*By Conor White*
After President Trump's unflagging defenses of Vladimir Putin this week, many in Washington fear that Russia may have "Kompromat," or compromising information, on the commander-in-chief.
Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) is among the concerned.
"I'm not generally prone to conspiracy theories," he told Cheddar on Friday. "But I have to say, this week has been a real shift, myself personally and a number of really serious, responsible people who I trust, who were always resisting that explanation up until this week, because it's just so bizarre, the behavior President Trump exhibited while standing side-by-side with Vladimir Putin."
Trump had ample chances to support the near-universal theory that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election. But during his controversial co-presser with Putin on Monday, the president denied any foul play. The next day at the White House, Trump reversed his stance.
Boyle lamented that he should be used to this type of behaviorーbut he still doesn't have to like it.
"Eighteen months into this presidency I should probably stop being surprised, and yet I still am surprised when something as glaring as an American president on foreign soil, standing side by side with a Russian dictator, sides with the Russian dictator over the U.S., FBI, and U.S. intelligence agencies."
Trump's latest actions have alarmed several other republican lawmakers, including Sens. John McCain (R-AZ), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), and Ben Sasse (R-NE).
Rep. Boyle reiterated that this president is unlike any other.
"There was really no difference from Harry Truman to Barack Obama in terms of the idea of supporting NATO, that we were strongest when we stood together, that we were strongest in resisting first Soviet and then Russian expansionism and aggression. Donald Trump comes in and completely throws that all out."
For full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/trumps-attitude-towards-putin-has-dems-seeing-red).
Stock indexes edged mostly higher in afternoon trading Friday after President Donald Trump outlined several actions in response to China eroding the autonomy of Hong Kong, but did not mention any moves to upend a trade pact struck with Beijing earlier this year.
President Donald Trump has announced that the U.S. will be terminating its relationship with the World Health Organization.
Some upstate New York business owners who made plans to reopen Friday remain closed amid last-minute confusion over whether their region indeed has the OK to move forward
Twitter has added a warning to one of President Donald Trump's tweets about protests in Minneapolis, saying it violated the platform's rules about “glorifying violence."
Cheering protesters torched a Minneapolis police station that the department abandoned as three days of violent protests spread to nearby St. Paul and angry demonstrations flared across the U.S over the death of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man who pleaded for air as a white police officer kneeled on his neck.
U.S. consumer spending plunged by a record-shattering 13.6% in April as the viral pandemic shuttered businesses, forced millions of layoffs and sent the economy into a deep recession.
Wall Street’s rally ran out of fuel in the last hour of trading on Thursday, and the market fell to its first loss in four days amid worries about rising U.S.-China tensions.
President Donald Trump is escalating his war on social media companies, preparing to sign an executive order Thursday challenging the liability protections that have served as a bedrock for unfettered speech on the internet.
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson pushed back against President Trump's attacks on mail-in voting, which have continued for days, leading Twitter to put up its first fact checks on the president's account.
The House has passed an overwhelmingly bipartisan measure to modify a new “paycheck protection” program for businesses that have suffered COVID-related losses.
