The Note: Keeping Trump inside the guardrails
Republicans offered up guardrails to the boundaries the president can stretch.
The TAKE with Rick Klein
Before eyes turn toward a possible Washington summit with Vladimir Putin, and before the subject changes yet again, this week revealed some truths that even President Donald Trump can’t change.
Yes, Trump is doing and saying things regarding Russia that no president has before – raising questions about his competence as well as his loyalty. Yes, yet again, most of his party is going along with him, through all the White House’s contradictory and worrisome explanations.
But a handful of Republican officials – some in Trump’s own administration, some just sharing a party affiliation – offered up guardrails, if not quite limits, to the boundaries the president can stretch.
Trump’s handpicked FBI director and intelligence chief made clear that their loyalties are to American intelligence agencies, not necessarily to the whims or beliefs of the president.
On Capitol Hill, critical GOP voices were loud enough to be recognized, although not loud enough to force real action. It was again left to a retiring senator to go where few of his colleagues would publicly, pointing to the “dark mystery” that looms, even as Helsinki fades.
“Why did he do that? What would compel our president to do such a thing?” Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., asked on the Senate floor. “Those are questions that urgently beg for an answer, and it is our job to find that answer.“
The RUNDOWN with MaryAlice Parks
While the week started with Republicans on Capitol Hill largely aghast, by midweek it was obvious most GOPers were not planning to take serious action to respond to the president’s comments or behavior on Russia (though, again, so many of them said they were concerned by it).
All week, Republicans said they did, in fact, think Russians tried to interfere in the 2016 U.S. elections. Even so, on Thursday, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn blocked a non-binding, symbolic resolution that stated: The Senate agreed with the intelligence community, thought Russia should be held accountable and would hold hearings to understand what happened in Helsinki.
It was looking like a week of Republican dithering and kowtowing.
Then later Thursday, an anomaly and a reminder of just how small the party’s Senate majority is.
Tim Scott, the Republican Party’s lone African-American senator, sunk a Trump administration judicial nominee.
Scott, from South Carolina, told his colleagues he prepared to vote against a federal appeals court pick after some of the judge’s writings from college came to light. Critics called the writings racist.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell scratched the vote and the White House pulled the nomination.
A big deal, plus a notice that with the Republican majority so thin, it takes only one or two of them to knock something down. Could it still happen to Trump’s Supreme Court nominee?
The TIP with Esther Castillejo
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher’s ties to Russia have been a top campaign issue in his race in Southern California’s 48th district, and the veteran congressman this week gave critics plenty of fodder given his positions on the Helsinki summit, the investigations into Russia’s election interference, and his connections to an indicted Russian woman being called a possible real-life “Red Sparrow.”
Rohrabacher is already facing his toughest re-election bid yet. In June, his lead had shrunk to nearly 30 points below where it was during his last primary in 2016, and even a former protégé has sought to unseat him.
Now, there’s renewed interest in Rohrabacher’s Russia connections, an ongoing issue that even prompted House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy back in 2016 to say: “There’s two people, I think, Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump.”
Within hours of the Helsinki summit, Rohrabacher, who is seeking a 16th term in Congress, defended President Trump’s overtures to Vladimir Putin, blasting critics who said Trump had not been forceful enough in denouncing election meddling.
“We meddle all over the world at a much higher rate than what Moscow does,” the congressman said on Bloomberg television. “I think that it is wrong for some people, and one country to go into another country and meddle into their electoral process. And you know what? We do it aggressively and at a much higher level than Russia does.”
Rohrabacher said the Justice Department going public with the indictment of 12 Russian operatives just days before the summit was “an attempt to undermine and disrupt this president’s right to be president.”
And he called the charges against Maria Butina, the gun-rights activist and alleged Russian agent indicted this week, “bogus” in an interview with Politico. The congressman, while not accused of any wrongdoing, admits to having met Butina during a 2015 congressional delegation visit to Moscow, but stops short of confirming he’s the congressman mentioned in an FBI affidavit.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“OK … that’s going to be special.” – A surprised Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, during a live interview with NBC’s Andrea Mitchell, after she informed him the White House had just tweeted Donald Trump planned to invite Vladimir Putin to the White House this fall.
