Trump pressed Australia's prime minister to help AG Barr investigate the origins of the Russia probe

White House

• President Donald Trump asked Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison to work with US Attorney General William Barr in investigating the origins of the FBI's Russia probe, The New York Times reported Monday.
• The request came just weeks after Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to work with Barr on the matter.
• He also asked Zelensky to work with Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
• Trump's request to Morrison is emblematic of his long-held view that the Justice Department is a political tool he can wield against his perceived enemies.
• The Times reported that the White House restricted access to the transcript of Trump's conversation with Morrison to a small group of the president's aides.
• Australia played a unique role in the Russia probe.
• The FBI launched the investigation after a top Australian diplomat reported to US officials that the Trump campaign's foreign policy aide George Papadopoulos boasted to him that Russia had dirt on Hillary Clinton in the form of "thousands" of emails.
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President Donald Trump pressed Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison to work with US Attorney General William Barr in an effort to discredit the origins of the FBI's Russia investigation, The New York Times reported on Monday.

Trump's request came just weeks after he spoke to Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, about working with Barr on the Russia inquiry. He also asked Zelensky to work with his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, ahead of the 2020 election.

Trump's request to Zelensky about the Bidens was so alarming to a US intelligence official that it prompted them to file an official whistleblower complaint accusing the president of using the power of his office to solicit foreign interference in a US election.

His request to Morrison is a little murkier because it deals with an ongoing Justice Department inquiry in the matter and could therefore be viewed as falling more within the confines of Trump's power as the chief executive.

Moreover, a person with knowledge of Trump's conversation with Morrison told The Times that the president raised the issue at Barr's request.

Australia played a unique role in the Russia probe. In late 2017, The Times reported that the FBI launched the Russia investigation after Alexander Downer, a top Australian diplomat, told US officials that the Trump campaign foreign policy aide George Papadopoulos boasted to him that Russia had dirt on Hillary Clinton's campaign in the form of "thousands" of emails.

Papadopoulos told Downer he learned of the information from Joseph Mifsud, a Maltese academic who was last seen working as a professor in Rome before disappearing.

The FBI began investigating whether the Trump campaign was working with Russia soon after Downer reported his conversation with Papadopoulos.

Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to one count of lying to the FBI last year. But in the months since, he's taken on an increasingly combative role and Trump's allies have joined him in suggesting, without proof, that Mifsud was planted by western intelligence operatives to entrap Papadopoulos and the Trump campaign.

Trump's request to Morrison is emblematic of his long-held view that the Justice Department and the attorney general are political tools he can wield against his perceived enemies.

Indeed, in his phone call with Zelensky in July, Trump repeatedly referred to both Barr and Giuliani as being his personal envoys and repeatedly pressured the Ukrainian president to work with both to undermine the Russia investigation and the Bidens.

Like it did with his call with Zelensky, The Times reported that the White House restricted access to the transcript of Trump's conversation with Morrison to a small group of the president's aides.