Trump continued his efforts to undermine the Mueller investigation this week.

As he has done several times before, Trump criticized the investigation on Twitter: "This is a terrible situation and Attorney General Jeff Sessions should stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now, before it continues to stain our country any further. Bob Mueller is totally conflicted, and his 17 Angry Democrats that are doing his dirty work are a disgrace to USA!" Because the tweet contained an apparent instruction to a cabinet secretary, some took it as further evidence that Trump is attempting to obstruct justice (a crime that, in addition to allegations of collusion with Russia to meddle in the 2016 elections, Mueller has also been investigating). The White House, however, claimed that Trump's tweet was merely an expression of his opinion, and did not constitute a direct order for Sessions to halt the investigation.

Further, during a Monday appearance on CNN's "New Day," Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani suggested that collusion is not a crime. Trump later echoed Giuliani on Twitter. This is not the first time the Trump administration has used this defense. And in a limited and very literal sense, it is true - according to legal experts, collusion is not a concept that "exists under the federal laws of the United States." But it does not mean that there was no wrongdoing, since there are many crimes that fall under the general umbrella of collusion: receiving foreign money in a political campaign, assisting with or being an accessory to computer hacking, and conspiring with a foreign government to commit crimes against the US are all examples.

Trump and Giuliani also upped their attacks on Mueller last weekend, claiming that he had conflicts of interest that rendered him unsuitable to head the investigation.

Meanwhile, Trump continued to minimize Russian meddling attempts, despite evidence that Russia is still trying to influence American politics. At a rally with supporters in Pennsylvania, Trump justified his meeting with Russian President Putin last month: "In Helsinki, I had a great meeting with Putin. We discussed everything...We got along really well. By the way, that's a good thing, not a bad thing. Now we're being hindered by the Russian hoax -- it's a hoax, OK?" This was much more tepid than Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats had been just hours before when he said, "We continue to see a pervasive messaging campaign by Russia to try to weaken and divide the United States." Trump, who has prevaricated and waffled on the subject previously, and his own administration are seemingly not in sync.

On the immigration front, Trump this week threatened to shut down the government if Congress does not pass new legislation on border security. Trump kept this threat vague, though he had also earlier made a more explicit threat via Twitter to shut down the government if Congress did not fund his border wall. Congress runs out of Money in September - which is particularly poor timing since there are less than 100 days before the November midterm elections. Republicans are conflicted whether to side with Trump or to denounce the shutdown as a plan that could backfire and hurt their chances at the polls.

As Washington squabbling continues, nearly a third of immigrant families are still separated at the border. A federal judge blasted the Trump administration for its slow reunification progress, criticizing them in particular for suggesting that it should be the responsibility of advocacy organizations, not the federal government, to locate parents deported without their children.

Lastly, in seemingly the only spot of sunshine for Trump this week, the unemployment rate fell to 3.9%.