The Commentariat -- July 19, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Louis Nelson of Politico: "... Donald Trump wrote online Thursday that he is looking forward to a second meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.... 'The Summit with Russia was a great success, except with the real enemy of the people, the Fake News Media. I look forward to our second meeting so that we can start implementing some of the many things discussed, including stopping terrorism, security for Israel, nuclear proliferation, cyber attacks, trade, Ukraine, Middle East peace, North Korea and more,' the president wrote on Twitter. 'There are many answers, some easy and some hard, to these problems...but they can ALL be solved!'"

John Parkinson of ABC News: "Republicans blocked an attempt Thursday morning to subpoena the interpreter who sat in on ... Donald Trump's one-on-one meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland on Monday. Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, joined with fellow California Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell to make a motion to subpoena Marina Gross, a State Department official."

Look, Joe Biden ran three times. He never got more than 1 percent and President Obama took him out of the garbage heap, and everybody was shocked that he did. I'd love to have it be Biden. -- Donald Trump, on who his 2020 opponent might be

Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "House Republicans on Thursday approved a spending bill that excludes new money for election security grants to states, provoking a furious reaction from Democrats amid a national controversy over Russian election interference. The spending bill passed 217-199. Democrats' bid to add hundreds of millions more in election spending was rejected 182-232 -- as Republicans were unmoved by Democrats floor speeches decrying the funding changes and chanting 'USA! USA!'" This is an update of a story linked below.

Kate Irby of McClatchy News: "Rep. Devin Nunes used political donations to pay for nearly $15,000 in tickets to Boston Celtics basketball games as well as winery tours and lavish trips to Las Vegas, according to reports from the Federal Election Commission and two nonpartisan watchdog groups.... His PAC also spent about $42,741 since 2013 on catering, site rentals, hotels and meals in Las Vegas. The most recent instance was March 9, when the PAC spent $7,229 at seven different restaurants and hotels in Las Vegas.... Leadership PACs such as the one Nunes runs are supposed to be used to allow members of Congress to donate money to other political campaigns, but using them for other expenses in connection with fundraising is common among members of Congress." Mrs. McC: All this should make Nunes a top contender for a key Cabinet appointment.

Guy Faulconbridge of Reuters: "British police have identified several Russians who they believe were behind the nerve agent attack on former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, the British news agency, Press Association, said on Thursday, citing a source close to the investigation." Officials have not confirmed the report.

*****

Oops! He Did It Again. John Wagner & Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "For the third straight day, President Trump cast doubt on whether he views Russia as a threat, despite warnings from his own government that Moscow continues to target the United States with hostile actions. Trump triggered a new uproar Wednesday morning when he appeared to suggest that Russia is no longer seeking to interfere in U.S. elections -- prompting the White House to assert hours later that his words had been misconstrued. At the start of a Cabinet meeting at the White House, a reporter [Cecilia Vega of ABC News] asked Trump, 'Is Russia still targeting the U.S., Mr. President?' 'Thank you very much. No,' Trump responded, shaking his head. 'No? You don't believe that to be the case?' the reporter said. 'No, Trump repeated.... More than two hours later, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders sought to quell the latest controversy, saying Trump was saying 'no' to whether he would take further questions -- not to whether he thinks Russia continues to target the United States." ...

... Dartunorro Clark of NBC News: "And in a contentious exchange with a reporter later in the briefing, Sanders doubled down on her assertion that the president was saying 'no' to reporters asking questions. She also contended that her explanation was not walking back the president's earlier remarks. 'Actually, I'm interpreting what the president said, I'm not reversing it,' Sanders told NBC's Hallie Jackson. 'I was in the room as well and I didn't take it the way you did.'" ...

... Yes, he was looking directly at me when he spoke. Yes, I believe he heard me clearly. He answered two of my questions. -- Cecilia Vega, in a tweet ...

... Video included in Brian Williams' report, embedded below. ...

... Alex Ward of Vox: "It's yet another stunning moment in the president's continuing battle against America's spy agencies, which he once likened to Nazis because he believed they leaked information about him.... What's more troubling is that no matter what they say or do, [DNI Dan] Coats and others can't seem to get Trump to listen to them. But the fact that Putin -- the head of the country responsible for continued attacks on the US -- seems to have Trump's ear is the scariest thing of all."

CBS News: "President Trump again expressed confidence in U.S. intelligence agencies and their assessment of Russian interference Wednesday, but declined to say whether he believes Vladimir Putin was lying when he denied Russia was behind the meddling effort. Mr. Trump made the comments in an interview with 'CBS Evening News' anchor Jeff Glor at the White House. Mr. Trump said he believes it's 'true' Russia meddled in the 2016 election and said he directly warned Putin against interfering in U.S. elections during their one-on-one meeting in Helsinki, Finland, on Monday.... [He said he was] 'Very strong on the fact that we can't have meddling, we can't have any of that ... I let him know that we can't have this, we're not going to have it, and that's the way it's going to be.'... The president said he now has confidence in intelligence agencies, but blasted former leaders like former DNI James Clapper and former CIA Directors John Brennan and Michael Hayden. All three have been vociferous critics of the president.... Mr. Trump called Brennan a 'low-life' in Wednesday's interview...." ...

Glor: But you haven't condemned Putin, specifically. Do you hold him personally responsible?

Trump: Well, I would, because he's in charge of the country. Just like I consider myself to be responsible for things that happen in this country. So certainly as the leader of a country you would have to hold him responsible, yes.

Mrs. McCrabbie: This is classic deflection. First, rather than making an affirmative answer, Trump uses the more nebulous conditional tense: "I would." Second, Trump does not hold Putin directly responsible. Rather, he is responsible, according to Trump only to the extent that a government leader is indirectly responsible for the acts of his ministers & employees even if the leader had no direct knowledge of the ministers' specific decisions. You might not blame Trump for Scott Pruitt's purchase of tactical pants, so Trump may not blame Putin for his cybersecurity staff's hacking the DNC.

... Mark Landler & Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump sowed even more confusion on Wednesday over his recent meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin, insisting after a day of conflicting statements about Russia's interference in the 2016 election that he had actually laid down the law with Mr. Putin.... But that statement was almost completely at odds with how the president has characterized the >meeting with Mr. Putin on Monday in Helsinki, Finland.... Mr. Trump said [Dan] Coats was doing an 'excellent job,' as was the C.I.A. director, Gina Haspel.... That was a shift from Monday, when Mr. Trump, standing next to Mr. Putin, said Mr. Coats had expressed his views about Russia's culpability but Mr. Trump had found the Russian leader's 'extremely strong and powerful' denial more persuasive.... Mr. Trump also came under sharp criticism for discussing an agreement with Mr. Putin under which Russian authorities would be allowed to question several American citizens it claims were involved in illegal dealings with a London-based financier and longtime critic of Mr. Putin, William F. Browder.... Among the names on the list, a Russian official told the Interfax news agency, is that of Michael A. McFaul, who served as American ambassador to Russia under President Barack Obama.... As a legal matter, Mr. Trump has no authority to force Mr. McFaul or any other American to face Russian questioning." ...

... Spencer Ackerman of the Daily Beast: "Current and former American diplomats are expressing disgust and horror over the White House's willingness to entertain permitting Russian officials to question a prominent former U.S. ambassador [Michael McFaul]. One serving diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he was 'at a fucking loss' over comments that can be expected to chill American diplomacy in hostile or authoritarian countries -- a comment echoed by former State Department officials as well. '... It really puts in jeopardy the professional independence of diplomats anywhere in the world, if the consequence of their actions is going to be potentially being turned over to a foreign government,' the U.S. diplomat told The Daily Beast.... At the White House, however, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders declined to rule out permitting the Russians to question McFaul. Sanders said that there had been 'some conversation' in Helsinki about the issue, though Trump made no 'commitment.'" ...

The administration needs to make it unequivocally clear that in a million years this wouldn't be under consideration, period. Full stop. Not something that should require a half second of consultation. Dangerous. -- Former Secretary of State John Kerry, in a tweet ...

... Kevin Drum cites the Wall Street Journal story on this: "The White House is reviewing a request by Russian President Vladimir Putin to allow Russian investigators to question a number of Americans they say are implicated in criminal activity, including a former U.S. ambassador, a spokeswoman said. The White House decision to weigh the proposal rather than dismiss it outright prompted alarm among former diplomats and on Capitol Hill." (Emphasis Drum's.) Drum: "The fact that President Trump would even think twice about giving his goons access to American citizens is straight up spine-chilling. But Vladimir Putin is obsessed with the Magnitsky Act, and I guess that means Trump is too." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: If you watch MSNBC, you know McFaul regularly criticizes Trump in strong terms. I think what you're seeing here is Trump's willingness to "render" his American opponents to foreign governments for harsh, maybe life-threatening, "interrogations." ...

... Jonathan Chait: "That this is even being debated is yet another surreal moment that, had it been suggested before Trump took office, would have been dismissed as a paranoid fantasy. But Trump’s presidency, and especially his approach to Russia, have routinely made the surreal into reality." ...

... ** Evidence of Collusion. Washington Post Editors: "the White House confirmed Wednesday that [in their secret meetingTrump & Putin] did talk about ... the indictment of 12 Russian military officers on charges of hacking Democrats' computers and using the stolen data to influence the 2016 election. Mr. Putin suggested the investigative team of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III could be invited to witness their questioning by Russian authorities -- provided that similar access was given to Americans 'who have something to do with illegal actions on the territory of Russia.' 'I think that's an incredible offer,' volunteered Mr. Trump.... Mr. Putin was trying to equate the Mueller investigation with a sinister Russian campaign against Bill Browder, an American-born financier who has become a Putin nemesis.... That Mr. Trump would endorse this cynical and preposterous proposal might be chalked up to ignorance or confusion -- except that Mr. Trump knows all about Mr. Putin's false claims against Mr. Browder. The same charges were the subject of the June 9, 2016, Trump Tower meeting.... Mr. Putin's airing of the same allegations about Mr. Browder and [Hillary] Clinton in Helsinki only bolsters the case that [Natalia] Veselnitskaya was acting on the Kremlin's behalf when she visited Trump Tower. In turn, Mr. Trump's rush to embrace Mr. Putin's disingenuous proposal ... is in keeping with his alignment with Mr. Putin against Mr. Mueller and the U.S. justice system. It shows he did not misspeak at that news conference: he was, in fact, championing Mr. Putin's agenda." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: It would not surprise me bigly if Robert Mueller subpoenaed the interpreter's notes & any other documentation of the TrumPutin secret meeting.

History Repeats Itself: Trump Lets Russia Define the TrumPutin Secret Meeting. Karen DeYoung, et al., of the Washington Post: "Two days after President Trump's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian officials offered a string of assertions about what the two leaders had achieved. 'Important verbal agreements' were reached at the Helsinki meeting, Russia's ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, told reporters in Moscow Wednesday, including preservation of the New Start and INF agreements, major bilateral arms control treaties whose futures have been in question. Antonov also said that Putin had made 'specific and interesting proposals to Washington' on how the two countries could cooperate on Syria. But officials at the most senior levels across the U.S. military, scrambling since Monday to determine what Trump may have agreed to on national security issues in Helsinki, had little to no information Wednesday.... Trump continued to praise his private meeting with Putin and an expanded lunch with aides as a 'tremendous success' and tweeted a promise of 'big results,' but State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the administration was 'assessing ... three takeaways,' which she characterized as 'modest.'" ...

... John Bennett of Roll Call: "For the second consecutive day since he broke with America's spy agencies over Russia's election meddling..., Donald Trump on Wednesday [did] not get an intelligence briefing.... Trump's public schedule typically begins with a late-morning intelligence briefing in the Oval Office after his 'executive time' in the White House residence, during which he tweets while watching cable news.... The two briefing-free mornings come after Trump on Monday publicly broke with his director of national intelligence, former Indiana GOP Sen. Dan Coats, on foreign soil by siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin's version of events over Coats and other senior intel officials.... James Clapper, a former DNI, warned earlier this week that the Helsinki spectacle could lead intelligence leaders to withhold sensitive information from Trump." ...

... ** David Sanger & Matthew Rosenberg of the New York Times: Since before he took office, "Mr. Trump has tried to cloud the very clear findings that he received [in an intel briefing] on Jan. 6, 2017 ... [--] that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia had personally ordered complex cyberattacks to sway the 2016 American election [--] ... which his own intelligence leaders have unanimously endorsed.... [In the CBS interview Wednesday,] he blamed Mr. Putin personally, but only indirectly, for the election interference by Russia, 'because he's in charge of the country.'... Almost as soon as he took office, Mr. Trump began casting doubts on the intelligence on Russia's election interference.... He dismissed it broadly as a fabrication by Democrats and part of a 'witch hunt' against him. He raised unrelated issues ...to distract attention from the central question of Russia's role...." Read on. The reporters provide many details. ...

     ... Scott Lemieux calls this "the impeachable offense du jour." Former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance said on MSNBC that if the Times reporting holds up, Trump's disinformation campaign "is clear proof that the president was engaged in, at a minimum, a cover-up of Russia's efforts to interfere with our elections. This is a broad mandate for folks on the Hill ... to make a determination whether the president's conduct is something that violates the oath he took to uphold the Constitution." ...

... Frank Rich: "I'd argue that Trump’s motivation for advancing Putin's interests is not just because the Kremlin likely has the goods on him but also because Trump genuinely believes in the Russian Way. The more we've seen of him in office, the more it's apparent that he does have a consistent ideology, after all, albeit one that aligns more with Putin (and at times Kim Jong-un) than America's major political parties. Trump's embrace of nationalist and white-supremacist authoritarianism can be found in his public statements and actions dating back at least as far as the incendiary racist newspaper ads he took out during the 1989 Central Park Five rape case.... Philip Roth's The Plot Against America, much cited as a prescient and chilling prophecy of Trump, may yet be viewed as a rather optimistic fairy tale. Charles Lindbergh's effort to impose America First fascism on World War II-era America, as imagined by Roth, does end with the restoration of democratic order. We cannot vouchsafe that Trump’s unchecked plot against America will have that salutary an ending."

