Even Trump's confidants reportedly think the Ukraine scandal is different

Donald Trump.
(Image credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

A number of President Trump's confidants don't think it's a wise idea for the White House to try to equate the Ukraine scandal and the Russia investigation, Politico reports.

"Russia was never real," an outside Trump adviser said. "Ukraine is." Another source close to the Trump re-election campaign called the Russia investigation a "complete and utter fantasy," but said that Trump's communications with Ukraine's governments were "unseemly...not a ghost like Russia."

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As for the campaign? That's what the advisers and consultants are most concerned about. Politico notes that the sources don't believe Trump will ultimately be removed from office because of the Ukraine situation, but they don't buy the campaign's argument that the impeachment inquiry could actually help boost his support, and believe that it could do real damage to his 2020 hopes. Read more at Politico.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.