The U.S. retaliated Thursday against Vladimir Putin's move to force the U.S. to reduce its embassy staff in Russia by 755. Putin had made that move in response to looming U.S. sanctions, since signed by President Trump.
The tit-for-tat began last December, after Barack Obama seized two Russian compounds in the U.S., accusing the Kremlin of using them as spy bases. In the interim, President Trump had been considering returning those Russian compounds, including a beautiful 45-acre estate in Maryland, after Russia warned relations couldn't improve until Trump did so.
Axios went to Maryland in July to look at the summer retreat at the heart of U.S.-Russia relations.
"Lobbyist in Trump Tower meeting spoke to grand jury," by AP's Chad Day and Eric Tucker: "A grand jury used by Special Counsel Robert Mueller has heard secret testimony from a Russian-American lobbyist [Rinat Akhmetshin] who attended a June 2016 meeting with ... Trump's eldest son," plus Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort.
Why it matters: "The revelation is the clearest indication yet that Mueller and his team of investigators view the meeting, which came weeks after Trump had secured the Republican presidential nomination, as a relevant inquiry point in their broader probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election."