Ken Meyer of Mediaite: "During Trump's interview with [Tucker] Carlson..., the two particularly honed in on NATO Article 5, the alliance provision that asks all member nations to provide mutual defense if any one of them, even a new member like Montenegro, comes under attack. [CNN's Jake Tapper] is now pointing out the ways in which NATO states [and in particular, Montenegro,] contribute to American international interests[.]" See also yesterday's Commentariat on Trump's discomfort with the notion of meeting our obligations under Article 5. ...

... New York Times Editors: "There hardly seemed more damage [Trump] could do after he declared the European Union a 'foe,' insulted Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain, railed at NATO, upstaged Queen Elizabeth II and gave that infamous news conference with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. Yet then, for good measure, came his weird suggestion that Montenegro's 640,000 souls are 'very aggressive' and could drag NATO into World War III.... A larger question [than the settled debate over whether or not NATO is necessary] is whether [Trump] is aware that his friend Mr. Putin strenuously opposed Montenegro's joining NATO, and that Russia is suspected of being behind a failed 2016 plot to overthrow its government and assassinate its prime minister.... Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican, wrote on Twitter, 'By attacking Montenegro & questioning our obligations under NATO, the President is playing right into Putin's hands.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I have little doubt that Putin brought up the Montenegro "problem" during the secret Helsinki meeting. And that's why Montenegro, of all countries, came into Trump's ignorant head as a good example of a NATO country not worth protecting.

David Remnick of the New Yorker: "Just as the President's comments following the torchlit white-supremacist march last year in Charlottesville made it clear that racism was at the core of his character and his political strategy, the contemptible remarks he delivered alongside Vladimir Putin seemed to mark a turning point, even for some of his most ardent defenders. The President's attempt to reverse the damage -- clearly the result of a panicked White House staff -- only worsened the matter.... Trump's performances in Europe, and now in Washington ... raised dark suspicions and aroused the sickening feeling that we are living in the pages of the most lurid espionage novel ever written." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Burgess Everett & Eliana Johnson of Politico: "The more ... Donald Trump talks about Russia, the more Republicans cringe. The president's effort to clean up his disastrous Monday news conference is falling flat on Capitol Hill -- and White House aides are doing little to assuage an increasingly frustrated GOP.... Some senators are barreling forward with efforts to combat Russian interference in the fall elections. 'I'm not going to try to excuse what the White House is doing. What we need to do is focus action here in Congress," [said] Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.)."

Tom Jackman & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "The Russian woman arrested on charges of being a foreign agent had ties to Russian intelligence operatives and was in contact with them while in the United States, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. Maria Butina, 29, also had an ongoing relationship with a Republican operative, strictly for business purposes according to prosecutors, and offered another individual 'sex in exchange for a position within a special interest organization.' In a new court filing, prosecutors said Butina, who has connections with wealthy businessmen linked to the Putin administration, appeared to have plans to flee the U.S. Butina was arrested on a criminal complaint Sunday, and federal authorities indicted her Tuesday for conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government and failing to register as an agent of a foreign government. She is scheduled for a detention hearing Wednesday afternoon on whether to release her from jail before trial, and prosecutors filed a motion this morning outlining why she should be held without bond." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "The hearing lasted only 13 minutes, and Judge Deborah Robinson of the US District Court for the District of Columbia decided on the spot that Butina should be detained for three days, until at least her next court appearance." ...

... ** Dana Milbank: "How is it possible that Trump can assert that Russia is not targeting the United States -- two days after he suggested it didn't interfere with the 2016 election -- while just a few blocks away, his own administration is prosecuting a Russian [Mariia Butina] for targeting the United States?... [The DOJ prosecutor Erik] Kenerson described her as an extreme flight risk, painting a spy-novel scenario of a Russian diplomatic car driving her to the border. (Butina's lawyer, Robert Driscoll, conceding this theoretical possibility, asked the judge if he could consult with Russian consular officials in the courtroom.)... Kenerson said Butina had told the Russian official [presumed to be oligarch Alexander Torshin] she was 'ready for further orders.'" ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: If you're wondering not if, but how long, Trump has been colluding with Russia, perhaps this is a clue. Eric Lach of the New Yorker: "In July, 2015, a few weeks after Trump declared his candidacy, he called on [Mariia Butina] -- apparently at random — during an event in Las Vegas. 'Do you want to continue the politics of sanctions that are damaging of both economies?' Butina asked. 'I believe I would get along very nicely with Putin, O.K.?' Trump replied. 'I don't think you'd need the sanctions.' Later, according to Michael Isikoff and David Corn's book, 'Russian Roulette,' the Trump campaign advisers Steve Bannon and Reince Priebus worried about this exchange. 'How was it that this Russian woman happened to be in Las Vegas for that event? And how was it that Trump happened to call on her? And Trump's response?' Isikoff and Corn wrote. 'It was odd, Bannon thought, that Trump had a fully developed answer.'"

Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "Special counsel Robert Mueller released an itemized list Wednesday night detailing well over 500 pieces of evidence that his prosecutors are considering presenting during their upcoming criminal trial of former Donald Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort."

** The Macedonian Connection. Craig Silverman of BuzzFeed: "A week before Election Day in 2016, BuzzFeed News revealed that young men and teens in Veles were running over a hundred websites that pumped out often false viral stories that supported Donald Trump.... [The effort] was launched by a well-known Macedonian media attorney, Trajche Arsov -- who worked closely with two high-profile American partners for at least six months during a period that overlapped with Election Day. One of those Americans, Paris Wade, is now running for office in Nevada. Arsov also employed other American and British writers, including at least one who currently works for US right-wing conspiracy site Gateway Pundit.... Macedonian security agencies are cooperating with law enforcement in the United States and at least two Western European countries to probe possible links between Russians, US citizens, and the pro-Trump 'fake news' websites, two senior Macedonian officials said.... A senior FBI agent familiar with the Macedonia case confirmed that the bureau is assisting with the investigations. The agent said that information determined to be of interest to Mueller is being shared with his office...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jelani Cobb of the New Yorker: "... on Tuesday, when Barack Obama walked onto a stage in Johannesburg to deliver the 2018 Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture..., he offered the sharpest possible contrast between himself and his successor -- between statesman and demagogue -- and, crucially, the distinction between a man who grasps history as the living context of our lives and one unburdened by the knowledge of how we arrived at the present and what that means for the future. President Obama was elegant and effortlessly charismatic in ways that recalled the finer occasions of his political tenure. He spoke fully aware of his status as the most credible living representative of American interests. But that charm and self-assuredness were also discordant amid the political alarms sounding in the background.... Obama's performance highlighted how comforting it is to listen to a leader whose ideas form a coherent world view, even if you don't always agree with it. Trump is governed by some algorithmic factor of ego, fear, impulse, greed, and the suasion of random celebrity petition...." ...

... Here's a lightly-edited transcript of President Obama's July 17 speech in Johannesburg, via the New Yorker.

Trump Loves a Parade -- But Not Actual Military Preparedness. Ryan Browne of CNN: "... Donald Trump's military parade in DC is likely to cost nearly as much as the now canceled military exercise with South Korea that Trump called 'tremendously expensive' and said cost 'a fortune,' three US defense officials tell CNN. The parade, which is now scheduled to take place on November 10, is currently estimated to cost approximately $12 million, the officials said.... 'We save a fortune by not doing war games, as long as we are negotiating in good faith - which both sides are!' Trump tweeted in June following his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore. North Korea had long sought an end to the exercises, which it says are provocative. US military leaders have said the exercises are necessary to maintain the readiness of US troops in South Korea. Pentagon spokesman Col. Rob Manning told reporters earlier this month that the now-cancelled US-South Korea Freedom Guardian Exercise was estimated to cost approximately $14 million." Mrs. McC: Putin also asked Trump to cancel the U.S-S.K. exercises.

Vivan Wang of the New York Times: "The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance has opened an investigation into whether the Donald J. Trump Foundation violated state tax laws, a move that could lead to a criminal referral for possible prosecution, according to two state officials.... It seemed likely that the inquiry may cover some of the same issues raised by the New York attorney general, Barbara D. Underwood, in a lawsuit filed against the Trump Foundation last month. The attorney general's lawsuit accused the foundation of violating campaign finance laws, self-dealing and illegally coordinating with the Trump presidential campaign."

Brian Stelter of CNN: "The 'daily' White House press briefing is a thing of the past. The White House has only held three on-camera briefings in the past 30 days, according to the administration's own records on WhiteHouse.gov. Press secretary Sarah Sanders' most recent briefing was on July 2, more than two weeks ago. Since that time, EPA administrator Scott Pruitt has resigned; Bill Shine has started working as Trump's new communications chief; Trump has nominated a new Supreme Court justice; he has assailed America's alliances and sidled up to Russian president Vladimir Putin; and the administration has struggled to reunite parents and children who were separated at the southern border." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Update: Sanders held a press briefing Wednesday. Perhaps not coincidentally, the briefing was not added to the White House schedule till after the publication of Stelter's post.

Trumpie Purges the VA. Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: "Ahead of Robert Wilkie's likely confirmation to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, Trump loyalists at the agency are taking aggressive steps to purge or reassign staff members perceived to be disloyal to President Trump and his agenda for veterans, according to multiple people familiar with the moves. The transfers include more than a dozen career civil servants who have been moved from the leadership suite at VA headquarters and reassigned to lower-visibility roles. The employees served agency leaders, some dating back more than two decades, in crucial support roles that help a new secretary.... The moves are being carried out by a small cadre of political appointees led by Acting Secretary Peter O'Rourke who have consolidated power in the four months since they helped oust Secretary David Shulkin." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Just a reminder that Turkey's Recep Erdogan started small, too. Then one day he purged 18,000 government employees whom he perceived as 'not loyal" to him. At the recent NATO meeting, Trump -- after criticizing many U.S. allies who lead actual democracies -- reportedly gave Erdogan a fist-bump and said Erdogan "does things the right way." Just saying.

The Most Corrupt Administration Ever, Ctd. Ben Lefebvre of Politico: "The Interior Department's internal watchdog has launched a full investigation into a real estate deal involving a foundation established by Ryan Zinke and developers including Halliburton Chairman David Lesar, which was first reported by Politico last month, according to a letter the office sent to House Democrats on Wednesday. The inspector general's probe will focus on whether Zinke violated conflict of interest laws, the latest official inquiry of Zinke's activities in his 16 months helming the department."

Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "House Republicans plan to vote Thursday on a spending bill that excludes new money for election security grants to states, provoking a furious reaction from Democrats amid a national controversy over Russian election interference. At issue is a grants program overseen by the federal Election Assistance Commission and aimed at helping states administer their elections and improve voting systems; Democrats want to continue grant funding through 2019, while Republicans say the program already has been fully funded. Republicans argued strenuously in floor debate Wednesday that states had plenty of money from prior congressional allocations to spend on election improvements. But Democrats accused the Republicans of abetting President Trump in his refusal to take a hard line against Russian President Vladimir Putin at this week's summit in Helsinki." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: We should be clear about the reason Trump supports Putin over U.S. intelligence & law enforcement agencies & why GOP members of Congress do, too: the party of voter suppression figures -- correctly -- that Russian interference is interference on behalf of Republican candidates. So if Russians hack a few voting machines to turn blue results red, what's the big deal? They're just helping make America great again.

Manu Raju of CNN: "Judge Brett Kavanaugh two years ago expressed his desire to overturn a three-decade-old Supreme Court ruling upholding the constitutionality of an independent counsel, a comment bound to get renewed scrutiny in his confirmation proceedings to sit on the high court. Speaking to a conservative group in 2016, Kavanaugh bluntly said he wanted to "put the final nail' in a 1988 Supreme Court ruling. That decision, known as Morrison v. Olson, upheld the constitutionality of provisions creating an independent counsel under the 1978 Ethics in Government Act -- the same statute under which Ken Starr, for whom Kavanaugh worked, investigated President Bill Clinton. The law expired in 1999, when it was replaced by the more modest Justice Department regulation that governs special counsels like Robert Mueller." ...

... Michael Kranish of the Washington Post: "Senate Democrats have never fully accepted [Brett] Kavanaugh's answers to questions about ... [his involvement Bush II’s torture policy], and now they are prepared to resurrect the issue as Kavanaugh faces a hearing as President Trump's Supreme Court nominee. Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), whose questions in [Kavanaugh's 2006 confirmation hearings] elicited Kavanaugh's denial [of knowledge of or involvement in the internal torture policy debate], said in an interview this week that 'what he told us under oath is not accurate.' Democrats are seeking Bush White House files to pin down specifics..., which could slow [confirmation proceedings]. Kavanaugh was involved in at least one contentious meeting at the Office of White House Counsel in 2002.... Kavanaugh was asked to interpret an important question about how the detainee policy was likely to be viewed in a Supreme Court challenge, specifically by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, for whom he had served as a clerk.... Kavanaugh had already been confirmed for the circuit court when the White House meeting became public in a Post report. Democrats including Durbin have sought ever since to question Kavanaugh about whether he misled the Senate Judiciary Committee." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Yeah, Democrats "have never fully accepted" Kavanaugh's answers because they were lies -- under oath. Hard to believe that genial, fresh-faced carpooling choir boy told an eensy-weensy fib about torture so-help-me-god.

Sheera Frenkel of the New York Times: "Facebook, facing growing criticism for posts that have incited violence in some countries, said Wednesday that it would begin removing misinformation that could lead to people being physically harmed. The policy expands Facebook’s rules about what type of false information it will remove, and is largely a response to episodes in Sri Lanka, Myanmar and India in which rumors that spread on Facebook led to real-world attacks on ethnic minorities."

