At this stage in the Trump-Russia scandal, we’re aware of quite a few instances in which the president has intervened, to one degree or another, in the hopes of protecting himself from the controversy’s fallout. It’s hard not to wonder, though, about the instances we don’t know about.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), for example, took steps several weeks ago to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller from possible removal.
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In other words, after learning that Tillis was working in a bipartisan fashion to protect Mueller, the president thought it’d be a good idea to reach out to Tillis to complain about the proposal.

This is obviously the sort of thing we’d expect from a president panicking about the threat posed by a scandal, but the Washington Post published a helpful list yesterday noting each of the times Trump has quietly tried to call off the dogs pursuing the Russia scandal. - MSNBC

1) Trying to get Tillis to back off
2) Venting to Corker about sanctions bill
3) Complaining to McConnell about not getting protection
4) Asking Comey for loyalty
5) Suggesting Comey be lenient on Michael Flynn
6) Asking Comey to say Trump wasn't under investigation
7) Asking Coats and Rogers to deny evidence of collusion
- Washington Post