6:40 a.m. Tweet:  "The fake news media is going crazy with their conspiracy theories and blind hatred. @MSNBC & @CNN are unwatchable. @foxandfriends is great!"

7:08 Tweet:  "This Russian connection non-sense is merely an attempt to cover-up the many mistakes made in Hillary Clinton's losing campaign."

PresidentDonald Trump blamed "conspiracy theories and blind hatred" - and an attempt to "cover-up" for Hillary Clinton's failed presidential campaign - in a series of tweets Wednesday morning as he tried to distance himself from any links to Russia.

Trump tweeted that the "fake news media is going crazy with their conspiracy theories and blind hatred," and added that "this Russian connection non-sense is merely an attempt to cover-up the many mistakes made in Hillary Clinton's losing campaign."

But the White House's connection with the Kremlin - and how deep it runs - remains under scrutiny, which has only ramped up this week

• Ex-National Security Adviser Mike Flynn on Monday night resigned after admitting to misleading Vice President Mike Pence and other senior administration officials about conversations he had with the Russian ambassador to the United States in December - before Trump took office.

• Those phone calls included talking about the hacking-related sanctions imposed by the Obama administration against Russia for allegedly meddling in the election.

• Pence went on news outlets to repeatedly back up Flynn, but the DOJ had warned the White House in January about the national security adviser's communications - and that he opened himself up to be the subject of Russian blackmail.

• The fallout led Flynn to resign Monday at the request of Trump.

Democrats have called for an independent investigation into the chain of events involving the scandal, but Republicans have so far resisted doing so.

The NYTimes raised further questions Tuesday night in a report that said intercepted phone calls by American law enforcement revealed Trump campaign officials had repeated contact with Russian intelligence in the year leading up to the election.