Beyond the Beltway

Maura Dolan of the Los Angeles Times: "The California Supreme Court decided unanimously Wednesday to remove from the November ballot a measure aimed at dividing California into three states. The decision was a defeat for Tim Draper, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist considered an eccentric entrepreneur who spent $1.2 million on the measure.... In a brief order, the court said it acted 'because significant questions have been raised regarding the proposition's validity and because we conclude that the potential harm in permitting the measure to remain on the ballot outweighs the potential harm in delaying the proposition to a future election.' The court ... also agreed to rule eventually on the measure's constitutionality, a ruling that is likely to go against the initiative. The challenge was filed last week by the Planning and Conservation League, an environmental group."

Vivian Wang of the New York Times: "Dean G. Skelos [R], once one of the most powerful figures in New York State politics, was found guilty of bribery, extortion and conspiracy on Tuesday, the latest in a drumbeat of corruption convictions to roil Albany in a heated election year. The verdict itself was not necessarily a surprise, as a different jury had found Mr. Skelos, the former leader of the State Senate, and his son guilty on the same charges in 2015 before the convictions were overturned. But its timing -- on the heels of three other successful Albany-focused prosecutions this year, including one last week in the courtroom next door -- fed the perception that the culture of ethical neglect in the state capital had reached its nadir." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Commentariat -- July 18, 2018

Afternoon Update:

David Remnick of the New Yorker: "Just as the President's comments following the torchlit white-supremacist march last year in Charlottesville made it clear that racism was at the core of his character and his political strategy, the contemptible remarks he delivered alongside Vladimir Putin seemed to mark a turning point, even for some of his most ardent defenders. The President's attempt to reverse the damage -- clearly the result of a panicked White House staff -- only worsened the matter.... Trump's performances in Europe, and now in Washington ... raised dark suspicions and aroused the sickening feeling that we are living in the pages of the most lurid espionage novel ever written."

Tom Jackman & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "The Russian woman arrested on charges of being a foreign agent had ties to Russian intelligence operatives and was in contact with them while in the United States, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. Maria Butina, 29, also had an ongoing relationship with a Republican operative, strictly for business purposes according to prosecutors, and offered another individual 'sex in exchange for a position within a special interest organization.' In a new court filing, prosecutors said Butina, who has connections with wealthy businessmen linked to the Putin administration, appeared to have plans to flee the U.S. Butina was arrested on a criminal complaint Sunday, and federal authorities indicted her Tuesday for conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government and failing to register as an agent of a foreign government. She is scheduled for a detention hearing Wednesday afternoon on whether to release her from jail before trial, and prosecutors filed a motion this morning outlining why she should be held without bond."

** The Macedonian Connection. Craig Silverman of BuzzFeed: "A week before Election Day in 2016, BuzzFeed News revealed that young men and teens in Veles were running over a hundred websites that pumped out often false viral stories that supported Donald Trump.... [The effort] was launched by a well-known Macedonian media attorney, Trajche Arsov -- who worked closely with two high-profile American partners for at least six months during a period that overlapped with Election Day. One of those Americans, Paris Wade, is now running for office in Nevada. Arsov also employed other American and British writers, including at least one who currently works for US right-wing conspiracy site Gateway Pundit.... Macedonian security agencies are cooperating with law enforcement in the United States and at least two Western European countries to probe possible links between Russians, US citizens, and the pro-Trump 'fake news' websites, two senior Macedonian officials said.... A senior FBI agent familiar with the Macedonia case confirmed that the bureau is assisting with the investigations. The agent said that information determined to be of interest to Mueller is being shared with his office...."

Brian Stelter of CNN: "The 'daily' White House press briefing is a thing of the past. The White House has only held three on-camera briefings in the past 30 days, according to the administration's own records on WhiteHouse.gov. Press secretary Sarah Sanders' most recent briefing was on July 2, more than two weeks ago. Since that time, EPA administrator Scott Pruitt has resigned; Bill Shine has started working as Trump's new communications chief; Trump has nominated a new Supreme Court justice; he has assailed America's alliances and sidled up to Russian president Vladimir Putin; and the administration has struggled to reunite parents and children who were separated at the southern border."

Manu Raju of CNN: "Judge Brett Kavanaugh two years ago expressed his desire to overturn a three-decade-old Supreme Court ruling upholding the constitutionality of an independent counsel, a comment bound to get renewed scrutiny in his confirmation proceedings to sit on the high court. Speaking to a conservative group in 2016, Kavanaugh bluntly said he wanted to "put the final nail' in a 1988 Supreme Court ruling. That decision, known as Morrison v. Olson, upheld the constitutionality of provisions creating an independent counsel under the 1978 Ethics in Government Act -- the same statute under which Ken Starr, for whom Kavanaugh worked, investigated President Bill Clinton. The law expired in 1999, when it was replaced by the more modest Justice Department regulation that governs special counsels like Robert Mueller."

Vivian Wang of the New York Times: "Dean G. Skelos [R], once one of the most powerful figures in New York State politics, was found guilty of bribery, extortion and conspiracy on Tuesday, the latest in a drumbeat of corruption convictions to roil Albany in a heated election year. The verdict itself was not necessarily a surprise, as a different jury had found Mr. Skelos, the former leader of the State Senate, and his son guilty on the same charges in 2015 before the convictions were overturned. But its timing -- on the heels of three other successful Albany-focused prosecutions this year, including one last week ... -- fed the perception that the culture of ethical neglect in the state capital had reached its nadir."

*****

John Wagner of the Washington Post: "... President Trump offered a fresh defense Wednesday of his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, firing off morning tweets in which he claimed that his widely panned news conference afterward actually was appreciated.... 'So many people at the higher ends of intelligence loved my press conference performance in Helsinki. Putin and I discussed many important subjects at our earlier meeting. We got along well which truly bothered many haters who wanted to see a boxing match. Big results will come!'" Two more Wednesday a.m. tweets: "While the NATO meeting in Brussels was an acknowledged triumph, with billions of dollars more being put up by member countries at a faster pace, the meeting with Russia may prove to be, in the long run, an even greater success. Many positive things will come out of that meeting." "... Russia has agreed to help with North Korea, where relationships with us are very good and the process is moving along. There is no rush, the sanctions remain! Big benefits and exciting future for North Korea at end of process!" ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: "An acknowledged triumph"? Who says that about himself? And who said that about Trump? There's a reason Trump uses the passive voice here. And Trump is not responsible for members' increases in spending. It's a trend set in place in 2014. I wonder what "help" Russia has offered re: North Korea. Putin's last bit of "help" was to tell Trump to cancel U.S.-S.K. military defense exercises. ...

... Oh. There's this:

... Daniel Hurst of the Guardian: "Donald Trump has eased pressure on North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons quickly, conceding there is no deadline for a breakthrough.... The US president said there was 'no rush for speed' because North Korea had not tested any ballistic missiles over the past nine months. 'We have no time limit. We have no speed limit,' Trump said at a meeting with members of Congress on Tuesday. 'We're just going through the process, but the relationships are very good.'" --safari

Sophie Tatum of CNN: "... Donald Trump seemingly questioned the United States' commitment to defending all NATO allies in an interview that aired Tuesday evening.... NATO requires all members to help defend fellow member nations that have been attacked, which Carlson noted to Trump. 'Why should my son go to Montenegro to defend it from attack?' [Fox 'News" host & Trump sycophant Tucker] Carlson inquired. Trump responded: 'I've asked the same question. Montenegro is a tiny country with very strong people. ... They are very strong people. They are very aggressive people, they may get aggressive, and congratulations, you are in World War III.'... While at the NATO summit last week, Trump signed the NATO communique, which explicitly endorsed Article 5. 'Any attack against one Ally will be regarded as an attack against us all, as set out in Article 5 of the Washington Treaty,' the communique reads.... Article 5 has been invoked only once -- by the United States after the 9/11 terrorist attacks." ...

     ... Jonathan Chait: "Here was Trump not only picking fights with allies, as he has been doing for months, but seeming to abandon the promise of collective self-defense that is the heart of the NATO pact. Without that ironclad pledge, the alliance would dissolve, to Russia's delight. Some analysts have tried to explain away these kinds of sentiments as just Trump's relentlessly selfish worldview. And yet in the very same interview with Carlson, Trump expressed a sense of gratitude toward Russia for its sacrifices as an American ally in World War II[.]... There is no remotely consistent thread between abandoning America's current allies and expressing fondness for its old ones."

Who Knew English Could Be So Complicated? Eileen Sullivan & Mark Landler of the New York Times: "President Trump said on Tuesday that he had misspoken a day earlier in Helsinki, Finland, when he appeared to take the word of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia over the conclusion of his own intelligence agencies on Russian election meddling in 2016. On Tuesday, Mr. Trump said he 'accepts' those findings. Mr. Trump said the misunderstanding arose from his use of a 'double negative.' 'The sentence should have been "I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be Russia," sort of a double negative,' he said. 'So you can put that in and I think that probably clarifies things pretty good by itself.'..." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McC: Yeah, he done corrected it pretty good. Holy cow! If you believe that, I have a Trump condo to sell you. The question was, "Who[m] do you believe?" That's an either/or question, & that's how Trump answered it: He contrasted what DNI Dan Coats ("and some others") "think" (just a hunch!) with what Putin declared: "I have President Putin [Putin being the horse's mouth]. He just said it's not Russia. I will say this. I don't see any reason why it would be." That's the either and the or. EITHER it's Coats' non-determinative belief, OR Putin's knowledgable declaration. I choose Putin. ...

... Zack Beauchamp of Vox: "... Donald Trump just issued what was arguably the most bald-faced lie of his entire presidency -- and that's saying something.... Trump is trying to gaslight the entire world, to assert that he said something he clearly didn't by sheer force of confident assertion." --safari ...

... Matthew Yglesias of Vox: "This makes absolutely no sense, but it may give congressional Republicans what they've been looking for ever since Trump left the podium in Helsinki: a way to avoid doing anything about the fact that the president is, for whatever reason, trying to cozy up to Russia and disrupt the traditional American alliance system. It's not exactly plausible deniability, since there's nothing plausible about it. But it is deniability." --safari ...

... Ryan Koronowski of ThinkProgress: "[I]f Trump really misspoke, you'd expect him to correct the record during interviews he did immediately after the news conference. But he didn't do so with [Tucker] Carlson. An interview with Sean Hannity, also taped after the Helsinki press conference, also contained no such correction -- Trump actually accused President Obama of rigging the Russia investigation." --safari ...

... BUT, just to make sure he didn't upset Putin ... Alana Abramson of Time: "Reading from prepared remarks, Trump said ... 'While Russia's actions had no impact at all on the outcome of the election, let me be totally clear in saying -- and I've said this many times -- I accept our intelligence community's conclusion that Russia's meddling in the 2016 election took place. Could be other people also. A lot of people out there.'" Emphasis added. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) Mrs. McC: Although Trump read most of his statement from prepared text, "Could be other people also" appears to have been adlibbed. Obviously, the adlib completely undermines his claim that he accepted U.S. intel assessments. ...

     ... John Wagner & Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "... Trump also floated without evidence the possibility that other actors may have been involved, a conclusion that is not backed up by the findings of U.S. intelligence agencies." ...

... Here's the full transcript (in English) of the TrumPutin press conference, via Vox. Read Trump's "double negative" in context & decide for yourself. The condo is still available. Solid gold taps. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Stephen Colbert fact-checks Trump's fake walk-back:

      ... (Also notice Trump is a terrible reader. As Gloria Borger of CNN & Gene Robinson of the WashPo quipped, Trump looked like the star of a hostage video.)

... Now You See/Hear It; Now You Don't. Uri Friedman of the Atlantic: "It was perhaps the most explosive exchange in an incendiary press conference: ... Vladimir Putin appearing to frankly admit to a motive for, and maybe even to the act of, meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, despite repeatedly denying Russian interference in American politics during the rest of his appearance with Donald Trump in Finland on Monday. But the exchange doesn't appear in full in the White House's live-stream or transcript of the press conference, and it's missing entirely from the Kremlin's transcript of the event. The White House did not immediately provide an explanation for the discrepancy." Emphasis added. Mrs. McC: What cover-up? What collusion? ...

... Dartunorro Clark of NBC News: "Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., accused Trump of trying to 'squirm away' from his comments in Helsinki. 'President Trump tried to squirm away from what he said yesterday. It's 24 hours too late and in the wrong place,' Schumer said. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said..., 'I don't accept the president's comments today. If he wanted to make those comments, he should have had the strength to make them in front of Vladimir Putin.' He added, 'This has a strange resemblance to the president's comments after he was so offensive after the disturbances in Charlottesville where he equated the neo-Nazis with the protesters. So, I give these comments about 24 hours before he once again slams the investigation, before he once again sides with authoritarians like Vladimir Putin.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Matthew Nussbaum & Nancy Cook of Politico: "The about-face was Trump's latest after a week-long trip to Europe.... After appearing to threaten to pull out of NATO on Thursday, Trump then took the stage to praise the organization and declare it a 'fine-tuned machine.' That night, as Trump enjoyed a formal dinner hosted by Prime Minister Theresa May, the British newspaper The Sun published an interview in which Trump was harshly critical of May's handling of Brexit negotiations and suggested her rival Boris Johnson would do better. The next day, Trump declared that he had not criticized May at all. Even for Trump, who is notoriously prone to switching positions and delivering falsehoods, the series of reversals marked an unusual degree of chaos." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "In preparation for a public statement meant to mitigate the damage from Monday's news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Trump brought four pages of handwritten notes to a meeting with congressional leaders. In his own distinctive scrawl -- using, as always, a black fine-tip marker -- Trump added notes to the prepared comments. And in several instances, he struck out things he planned to skip.... In his prepared remarks, Trump removed a line about bringing election hackers to justice." Mrs. McC: Obviously a line like that also would irritate Putin. ...

