'll make a great president."

One can only wonder what 'The Donald's' birthday wish will be!</s>Image copyright Reuters Image caption Mr Dowd took over the president's legal team last summer

US President Donald Trump's lead lawyer for the special counsel investigation into Russia interference in the 2016 election has resigned, US media report.

John Dowd, 77, is reported to have concluded that Mr Trump was increasingly ignoring his advice.

Other reports say Mr Trump had lost confidence in Mr Dowd's ability to handle special counsel Robert Mueller.

In an email to news outlets, Mr Dowd wrote: "I love the president and wish him well."

The special counsel is investigating possible links between Mr Trump's associates and Russia, as well as whether the president has obstructed the inquiry.

Last week, Mr Dowd called on the Department of Justice to immediately shut down Mr Mueller's investigation - initially saying that he was speaking for the president.

But he later clarified that he was speaking for himself and not on Mr Trump's behalf.

To testify or not?

Mr Dowd took over the president's legal team last summer.

Under his leadership, Mr Trump's team of lawyers advised the president to co-operate with the special counsel.

Mr Trump has recently begun publicly criticising Mr Mueller by name, rather than just his inquiry.

In response, several congressional Republicans warned Mr Trump not to consider firing Mr Mueller. Senator Lindsey Graham warned that "that would be the beginning of the end of his presidency".

Mr Trump has also reportedly insisted he wants to be interviewed by the inquiry, a step Mr Dowd was said to oppose.

Last week Mr Trump added combative former US attorney Joe diGenova, who has been a pundit on Fox News, to his legal team.

Trump's patience wearing thin?

Analysis by Anthony Zurcher, BBC News, Washington DC

Just 11 days after dismissing reports that he was shopping for new lawyers and tweeting that he was "very happy" with his personal legal team, Donald Trump has hired a new lawyer and parted ways with the head of his legal team.

It could be an indication that the president's simmering dissatisfaction with the direction of his legal defence is coming to a head.

Up until now, Mr Trump's top lawyers have been pledging full co-operation with Robert Mueller's investigation, assuring that a timely but thorough review of the evidence will end in complete exoneration.

Now, however, the president could be opting for a more confrontational approach. His new hire, Joseph DiGenova, has suggested the president is the target of an FBI conspiracy. And last weekend, for the first time, Mr Trump took aim at Mr Mueller by name in a series of incendiary tweets.

Mr Mueller is reportedly looking into Mr Trump's business dealings and foreign contacts with the Trump administration beyond just Russia - suggesting that his investigation is nowhere near drawing to a close.

The president has been counselled to be patient. That patience could be wearing thin.</s>As we mark the 15th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, one of the shrewdest observations this week came from Spectator columnist Daniel McCarthy, who suggests it’s “not surprising that the Iraq War faction of the G.O.P. should today find common cause with mainstream liberals: this is the Bush-Clinton coalition of 2003 reborn.” Iraq does indeed continue to shape everything. This writer happens to feel that the torture of detainees in U.S. care—what Antonio Taguba, the general who brought the Abu Ghraib scandal to light, referred to as “an assault on American ideals”—was perhaps an even greater disgrace than the loss of life in Iraq. But McMarthy’s point stands. The factions of 2003, at least one of which has immersed itself into a warm bath of selective amnesia, help to clarify the factions of our present political moment. And the scale of death and loss resulting from that war helps to put Donald Trump’s presidency in perspective. Compared to Iraq, none of the sins of the Trump White House amount to much. In fact, Trump starts to look almost good.

Any director of photography knows that when you zoom in on something in motion it increases the sense of speed. Observing the Trump White House daily, as journalists or political obsessives tend to do, has a similar effect. Missteps and blunders happen daily. Mayhem rules. The president says horrible things and tweets horrible things. Special counsel Robert Mueller continues his probing and prodding. Porn stars are threatening to divulge secrets. Someone high up in the White House is leaking material directly from the daily presidential briefing, a remarkable betrayal. Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump seem to be getting purged, and staff turnover doesn’t show any signs of ending soon. No one quite understands what Trump’s game is with North Korea or with anything else. And there are probably a dozen more woes that I am forgetting.

