• Trump asked another top intelligence official to intervene to shut down the FBI’s Flynn probe. It’s clear Trump was engaged in a months-long effort to enlist the country’s top officials to protect him.

Washington Post: “The nation’s top intelligence official told associates in March that President Trump asked him if he could intervene with then-FBI Director James B. Comey to get the bureau to back off its focus on former national security adviser Michael Flynn in its Russia probe, according to officials.”

• Sessions reportedly threatened to resign after Trump’s complaints about his recusal from the Russia investigation.

New York Times: “Mr. Spicer’s remarks came after The New York Times reported that Mr. Trump had vented intermittently about Mr. Sessions since the attorney general recused himself from any Russia-related investigations conducted by the Justice Department. Mr. Trump has fumed to allies and advisers ever since, suggesting that Mr. Sessions’s decision was needless.”

• Comey reportedly told Sessions that he did not want to be left alone with Trump in order to protect the FBI from White House influence.

New York Times: The day after President Trump asked James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director, to end an investigation into his former national security adviser, Mr. Comey confronted Attorney General Jeff Sessions and said he did not want to be left alone again with the president, according to current and former law enforcement officials. Mr. Comey believed Mr. Sessions should protect the F.B.I. from White House influence, the officials said…”

• US investigators believe Russian hackers planted fake news behind the Qatar crisis that Trump has embraced. This intensified concerns that Russia continues to use similar measures they used to hack our election on US allies.

CNN: “US investigators believe Russian hackers breached Qatar's state news agency and planted a fake news report that contributed to a crisis among the US' closest Gulf allies, according to US officials briefed on the investigation.”