In a quick report Wednesday, CNN's Kaitlan Collins explained that President Donald Trump saw a unique opportunity to usher in more allies to his fight against the investigations into his scandals.
In a briefing to Anderson Cooper, Collins explained that when the two new leaders took over in the United Kingdom and in Australia, Trump called to demand they denounce the Russia investigation.
"Not only did President Trump reach out to the Australian prime minister about working with the attorney general to investigate the beginnings of the Russia investigation, he also placed a call to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson hoping he could do the same," she explained. "Basically, when these two world leaders got into office, President Trump didn’t just see it as a diplomatic opening, he saw it as a political one. One where he could potentially achieve this goal of discrediting the Russia investigation."
Trump was even described as "giddy" about the possibility to have someone stand up in his defense.
"He didn’t just think politically they were more in line with him. He thought they would be more cooperative with looking into the beginnings of the investigation," Collins continued. "A lot had less to do with them and more do with their predecessors. Because those two leaders, President Trump had been deeply suspicious of, based on our sources, because he blamed them in part for the beginning of the Russia investigation and the role their countries played in it."
Those predecessors were former Prime Ministers Theresa May and Malcolm Turnbull, both of whom gave special counsel Robert Mueller anything he needed for the investigation. Cooperating with the investigation was an act of disloyalty to Trump.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) even went so far as to send a letter urging the leaders to cooperate with Attorney General Bill Barr's investigation into the investigation.
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