NEED TO READ
Trump planning to invite Putin to Washington this fall: White House. President Donald Trump has instructed National Security Adviser John Bolton to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to Washington this fall and “discussions are already underway,” according to a tweet from White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. (Roey Hadar) https://abcn.ws/2zSB6Od
Republicans block Democrat attempt to subpoena Trump interpreter. Republicans blocked an attempt Thursday morning to subpoena the interpreter who sat in on President Donald Trump’s one-on-one meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland on Monday. (John Parkinson) https://abcn.ws/2zRQpXr
Despite summit blowback, many GOP candidates stick by Trump on Russia. The stand by Republican candidates comes as a CBS News poll released Thursday shows that while just 32 percent of Americans overall approve of President Trump's handling of his summit with Putin, 68 percent of Republicans back the President's approach. (John Verhovek) https://abcn.ws/2uBu9Mk
Trump calls 'fake news' media 'the real enemy of the people' over Putin summit. President Donald Trump called the "fake news media" the "real enemy of the people" Thursday, tweeting that the summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this week was “a great success.” (Nataly Pak and Matt Seyler) https://abcn.ws/2LzvJob
Coats learns live that Trump inviting Putin to White House: 'Say that again?' Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats was being interviewed on stage at the Aspen Security Forum Thursday when he was surprised to hear President Donald Trump was inviting Vladimir Putin to Washington this fall. (Matt Seyler) https://abcn.ws/2JDhhK0
WH says Trump now 'disagrees' with Putin proposal to question former US ambassador. After political backlash from Republicans and well as Democrats, the White House said Thursday President Donald Trump now "disagrees" with Russian President Putin's proposal that Russian investigators be allowed to question Americans, including a former U.S. ambassador to Moscow. (Alexander Mallin and Jordyn Phelps) https://abcn.ws/2uB2dYT
Prosecutors allege Russian agent maintained 'duplicitous relationship' with political operative. Federal prosecutors believe that Maria Butina, the Russian gun-rights activist who was recently arrested and charged with acting as a foreign agent, maintained a “duplicitous relationship” with an American political operative for the purposes of gaining access to U.S. political organizations. (Pete Madden and Lucien Bruggeman) https://abcn.ws/2Laeluf
DHS chief says 'too soon' to tell if Trump-Putin relationship will have any real impact. The nation’s top Homeland Security official, charged with helping to stop foreign hackers from breaking into U.S. systems, says it’s still not clear whether President Donald Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this week will produce any significant results, but Trump “continues to work on the relationship.” (Mike Levine) https://abcn.ws/2LjimvL
US citizen, believed to have been fighting for ISIS, detained in Syria. Ibraheem Musaibli, who is now at a holding facility, was detained by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) -- the U.S.-led coalition's partner force fighting ISIS in Syria, the official said. (Elizabeth McLaughlin) https://abcn.ws/2Lvli4Z
Nunes used political donations to buy $15k Celtics tickets, lavish dinners. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., used funds from New PAC, his leadership political action committee, to purchase steak dinners, limo rides, and nearly $15,000 in Boston Celtics basketball games tickets, Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings show. (Lee Harris) https://abcn.ws/2uRVWHu
About 14 percent of children aged 5-17 reunited, US says. Of the 2,551 children stripped from their parents or family members, 364 have been reconnected, according to the latest statement U.S. Health and Human Services provided to ABC News. Of the 103 children younger than 5, 57 have been reconnected. (Justin Doom) https://abcn.ws/2Lm2eJH
Trump administration proposes major changes to endangered species protections. The Trump administration announced Thursday it wants to redefine several parts of the law that protects polar bears and other endangered species in the U.S., a move that advocacy groups say will "slam a wrecking ball" into efforts to keep animals from becoming extinct. (Stephanie Ebbs) https://abcn.ws/2mwxms4
Lapses at all levels of government made Flint water crisis worse: Watchdog. The Environmental Protection Agency's internal watchdog says that all levels of government -- federal, state, and local -- failed their oversight responsibilities to ensure that the residents of Flint, Michigan had clean water. (Stephanie Ebbs) https://abcn.ws/2L6X4lE
Pompeo Shifts Russia Focus to Another Issue: Religious Freedom Image. The New York Times reports: https://nyti.ms/2JCEOe4
The Washington Post reports: White House: Trump asked senior aide to invite President Putin to Washington in the fall. https://wapo.st/2uC3Mpj
The Note is a daily ABC News feature that highlights the key political moments of the day ahead. Please check back Monday for the latest.
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