But in the big picture, when the camera pulls back, the movement slows. In fact, with the assistance of some strong liquor, you might even argue that things are going O.K. for this White House. Trump has gotten some big tax cuts through. He has seated a Supreme Court justice. He has followed through on protectionist promises by imposing steel tariffs. He has rolled back a number of initiatives of the Obama White House that conservatives didn’t like. The economy is strong. And, most important, he has, so far, kept us out of a new war. Many Americans, i.e. Trump supporters, like this deal. Many others feel mostly unbothered by it. If that latter group is large enough, Trump’s political fortunes could prove surprisingly favorable.

To get a sense of proportion, review how often the White House of Bill Clinton was consumed by stupid drama during its first term, particularly its first two years. Not a week went by, it seemed, without some potential scandal or misstep (Whitewater, Vince Foster, Travelgate, airport haircut, and on and on and on), and it was in those two years that Kenneth Starr was appointed as a special counsel, setting the groundwork for troubles years later. But voters paid very little attention to this. They noticed the more substantive and long-term stories: that President Clinton wanted to lift the ban on gays in the military (he failed), that he wanted to restrict ownership of assault weapons (he succeeded), and that he wanted to remake the healthcare system (he failed). Fairly or not (mostly unfairly, but that’s just my take), they punished him for these things at the midterm polls in 1994, when Republicans gained control of the House in a tsunami, not for unproven Whitewater sins or past lechery. When the economy continued to regain steam and Clinton started to triangulate on policy, voters gave him another term. They knew he might be a bit of a rascal, they just didn't care. Of course, on personal vices and baggage, Trump appears to exceed Clinton by an order of magnitude, but the pattern is otherwise familiar.

To be sure, any of these fires could, in theory, erupt into a major blaze, just as the string of inquiries and investigations with which adversaries kept on harassing Bill Clinton eventually wound up netting an unlikely fish. But most will not. Calvin Coolidge famously said that “if you see ten troubles coming down the road, you can be sure that nine will run into the ditch before they reach you.” For a White House, 99 out of 100 may be closer to the truth. Presidents face lots and lots and lots of threats. Most dissolve before making landfall. Those in the resistance faction still seem to think Trump will be undone any day by Robert Mueller, but the odds of Mueller presenting anything of great national-security consequence are lower and lower, since none of the indictments so far suggest Russian collusion in any meaningful sense of the term. That would leave Mueller accusing Trump of a cover-up without an underlying crime. It’s not an impossible sell to Congress—especially one in which the House is taken back by Democrats—but it’s a tough one.</s>Over the St. Patrick’s Day weekend, President Donald Trump went on a tweetstorm criticizing the investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Here’s a look at where Trump had a point and where his tweets were either misleading or wrong.

"As the House Intelligence Committee has concluded, there was no collusion between Russia and the Trump Campaign. As many are now finding out, however, there was tremendous leaking, lying and corruption at the highest levels of the FBI, Justice & State. #DrainTheSwamp"

Even the House Intelligence Committee — which released a report generally considered favorable to Trump — did not quite say that. On March 12, Republican committee members announced that they had found no evidence that Trump campaign associates colluded with Russian officials during the 2016 election. The findings are part of a forthcoming 150-page draft report, which contained no input from Democrats.

Yet even the Republican who chaired the investigation, Texas Rep. Mike Conaway, didn’t go as far as Trump did. Conaway said on NBC’s Meet the Press that there was "no evidence of collusion." That phrasing is something short of a determination that there was definitely no collusion.

Conaway also acknowledged that Democrats on the committee feel differently on that question. Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on House Intelligence Committee, has said he believes there is "ample evidence" that the Trump campaign colluded with Russians.

As for Trump’s reference to "leaking, lying and corruption" at the FBI and the Justice Department, Trump is likely referring to ousted former FBI director James Comey and former deputy director Andrew McCabe.

Comey, who was fired by Trump on May 9, later testified that he made contemporaneous notes of conversations with the president that he strategically leaked to the media through a friend after his firing.

McCabe was fired shortly before his retirement after the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility reportedly recommended his dismissal. The FBI’s internal watchdog concluded that McCabe had authorized FBI officials to discuss the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, then misled investigators when asked about it. Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz is expected to release a report on McCabe’s conduct.

After his firing, McCabe said in a statement that he was being "singled out and treated this way because of the role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of James Comey."

It’s not entirely clear what Trump meant by his reference to the State Department.

"The Fake News is beside themselves that McCabe was caught, called out and fired. How many hundreds of thousands of dollars was given to wife’s campaign by Crooked H friend, Terry M, who was also under investigation? How many lies? How many leaks? Comey knew it all, and much more!"