     ... safari: On his prepared notes, he also scrawled in black pen "there was no colusion", because he's a low I.Q. moron who can't spell words in English. Our president* can't read OR write. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: @safari: Yeah but. Apparently we Trump critics are the ones who are "at the lower ends of intelligence." (I realize this is not a logical syllogism, but I'm pretty sure it's what Trump had in mind in his tweet this morning.)

... Gabriel Sherman of Vanity Fair: "While National Security Adviser John Bolton, according to a source, thought Trump's remarks were ill-advised, he believed that walking them back would only add fuel to the outrage pyre and make the president look weak. But Chief of Staff John Kelly was irate. According to a source, he told Trump it would make things worse for him with Robert Mueller. He also exerted pressure to try to get the president to walk back his remarks. According to three sources familiar with the situation, Kelly called around to Republicans on Capitol Hill and gave them the go-ahead to speak out against Trump.... To those who know Trump best, the 24-hour reversal is a sign that he's unnerved by the intensity of the backlash he provoked." ...

... Anderson Cooper of CNN does a number of Trump's phony grammatical defense (ends @ about 8:30 min. in):

... Nicholas Fandos & Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "Top Democrats in the House and the Senate demanded on Tuesday that Republican leaders stifle conservative attacks on the special counsel's Russia investigation and compel President Trump's senior national security advisers to testify to Congress about Monday's extraordinary summit meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. 'Words are not enough,' Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, said in blistering remarks on the Senate floor. 'Our response to the debasement of American interest before an adversary demands a response not just in words but in deeds.'... Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the minority leader in the House, indicated to fellow Democrats that she ... would try to force their hand on the House floor. Ms. Pelosi said that the party would try to force a vote on a resolution condemning Mr. Trump's remarks in Helsinki and affirming the findings of American intelligence agencies.... Democrats would also try to force a vote to increase funding for states to enhance the security of their voting systems, she said.... Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, one of Mr. Trump's leading Republican critics from his perch as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, signaled optimism that the Helsinki meeting might finally push Congress to reassert its authority as a coequal branch of government." ...

... Jennifer Bendery of the Huffington Post: "Nobody knows what ... Donald Trump told Russian President Vladimir Putin in their private, two-hour meeting on Monday.... Well, almost nobody. At least one U.S. interpreter was in the room with the two leaders. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) says she wants to bring in that interpreter to testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on what, exactly, Trump shared with Putin. 'That translator is an official of the U.S. government,' Shaheen told reporters Tuesday. 'It is imperative that the American people and this Congress know precisely what the president shared or promised the Kremlin on our behalf.'... A spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he supports Shaheen's push for a hearing. Some House Democrats are also floating the idea.... Earlier on Tuesday, Republicans acted as if there was no way to find out what happened in the meeting." ...

... ** You Knew This Would Happen. Nicole Gaouette & Abby Phillip of CNN: "Russia announced it was ready to pursue agreements reached by Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump 'in the sphere of international security,' though the White House and Pentagon would not confirm any agreements had been made or offer any details.... The National Security Council would not confirm what Trump had agreed to in the one-on-one with Putin. A spokesman for the NSC told CNN on Tuesday that they were still 'reviewing the discussion.'... [In his public comments, Trump] did not mention making any formal agreement with the Russian leader on military cooperation or anything else." ...

... Peter Baker of the New York Times: "As Mr. Trump scrambled to patch any holes on Tuesday by reimagining his extraordinary news conference with Russia's president..., the question was whether he had reached a genuine turning point or simply endured another one of those episodes that seems decisive but ultimately fades into the next one. For the moment, at least, this time did feel different. After seeming to take President Vladimir V. Putin's word over that of America's intelligence agencies on Russian election meddling, Mr. Trump was being accused not only of poor judgment but of treason -- and not just by fringe elements and liberal talk show hosts, but by a former C.I.A. director.... The list of Republicans rebuking the president included not just the usual suspects like [Sen. Bob] Corker [R-Tenn.]..., but friends of the president like the former House speaker Newt Gingrich, who called his performance in Finland 'the most serious mistake of his presidency,' and the conservative editorial page of The Wall Street Journal, which called it a 'national embarrassment.'" ...

... Chris Strohm & Jennifer Jacobs of Bloomberg: "... Donald Trump gave the go-ahead to announce new Russian election-hacking indictments before his meeting with Vladimir Putin rather than after -- in the hopes it would strengthen his hand in the talks, according to accounts from people familiar with the decision. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein went to Trump last week and offered him the choice: before or after the Putin summit on Monday in Helsinki? Trump chose before, ultimately putting the issue into the spotlight just 72 hours before the high-stakes meeting, the people said.... Trump had hoped the indictment of 12 Russians on charges of meddling would give him the upper hand, one of the people said." Mrs. McC: And didn't that work out well? ...

... Trump Returns to De State of De Nile. John Wagner of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Tuesday portrayed his widely panned summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin as a great success.... In a morning tweet, the president blamed the media for negative coverage of a joint news conference Monday with Putin, after which Trump was criticized by members of both parties for siding with the Russian leader over U.S. intelligence officials. 'While I had a great meeting with NATO, raising vast amounts of money, I had an even better meeting with Vladimir Putin of Russia,' Trump wrote, referring to his efforts to increase defense spending by U.S. allies. 'Sadly, it is not being reported that way - the Fake News is going Crazy!'... In a speech on the Senate floor, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) called on the chamber's Republican leaders to schedule hearings on what occurred in Helsinki. 'Our Republican colleagues cannot just go, "tsk-tsk-tsk,"' Schumer said. 'They need to act.' Schumer said he was particularly concerned about what Trump might have said t Putin during a closed-door, two-hour meeting between the two at which only their interpreters were present." Mrs. McC: Trump, BTW, did not "raise vast amounts of money at NATO; he didn't raise a penny. NATO allies stuck to the agreement that had made when Obama was president. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Kevin Liptak of CNN: "... Donald Trump was upbeat immediately after his news conference with Vladimir Putin in Finland, but by the time he returned stateside on Monday evening, his mood had soured considerably amid sustained fury at his extraordinary embrace of the Russian leader.... The White House said Trump would address the summit to reporters ahead of an otherwise unrelated 2 p.m. ET meeting with lawmakers at the White House." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Jonathan Swan & Mike Allen of Axios: "A former senior White House official, who worked closely with Trump, immediately texted us [after the Helsinki presser]: 'Need a shower.' One of Trump's own former National Security Council officials texted: 'Dude. This is a total [effing] disgrace. The President has lost his mind.' CBS 'Face the Nation' anchor Margaret Brennan, who was in the audience, told AP she was messaging some U.S. officials during the speech who said they were turning off the television.” (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... ** The High Costs of Collusion. Joe Romm of ThinkProgress: "[N]ot only do we now know Russia worked hard to elect climate science denier Donald Trump as president, we also know they have been working since 2004 to sway elections toward pro-Russian populists elsewhere -- and most of those populists are also pro-fossil fuels and anti-clean energy.... Indeed, Russia's economy is unusually dependent on exporting fossil fuels..., a major source of hard currency that Kremlin kleptocrats rely on. Unsurprisingly, Putin put forward in Paris one of the weakest greenhouse gas (GHG) target of any nation.... If the president of the second-largest emitter, the United States, works with the leader of the fifth-largest emitter, Russia, they could deal a fatal blow to the ongoing negotiating process." --safari...

... Huntsman, Come Home. Robert Gerhke of the Salt Lake Tribune: "Ambassador Huntsman, you work for a pawn, not a president. It's time to come home.... It's by resigning immediately [as U.S. ambassador to Russia] and speaking out against a president who attacks our allies, gives comfort to our adversaries and undermines our moral standing, our commitment to democratic ideals and our interest in human rights every time he opens his gaping mouth." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... "Smoke & Mirrors." David Sanger of the New York Times (July 16): "... on Monday, standing next to Mr. Putin, President Trump not only avoided all mention of the Justice Department's indictment of 12 Russian military intelligence officers, but he questioned the very conclusion that Russia was behind the hacking. Instead Mr. Trump raised a series of largely irrelevant conspiracy theories -- none of which were directly related to the evidence of Russian hacking activity. He returned to questions of why the F.B.I. never took custody of a Democratic National Committee computer server. He asked what happened to Imran Awan, a Pakistan-born Capitol Hill aide.... And Mr. Trump demanded to know why thousands of Hillary Clinton's emails had disappeared, a question apparently unrelated to Russia's activities. It was a smoke-and-mirrors effort, several American intelligence officials said later Monday." ...

... Kevin Poulsen of the Daily Beast: "... the world watched as the President of the United States ... launched into a rambling discourse about Hillary Clinton's emails and a supposedly missing DNC server that hides the truth about Putin's innocence.... The 'server' Trump is obsessed with is actually 140 servers, most of them cloud-based, which the DNC was forced to decommission in June of 2016 while trying to rid its network of the Russian GRU officers working to help Trump win the election.... Despite Trump's repeated feverish claims to the contrary, no machines are actually missing.... Trump and his allies are capitalizing on a basic misapprehension of how computer intrusion investigations work.... When cyber investigators respond to an incident, they capture that evidence in a process called 'imaging.' They make an exact byte-for-byte copy of the hard drives.... If the president really wants to know what the DNC server is saying, it's all in the indictment against Putin's hackers." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

You have groups that are wondering why the FBI never took the server.... Why was the FBI told to leave the office of the Democratic National Committee?... I've been asking that for months and months and I've been tweeting it out and calling it out on social media.... I want to know where is the server and what is the server saying?... What happened to the servers of the Pakistani gentleman that worked on the DNC? Where are those servers? They're missing; where are they? -- Donald Trump, part of a rambling non-answer to a question about Putin's culpability for the DNC hack, Helsinki joint presser

The DNC servers were never missing. The DNC provided the FBI with a copy of their server, rather than the original hardware, but Comey testified that the evidence was an appropriate substitute. [Imran] Awan, the 'Pakistani gentleman' in the news, never worked for the DNC. Conservative news outlets suggested he had stolen a House Democratic server, but the U.S. Attorney's Office found no evidence of such theft. -- Politifact (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Former president Barack Obama lamented the rise of 'strongman politics' and 'the utter loss of shame' among political leaders who repeatedly lie during a speech Tuesday in South Africa that was widely seen as aimed in part at his successor. Speaking at an event honoring the late Nelson Mandela ahead of the 100th anniversary of his birth, Obama did not mention President Trump by name and cast his concerns far more broadly, warning against movements toward authoritarianism globally. But Obama made several remarks that came across as thinly veiled criticism of Trump.... The trip is Obama's first to Africa since leaving office in early 2017. He stopped earlier this week in Kenya, where he visited the rural birthplace of his late father." ...

     ... Video of the full speech is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

... Jamelle Bouie: "Donald Trump is fulfilling all of those Obama conspiracy theories. The anti-Obama animus had one obvious root: racial resentment. For millions of Americans, a black man in the White House was so upending -- so destabilizing to their expectations of what America was -- that they responded with primal anger, willing to believe anything about the man who sat in the Oval Office. Donald Trump powered his way to the White House on the strength of that anger, running as the savior of America's racial status quo, and a promise to turn back that tide. Many of those Americans surely believed that Obama was a Manchurian candidate of sorts. Now, faced with a president who is eager to please a hostile foreign power, they actively support the effort. If you're white, it seems, you really are all right." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Australia AP in the Guardian: "The Perth parents [Anthony Maslin & Rin Norris] of three children who died when Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine have condemned the US president Donald Trump for his refusal to hold the Russian president Vladimir Putin to account over the tragedy.... Their children Mo, Evie and Otis and Norris's father died when the plane went down, killing 298 people, including 38 Australians." --safari ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: One of many issues Trump should have raised with Putin. As the bereaved Maslin & Norris surmise, there's no indication he did so.

Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "The head of the nation's largest electronic spy agency and the military's cyberwarfare arm has directed the two organizations to coordinate actions to counter potential Russian interference in the 2018 midterm elections. The move, announced to staff at the National Security Agency last week by NSA Director Paul Nakasone, is an attempt to maximize the efforts of the two groups.... It is the latest initiative by national security agencies to push back against Russian aggression in the absence of direct guidance from the White House on the issue."

Donie O'Sullivan, et al., of CNN: "The now infamous Facebook data set on tens of millions of Americans gathered by a Cambridge University scientist for a firm that went on to work for Donald Trump's 2016 campaign was accessed from Russia, a British member of parliament tells CNN. Damian Collins, the Conservative MP leading a British parliamentary investigation into online disinformation, told CNN that a British investigation found evidence that the data, collected by Professor Aleksandr Kogan on behalf of Cambridge Analytica, had been accessed from Russia and other countries. The discovery was made by the Information Commissioner's Office(ICO), Britain's data protection authority, Collins said."

Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "Paul Manafort's upcoming trial on bank and fraud charges will continue in Alexandria, Va., despite his efforts to move the proceedings to Roanoke. The former Trump campaign chairman had argued that the jury pool in Northern Virginia is too liberal and too saturated with coverage of the case to give him a fair trial. Judge T.S. Ellis III ruled Tuesday that Manafort is not entitled to a completely ignorant jury, nor one with as many Republicans as Democrats. Moreover, the nationwide coverage of the case would make any move ineffectual. 'The proximity of defendant's pretrial publicity to the start of his trial will be the same in Alexandria as it would be in Roanoke or Kansas City or Dallas,' the judge wrote." ...

