The most incoherent part of Donald Trump’s most incoherent press conference

President Trump fiercely defended his former national security advisor on Wednesday, saying Michael Flynn is a “wonderful man” who has has “been treated very, very unfairly by the media, as I call it the fake media in many cases”, he said.

But calls for an independent investigation have encountered a cold reaction from some senior Republicans.

The New York Times reported late on Tuesday that phone call records and intercepted calls showed members of Trump’s presidential campaign and other Trump associates had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the November 8 election.

He stood down over allegations he discussed United States sanctions with a Russian envoy before Mr Trump took office.

It is illegal for a private citizen to conduct diplomacy on behalf of the US.

The retired army lieutenant-general initially denied having discussed sanctions with Ambassador Sergei Kislyak, and Vice-President Mike Pence publicly denied the allegations on his behalf.

However, when press secretary Sean Spicer later said that the White House was warned on January 26 that Flynn may have misled Pence, it raised questions about why it took more than two weeks for him to resign.

Commenting on his resignation, Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, said during a press briefing: “The evolving and eroding level of trust as a result of this situation and a series of other questionable instances is what led the president to ask General Flynn for his resignation”.

A Flynn spokesman told the Post he had no response to its report – and the Federal Bureau of Investigation declined to comment.

Mr Flynn’s firing also heightened questions about the president’s friendly posture toward Russian Federation.

“Leaking, and even illegal classified leaking, has been a big problem in Washington for years”, the president tweeted on Thursday.

Instead, Trump accused members of United States intelligence agencies of breaking the law by leaking information about the calls. “I have no deals there”.

Trump also said in his news conference yesterday that “the false, horrible, fake reporting” on these issues “makes it much harder to make a deal with Russian Federation”.

Flynn’s resignation was requested by the president on Monday night following a slew of reports from the Post, the New York Times, and CNN, which revealed that Flynn had misled Vice President Mike Pence regarding the substance of his call with Kislyak.

For instance, the Pentagon informed lawmakers that there are no records of a 2015 trip that Flynn took to Moscow, where he rubbed elbows with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, according to Politico. “We’ll review everything, ‘” Flynn told The Daily Caller about the conversation.

Corker said the Russian Federation issue was threatening Trump’s agenda on foreign affairs and domestic matters like healthcare and tax policy.

“Russia is not our friend, and any threat to our nation’s cybersecurity must be met with a firm response”, Ernst said.

Trump addressed questions from the media about his administration’s relationship with the Kremlin. “It’s nothing to do with us”. He questioned whether the White House was able to stabilise itself and said Mr Flynn should testify before Congress. People familiar with the agency’s multiple probes said there was no evidence so far of pre-election collusion between Russians and Mr Trump’s campaign, or any evidence of criminal activity by Mr Flynn or anyone else connected to the President.

“I didn’t direct him, but I would have directed him if he didn’t do it”, Trump said.

Who in the administration was aware of Flynn’s potentially illegal communications with Russian Federation – and extremely cozy dealings in general – remains to be seen. We ask the FBI to open up an active investigation.

Like all presidents before him, Mr Trump does not exactly have a zero-tolerance policy toward leaks.