How Trump Landed Himself In This Obstruction Of Justice Mess

President Donald Trump's birthday ended on a sour note Wednesday evening when a report from the Washington Post confirmed that he was officially being investigated for "obstruction of justice" by special counsel Robert Mueller. According to the report, the official investigation into Trump began in May, just days after POTUS fired then-FBI Director James Comey, leading many to wonder whether firing Comey caused further investigations into Trump.

In its report, theWashington Post noted that prior to Comey's firing, the then-FBI Director reassured the president that he wasn't personally under investigation. However, officials told the paper that the situation changed shortly after Comey’s abrupt firing.

To many, this timeline depicts a bit of a Greek tragedy-like situation in which the president's very obvious desire to avoid being under investigation may have led him to make the sort of move that would all but guarantee deeper probing from investigators. With later reports alleging that Trump said that firing Comey had "taken off" the "great pressure because of Russia," the implication was that firing Comey was an attempt to end those investigations. Following the allegations, Sean Spicer didn't directly address Trump's alleged reasoning behind firing Comey.

By grandstanding and politicizing the investigation into Russia's actions, James Comey created unnecessary pressure on our ability to engage and negotiate with Russia. The investigation would have always continued, and obviously, the termination of Comey would not have ended it.

Furthermore, a spokesman for Trump's personal attorney Marc Kasowitz didn't deny the investigations into the president in a statement provided to the Washington Post, however he said that “the FBI leak of information regarding the president is outrageous, inexcusable, and illegal.”

However, the notion that Comey's firing could've triggered the investigation into Trump also lines up with what Comey testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee last week. Along with other brow-raising parts of the testimony, Comey stated that he believed his firing had more to do with the investigations into alleged Russian interference in the election than the official documented reasons:

It’s my judgment that I was fired because of the Russia investigation. I was fired, in some way, to change — or the endeavor was to change the way the Russia investigation was being conducted.

Trump has denied all allegations of collusion with Russia implicated in investigations. However, the emphasis and energy Trump expended letting people know that he wasn't under investigation leaves many wondering if he might've protested too much and redirected the attention of investigators to himself in the process.