No politician in history has been treated as unfairly as Donald Trump, the

president claimed as he struggled under the weight of a series of major

controversies.

Look at the way Ive been treated lately, especially by the media, Trump said on
Wednesday during a speech to the Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut. No
politician in history, and I say this with great surety, has been treated worse or
more unfairly.

Chaos on Capitol Hill as

Republicans reel from latest Trump
controversy
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He told the coast guard graduates: You cant let them get you down.
Responding to their cheers, he commented: I guess thats why we won.

On Capitol Hill, the House speaker, Paul Ryan, the most senior Republican in
Congress, said he still had confidence in the president after a week of stunning
revelations that sent shockwaves through Washington.

But Justin Amash, a conservative from Michigan, became the first Republican
legislator to publicly concede that if the new allegations against Trump were true,
the president could be impeached.

Ryan warned about rushing to conclusions in the wake of a New York Times
report that Trump had asked Comey to stop an investigation into his former
national security adviser, Michael Flynn. That news came a day after a
Washington Post report that Trump had revealed highly classified
informationduring a meeting with Russian officials. The two controversies came
in the wake of Trumps equally contentious firing last week of the FBI director,
James Comey, who was leading the agencys investigation into Russias reported
meddling in the US election.

Our job is to get the facts, Ryan told reporters. The Wisconsin Republican said
the House oversight and government reform committee had appropriately
requested that the FBI hand over any memos and documentation Comey kept on
his meetings with the president and said lawmakers would remain sober in
their search for the facts.
It is obvious there are some people out there that want to harm the president,
but we have an obligation to carry out our oversight regardless of which party is
in the White House, Ryan said. And that means, before rushing to judgment,
we get all the pertinent information.

On Wednesday, the Senate intelligence committee joined the House oversight

committee in asking the acting FBI chief, Andrew McCabe, to hand over any
notes or memos from Comey on such meetings. The Senate committee also wrote
to Comey asking him to appear before it in both open and closed sessions.

Asked if he still had confidence in Trump, Ryan replied: I do.

Ryan spoke after a closed-door meeting with Republicans, the first caucus-wide
meeting since the House returned from a 10-day recess.

For weeks, Republicans have carefully avoided casting criticism on the president,
but by Wednesday, that loyalty was being tested.

After the House meeting, Justin Amash told reporters that if Trump had tried to
quash an FBI investigation, it would merit impeachment.

Yes, the congressman replied when asked whether the report would qualify as
an impeachable offense, according to a report in the Hill. He added: But
everybody gets a fair trial in this country.

On the whole, however, Republicans and Democrats have refused to say whether
they believe the accusations, if true, would lead to impeachment.

Ive been through an impeachment hearing. Theyre not good for the country, let
alone the individual, said Senator Diane Feinstein, a California Democrat and
the ranking member of the judiciary committee. I think until we know more this
should remain where it is ... off the table.

Meanwhile, Republican Adam Kinzinger, who was previously opposed to

appointing a special prosecutor to conduct an independent investigation into
links between Trumps team and Russia, said he was open to one.

It is time we look at the idea of an independent commission or special

prosecutor, the Illinois congressman told CNN.

House Democrats on Wednesday planned to use procedural maneuvers to force a

vote on a bill that would establish an independent commission to investigate
Russian interference in the US presidential election. The discharge petition
would need at least 218 signatures in order to force the vote.
Its unacceptable that we continue ignoring these scandals, Elijah Cummings, a
Maryland Democrat and the petitions co-sponsor, told reporters at a press
conference on Wednesday.

The Republican Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, who has been
relatively tight-lipped despite the White House controversies casting a long
shadow over his legislative agenda, told the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday
he would like Comey to testify publicly and as soon as possible.

I think we need to hear from him about whatever he has to say about the events
of recent days, as soon as possible, before the Senate intelligence committee, in
public, McConnell told the Journal.

The Senate will be briefed on Thursday by the deputy attorney general, Rod
Rosenstein, on the firing of Comey. Senator Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat
and the ranking member of the Senate intelligence committee, said he expected
to hear from Comey early next week about whether he would testify.

Weve got questions about the presidents comments about tapes secret tapes
we have questions about transcripts from the meetings with the Russians, and
we have questions about obtaining former director Comeys memo, and thats
just Wednesday, Warner said.

The Republican senator John McCain, a frequent critic of Trump, said that the
various scandals surrounding Trump had reached Watergate size and scale.

The Republican senator Lindsey Graham, another thorn in the presidents side,
said in a statement on Wednesday that he would like Comey to testify publicly. I
do not believe in trial by newspaper article or investigations based on anonymous
sources, Graham said in the statement.

However, it is important that Congress call the former FBI director James
Comeybefore the judiciary committee to obtain a full understanding of what
President Trump may or may not have done regarding the Russian investigation,
including General Michael Flynn.

In his speech in Connecticut, Trump claimed his administration was in the

process of delivering on three key domestic promises: tax reform, healthcare
reform and the construction of a border wall with Mexico.

Weve begun plans and preparations for the border wall, which is going very,
very well, Trump said. We are working on major tax cuts for all we are going
to give you major tax reform.
He added: The people understand what Im doing, and thats the most
important thing.

he German chancellor delivered a vague but pointed warning to British leaders on Wednesday
amid questions over how the UK's divorce from the EU will impact the free movement of
people across Europe.
Speaking at an event for labor union officials in Berlin, Merkel said that "if the British
government says that free movement of people is no longer valid, that will have its price in
relations with Britain."
Merkel said that if Britain were to limit the number of EU citizens allowed into the country to
only 100,000 or 200,000, for example, "we would have to think about what obstacle we create
from the European side to compensate that." She was quick to say, however, that such a plan
wasn't meant to be "malicious."
Freedom of movement between the UK and the EU remains a central issue in negotiations over
Brexit, whose supporters often pointed to migration as one of the most compelling reasons to
leave the 28-member bloc.

Farage tells EU to 'grow up'

Also on Wednesday, MEP Nigel Farage of UKIP, the right-wing populist and euroskeptic party
that led the drive to leave the EU, warned his colleagues in the EU Parliament that the UK
would walk away from the table if Brussels continued its "bullying" behavior.
"In any other part of the civilized world frankly that behavior would be considered to be bloody
rude and the act of a bully," Farage said. "Well I'll tell you something, your attempt to bully the
Brits through these negotiations is not working, sixty-eight percent now of the British people
want Brexit to happen."
Farage was responding to alleged leaks following a meeting between May and EU Commision
President Jean-Claude Juncker.
"Either we get some grown up, reasonable demands from the European Union or the United
Kingdom will be forced to walk away before the end of this year," he said.