which provide benefits to up to a fifth of all Americans

He denied the report, calling the journalist a “sleaze bag.”

To add further insult to injury, he also told a room of Israelis that he “just got back from the Middle East.”

His decision to invoke his Fifth Amendment right puts him at risk of being held in contempt of Congress

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) are trying to contain the political fallout from the scandal by urging members to avoid "rushing to judgment."

Trump didn’t even give an entire readout of his conversation, leaving staffers “actually unaware of what happened,”

Top White House officials learned of the looming New York Times story about a memo Comey wrote detailing Trump’s request two hours before it went online.

A senior official in the Trump administration, who previously worked on the president’s campaign, offered a candid and brief assessment of the fallout from that string of bad press: “I don’t see how Trump isn’t completely fucked.”

“You’re watching an obstruction of justice investigation developing in real time,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “If there were ever any question about the need for an independent special prosecutor, this report is the nail on the argument.”

Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) immediately said he’s prepared to subpoena the memos that Comey reportedly wrote contemporaneously to document his interactions with Trump.

a paper trail Mr. Comey created documenting what he perceived as the president’s improper efforts to influence a continuing investigation

the clearest evidence that the president has tried to directly influence the Justice Department and F.B.I. investigation into links between Mr. Trump’s associates and Russia.

Comey kept detailed notes of his meetings with Trump, documenting what he perceived as improper efforts to influence a continuing investigation