Trump appears to be reviving a familiar line of attack he’s made against McCabe, concerning the intersection of his wife’s political activities and his role in the investigation into Clinton’s handling of sensitive emails. As we’ve noted in previous fact-checks, Trump has repeatedly been wrong on the details.

As a Virginia state candidate, Jill McCabe, a hospital physician, did receive donations linked to a longtime Clinton supporter, Terry McAuliffe, who was also the Democratic governor of Virginia.

But if Trump is insinuating these donations influenced Andrew McCabe’s approach to the Clinton email investigation — which Trump has previously suggested — he’s ignoring key facts in the timeline that undercut this assertion.

In October 2015, McAuliffe's PAC, Common Good VA, gave Dr. McCabe's campaign a total of $450,000. (An additional $17,500 had been given earlier.) The following month, McCabe lost her race. On Feb. 1, 2016 — three months after his wife's defeat — Andrew McCabe became the FBI's deputy director. In a statement to the Wall Street Journal, the FBI said it was the first time McCabe had any oversight role over the Clinton case.

Separately, Trump appears to be referring to reports that surfaced in May 2016 that the FBI was investigating McAuliffe’s campaign contributions, including $120,000 in donations from Chinese businessman Wang Wenliang through his U.S. companies.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller departs after a closed-door meeting with members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on June 21, 2017, in the U.S. Capitol. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)

"The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime. It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!"

Trump is wrong to say the investigation into his campaign’s ties with Russia started with a dossier compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele. Republican lawmakers have confirmed that George Papadopoulos, a former Trump campaign adviser who was told during the election that high-ranking Russian government officials in Moscow possessed "dirt" on Hillary Clinton in the form of "thousands of emails," triggered the probe.

While Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein hasn’t fully laid out his rationale for why he appointed Special Counsel Robert Mueller, some key facts leap out from the timeline leading up to his May 17, 2017, decision.

On March 2, Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from any "existing or future investigations" related to the 2016 presidential election, after he failed to disclose during his confirmation proceedings that he’d met with Russian officials during the campaign.

On May 9, Trump fired Comey, and two days later said on national television that "this Russia thing" was part of his reasoning for sacking the FBI director.

Rosenstein appointed Mueller less than a week later.

To date, Mueller has filed charges against 19 people and three companies, and obtained guilty pleas from five people, including three who worked on Trump’s presidential campaign.

Finally, Trump is wrong to say the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court was misused in order to spy on his campaign.

Former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page left the campaign in Sept. 2016. It was nearly a month later when FBI and Justice Department officials obtained a warrant on Oct. 21 to monitor Page after convincing the court there was probable cause to believe Page was acting as an agent of Russia.

"Wow, watch Comey lie under oath to Senator G when asked ‘have you ever been an anonymous source...or known someone else to be an anonymous source...?’ He said strongly ‘never, no.’ He lied as shown clearly on @foxandfriends."

In this tweet, Trump is alleging that McCabe’s statement, issued after his firing, contradicts Comey’s sworn testimony during a May 3, 2017, hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

In an exchange with Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, Comey stated that he never authorized anyone at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports about the Trump or Clinton investigations.

Grassley: "Director Comey, have you ever been an anonymous source in news reports about matters relating to the Trump investigation or the Clinton investigation?"

Grassley: "Question two, relatively related, have you ever authorized someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports about the Trump investigation or the Clinton investigation?"

After his March 16 firing, McCabe issued a statement defending himself against allegations that he improperly permitted law enforcement officials to discuss the Clinton investigation with reporters, which referenced the FBI director, the position Comey held at the time.

"I chose to share with a reporter through my public affairs officer and a legal counselor. As deputy director, I was one of only a few people who had the authority to do that. It was not a secret, it took place over several days, and others, including the director, were aware of the interaction with the reporter," McCabe’s statement reads.

Here, McCabe states only that Comey was "aware of the interaction with the reporter" — not that Comey authorized it, which was what Grassley asked about.

"Spent very little time with Andrew McCabe, but he never took notes when he was with me. I don’t believe he made memos except to help his own agenda, probably at a later date. Same with lying James Comey. Can we call them Fake Memos?"

Just because McCabe may not have taken notes literally during a conversation with Trump doesn’t mean they wouldn’t be admissible in court. There is some flexibility in determining whether notes are "contemporaneous," and thus valid in court.

