Report: Trump pressured Roy Blunt to end Senate Russia probe

At an August 30 rally in Springfield, President Donald Trump made his first push for tax reform, beginning with an introduction of all of the Republican dignitaries in the crowd, noting especially Sen. Roy Blunt and Seventh District Congressman Billy Long, who were among those who flew from the nation's capital to Springfield on Air Force One.

After that the glowing words for the Republicans and a few words about lowering taxes, Trump turned his attention to Missouri's other senator, Democrat Claire McCaskill.

And your Senator, Claire McCaskill, she must do this for you. And if she doesn't do it for you, you have to have to vote her out of office. She's got to make that commitment. She's got to make that commitment. If she doesn't do it, you just can't do this anymore, with the obstruction and the obstructionists.

Trump's choice of words was particularly ironic. On the way to Missouri and citing Claire McCaskill for obstruction, the president was involved in something that fit the term much better.

A New York Times report published this evening indicates that on the same day Trump ripped McCaskill for obstruction, he was doing his best to convince her fellow member of Missouri's senatorial delegation, Blunt, to derail the Russia investigation:

One of them was Mr. Blunt, who was flying on Air Force One with Mr. Trump to Springfield, Mo., in August when he found himself being lobbied by the president “to wrap up this investigation,” according to a Republican official familiar with the conversation.

Mr. Blunt was not bothered by Mr. Trump’s comments, the official said, because he did not see them bearing a “sinister motive.’’

The Times article noted that Trump has lobbied both Blunt, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee and the chairman of that committee, Sen. Richard Burr, R-North Carolina, and that both senators have attempted to keep their distance from Trump because of the investigation.