... Dan Mangan & Kevin Breuninger of CNBC: "Special counsel Robert Mueller is asking a judge to grant immunity from prosecution for five potential witnesses whose testimony Mueller wants to compel at the upcoming federal criminal trial of former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort, according to a court filing Tuesday. If the five unidentified people are not granted immunity -- and compelled to testify against Manafort -- they would either refuse to take the witness stand or refuse to answer questions by citing their Fifth Amendment right against being forced to incriminate themelves, according to Mueller's filing in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va. Mueller has also asked Judge T.S. Ellis to seal from public view the court motions detailing the witnesses' identities.... Mueller is asking Ellis to give the witnesses what is known as 'use immunity,' which would prevent prosecutors from using their testimony as evidence against them in a criminal case, other than one in which they are accused of perjuring themselves in that testimony." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jackie Kucinich & Spencer Ackerman of the Daily Beast: "'Putin's Favorite Congressman' [Is] Now Engulfed in [the] NRA Spy Case. Pro-Kremlin GOP Congressman Dana Rohrabacher met with a Putin ally in Russia in August 2015, The Daily Beast has confirmed, matching an account in Monday's blockbuster FBI affidavit against accused Russian spy Maria Butina. Butina was part of 'discussions about the RUSSIAN OFFICIAL's plans to meet with a U.S. Congressman during a Congressional Delegation trip to Moscow in August 2015,' FBI agent Kevin Helson's affidavit swears.... The official is widely believed to be Alexander Torshin, an influential former Russian politician from Vladimir Putin's party who established trans-continental ties to the National Rifle Association. The lawmakers on that congressional delegation were Rohrabacher and Democrat Gregory Meeks of New York, the leadership of the House foreign affairs subcommittee on Europe." ...

... Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) says he's not sure whether he's the congressman mentioned in Monday's indictment of a Russian gun-rights activist for acting as an unregistered agent of the Kremlin -- but he is sure that the charge against the woman is 'bogus.'... Rohrabacher unloaded on the indictment, which alleged clandestine efforts by [Mariia] Butina to set up a back channel between Russian and American political leaders, using the National Rifle Association as a conduit. 'It's ridiculous. It's stupid,' Rohrabacher said. 'She's the assistant of some guy who is the head of the bank and is a member of their Parliament. That's what we call a spy? That shows you how bogus this whole thing is.'" Mrs. McC: Okay, then: ridiculous, stupid, bogus. I'm convinced.

Jack Ewing of the New York Times: "President Trump is inciting a trade war, undermining NATO and painting Europe as a foe. It's no wonder, then, that the European Union is looking elsewhere for friends. On Tuesday in Tokyo, it signed its largest trade deal ever, a pact with Japan that will slash customs duties on products like European wine and cheese, while gradually reducing tariffs on cars. The agreement will cover a quarter of the global economy -- by some measures the largest free trade area in the world.... The deal with Japan, and the others being negotiated, point to a more assertive Europe, one that is looking past the frosty ties with the United States, and even the upcoming withdrawal of Britain from the bloc." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Alan Pyke of ThinkProgress: "Trump lying about what the [Jerusalem] embassy's physical materials would cost U.S. taxpayers is small potatoes next to the costs he inflicted on regional stability by making the move. But as political observers and voters hope to at least catalog the full litany of this administration's callousness, dishonesty, grifting, and amorality, it's nonetheless worth noting: Donald Trump said the embassy would cost 'about $250,000,' but it actually cost $21.2 million. But it's not a total loss -- at least not for Trump himself. The move convinced officials to put Trump's name on at least two valuable pieces of Israeli real estate: a prominent train station, and a professional soccer team with a notorious track record for anti-Arab racism among its fans." --safari

Making Citizens United Worse. Patricia Cohen, et al., of the New York Times: "The Trump administration will end a longstanding requirement that certain nonprofit organizations disclose the names of large donors to the Internal Revenue Service, a move that will allow some political groups to shield their sources of funding from government scrutiny. The change, which has long been sought by conservatives and Republicans in Congress, will affect thousands of labor unions, social clubs and political groups as varied as arms of the AARP, the United States Chamber of Commerce, the National Rifle Association and Americans for Prosperity, which is funded partly by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch. Such groups have played an increasingly prominent role in American politics in the wake of the Supreme Court's 2010 ruling in a case brought by the nonprofit group Citizens United, which empowered them to spend unlimited money on campaign ads."

Rosa Furneaux of Mother Jones: "Two immigrant children who were separated from their parents at the southern border have had their constitutional rights violated, a federal judge [Victor Bolden] in Connecticut ruled late last week in yet another blow to the Trump administration's draconian immigration agenda.... Significantly, the ruling shows that 'all parties' agreed that the children's rights had been violated. The government conceded that the children's 'separation from their parents was, and remains, traumatic'.... In addition..., a crucial and unusual component of Bolden's decision was an order for the children to receive treatment for the psychological trauma they have suffered." --safari ...

... Kanyakrit Vongkiatkajorn of Mother Jones: "Earlier this month, as outrage continued over the Trump administration's family separation policies, another immigration agency quietly introduced several changes that could threaten even more immigrants, many of them here legally, with deportation. In a memo made public July 5th, US Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency tasked with handling immigration benefits think work and student visas, green cards, and naturalization ceremonies -- said it would now refer immigrants for deportation in a wider range of cases.... While seemingly small changes, these policies could have widespread implications, potentially sending far more immigrants into removal proceedings and increasing the number of cases in an already backlogged immigration court system.... The changes would affect both undocumented immigrants and those who are already legally in the country." --safari (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Mark Hand of ThinkProgress: "Coal executive Bob Murray on Tuesday railed against 'government interference' in energy markets, calling for an end to tax credits for the wind energy industry.... Murray ... said 'we need to let the markets work.' Murray's criticism of tax credits for wind farms appears to be the height of hypocrisy -- Murray ... has repeatedly urged the Trump administration to bail out the coal industry.... Along with following Murray's advice on a coal bailout, the Trump administration installed a top lobbyist for Murray Energy as acting head of the EPA after Scott Pruitt resignation on July 5. Andrew Wheeler earned more than $3 million lobbying for Murray Energy over an eight-year period before joining the agency earlier this year.... 'Didn't want to lose [Wheeler],' Murray said. 'But the country has him.'" -- safari

Congressional Race. Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "Representative Martha Roby of Alabama prevailed on Tuesday in a Republican primary election that unfolded as a test of fealty to President Trump, defeating a challenger who assailed her for withdrawing her support for Mr. Trump in the last days of the 2016 campaign. Her criticism of Mr. Trump cost Ms. Roby, a mainstream conservative seeking a fifth term, a clear-cut victory in an initial round of voting last month. She fell short of a majority, forcing her to compete in a runoff election against Bobby Bright, a populist former Democrat who served in Congress and as mayor of Montgomery, Alabama's capital.... Though she pronounced Mr. Trump 'unacceptable' after the release of the 'Access Hollywood' recording that showed him bragging about groping women, she has been an unflagging supporter since his inauguration.... So last month Mr. Trump, who easily carried Ms. Roby's predominantly rural district in 2016 and remains popular there, extended to her a kind of political clemency that he rarely grants critics on the right. He endorsed Ms. Roby on Twitter, calling her a 'consistent and reliable vote for our Make America Great Again Agenda.'"

Mark Hand: "Minority homebuyers are systematically steered to neighborhoods with higher concentrations of toxic contamination and pollution than their white counterparts, according to a new study that looks at potential discrimination faced by people of color when working with real estate agents." --safari

Andrew Sorkin & Kate Kelly of the New York Times: "Goldman Sachs on Tuesday named David M. Solomon as its next chief executive officer, putting a veteran investment banker in charge of a Wall Street giant that faces mounting challenges. Mr. Solomon's appointment will end the tenure of Lloyd C. Blankfein, the 63-year-old former gold salesman who has run the firm since 2006 and steered it through the financial crisis. Mr. Blankfein will hand over the chief executive role on Oct. 1 and remain chairman until the end of the year. Mr. Solomon, 56 and currently the bank's president, will add the chairman title at the beginning of 2019." Mrs. McC: Weirdly, a well-shaved head seems to be a prerequisite for a top spot at Goldman. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** As the World Burns. Jonathan Watts of the Guardian: "At least 11 wildfires are raging inside the Arctic Circle as the hot, dry summer turns an abnormally wide area of Europe into a tinderbox. The worst affected country, Sweden, has called for emergency assistance from its partners in the European Union to help fight the blazes.... There have been huge fires in the past in Sweden, but not over such a wide area. This appears to be a trend as more and bigger blazes are reported in other far northern regions like Greenland, Alaska, Siberia and Canada.... 2017 was the worst fire year in Europe's history." --safari

Adam Satariano of the New York Times: "Google was hit with a $5.1 billion fine by European antitrust officials on Wednesday for abusing its power in the smartphone market, in the region's latest move to rein in the clout of American tech companies. The penalty of 4.34 billion euros was a record, and far larger than the €2.4 billion, or about $2.8 billion, that the European Union levied on Google last year for unfairly favoring its own services in internet search results. The decision on Wednesday highlighted how European authorities are aggressively pushing for stronger regulation of the digital economy on issues including antitrust, privacy, taxes, and the spread of misinformation and hate speech."

Daily Beast: "MGM Resorts International filed a complaint in federal court Monday in a case brought by victims of the Las Vegas massacre, asking a judge to declare the company has 'no liability' for the attack. MGM owns the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino and the venue of the Route 91 Harvest music festival where Stephen Paddock opened fire, killing 58 and injuring more than 850." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Commentariat -- July 17, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Who Knew English Could Be So Complicated? Eileen Sullivan & Mark Landler of the New York Times: "President Trump said on Tuesday that he had misspoken a day earlier in Helsinki, Finland, when he appeared to take the word of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia over the conclusion of his own intelligence agencies on Russian election meddling in 2016. On Tuesday, Mr. Trump said he 'accepts' those findings. Mr. Trump said the misunderstanding arose from his use of a 'double negative.' 'The sentence should have been "I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be Russia," sort of a double negative,' he said. 'So you can put that in and I think that probably clarifies things pretty good by itself.'..." ...

     ... Mrs. McC: Yeah, he done corrected it pretty good. Holy cow! If you believe that, I have a Trump condo to sell you. The question was, "Who[m] do you believe?" That's an either/or question, & that's how Trump answered it: He contrasted what DNI Dan Coats ("and some others") "believe" (not what they've determined based on evidence) with what Putin declared: "I have President Putin [Putin being the horse's mouth]. He just said it's not Russia. I will say this. I don't see any reason why it would be." That's the either and the or. EITHER it's Coats' non-determinative belief, OR Putin's knowledgeable declaration. I choose Putin.

... BUT, just to make sure he didn't upset Putin ... Alana Abramson of Time: "Reading from prepared remarks, Trump said ... 'While Russia’s actions had no impact at all on the outcome of the election, let me be totally clear in saying -- and I've said this many times -- I accept our intelligence community's conclusion that Russia's meddling in the 2016 election took place. Could be other people also. A lot of people out there.'" Emphasis added. ...

... Here's the full transcript (in English) of the TrumPutin press conference, via Vox. Read it in context & decide for yourself. The condo is still available. Solid gold taps. ...

... Dartunorro Clark of NBC News: "Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., accused Trump of trying to 'squirm away' from his comments in Helsinki. 'President Trump tried to squirm away from what he said yesterday. It's 24 hours too late and in the wrong place,' Schumer said. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said..., 'I don't accept the president's comments today. If he wanted to make those comments, he should have had the strength to make them in front of Vladimir Putin.' He added, 'This has a strange resemblance to the president's comments after he was so offensive after the disturbances in Charlottesville where he equated the neo-Nazis with the protesters. So, I give these comments about 24 hours before he once again slams the investigation, before he once again sides with authoritarians like Vladimir Putin.'" ...

... Matthew Nussbaum & Nancy Cook of Politico: "The about-face was Trump's latest after a week-long trip to Europe.... After appearing to threaten to pull out of NATO on Thursday, Trump then took the stage to praise the organization and declare it a 'fine-tuned machine.' That night, as Trump enjoyed a formal dinner hosted by Prime Minister Theresa May, the British newspaper The Sun published an interview in which Trump wa harshly critical of May's handling of Brexit negotiations and suggested her rival Boris Johnson would do better. The next day, Trump declared that he had not criticized May at all. Even for Trump, who is notoriously prone to switching positions and delivering falsehoods, the series of reversals marked an unusual degree of chaos."

Dan Mangan & Kevin Breuninger of CNBC: "Special counsel Robert Mueller is asking a judge to grant immunity from prosecution for five potential witnesses whose testimony Mueller wants to compel at the upcoming federal criminal trial of former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort, according to a court filing Tuesday. If the five unidentified people are not granted immunity -- and compelled to testify against Manafort -- they would either refuse to take the witness stand or refuse to answer questions by citing their Fifth Amendment right against being forced to incriminate themelves, according to Mueller's filing in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va. Mueller has also asked Judge T.S. Ellis to seal from public view the court motions detailing the witnesses' identities.... Mueller is asking Ellis to give the witnesses what is known as 'use immunity,' which would prevent prosecutors from using their testimony as evidence against them in a criminal case, other than one in which they are accused of perjuring themselves in that testimony."

Scott Horsley of NPR: "Former president Barack Obama celebrated Nelson Mandela's life and legacy in South Africa on Tuesday with a speech that focused not only on the freedom Mandela came to symbolize but the long walk it took to get there.... Obama spoke to a crowd of about 15,000 in a Johannesburg cricket stadium on the eve of what would have been Mandela's 100th birthday. He remarked on the progress that swept the globe during Mandela's lifetime -- with greater prosperity and opportunity -- but also that backlash that followed in recent years, in the wake of inequality and insecurity. 'A politics of fear and resentment and retrenchment began to appear and that kind of politics is now on the move,' Obama said. 'It is in part because of the failures of governments and powerful elites to squarely address the shortcomings and contradictions of this international order that we now see much of the world threatening to return to an older, a more dangerous, a more brutal way of doing business.'... 'It has to be continually renewed, because there is a competing narrative of fear and xenophobia and nationalism and intolerance,' Obama said. 'We have to push back against those trends.'" ...