The federal rules of evidence bar many types of "hearsay" evidence -- essentially, statements made out of court and not under oath -- from being used in court. But there are exceptions to this rule, and the very first type of admissible evidence on the list is "present sense impression." The rules of evidence describe this as "a statement describing or explaining an event or condition, made while or immediately after the declarant perceived it."

The key phrase here is "immediately after." Additional commentary in the federal rules of evidence explains that "with respect to the time element, (the exception) recognizes that in many, if not most, instances precise contemporaneity is not possible, and hence a slight lapse is allowable."

If this case ever went to court, it would be up to a judge to decide whether any delay by McCabe in writing his notes was too long to classify as "immediately after." It’s premature to litigate this question, so for now, Trump has no basis for suggesting that McCabe’s notes are "fake."

"Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans? Another Dem recently added...does anyone think this is fair? And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!"

We have previously rated Mostly False a Trump assertion about Mueller’s team that "the people that have been hired are all Hillary Clinton supporters, some of them worked for Hillary Clinton."

In addition, the Washington Post reported that 13 members of Mueller’s team are registered Democrats: Greg Andres, Rush Atkinson, Ryan Dickey, Michael Dreeben, Kyle Freeny, Andrew Goldstein, Adam Jed, Elizabeth Prelogar, James Quarles, Jeannie Rhee, Brandon Van Grack, Andrew Weissmann, and Aaron Zelinsky.

Of these, eight have given donations exclusively to Democrats: Andres, Atkinson, Freeny, Goldstein, Prelogar, Rhee, Van Grack, and Weissmann. Six of them have donated to Clinton specifically, or to a Clinton-aligned fund. One other member of the team, Quarles, has given to both Democrats and Republicans.

However, Trump left out that four other members of the Mueller team are not registered with any political party.

In addition, federal regulations bar the Justice Department from considering political affiliation or political contributions as a factor in hiring career appointees, leaving Mueller no ability to factor that into his hiring decisions.</s>(CNN) The White House has canceled all public events on Wednesday due to the spring snowstorm hitting the nation's capitol. Which means that President Donald Trump has nothing but time on his hands -- time to stew on the current morass (or, more accurately, morasses) in which he currently finds himself.

* Special counsel Bob Mueller's team met with White House lawyers late last week to go over potential areas of interest if/when Mueller sits down with Trump -- including the circumstances surrounding the firing of then-FBI Director James Comey last spring.

That would be a lot for a White House to deal with in a year. The Trump White House had dealt with it all in just the last week.

Adding to that toxic mix is the fact that all of the reporting coming out of the White House since the firing of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson eight days ago suggests that Trump feels as though he is coming into his own as President -- a sentiment that has him more confident in trusting his gut (and ignoring the advice of so-called "experts") when it comes to decisions big and small that come to his desk.

And never forget that we have ample evidence that Trump is hugely mercurial -- prone to fits of rage, frustration and lashing out. And that he is at his angriest when he feels as though media coverage of his administration is unfairly negative.

We have all of those factors at the present moment. Not to mention the fact that the President suddenly has lots of time on his hands Wednesday thanks to the snow.

Now. Trump is someone who values chaos and even seems to revel in it. He has said publicly and privately that he believes that out of conflict and drama comes good ideas and progress. (The data on that so far in his presidency isn't hugely supportive of that supposition.)

But, this many stories, all at once and all bad for Trump is, at minimum, a distraction and, at maximum, blocking out all of the other priorities of this President and this White House.

Trump, despite his efforts to portray himself as immune to effects of pressure, is human just like the rest of us. He puts his pants on one leg at a time . It is literally impossible for him to not be affected by the swirl of stories, lawsuits and leaks around him right now.

The White House is always a pressure cooker for any president. But, rarely does a president operate under as much constant pressure as Trump has in his first 14 months in office. And there's little question that the events of the past week have turned the pressure up to brain-busting proportions.

What happens when the pressure gets too much to handle? You need a release. And what is Trump's release? Yes, Twitter. And, right on cue, we've had a series of tweets over the past few days in which Trump has begun a personal assault against Mueller -- insisting that the Russia probe should have never started and suggesting that Mueller has 13 Democrats on his team. ( He doesn't .)

The pressure inside the White House is surging. And that almost certainly means that the President is on the verge on a(nother) explosion.</s>Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump's lead lawyer, John Dowd, has resigned from the President's personal legal team handling the response to the Russia investigation.

"I love the President and wish him well," Dowd said in a statement to CNN.

