WORLD Trump’s woes growing

CONSTERNATION and confusion overtook Capitol Hill yesterday as Republicans confronted the revelation that US President Donald Trump had disclosed highly classified information to the Russians.

Several hours later, lawmakers were shaken anew by reports that the President had asked then- FBI director James Comey to stop investigating ousted adviser Michael Flynn.

Senator John McCain said the developments had reached “a point where it’s of Watergate size and scale”.

“I think we’ve seen this movie before,” the Arizona Republican said at a dinner to receive the International Republican Institute’s Freedom Award.

“The shoes continue to drop and every couple days there’s a new aspect.”

Yet despite the anxiety and displeasure voiced by Senator McCain and a handful of other prominent GOP lawmakers, Republicans did not appear poised to abandon a president who remains critical to their goals of acting on health care and tax legislation.

Several came to his defence and sought to close ranks.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell responded tersely “no” when pressed on whether he had concerns about the President’s ability to handle classified information, or whether he was losing confi- dence in Mr Trump. But he acknowledged “it would be helpful to have less drama emanating from the White House”.

Just the opposite happened over the course of yesterday.

First Republicans faced questions on a report initially published in the Washington Post that Mr Trump last week shared details about an Islamic State terror threat with Russian officials.

As some Republicans defended Mr Trump and others expressed concerns, another bombshell report landed, this time about a memo where Mr Comey said Mr Trump had asked him to shut down an FBI investigation into Mr Flynn.

Republicans, caught off guard, insisted they wanted to hear from Mr Comey, who was fired last week a day before Mr Trump met in the Oval Office with the Russian diplomats.

“Let’s get to the bottom of what happened with the director. And the best way to get to the bottom of it is for him to testify ... I’m not going to take a memo, I want the guy to come in,” said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham.