Nearly half of Americans think Donald Trump committed a crime during the presidential campaign

Clark Mindock
Updated
Nearly half of Americans say they think Tump broke the law during the campaign: AP
Nearly half of Americans say they think Tump broke the law during the campaign: AP

Despite President Donald Trump’s insistence that investigations into possible connections between his campaign and Russia are a witch hunt, nearly half of all Americans say they think the President likely committed a crime.

That’s according to a new ABC News poll, which paints a worrisome picture for the American president who has already seen his tenure in the Oval Office beleaguered by concerns about Russian influence.

A cool 49 per cent of Americans say they think Mr Trump likely committed a crime, compared to 44 per cent who say that it is an unlikely scenario. At the same time, 51 per cent say they don’t think the President is cooperating with the investigation, compared to just 37 per cent who think that Mr Trump is doing its best to cooperate with special prosecutor Robert Mueller’s probe.

Those numbers come days after the first indictments related to the Russia investigation and Mr Trump’s team were made public. The President’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, voluntarily surrendered to the FBI Monday, as did his deputy from the campaign, Rick Gates.

The public apparently thinks that those arrests are a sign that the worst is yet to come, according to the poll.

Fifty-three per cent of Americans say that the arrests are a sign that broader crimes were committed, and that Mr Mueller’s investigation may uncover those crimes. Just 28 per cent say that Mr Manafort and Mr Gates are the only people who have done anything wrong.

Mr Manafort and Mr Gates have been accused on 12 federal counts, including international money laundering, conspiring to defraud the United States, and for providing false information on federal financial disclosure forms.

There’s still some good news for Mr Trump, however. Fewer than 9 per cent of those polled said they think “solid evidence” of criminal activity has been presented.