Dowd, who has urged the President to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller's probe and resist attacking him publicly, resigned as his disagreements with Trump intensified and the President stepped up his attacks on the special counsel. His departure raises questions about the direction of Trump's legal strategy and could signal a more aggressive posture on Trump's part.

Just days before his resignation, Dowd said in a statement the investigation should end, initially claiming he was speaking for the President before saying he was only speaking for himself. Two sources familiar with the matter said Trump had encouraged Dowd to speak out. But the statement only drew unwanted headlines and stoked turmoil within the President's legal team, according to multiple sources.

One source familiar with the decision described Dowd's resignation as a "mutual decision."

Despite public claims that he was happy with him, Trump complained privately in recent days that he thought Dowd was falling short of his duties, a source familiar with his thinking said. He questioned whether he had the energy or capacity to continue on in his role as the lead lawyer for the special counsel's investigation.

It was not immediately clear who would take over as the President's lead personal attorney, but Trump earlier this week hired another veteran Washington attorney, Joseph diGenova, to join his legal team. DiGenova was expected to play a forward-facing role on the legal team, filling what Trump felt was a lack of voices publicly defending him and challenging the special counsel.

DiGenova had publicly argued that Trump had been "framed" by FBI and Justice Department officials.

Dowd's departure also raises questions about the fate of negotiations between the President's attorneys and the special counsel's team over a potential interview with the President as Dowd has been the main point of contact with the special counsel's team throughout the investigation. One source said there is concern about the void Dowd will leave in his wake, particularly as Trump has had trouble finding top-flight lawyers to join his legal team.

Jay Sekulow, one of Trump's private attorneys, called Dowd a "friend" and said he "has been a valuable member of our legal team."

"We will continue our ongoing representation of the President and our cooperation with the Office of Special Counsel," Sekulow said in a statement.

As the investigation seems to be intensifying, the President, according to multiple sources, is convinced he needs to take the reins of his own legal strategy and Trump has recently pushed to bring new attorneys onto his team.

The shift distressed some of his lawyers, namely Dowd, who felt blindsided and insulted by the President's hire of diGenova and other shifts, privately threatening to quit before ultimately resigning on Thursday, two sources said.

Trump had also continued to speak regularly with Marc Kasowitz, his longtime lawyer who stepped back from leading the team months ago but still remained involved.

JUST WATCHED NYT: Trump lawyers worried he'd lie to Mueller Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH NYT: Trump lawyers worried he'd lie to Mueller 00:54

Kasowitz had long recommended that Trump take a more aggressive posture toward the Mueller investigation. That strategy was on the backburner as Dowd and Ty Cobb, the White House's special counsel on the matter, worked with Mueller and urged the President to refrain from appearing to publicly undermine the Mueller investigation. Now that has all changed, as the President has reverted to his initial strategy to attack. An experienced cable news commentator, diGenova shares the President's view that the FBI and the Justice Department have waged a corrupt battle against him.

Dowd also faced criticism over his handling of the response to the guilty plea of Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who became the first Trump administration official to face charges in Mueller's investigation.

Dowd landed himself and the President in hot water after a tweet he says he authored suggested Trump knew Flynn lied to the FBI in January, reviving questions of whether Trump committed obstruction of justice when he allegedly asked then-FBI Director James Comey to drop the Flynn investigation.

"I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI. He has pled guilty to those lies," the tweet on Trump's account said.

The tweet led Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, to note that the committee is investigating obstruction of justice and said: "What we're beginning to see is the putting together of a case of obstruction of justice."

In a testy exchange with CNN, Dowd said he authored the tweet, but then suggested it was incorrect, claiming that "at the time of the firing no one including Justice had accused Flynn of lying."

He declined to answer additional questions, saying: "Enough already ... I don't feed the haters."

The response was characteristic of Dowd's hard-charging style, which initially endeared him to the President and made him the lead attorney on the President's legal team after Kasowitz was asked to step back in July.

The latest shake-up now leaves questions about whether Trump's legal team will pursue the strategy that Dowd laid out in the wake of Flynn's guilty plea, when Dowd claimed that Trump could not be prosecuted for obstruction of justice because he is the US President and therefore its "chief law enforcement officer."

Dowd's claim signaled the President's legal team plans to rely on an untested theory that is heavily disputed by legal scholars: whether a sitting President can be charged with obstruction of justice or indicted at all.

CNN's John King and Kaitlan Collins contributed to this report.
John Dowd, the most senior lawyer advising U.S. President Donald Trump on allegations of Russian electoral interference, resigns.