On Monday, a column from The Atlantic detailed why the White House has lost control over the Trump-Putin narrative and details how it is being led by the Kremlin.
Attorney General Bill Barr is expected to release special counsel Robert Mueller's report on Thursday, according to a Justice Department spokeswoman. The highly anticipated report will reveal details surrounding Russia interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Trump has notably lashed out about the investigation calling it a witch hunt on multiple occasions.
"Why has the White House made it so easy for the Kremlin to shape the narrative around Trump and Putin’s encounters, often to Moscow’s advantage?" the report said.
"The curiosity over the two leaders’ relationship stems largely from Democratic allegations that Trump, who has reportedly gone to extraordinary lengths to conceal his private conversations with Putin, may be compromised—claims that have been exacerbated by the Kremlin’s consistent ability to characterize the narrative of their interactions," the report said.
The report explained the White House aides have scrambled to explain the complex relationship.
"The Russian diplomat and Putin aide Yuri Ushakov later told journalists that during that call, Trump had actually invited Putin to the White House. (A Putin spokesman denied Ushakov’s account). Lavrov followed up, telling reporters that Trump 'returned' to the topic of Putin’s visit 'a couple of times' as they spoke, and even told Putin that he would visit Moscow in return. The disclosures left Trump’s aides scrambling to explain why they hadn’t included those details in their own readout of the call," the report said.
Adding, "Steve Hall, the former head of Russian operations for the CIA in Moscow, says the one-on-one meetings put Putin, a former KGB spy, in a unique position to influence Trump."
"There are no Americans in the room to act as a break if Trump is being pushed in the wrong direction. Putin is not only former KGB, but he’s also spent scores of years dealing with foreign leaders and knows how to manipulate them," Hall said according to The Atlantic.
Read the full report here.