John Bolton knows he's being portrayed as a warmonger as he becomes national security adviser, but he's trying to build internal credibility with a more studied, lower-decibel approach, according to people familiar with his thinking. Bolton's forest of op-eds trumpet his hawkish views. But my sources say that at least at the outset, Bolton plans to rein those in — aiming to be seen more as an honest broker for the war cabinet, and less as blatant advocate.
His plan: "When the president makes a decision, obviously the principals on the National Security Council are supposed to carry it out," one source familiar with Bolton's thinking told me. "But it's the job of the national security adviser to be the enforcer and to make sure that it happens."
Behind the scenes, President Trump has told a number of people he believes his current national security team has been out of whack with his own thinking and was slow to give him the options that he wanted.
House Intel Chair Devin Nunes told Fox News' Maria Bartiromo on Sunday that his committee plans to probe China’s moves to bolster its military and economic strength in Africa. Nunes specifically sounded a warning regarding a Chinese military base in Djibouti at the mouth of the Red Sea, saying, "We believe they are looking at investing in ports and infrastructure around the world, not just for military capabilities but also to control those governments."
The big picture: While this comes days after the Trump administration imposed tariffs on $60 billion worth of Chinese goods, the United States has long been alarmed over China's growing influence in Africa and also Latin America with billions in direct investments for long-term economic ventures.
President Trump is not adding Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing to his legal team for the Russia investigation. In a statement, Jay Sekulow, another of Trump's lawyers, said that conflicts of interest will ultimately prevent the married team from representing Trump — just days after diGenova's addition was announced last week — though Sekulow said they will work for the president on "other legal matters."
Why it matters: Trump's personal legal team is in a state of flux after its leader, John Dowd, resigned last week. And diGenova and Toensing's conflicts come just days after GOP superstar lawyer Theodore Olson rejected an offer to join the Trump team — potentially prompting Trump's tweets this morning insisting that "many lawyers and top law firms want to represent me in the Russia case."
The Trump administration wants to push ahead with its Middle East peace initiative, but that challenge has become even harder now that the Palestinians are outraged about President Trump recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
It's become relatively understood with world leaders that Russia probably poisoned ex-spy Sergei Skripal.
The bigger picture: The U.S. has said so, the E.U. recently voiced support for the U.K. in saying so; the only person who won't say is Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Kremlin has "spread a flurry of theories" to explain the nerve-agent attack, with "one common theme: It was anyone but Russia."
