The first month of a US presidency is usually one of optimism -- a fresh face with a clean slate appoints a cabinet and maps out a vision for the next four years.
But US President Donald Trump's first few weeks have been overshadowed by mounting Russia-related problems, which came to a head Monday when the President's top security adviser, Michael Flynn, resigned after it became public that he had misled Vice President Mike Pence over his phone calls with a Russian diplomat.
Here's a run-down of the latest Russia issues that just won't leave Trump alone.
Just over a week before Trump was sworn in, CNN reported that Trump and then-President Barack Obama were briefed on the existence of a dossier making damning but unsubstantiated allegations , including that Russian operatives had compromising information on Trump.
On Friday last week, US investigators said they had corroborated some details in the 35-page document, compiled by a former British intelligence agent, through intercepted communications, giving some weight to the veracity of at least parts of the document as other allegations are investigated.
Investigators did not confirm some of the more salacious allegations, but did detail around a dozen conversations between senior Russian officials and other Russian individuals mentioned in the document, multiple US officials with direct knowledge of the briefings told CNN.
The two-page synopsis originally presented to Trump and Obama included allegations of a continuing exchange of information during the campaign between Trump surrogates and intermediaries for the Russian government, according to two national security officials.
The White House has denied the allegations made in the dossier and dismissed them as "fake news." Russian President Vladimir Putin also shrugged off the allegations as "rubbish."
