At President Trump’s press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, he assigned blame to the U.S. and complained about Robert Mueller's “witch hunt,” showing indifference to Russia’s meddling in both Ukraine and the 2016 U.S. election. His performance could scarcely have been more favorable to Putin or more threatening to the security of American democracy.
Why it matters: The press conference will create a lasting disconnect between the president and his national security team. It will now be much harder to continue assuring U.S. allies that they can ignore what Trump says.
President Trump humiliated himself in the press conference that followed his meetings with Russian president Vladimir Putin — there's little argument about that. His comments on election meddling have produced a storm of outrage. But were they a significant win for Putin?
The big picture. It’s right to be appalled by Trump’s performance. Yet after Russian officials are done gloating, they may find the results a little disappointing.
President Trump's press conference with Vladimir Putin was a disaster. And that was the assessment of many of his GOP allies.
Why it matters: Trump had a chance to assert himself — and stand up for his countrymen — against foreign interference in our elections. He passed, and stood by as Putin boasted he preferred Trump over Hillary Clinton.
A federal judge has ordered that the deportation of recently reunited migrant families be stopped for one week following the American Civil Liberties Union's complaint of rumored plans for family "mass deportations," the AP reports.
Big picture: Health and Human Services and the Department of Homeland Security are rapidly reuniting families in compliance with an earlier court order. The ACLU argued that if families are hurriedly deported, parents may not have sufficient time to decide whether to take their kids back to their home country or leave them in the states to seek asylum. The government has the week to respond.
Following an extraordinary bilateral press conference in which President Trump said he didn't see "any reason" why Russia would interfere in the 2016 election, figures from across the political spectrum took to social media and cable news to share their reactions.
The bottom line: Both Democrats and Republicans were stunned by the president's performance today, with several leading voices calling it "shameful," "flat-out wrong," and even "treasonous."
Confidence in the FBI's senior leadership among rank-and-file employees has dropped from previous years, according to an internal climate survey obtained by Lawfare.
Why it matters: The survey confirms that the dismissal of former FBI director James Comey and deputy director Andrew McCabe, in tandem with the Peter Strzok scandal and President Trump's barrage of attacks against the intelligence community, have created an air of instability within the bureau.
A self-described reporter was hauled out of Helsinki Palace before Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin held a joint press conference on Monday, following their one-on-one meeting earlier in the day.
Axios' Jonathan Swan tweeted a video from the scene:
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Monday — after a contentious NATO summit last week — that Germany can "no longer completely rely on the White House," Reuters reports.
"To maintain our partnership with the USA we must readjust it. The first clear consequence can only be that we need to align ourselves even more closely in Europe. ... Europe must not let itself be divided however sharp the verbal attacks and absurd the tweets may be.”
Two years of Donald Trump, of Russia, of federal investigations, of fake news, of Fox all come together today in a made-for-the-big-screen and destined-for-the-history-books scene.
The big picture: At today's Trump-Putin summit in Helsinki, you have an American president huddling alone with an enemy of the United States who infiltrated our election system.
Earlier this year in the thick of his election campaign, Vladimir Putin released a propaganda video promoting Russia's "invincible" new generation of nuclear weapons.
Why it matters: One scene in particular caught President Trump's attention, according to sources with direct knowledge. The motion graphic in Putin's video appeared to show missiles raining down on Florida — the home of Trump's Mar-a-Lago club.
When I asked President Trump on Friday what were the three or four things he wanted to achieve from his meeting with Putin, his answers contained no detail.
Between the lines: One little riff stuck out. He said: "I think... that would be a tremendous achievement if we could do something on nuclear proliferation."
There’s a lot out there in the public domain about Trump and Russia, and much, surely, still to be discovered.
The big picture: Here's what I've learned about the incidents and themes that have defined the relationship, from dozens of conversations over many months with sources who have privately discussed Putin and Russia with Trump.
President Trump is aboard Air Force One en route to Helsinki, Finland, where he'll meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin tomorrow.
"Heading to Helsinki, Finland – looking forward to meeting with President Putin tomorrow. Unfortunately, no matter how well I do at the Summit, if I was given the great city of Moscow as retribution for all of the sins and evils committed by Russia.....over the years, I would return to criticism that it wasn’t good enough – that I should have gotten Saint Petersburg in addition! Much of our news media is indeed the enemy of the people and all the Dems......know how to do is resist and obstruct! This is why there is such hatred and dissension in our country – but at some point, it will heal! "
Here's Donald Tusk, a key EU leader as the president of the European Council.
The tweet came less than an hour after CBS published comments from President Trump that lumped the EU in the category of U.S. foes that includes China and Russia.
President Trump is including the European Union in his list of biggest global foes, telling CBS' Jeff Gloor in a segment that airs on "Face the Nation" that he lumps EU trade issues alongside threats from China and Russia.
Why it matters: The Europeans are, with the U.S., the core of the western alliance. This is a break from tradition, and comes right before Trump's summit with Vladimir Putin.
Even in this era of parallel universes, where facts are no longer facts, history is no longer history, allies are no longer allies, and foreign thugs are no longer foreign thugs, President Trump’s worldwide tantrum-and-torpedo tour has been truly bizarre.
President Trump gave an on-camera interview to Piers Morgan, now of Britain's ITV and Daily Mail, aboard Air Force One in London, before taking off for Scotland. ITV airs the interview tomorrow, but the Mail has excerpts.
The big picture: "As we spoke, over 100,000 anti-Trump protestors were marching through the streets of London. 'Some of them are protesting in my favor, you know that?' [Trump] insisted. 'There are many, many protests in my favor.' Hmmm. I must have missed those," Morgan writes.
President Trumpno longer doubts the basic intelligence assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 election — he just seems incapable of taking it seriously, and tells staff that is simply what nations do, several sources close to Trump tell me.
Between the lines: There is no evidence that could ever change Trump’s mind, the sources said.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke on the phone with President Trump on Saturday.
Why it matters: Israel is closely following the Trump-Putin summit, which takes place Monday in Helsinki, Finland. One of the main issues in the summit will be a possible deal on the future of Syria. Israel wants Iranian forces, Hezbollah and pro-Iranian Shia militias out of Syria in any future deal. Israel is concerned about possible pullout of U.S. forces from Syria, which will allow further entrenchment of Syrian forces in the country.
