Will Trump Be Impeached Or Resign? Russia Links To White House Must Be Investigated By Special Prosecutor, Americans Tell Pollster

Amid growing concerns, intelligence leaks and following the recusal of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, nearly two-thirds of Americans believed an independent special prosecutor should handle the investigation into President Donald Trump and his campaign’s alleged links to Russia, a CNN/ORC poll published Monday showed. The results also showed that 55 percent are “somewhat concerned” about reports concerning ties between Trump’s campaign and Russian intelligence officers.

The poll reflected deep trenches along party lines as the president has continued to parry reports over alleged ties to Russia and that President Vladimir Putin directly attacked the election to improve Trump’s chances of victory. Sixty-five percent of those polled wanted a special prosecutor to handle the investigation, but that number jumped to 82 percent of Democrats and 67 percent of independents. Americans’ confidence in Congress to conduct the investigation was also examined and only 32 percent believed the head of the legislative branch was “capable” of doing so, according to CNN.

Still, there remains a debate along party affiliations that Russia even attempted to hack and influence the election and the steady stream of reports over the last few months over members of the Trump campaign meeting several times with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Sessions, a Trump appointee who worked closely with the campaign last year, reportedly twice met with Kislyak and had one phone call with him but said he never discussed the campaign with him. However, he still recused himself Thursday and now an appointee of former President Barack Obama, Dana Boente, has been charged with handling the investigation going forward.

Fifty-five percent claimed to be “concerned” about the reports, a number that climbed to 71 percent among Democrats who answered “very concerned,” but 54 percent of Republican respondents answered they weren’t concerned “at all.”

The Associated Press reported Thursday that White House adviser and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and former national security adviser Michael Flynn had met with Kislyak in December. Flynn was asked to resign last month after he admitted to misleading Vice President Mike Pence about what he discussed with Kislyak, which was reportedly a potential lift of sanctions imposed by former President Barack Obama on Russia for hacking the election.

Kushner joined Flynn, as well as former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, ex-Pentagon official and current Trump national security team member J.D. Gordon and White House international negotiator Jason Greenblatt as those to have met with alleged Russian intelligence officers, according to The New York Times.

Trump’s approval rating increased one point, from 44 to 45 percent, despite the new reports, according to the CNN/ORC poll.