Trump Pressed Top Republicans to End Senate Russia Inquiry<br />One Republican close to Mr. Burr, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Mr. Trump had been “very forceful.”<br />Asked why Mr. Trump is so irritated with the investigation, Mr. Burr said: “In his world<br />it hampers his ability to project the strength he needs to convey on foreign policy.”<br />Mr. Burr said Mr. Trump was not fully aware of the impropriety of his request<br />because the president still has the mind-set of a businessman rather than a politician.<br />He said he replied to Mr. Trump that “when we have exhausted everybody we need to talk to, we will finish.”<br />In addition, according to lawmakers and aides, Mr. Trump told Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader,<br />and Senator Roy Blunt, Republican of Missouri and a member of the intelligence committee, to end the investigation swiftly.<br />In an interview this week, Mr. Tillis said the president “just asked me where my head was” on the legislation<br />and described the exchange as “pleasant.” Mr. Trump did not press him on the Senate investigation, said Mr. Tillis, who is not on the intelligence committee.<br />Mr. Trump, he said, “at no point has attempted to apply undue influence on committee members’’<br />and believes “there is no evidence of collusion and these investigations must come to a fair and appropriate completion.’’<br />Mr. Trump’s requests of lawmakers to end the Senate investigation came during a period in the summer when the president was particularly consumed with Russia<br />and openly raging at his own attorney general, Jeff Sessions, for recusing himself from any inquiries into Russian meddling in the election.