     ... Video of the full speech is here.

Trump Returns to De State of De Nile. John Wagner of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Tuesday portrayed his widely panned summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin as a great success.... In a morning tweet, the president blamed the media for negative coverage of a joint news conference Monday with Putin, after which Trump was criticized by members of both parties for siding with the Russian leader over U.S. intelligence officials. 'While I had a great meeting with NATO, raising vast amounts of money, I had an even better meeting with Vladimir Putin of Russia,' Trump wrote, referring to his efforts to increase defense spending by U.S. allies. 'Sadly, it is not being reported that way - the Fake News is going Crazy!'... In a speech on the Senate floor, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) called on the chamber's Republican leaders to schedule hearings on what occurred in Helsinki. 'Our Republican colleagues cannot just go, "tsk-tsk-tsk,"' Schumer said. 'They need to act.' Schumer said he was particularly concerned about what Trump might have said to Putin during a closed-door, two-hour meeting between the two at which only their interpreters were present." Mrs. McC: Trump, BTW, did not "raise vast amounts of money at NATO; he didn't raise a penny. NATO allies stuck to the agreement that had made when Obama was president. ...

... Kevin Liptak of CNN: "... Donald Trump was upbeat immediately after his news conference with Vladimir Putin in Finland, but by the time he returned stateside on Monday evening, his mood had soured considerably amid sustained fury at his extraordinary embrace of the Russian leader.... The White House said Trump would address the summit to reporters ahead of an otherwise unrelated 2 p.m. ET meeting with lawmakers at the White House." ...

... Jonathan Swan & Mike Allen of Axios: "A former senior White House official, who worked closely with Trump, immediately texted us [after the Helsinki presser]: 'Need a shower.' One of Trump's own former National Security Council officials texted: 'Dude. This is a total [effing] disgrace. The President has lost his mind.' CBS 'Face the Nation' anchor Margaret Brennan, who was in the audience, told AP she was messaging some U.S. officials during the speech who said they were turning off the television." ...

... Huntsman, Come Home. Robert Gerhke of the Salt Lake Tribune: "Ambassador Huntsman, you work for a pawn, not a president. It's time to come home.... It's by resigning immediately [as U.S. ambassador to Russia] and speaking out against a president who attacks our allies, gives comfort to our adversaries and undermines our moral standing, our commitment to democratic ideals and our interest in human rights every time he opens his gaping mouth." ...

... Kevin Poulsen of the Daily Beast: "... the world watched as the President of the United States ... launched into a rambling discourse about Hillary Clinton's emails and a supposedly missing DNC server that hides the truth about Putin's innocence.... The 'server' Trump is obsessed with is actually 140 servers, most of them cloud-based, which the DNC was forced to decommission in June of 2016 while trying to rid its network of the Russian GRU officers working to help Trump win the election.... Despite Trump's repeated feverish claims to the contrary, no machines are actually missing.... Trump and his allies are capitalizing on a basic misapprehension of how computer intrusion investigations work.... When cyber investigators respond to an incident, they capture that evidence in a process called 'imaging.' They make an exact byte-for-byte copy of the hard drives.... If the president really wants to know what the DNC server is saying, it's all in the indictment against Putin's hackers." ...

You have groups that are wondering why the FBI never took the server.... Why was the FBI told to leave the office of the Democratic National Committee?... I've been asking that for months and months and I've been tweeting it out and calling it out on social media.... I want to know where is the server and what is the server saying?... What happened to the servers of the Pakistani gentleman that worked on the DNC? Where are those servers? They're missing; where are they? -- Donald Trump, part of a rambling non-answer to a question about Putin's culpability for the DNC hack, Helsinki joint presser

The DNC servers were never missing. The DNC provided the FBI with a copy of their server, rather than the original hardware, but Comey testified that the evidence was an appropriate substitute. [Imran] Awan, the 'Pakistani gentleman' in the news, never worked for the DNC. Conservative news outlets suggested he had stolen a House Democratic server, but the U.S. Attorney's Office found no evidence of such theft. -- Politifact

... Jamelle Bouie: "Donald Trump is fulfilling all of those Obama conspiracy theories. The anti-Obama animus had one obvious root: racial resentment. For millions of Americans, a black man in the White House was so upending -- so destabilizing to their expectations of what America was -- that they responded with primal anger, willing to believe anything about the man who sat in the Oval Office. Donald Trump powered his way to the White House on the strength of that anger, running as the savior of America's racial status quo, and a promise to turn back that tide. Many of those Americans surely believed that Obama was a Manchurian candidate of sorts. Now, faced with a president who is eager to please a hostile foreign power, they actively support the effort. If you're white, it seems, you really are all right."

Jack Ewing of the New York Times: "President Trump is inciting a trade war, undermining NATO and painting Europe as a foe. It's no wonder, then, that the European Union is looking elsewhere for friends. On Tuesday in Tokyo, it signed its largest trade deal ever, a pact with Japan that will slash customs duties on products like European wine and cheese, while gradually reducing tariffs on cars. The agreement will cover a quarter of the global economy -- by some measures the largest free trade area in the world.... The deal with Japan, and the others being negotiated, point to a more assertive Europe, one that is looking past the frosty ties with the United States, and even the upcoming withdrawal of Britain from the bloc." See also the AP report, linked under "Way Beyond the Beltway" below.

Kanyakrit Vongkiatkajorn of Mother Jones: "Earlier this month, as outrage continued over the Trump administration's family separation policies, another immigration agency quietly introduced several changes that could threaten even more immigrants, many of them here legally, with deportation. In a memo made public July 5th, US Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency tasked with handling immigration benefits -- think work and student visas, green cards, and naturalization ceremonies -- said it would now refer immigrants for deportation in a wider range of cases.... While seemingly small changes, these policies could have widespread implications, potentially sending far more immigrants into removal proceedings and increasing the number of cases in an already backlogged immigration court system.... The changes would affect both undocumented immigrants and those who are already legally in the country." --safari

Andrew Sorkin & Kate Kelly of the New York Times: "Goldman Sachs on Tuesday named David M. Solomon as its next chief executive officer, putting a veteran investment banker in charge of a Wall Street giant that faces mounting challenges. Mr. Solomon's appointment will end the tenure of Lloyd C. Blankfein, the 63-year-old former gold salesman who has run the firm since 2006 and steered it through the financial crisis. Mr. Blankfein will hand over the chief executive role on Oct. 1 and remain chairman until the end of the year. Mr. Solomon, 56 and currently the bank's president, will add the chairman title at the beginning of 2019." Mrs. McC: Weirdly, a well-shaved head seems to be a prerequisite for a top spot at Goldman.

Daily Beast: "MGM Resorts International filed a complaint in federal court Monday in a case brought by victims of the Las Vegas massacre, asking a judge to declare the company has 'no liability' for the attack. MGM owns the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino and the venue of the Route 91 Harvest music festival where Stephen Paddock opened fire, killing 58 and injuring more than 850."

*****

Here's the Bottom Line. Jonathan Chait: "Trump is engaged in an act of open betrayal against his own country." ...

... AND Washington Post Editors: "Trump just colluded with Russia. Openly.... In Helsinki, Mr. Trump again insisted 'there was no collusion' with Russia. Yet in refusing to acknowledge the plain facts about Russia's behavior, while trashing his own country's justice system, Mr. Trump in fact was openly colluding with the criminal leader of a hostile power." ...

... Julie Davis of the New York Times: "President Trump stood next to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Monday and publicly challenged the conclusion of his own intelligence agencies that Moscow interfered in the 2016 presidential election, wrapping up what he called a 'deeply productive' summit meeting with an extraordinary show of trust for a leader accused of attacking American democracy. In a remarkable news conference, Mr. Trump did not name a single action for which Mr. Putin should be held accountable. Instead, he saved his sharpest criticism for the United States and the special counsel investigation into the election interference, calling it a 'ridiculous' probe and a 'witch hunt' that has kept the two countries apart." ...

... Matthew Nussbaum of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Monday publicly sided with ... Vladimir Putin over his own intelligence agencies, refusing to condemn the Kremlin for interference in the 2016 election and saying that 'I don't see any reason' to believe that Russia was behind the hacking of Democratic computer servers. Trump's remarkable statement, during a joint news conference in Helsinki, Finland, after holding a two-hour one-on-one meeting with Putin, came after special counsel Robert Mueller indicted 12 Russians on Friday over allegations of involvement in the state-ordered election-interference operation. Trump repeatedly attacked the FBI, praised Putin as a 'good competitor,' refused to say Russia was accountable for any aspects of fraying U.S.-Russia relations, and attacked Mueller's inquiry as 'a disaster for our country.'... Throughout the 45-minute news conference, Trump made his admiration of Putin clear.... The news conference left observers gobsmacked, as Trump ... refused to say a single negative word about Russia and used the international stage to praise the country's strongman leader and attack American institutions." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump cast doubt on the conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, saying after his summit here Monday with ... Vladimir Putin that the autocrat gave him a 'very powerful' denial. After Putin said his government played no role in trying to sabotage the U.S. election, Trump offered no pushback and went on to condemn the Justice Department's investigation of Russian interference.... Trump also insisted that 'there was no collusion' between his campaign and Moscow.... Putin later confirmed that he did want Trump to win in 2016, 'because he talked about normalizing relations' between Russia and the United States. Yet he did not answer directly when pressed on whether the Russian government had compromising information on Trump or his family members, dismissing it by saying that 'it's hard to imagine greater nonsense.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Jonathan Allen of NBC News: "At a news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin on foreign soil..., Donald Trump attacked fellow Americans -- Democrats, special counsel Robert Mueller and members of the news media -- for damaging U.S.-Russia relations by pursuing questions about Moscow's efforts to help him win the presidency in 2016.... The sustained bashing of American institutions and individuals was extraordinary for a U.S. president in any setting, much less here in the shadow of Moscow.... Asked about the indictment of Russian government hackers, Trump also advanced several conspiracy theories related to the election, including asking about the 33,000 Hillary Clinton emails he has long claimed are missing -- the very emails he publicly asked Russia to hack before what Mueller says was an 'after hours' Russian attack on accounts connected to Clinton's personal office. He threw in references to the whereabouts of a computer server at the Democratic National Committee and the activities of a former House Democratic staffer who some conspiracy theorists have alleged penetrated lawmakers' computers." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Ben Mathis-Lilly of Slate publishes the transcript of Trump's "astounding word salad of debunked conspiracy theories that concluded with an assertion that Putin's denial of responsibility for the attack was 'extremely strong and convincing.'" Also, Mathis-Lilly's explanation of Putin's "offer" to "help" the Mueller investigation is helpful (and wouldn't it have been great if Trump had understood it as well as Mathis-Lilly does?). (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Eric Levitz of New York: "Donald Trump ... endorsed a bizarre proposal from Putin, in which Special Counsel Robert Mueller would work with Russian officials to investigate cybercrimes against American political organizations.... Russian law enforcement would agree to interrogate the 12 Russians that Mueller had indicted -- and allow members of his team to observe those interrogations -- in exchange for the United States agreeing to interrogate American intelligence officials whom the Kremlin has accused of committing crimes against Russia (with Russian law enforcement in the room).... Throughout his remarks Monday, Trump declined to criticize Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, or ostensible new habit of launching botched assassination attempts with Soviet-era nerve agents on the streets of the United Kingdom, or anything else, at all." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Josh Marshall: "The President gave an interview to Sean Hannity.... [T]hough he didn't say it directly, the clear import of [Trump's] account is that a primary or perhaps the primary topic of their conversation was Robert Mueller's investigation. Trump repeated that President Putin confirmed that there was no collusion. More notably, he said that in their private conversation Putin repeatedly lamented that the Mueller probe had driven the two countries apart and prevented them from doing great things for the world." With video --safari

... ** Mark Landler of the New York Times: "Mr. Trump's declaration that he saw no reason not to believe President Vladimir V. Putin when he said the Russians did not try to fix the 2016 election was extraordinary enough. But it was only one of several statements the likes of which no other president has uttered while on foreign soil. He condemned the Justice Department's investigation of his campaign's ties to Russia as a 'disaster for our county.' He suggested that the F.B.I. deliberately mishandled its investigation of Russia's hacking of the Democratic National Committee. And he labeled an F.B.I. agent who testified about that investigation before Congress as a 'disgrace to our country.' In the fiery, disruptive, rules-breaking arc of Mr. Trump's statecraft, his assertions during a news conference with Mr. Putin marked a new milestone, the foreign policy equivalent of Charlottesville.... Rather than defend the United States against those who would threaten it, he attacked his own citizens and institutions. Rather than challenge Mr. Putin, an adversary with a well-documented record of wrongdoing against the United States, he praised him without reservation." ...

... Michelle Goldberg: "Perhaps the most sinister part of the news conference was Trump's seeming openness to a deal in which F.B.I. investigators could question people in Russia in exchange for letting Russians question Putin critics in America. Putin referred specifically to associates of his arch-nemesis Bill Browder, a businessman (and British citizen) who has succeeded in getting seven countries, including the United States, to pass laws punishing Russian oligarchs suspected of corruption.... None of us yet know the exact contours of Trump's relationship with Russia, whether Putin is his handler, his co-conspirator or just his hero. But it's clear that Trump is willing to sell out American democracy for personal gain." ...

     ... Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. BTW, this is from Michael Grynbaum's report, linked below. "John Roberts, [Fox "News"'] chief White House correspondent..., made reference to the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, when he offered a different view of why the United States may not cooperate with Russia on any investigation of American election security: There are some people who might say it's because Mueller doesn't want to know the truth,' Mr. Roberts said." Mrs. McC: I never realized Roberts was such a tool. ...

... Anna Nemtsova & Christopher Dickey of the Daily Beast: "Suddenly the question of collusion between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin was visible to all the world, and it was no longer a question.... Of the many Trump remarks that will live in infamy, this one will stand out: 'Dan Coats [the Trump appointed Director of National Intelligence] came to me and some others, they said they think it's Russia. I have President Putin, he just said it's not Russia. I will say this: I don't see any reason why it would be.' Suddenly, unmistakably, the humiliation of the United States government was obvious to everyone except, it seems, Trump himself.... The spectacle of an American president surrendering his country's prestige and standing, if not indeed some part of its sovereignty, had specific global as well as national implications." ...

     ... Kevin Breuninger of CNBC: DNI Dan "Coats shot back on Monday afternoon in a statement sent from DNI's official email service, stating unequivocally that Russia not only interfered in the election, but that its 'efforts to undermine our democracy' are ongoing: 'The role of the Intelligence Community is to provide the best information and fact-based assessments possible for the President and policymakers. We have been clear in our assessments of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and their ongoing, pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy, and we will continue to provide unvarnished and objective intelligence in support of our national security.'" Mrs. McC: According to NBC News, Coats did not clear his statement with the White House. ...

... Jonathan Swan & Mike Allen of Axios: "A number of people who've discussed election meddling with Trump, including current senior administration officials, say his brain can't process that collusion and cyberattacks are two different things. Trump seems constitutionally incapable of taking anything Mueller finds seriously.... Ego prevents him acknowledging the possibility that any external action could have interfered with his glorious victory. The handful of White House staff we have privately communicated with since today's press conference are not proud of the man they work for. But he [??] doesn't expect any to resign." ...

     ... Eric Levitz: "The president isn't a traitor: He's just constitutionally incapable of processing simple information, or prioritizing the national interest above his own egoistic desires." ...

... Lachlan Markay, et al., of the Daily Beast: "... on a global stage, Trump didn't just cower; he actively cemented an image of submissiveness to his Russian counterpart.... 'Trump looked incredibly weak up there. Putin looks like a champion,' [a senior Trump political appointee said]... 'I'd like to say I'm shocked, but this is the world in which we live now.'... Those who have worked for the president say they have come to expect these types of moments -- in large part because they are rooted in two of Trump's most prominent characteristics: insecurity and stubbornness." ...

...Conservative Rick Wilson in The Daily Beast: "Donald Trump sold out his country to Russia, then proudly affirmed it, live on camera. A former intelligence agency chief just asked me, 'If the Russians didn't write Trump's talking points, how could you tell?'... By the end of the press conference, even Putin looked slightly embarrassed. He wanted Trump to go down in the third round like a bought-off boxer, but Trump kept laying it on thicker and thicker, swooning over the Russian leader, making winky-googly eyes, and repeating the worst tropes of Russia's propaganda machine. Trump didn't just roll over. He rolled over, stuck out his tongue, and begged Vladimir Putin to slap on a choke collar and rub his belly." --safari...

... Ashley Parker, et al., of the Washington Post: "Ahead of the meeting, staffers provided Trump with some 100 pages of briefing materials aimed at laying out a tough posture toward Putin, but the president ignored most of it, according to one person familiar with the discussions.... Trump's remarks were 'very much counter to the plan,' the person said. 'Everyone around Trump' was urging him to take a firm stance with Putin, according to a second person familiar with the preparations. Before Monday's meeting, the second person said, advisers covered matters from Russia's annexation of Crimea to its interference in the U.S. elections, but Trump 'made a game-time decision' to handle the summit his way.... Signs that things might not go according to plan were evident during the two days Trump spent holed up at his luxury seaside golf resort in Turnberry, Scotland. The U.S. president spent much of the weekend 'growling' ... over the Justice Department's indictment Friday of 12 Russian intelligence officials for interfering in the 2016 election. He fretted that the timing of the indictments was intended to injure him politically, [an] official said. But a senior White House official said Trump had been in favor of announcing the indictments before the trip so he could raise the issue privately with Putin." ...

... David Corn of Mother Jones: Trump's "historic Helsinki summit with Putin -- and particularly the unsettling joint press conference they held -- provided a clear indication that Trump is indeed guilty of one form of collusion: colluding with Putin to cover up Moscow's criminal assault on American democracy.... Here was Trump drawing an equivalence between his top intelligence advisers and Putin, the former KGB officer. It was a stunning moment.... The president of the nation, which, according to its own intelligence and law enforcement agencies, was attacked by Russia, was giving Putin's denial as much credence as Mueller's indictments and the findings of various spy agencies, as well as the Republican-led intelligence committees of the House and Senate (which each confirmed the intelligence community's assessment)." ...

** Tom Friedman: "From the beginning of his administration, President Trump has responded to every new bit of evidence from the C.I.A., F.B.I. and N.S.A. that Russia intervened in our last election on his behalf by either attacking Barack Obama or the Democrats for being too lax -- never President Vladimir Putin of Russia for his unprecedented cyberhit on our democratic process. Such behavior by an American president is so perverse, so contrary to American interests and values, that it leads to only one conclusion: Donald Trump is either an asset of Russian intelligence or really enjoys playing one on TV.... There is overwhelming evidence that our president, for the first time in our history, is deliberately or through gross negligence or because of his own twisted personality engaged in treasonous behavior -- behavior that violates his oath of office to 'preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.'" ...

... Max Boot of the Washington Post: "President Trump habitually calls the press 'the enemy of the people' -- a loathsome calumny, redolent of dictatorships, that he repeated on Sunday. In fact, by asking tough questions at Trump's joint news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, reporters once again showed that they are the sentinels of America democracy. If anyone is 'the enemy of the people,' it is Trump himself.... But after his appalling performance in Helsinki at what CNN's John King aptly called the 'surrender summit,' questions about Trump's loyalty to the American people will only intensify.... The Associated Press's Jonathan Lemire courageously asked [Putin] 'does the Russian government have any compromising material on President Trump or his family?'... The question ... is a legitimate one, and it will only grow in urgency after Putin deflected the question about whether he had kompromat on Trump.... U.S. Constitution, Article III, Section 3: 'Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.' Trump's own national security adviser said the Russian election attack constituted an 'act of war.' So what does that make his boss? Some -- including former CIA director John Brennan -- now dare call it treason. That conclusion was once unthinkable. No longer."

... ** Quinta Jurecic in the Atlantic: "The visual of Trump framed by American and Russian flags, standing alongside a smirking Putin and insisting that Russia had no involvement in his election, was a shocking one. It clarified and distilled into a single frame the president's appalling lack of care toward an assault on the democratic life of the American people and his inability to carry out the duties of his office. As with his comments after the violence in Charlottesville, Trump's obsequiousness toward Putin ripped away what remained of a very tattered fig leaf. Just as Charlottesville made it no longer quite so taboo to describe the president as sympathetic to white supremacy, perhaps Helsinki will allow mainstream commentators to more comfortably acknowledge the danger of the Trump presidency on the world stage.... It is hard, a year and a half into this presidency, to imagine that anyone in the administration or the Republican caucus would lift more than a finger to stop Donald Trump. But a failure to act now will be its own show of weakness." ...

... Jim Fallows of the Atlantic: "There are exactly two possible explanations for the shameful performance the world witnessed on Monday, from a serving American president. Either Donald Trump is flat-out an agent of Russian interests -- witting, unwitting, from fear of blackmail, in hope of future deals, out of manly respect for Vladimir Putin, out of gratitude for Russia's help during the election, out of pathetic inability to see beyond his 306 electoral votes -- whatever.... Or he is so profoundly ignorant, insecure, and narcissistic not to realize that, at every step, he was advancing the line that Putin hoped he would advance, and the line that the American intelligence, defense, and law-enforcement agencies most dreaded.... Trump's answers were indistinguishable from Putin's.... With every hour that elapses after this shocking performance in Helsinki, without Republicans doing anything, the more deeply stained they will be by this dark moment in American leadership." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

No prior president has ever abased himself more abjectly before a tyrant. Today's press conference in Helsinki was one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory. -- Sen. John McCain (R-Az.), in a statement

Donald Trump's press conference performance in Helsinki rises to & exceeds the threshold of 'high crimes & misdemeanors.' It was nothing short of treasonous. Not only were Trump's comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin. Republican Patriots: Where are you??? -- Former CIA Director John Brennan, in a tweet ...

... Exactly what I was thinking, Mr. Brennan. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

... Sheryl Stolberg, et al., of the New York Times collect Republican "leaders"' responses to Trump's Helsinki performance. The headline is "Republicans Rebuke Trump...". Well, mostly pretty mild, indirect "rebukes." Here's Mitch McConnell (who, we recall, refused in 2016 to allow President Obama to put out a bipartisan condemnation of Russia's hacking operation): "'The Russians are not our friends. I've said that repeatedly, I say it again today. And I have complete confidence in our intelligence community and the findings that they have announced.' He refused to answer questions.” As for Little Senator Randy (R-Moscow), he's all confused: 'I think it's a good idea to have engagement, and I guess I don't quite understand all of the people who have gone completely deranged criticizing the president." ...

... Michael Scherer of the Washington Post finds some Republicans willing to offer more pointed criticisms: "Republican senators also were quick in their criticism of Trump's statements. 'Shameful,' tweeted Sen. Jeff Flake (Ariz.). 'Bizarre and flat-out wrong,' wrote Sen. Ben Sasse (Neb.) in reference to Trump's separate assertion that both countries were to blame for their deteriorating relationship. 'Missed opportunity,' said Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.), who added that Trump's answer 'will be seen by Russia as a sign of weakness and create far more problems than it solves.'... In a statement Monday, [Mitt] Romney, now running for a Senate seat in Utah, called Trump's words 'disgraceful and detrimental to our democratic principles' and said his behavior 'undermines our national integrity and impairs our global credibility.'" ...

... Alex Shephard of the New Republic: "The implication in [Trump's] narrative, of course, is that the Mueller probe is a national security threat, in that it imperils relations between the two countries and, in doing so, risks war. The reality, of course, is quite different. But Trump graciously refused to let reality into the press conference and instead gleefully embraced Putin's version of events, which just happened to, with a couple of minor exceptions, line up with his own.... This summit ... will undoubtedly make U.S. allies, particularly in Europe, even more distrustful of Trump than they already were. But it's obvious that Trump handed Putin a public relations victory, four days after the special counsel's office conclusively proved Russian meddling in the 2016 election." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Isaac Chotiner of Slate: "Trump made clear on Monday that his brutishness is a choice. Trump spent the past week explicitly exhibiting his dislike of NATO, the European Union, Angela Merkel, and Theresa May (the gender of the these last two probably not being a coincidence). After the Department of Justice indicted 12 Russians for their meddling in the 2016 election on Friday, Trump has been tweeting constantly about the 'witch hunt' and Barack Obama -- all the while praising the Russian president.... In ... place [of Trump's angry nationalism] are warm words about friendship and togetherness.... Trump has always been someone whose behavior and bearing were as disturbing as his policies, whose affect was as frightening as his words. Monday was no exception." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Now I'm wondering why Trump didn't push Queen Elizabeth down the steps instead of just refusing to help her. Maybe it's because he admires her. Like Trump's favorite dictators, Elizabeth has accumulated her wealth by waving daintily with one hand while picking the pockets of her helpless "subjects" with the other. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: "'You have been watching,' said the disembodied voice of Anderson Cooper [of CNN], 'one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president at a summit in front of a Russian leader that I've ever seen.' Perhaps Mr. Cooper had briefly forgotten the mores of his profession -- stolidity and a Cronkite-ian cool -- in the heat of a surreal live event: a public pas de deux on Monday between President Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.... But Mr. Cooper's remark, though pointed, was not far removed from the nonplused reactions of his fellow network stars, who seemed to channel a level of genuine shock rare even in the chaotic Trump era.... Even the reliably pro-Trump Drudge Report issued a harsh verdict. 'Putin Dominates,' the site's lead all-caps headline read." ...

... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "Fox News's Chris Wallace ... jousted ably with the Russian president -- despite the use of interpreters -- in an interview airing Monday night. He pressed Putin on the questions Trump has played off, including during Monday's news conference with Putin in Helsinki. The interview turned heated at points, with Wallace clearly frustrated by Putin's trademark filibustering and Putin clearly frustrated by a journalist actually challenging him. Perhaps the most notable exchange came toward the end, when Wallace probed Putin on why many of his critics wind up dead or near death.... Putin, rather remarkably, compared these alleged assassinations to the assassinations of Americans like President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s. He blamed 'side effects' of his country's 'maturing' process. He even defended himself by saying his foes do 'not always' end up as casualties[.]... It was the grilling you'd expect Trump to have given. It was all the questions Russian journalists can't ask." ...

... Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "During a news conference in Helsinki after meeting with Trump, Putin did not explicitly deny that Russia has compromising information about Trump or his family. Instead, he offered a winding response about how little he knew of Trump's travels to Russia. Putin said that he 'did hear these rumors' about Russia collecting compromising material on Trump. But, he said, 'when President Trump visited Moscow back then, I didn't even know that he was in Moscow.'... However, Russian government officials — including Putin's top spokesman -- knew Trump was in Moscow in November 2013 to host the Miss Universe pageant and were told about the real estate developer's eagerness to meet with Putin while he was there.... Russia is known to collect information on foreign government officials and business leaders through surveillance at hotels and other locations." ...

