Trump leaves on 17-day break at golf course as Russia investigation intensifies

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Donald Trump is leaving the White House for a 17 day vacation - a vacation he said he would never take - as a federal Russia investigation is getting closer both to him and his family.

The President is to spend 17 days on a “working holiday” at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, twice as long as Barack Obama spent on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts during his first year in office.

But Mr Trump may well be distracted on the putting greens; this week it was reported that special prosecutor has been working with a federal grand jury as part of his probe into possible collusion bettered the Trump campaign and Moscow. Another report said Mr Mueller was looking at whether Mr Trump had obstructed justice by his May firing of FBI Director James Comey, and the circumstances of a meeting in June 2016 that involved a Kremlin-connected lawyer, Mr Trump’s eldest son, Donald Jr, his campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

“I think he will be troubled. If not, then I hope some of his staff take the opportunity to bring him up to speed on the gravity of the situation,” Christina Greer, associate professor of political science at Fordham University in New York, told The Independent.

“The next two weeks will be fascinating to watch. I think we’ll see his surrogates doing more to try and undermine Mueller and his team. [Mr Trump] is desperate for people not to know about his finances.”

The President has continued to insist there was no collaboration between his campaign and Russia’s alleged effort to influence the 2016 presidential election. He claims he pressed Vladimir Putin on the issue when the two spoke for more than two hours at the G20 in Hamburg in July.

At a rally in Huntington, West Virginia, on Thursday night, Mr Trump stuck with his story. “Most people know there were no Russians in our campaign,” he said, according to Reuters. “We didn’t win because of Russia. We won because of you.”

He added: “The question for Democrats - all Democrats, including those in Congress - is whether they are on the side of the voters or are they on the side of the special interests. The reason why Democrats only talk about the totally made-up Russia story is because they have no message, no agenda and no vision.

"They don't talk about the all-time high stock market. They don't talk about reforms to the VA or about manufacturing jobs we are bringing back to America.”

In an early-morning tweet on Friday, Mr Trump appeared to express his frustration at the latest news over Mr Mueller's investigation, one of a number of probes - including by committees in the House of Representatives and the Senate inching their way forward after months of activity. Mr Trump re-tweeted one of his supporters, who had the message “We won. Move on“

Mr Mueller, himself a former FBI Director who was appointed after Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from any investigation relating to Russia, has reportedly been ramping up his probe.

A report this week said he had now hired his 16th investigative lawyer, Greg Andres, a longtime white-collar lawyer who has done a lot of work relating to foreign bribery and who previously worked in the US Justice Department’s criminal division.

Observers say the fact that Mr Mueller has been making use of one of more grand juries shows that his investigation is making progress.

A grand jury is a group of ordinary citizens who, working behind closed doors, considers evidence brought to them by prosecutors, to decide whether there is sufficient suspicions of criminal wrongdoing to bring charges.

“This is a serious development in the Mueller investigation,” Paul Callan, a former prosecutor, told the news agency.

“Given that Mueller inherited an investigation that began months ago, it would suggest that he has uncovered information pointing in the direction of criminal charges. But against whom is the real question.”

A lawyer for Mr Trump, Jay Sekulow, appeared to downplay the significance of a grand jury, telling Fox News: “This is not an unusual move.”

Observers say there will be much for Mr Mueller to consider over the meeting, revealed last month, between his eldest son and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. Mr Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr, said he agreed to the meeting after being told she wanted to provide incriminating evidence about Hillary Clinton.

He has said the meeting lasted less than 30 minutes and that Ms Veselnitskaya had no such information. Mr Veselnitskaya, who has previously led Russian efforts to lift US sanctions against certain Russian individuals, denied making such an offer.

A number of commentators have said Mr Trump jr may have committed a crime simply be seeking to solicit such material from a foreign individual.

Mr Trump Jr had initially sought to downplay the meeting, suggesting that Ms Veselnitskaya only wanted to talk about "adoption". Mr Putin had made it harder for American couples to adopt Russian babies in response to the sanctions imposed in 2012.

“It was a short introductory meeting. I asked Jared and Paul to stop by," he said, in a statement it subsequently emerged the President helped to write.

"We primarily discussed a programme about the adoption of Russian children that was active and popular with American families years ago and was since ended by the Russian government, but it was not a campaign issue at the time and there was no follow up.”

When it emerged Mr Trump Jr had been offered incriminating information about his father's rival, his statement changed.

“I first wanted to just have a phone call but when that didn't work out, they said the woman would be in New York and asked if I would meet. I decided to take the meeting. The woman, as she has said publicly, was not a government official,” he said. “And, as we have said, she had no information to provide."