US President Donald Trump denied having asked then FBI director James Comey to drop an investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who has since pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about discussions with Russia.
"I never asked Comey to stop investigating Flynn. Just more Fake News covering another Comey lie!", Mr Trump said in a tweet.
After years of Comey, with the phony and dishonest Clinton investigation (and more), running the FBI, its reputation is in Tatters - worst in History! But fear not, we will bring it back to greatness.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 3, 2017
Yesterday, Mr Trump again insisted he and his campaign had not colluded with Moscow in last year's election, and shifted blame on to the justice department and his rival Hillary Clinton.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump's personal lawyer took responsibility today for a tweet about the firing of Mr Flynn yesterday.
I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI. He has pled guilty to those lies. It is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. There was nothing to hide!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 2, 2017
In an interview with Axios, John Dowd said the tweet was "my mistake" and that he drafted the tweet that raised more questions about whether there had been attempts to obstruct the Russia investigation.
"I'm out of the tweeting business," Mr Dowd told Axios. "I did not mean to break news."
Mr Flynn was the first member of Trump's administration to plead guilty to a crime uncovered by special counsel Robert Mueller's wide-ranging investigation into Russian attempts to influence the 2016 US presidential election and possible collusion by Mr Trump's aides.
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Mr Flynn, a former Defence Intelligence Agency director, held his position as Mr Trump's national security adviser for only 24 days.
He was forced to resign after he was found to have misled Vice President Mike Pence about his discussions with Russia's then-ambassador to the United States Sergei Kislyak.
The retired US army lieutenant general admitted in a Washington court that he lied to FBI investigators about his discussions last December with Mr Kislyak.
In what appeared to be moves undermining the policies of outgoing president Barack Obama, the pair discussed US sanctions on Russia, and Mr Flynn asked Mr Kislyak to help delay a United Nations vote seen as damaging to Israel, according to prosecutors.
Mr Flynn was also told by a "very senior member" of Mr Trump's transition team to contact Russia and other foreign governments to try to influence them ahead of the vote, the prosecutors said.
Sources said the "very senior" transition official was Jared Kushner, Mr Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser.
Trump still weighing whether to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital - Kushner
Meanwhile, Mr Kushner is leading Mr Trump's efforts to restart long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, efforts that so far have shown little progress.
Mr Trump has not yet made a decision on whether to formally recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital, Mr Kushner said today, a move that would break with decades of US policy and could fuel violence in the Middle East.
"He's still looking at a lot of different facts, and then when he makes his decision, he'll be the one to want to tell you, not me," Mr Kushner said today.
A senior administration official said last week that Mr Trump could make the announcement on Wednesday.
Past US presidents have insisted that the status of Jerusalem - home to sites holy to the Jewish, Muslim and Christian religions - must be decided in negotiations.
The Palestinians want Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, and the international community does not recognise Israel's claim on all of the city.