... Nidhi Prakash of BuzzFeed: "Sen. Jeff Merkley told BuzzFeed News Monday that he thinks Russia has compromising information on ... Donald Trump, specifically 'something like' the alleged 'pee tape' of Trump with prostitutes in Russia in 2013, as alleged in a dossier compiled by a former British intelligence official. Merkley, a Democrat who sits on the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, is considering running for president in 2020. He was speaking to BuzzFeed News Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith ... when he made the comments." ...

... Joshua Yaffa of the New Yorker: "That an American President would side with a Russian one over his own intelligence community is shocking — but, with Trump, not surprising. Putin must be flying back to Moscow content, not because he did anything so skillful or brilliant in Helsinki but because he was simply smart enough to sit back and pocket one good hand after another. 'Yes, I did,' Putin said, when asked if he wanted Trump to win. Smart bet." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Christopher Cadelago of Politico: "Though Trump has long expressed affection for authoritarian rulers, it' the degree to which Trump is eroding U.S. relationships with other countries around the world that is leading some to call for the resignation of his top officials and commanding the focus of spurned foreign leaders." ...

... Michelle Martin of Reuters: "Germany's foreign minister [Heiko Maas] said on Monday Europe could not rely on Donald Trump and needed to close ranks after the U.S. president called the European Union a 'foe' with regard to trade. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... David Morgan of CBS News: "On 'CBS This Morning' Monday, Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group and a CBS News senior global affairs contributor, said that backstage at the NATO meeting there were elements that were even more eyebrow-raising than reports have suggested. 'One is that emergency session where they asked the Georgian and Ukrainian presidents to leave in the middle of their presentation. Apparently Trump said, 'OK, we're done with you now,'" Bremmer said. 'Trump was very frustrated; he wasn't getting commitments from other leaders to spend more.... Trump turns around to the Turkish president, Recep Erdogan, and says, "Except for Erdogan over here. He does things the right way," and then actually fist-bumps the Turkish president.' It was a startling gesture of support for the increasingly authoritarian Turkish leader, who recently won another term and is widely expected to continue consolidating his power.... While Mr. Trump has been lambasting U.S. allies, he has also been praising Russian President Putin, congratulating him for hosting the World Cup tournament." (Also linked yesterday.)

Josh Marshall: "[Just after the Helsinki summit] the White House sent out a schedule for ... tomorrow with a 2 PM meeting at the White House with 'Members of Congress.' This is the first mention of such a meeting.... Huffpo's Jennifer Bendery reports on Twitter that she's spoken to the offices of Ryan, Pelosi, McConnell and Schumer and none of them know what it is about, who is invited or anything else. It's not clear to me whether they don't know what it is about or whether they literally haven’t been contacted about it by the White House at all. It seems like the latter.... [I]t seems clear that the White House is in serious damage control mode.... [T]here's also been real criticism from some of the President's ardent defenders." --safari...

Matt Apuzzo, et al., of the New York Times: "A Russian woman who tried to broker a secret meeting between Donald J. Trump and the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, during the 2016 presidential campaign was charged Monday and accused of working with Americans to carry out a secret Russian effort to influence American politics. At the behest of a senior Russian government official, the woman, Mariia Butina, made connections through the National Rifle Association, religious organizations and the National Prayer Breakfast to try to steer the Republican Party toward more pro-Russia policies, court records show. Privately comparing herself to a Soviet Cold War propagandist, she worked to infiltrate American organizations and establish 'back channel' lines of communication with American politicians.... The charges were filed under seal on Saturday.... Ms. Butina, 29, was arrested Sunday and appeared Monday in court. The records were unsealed hours after Mr. Trump stood beside Mr. Putin in Helsinki and said that he saw no reason the Russian leader would try to influence the presidential election." ...

... Betsy Woodruff of The Daily Beast: "On Monday, the DOJ arrested and charged a Russian national [Maria Butina] who courted the NRA and the Republican Party with secretly working as a foreign agent.... And its implications for domestic politics also could be tectonic: The case is as close as it gets to collusion. According to the Justice Department, at least one American helped her with her influence operation.... Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor, said Butina's legal problems should come as a sobering moment for the NRA.... U.S. Person 1 appears to be Paul Erickson, a longtime Republican insider who claimed to advise the Trump transition team. Erickson sherpaed Butina through conservative circles, connecting her with operatives and advising her on outreach, as The Daily Beast has reported.... After reading the affidavit, Mariotti ... said, 'It appears to be evidence that an American was working with a Russian to help establish illicit communications in the U.S.' 'This strikes me like it would fit a definition of what collusion is,' he added." --safari ...

... Useful Idiots. Josh Marshall: "It turns out [the] gun rights front group [of Russian foreign agent Maria Butina], Right to Bear Arms, paid for Sheriff David Clarke's trip to Moscow. --safari ...

... Colin Kalmbacher of Law & Crime: "The judge overseeing Paul Manafort's federal court case on charges of tax evasion and bank fraud in Virginia delayed proceedings in a surprise move on Monday afternoon. According to legal experts familiar with the federal court system, this could be an indication that Manafort is about to cut a plea deal." Mrs. McC: I'm not getting my hopes up that Manfort will rat out Trump, but it could be that Manafort's transfer to the Arlington, Va., prison -- which is no Club Fed -- has convinced him that spending the rest of his life in a federal pen is not that appealing a prospect. ...

... Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "Two leaders of the conservative House Freedom Caucus want the Justice Department's internal watchdog to investigate whether Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein threatened congressional aides in a January meeting. Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), the group's chairman, and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a co-founder and influential conservative leader, made the request of Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz on Monday, according to a letter obtained by The Washington Post.... Rosenstein's alleged threats in [a] January meeting, delivered to Republican staff members for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, were first reported by Fox News last month and quickly gained traction in conservative circles.... During a House Judiciary Committee hearing last month, Jordan questioned Rosenstein about the episode, citing 'media reports' that indicated he had threatened Intelligence Committee staffers: 'Did you threaten to subpoena their calls and emails?' he asked. Rosenstein flatly denied making any threats...: 'No, sir, and there's no way to subpoena phone calls,' he said, adding, 'I would suggest that you not rely on what the press says, sir.' The letter delivered Monday appears to have delayed any impeachment effort for the time being, according to a Republican familiar with the conservatives' plans but not authorized to discuss them publicly."

Ted Hesson of Politico: "A federal judge on Monday said he will issue a temporary halt to deportations of migrant parents who are reunited with their children. U.S. District Court Judge Dana Sabraw said during court proceedings in San Diego that he will stay deportations pending resolution of the issue. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a motion earlier in the day that called for reunited migrant parents to be protected from deportation for seven days after being reconnected with their children. The ACLU ... said the pause was needed to ensure that parents slated for removal can make informed decisions about whether to leave their children behind in the United States. The 'persistent and increasing rumors' that parents will be deported immediately after reunification necessitates the moratorium, the ACLU argued in the filing."

This Is a Surprise. Margaret McGill of Politico: "FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced Monday he has 'serious concerns' about Sinclair Broadcast Group's acquisition of Tribune Media, saying he would send the transaction through a lengthy administrative process often viewed as a deal-killer. As originally proposed in May 2017, the $3.9 billion deal would see conservative-leaning Sinclair, already the largest U.S. TV station owner, gobble up 42 Tribune stations in key markets like New York and Chicago, adding to its existing footprint of more than 170 stations and giving the company access to nearly three-quarters of U.S. households." (Also linked yesterday.)

E. A. Crunden of ThinkProgress: "Capitol Hill Democrats are working to ensure that former ...EPA head Scott Pruitt's scandals never repeat themselves.... The EPA OIG has previously expressed that a lack of funding is preventing the watchdog from investigating Pruitt's scandals. An amendment proposed by Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) and Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) would reduce the Department of Interior's Office of the Secretary by $1 million and increase the EPA OIG budget by the same amount.... Democrats have also indicated they will try to force a vote on an amendment pushing for all new EPA rules initiated by Pruitt to go unfunded until the investigations conclude." --safari

"The GOP's War on the Poor." Paul Krugman: "Four years ago..., House Republicans led by Paul Ryan issued a report declaring that war a failure. Poverty, they asserted, hadn't fallen. Therefore, they concluded, we must slash spending on the poor. Last week, Donald Trump's Council of Economic Advisers issued a new report on poverty, recognizing what most experts in the field have said: The standard poverty measure is badly flawed, and a better measure shows substantial progress. In fact, these advisers went so far as to assert that poverty is no longer a problem.... Anyway, the war on poverty, said the report, 'is largely over and a success.' And our response, says the Trump administration, should be to ... slash spending on the poor.... So whatever the evidence, Republicans always reach the same policy conclusion.... Let's stop helping the poor."

"Justice is b̶l̶i̶n̶d Republican"...Jordan Cairney of The Hill: "Senate Republicans are poised to break a record as soon as this week on the number of appeals court judges confirmed during a president's first two years. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has teed up two circuit court nominations ... for Senate votes. Confirming either would give President Trump his 23rd appeals court judge -- a record for the number of circuit nominees confirmed during a president's first two years in office.... Republicans have homed in on circuit judge nominations because that court has the final word on a large swatch of cases that never make it to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court gets roughly 7,000 requests per year, while circuit courts get nearly 59,000 case requests." --safari

2018 Elections. Philip Marcelo & Jeff Karoub of the AP: "From Congress to state legislatures and school boards, Muslim Americans spurred to action by the anti-Muslim policies and rhetoric of President Donald Trump and his supporters are running for elected offices in numbers not seen since before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, say Muslim groups and political observers.... There were as many as 90 Muslim-Americans running for national or statewide offices this election cycle, a number that Muslim groups say was unprecedented, at least in the post-9/11 era. But recent primaries have whittled the field down to around 50." --safari

Alan Blinder of the New York Times: In a 6-5 vote last night, Charlotte, North Carolina's city county agreed to invite the GOP to hold its 2020 convention in the city. "The reluctance ... was mostly about whether a Democratic-leaning city with a carefully cultivated reputation wanted to associate itself with what Mr. Trump and many in his party now stand for.... The mayor and other city leaders have been jockeying for months to win the convention.... The Republican Party has not yet voted to award the 2020 convention to Charlotte, but it may do so this week during a meeting in Austin, Tex. The only other contender appears to be Las Vegas, whose bid was put forward without the support of the local government."

Ian Millhiser of ThinkProgress: "Chief Justice John Roberts has a plan to neuter the Voting Rights Act. All of it. He's held onto this plan for nearly forty years, waiting for the day when he could deploy it. That day is nearly upon us. If the Senate confirms Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanuagh to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy, Roberts will almost certainly have the votes he needs to gut America's voting rights law. It's not hard to guess what will happen next." --safari

Jake Bullinger of the Guardian: "Donald Trump has called big-game trophy hunting a 'horror show'...and in 2017 he formed an advisory board to steer US policy on the issue. But rather than conservation scientists and wildlife advocates, it is composed of advocates for [hunting]. And observers say that since Trump took office, court rulings and administrative decisions have in fact made it easier for hunters to import the body parts of lions, elephants and other animals killed in Africa.... Only two of the council's 16 members are not active advocates for trophy hunting -- the rest belong to groups such as Safari Club International and the National Rifle Association. Instead of discussing whether the sport should be limited, the group is focusing on how to broaden its reach.... And the hunting advisory council operates under the auspices of the interior secretary, Ryan Zinke, who received $10,000 from the Safari Club during his 2016 congressional campaign." --safari

Adam Vaughan of the Guardian: "The world's energy watchdog has sounded the alarm over a 'worrying' pause in the shift to clean energy after global investment in renewables fell 7% to $318bn (£240bn) last year. The International Energy Agency said the decline is set to continue into 2018, threatening energy security, climate change and air pollution goals.... Fossil fuels' share of energy investment needs to drop to 40% by 2030 to meet climate targets but instead rose fractionally to 59% in 2017." --safari

Laurie Goodstein & Sharon Otterman of the New York Times: Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the archbishop of Washington, was "one of the most recognized American cardinals on the global stage, a Washington power broker who participated in funeral masses for political luminaries like Edward M. Kennedy, the longtime Massachusetts senator, and Beau Biden, the son of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. Suddenly, last month, Cardinal McCarrick was removed from ministry, after the Archdiocese of New York deemed credible an accusation that he had molested a 16-year-old altar boy nearly 50 years ago.... But ... some church officials knew for decades that the cardinal had been accused of sexually harassing and inappropriately touching adults, according to interviews and documents obtained by The New York Times." (Also linked yesterday.)

The Real Scandale du Jour. Harriet Sherwood of the Guardian: "Christian women who have pledged lifelong virginity as 'brides of Christ' have expressed shock at a Vatican document that suggests literal virginity is not a prerequisite for their consecration." --safari

Way Beyond the Beltway

Dan Sabbagh, et al., of the Guardian: "Theresa May has narrowly seen off a Commons rebellion from Conservative remainers unhappy that she had caved in to hardline Brexiters by accepting their amendments to the customs bill. The government majority was reduced to just three votes on the two most controversial amendments after leading Tory remainer Anna Soubry complained that the prime minister had lost control of events by making concessions to the rightwing European Research Group of MPs."

Yuri Kageyama of the AP: "The European Union and Japan are signing a widespread trade deal Tuesday that will eliminate nearly all tariffs, seemingly defying the worries about trade tensions set off by President Donald Trump's policies. The signing in Tokyo for the deal, largely reached late last year, is ceremonial.... The major step toward liberalizing trade was discussed in talks since 2013 but is striking in the timing of the signing, as China and the U.S. are embroiled in trade conflicts." --safari

Despicable. Angela Giuffrida of the Guardian: "Italy's top court has ordered the retrial of two men who raped a young woman after ruling that the victim had voluntarily got drunk before the attack and so an earlier penalty against the men could not be increased.... Italian courts have made similar decisions in the past regarding rape cases. In February last year a man was acquitted by a Turin court of raping a woman on a hospital bed after the judge ruled that the woman did not scream loud enough or push the man away." --safari