President Trump is going through a rocky start to his presidency. From protests to conspiracies to questionable executive orders, Trump has had to battle through tough times. One of the biggest conspiracies affecting the Trump administration have been rumors that during the campaign, Trump and his team had talks with Russia to swing the campaign, among many other things. To fully understand how big of an issue this is, we have to dive into two of the biggest claims.

Possibly the most debated claim of all is the claim that Trump’s campaign team had connect with Russian intelligence officers throughout the campaign. Spearheading this report was the New York Times. The New York Times received their information from four American officials who remained unnamed. During the interview, the officials told The New York that there are phone records indicating that the campaign had communicated with senior Russian officials, but the evidence was never conclusive, so the campaign continued. Also, The New York Times reported that Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergei Ryabkov, told a Russian media outlet in November that “there were contacts” with the Trump campaign. The Trump administration has denied everything.  

Just recently, the Washington Post reported that National Security Adviser Michael Flynn lied about the nature of his conversations with the Russian ambassador. According to the report, Flynn privately discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador. Those conversations took place between Election Day and the inauguration. The Washington Post report was based on unnamed sources. After the report was released, Flynn acknowledge that he had “inadvertently briefed the vice president-elect and others with incomplete information regarding phone calls with the Russian ambassador.” Since then, National Security Adviser Michael Flynn resigned after less than a month on the job. President Trump called Flynn a “wonderful man” and blamed his resignation on the media, who treated him “very, very unfairly.”

Other claims have included that Trump has many financial ties to Russia, Putin ordered operatives to influence the election,  and Russia is manipulating Trump. Due to all the claims, both sides of Congress are calling for a Congressional Investigation into the matter. More information is to come in the following weeks; this is just the tip of the iceberg.