The Note: Trump’s ‘America first’ approach tested
“I'm not, and I don't want to be, the president of the world,” Trump said.
— -- TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS with ABC’s RICK KLEIN and SHUSHANNAH WALSHE
Day No. 76
THE BIG STORY: “I'm not, and I don't want to be, the president of the world,” President Trump said Tuesday. The context of those comments had nothing to do with the unfolding tragedy in Syria. But the latest shocking and horrifying events will test this White House’s stance when it comes to world leadership and human-rights abuses, particularly in this week that includes three world leaders’ visits to the United States. Trump’s instinct on Syria seems to push him in the direction of criticizing President Obama for his inaction on the infamous “red line.” That’s one thing, but his U.N. ambassador and even now his secretary of state are going further. “Russia and Iran also bear great moral responsibility for these deaths,” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said. Does the president agree? And will his administration insist on the Assad regime’s ouster, or will he endorse what Tillerson said just last week: that Assad’s fate “will be decided by the Syrian people”? And Syria is far from the only foreign policy test on the president’s plate. Another missile launch from North Korea just two days before he meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Florida is yet another challenge for Trump. While the secretary of state made clear overnight he’s done discussing North Korea, the threat is increasingly the focus of the Mar-a-Lago summit.
THE SLEEPER STORY: Health care is back. Vice President Mike Pence huddled with a group of centrist and conservative House Republicans Tuesday night and they had a “good talk,” according to the VP, but no agreement was made and they did not see any new legislative text. The question remains what will happen to critical components of Obamacare like essential health benefits. If pre-existing condition coverage is effectively undermined by giving states the ability to opt out of the community ratings provision, it could allow insurers to charge sick and older consumers more for health insurance. The White House knows it can’t alienate the moderates while courting conservatives so the question remains where to go from here? The conversations will continue today and we know for many Republicans (and the White House) this remains a priority. House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, R-N.C., Tuesday night told reporters the message from the president, who gave him a call Tuesday, is that "they want to get this done as quickly as possible on behalf of the American people." Meadows said it’s even "premature" to suggest House Republicans can't vote on the measure by the end of the week, though it appears unlikely.
THE SHINY STORY: The fallout over Susan Rice’s request to “unmask” the identities of some Trump campaign and transition officials continues. Three Republican members of Congress and allies of the president have now sent a letter to the House and Senate Intelligence committees demanding that President Obama’s former national security adviser testify and that her “behavior appears negligent, at best, and criminal, at worst.” Rice said Tuesday that it is "absolutely false” that the names were unmasked for political purposes, explaining it was all part of her job. "I leaked nothing to nobody,” she said in the interview with MSNBC. “Unmasking” isn’t leaking, instead, the name in the intelligence reports is only revealed to the person who requested it. These developments still do not explain or give any credibility to the president’s tweets a month ago claiming then-President Obama wiretapped Trump Tower in New York during the campaign. This story may not be going anywhere right now, but there’s still no smoking gun, even if Republicans would like to claim there is, and we still have no evidence whatsoever the former president wiretapped his successor.
TLDR: The continuing crisis in Syria and the latest tragic events are a new world leadership test for the president, but conflicting statements from the White House and the secretary of state make it unclear where the administration will go from here: insist on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s ouster or not?
PHOTO OF THE DAY: This image shows the president’s holding a (very large) regulation chart as he makes remarks at the 2017 North America's Building Trades Unions National Legislative Conference at the Washington Hilton Tuesday. He told attendees his trillion-dollar infrastructure plan would rebuild the country’s roads, bridges, airports and more, a promise of his campaign.
NOTABLES
--WHITE HOUSE BLAMES OBAMA ADMIN FOR SUSPECTED SYRIA CHEMICAL ATTACK: White House press secretary Sean Spicer said on Tuesday that a suspected chemical attack in a Syrian town was a "consequence of the past administration's weakness and irresolution." "Today's attack is reprehensible and cannot be ignored by the civilized world," Spicer told reporters. "These heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a consequence of the past administration's weakness and irresolution. President Obama said in 2012 that he'd establish a red line against the use of chemical weapons and then did nothing. The U.S. stands with our allies across the globe to condemn this intolerable act." The alleged Syrian government airstrike, in the town of Khan Sheikhoun in northern Syria, killed at least 72 civilians, including 20 children, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based monitoring group. The Syria Civil Defense and the Health Directorate in Idlib said that more than 50 people were killed and 300 injured. ABC’s LENA MASRI has more: http://abcn.ws/2nYmm89
--NORTH KOREA LAUNCHES MISSILE INTO SEA OF JAPAN: North Korea has launched a KN-15 missile from its eastern coast into the Sea of Japan, U.S. officials said Tuesday. The test comes just days before Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet with President Donald Trump in Florida, during which North Korea is expected to be a major point of discussion. "U.S. Pacific Command detected and tracked what we assess was a North Korean missile launch at 11:42 a.m. Hawaii time April 4," said Commander David Benham, a spokesman for U.S. Pacific Command, in a statement. And in a seemingly terse statement, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said, "North Korea launched yet another intermediate range ballistic missile. The United States has spoken enough about North Korea. We have no further comment." ABC's LUIS MARTINEZ has more: http://abcn.ws/2oXN12z
--SUSAN RICE SAYS IT'S 'ABSOLUTELY FALSE' THAT OBAMA OFFICIALS UNMASKED NAMES FOR POLITICAL PURPOSES: Former national security adviser Susan Rice says it's "absolutely false" that Obama administration officials unmasked names of Donald Trump's presidential campaign and transition team members for political purposes, reports ABC's RYAN STRUYK. "I leaked nothing to nobody," she told MSNBC on Tuesday afternoon. "If I saw an intelligence report that looked potentially significant ... I can make that request," Rice said of unveiling names of American citizens in intelligence reports. http://abcn.ws/2nFVLKI
--WHITE HOUSE CONTINUES TO SELL CHANGES TO FAILED HEALTH CARE BILL TO GOP: Vice President Mike Pence and other top White House officials continued discussions with House Republicans on changes to the GOP health care bill Tuesday, in an effort to push the chamber to act on the measure before members leave Washington for Easter recess. Pence, who has huddled with moderates and members of the House Freedom Caucus this week, returned to Capitol Hill Tuesday evening for a meeting with top Republicans from leadership and different wings of the GOP conference to discuss potential changes to the American Health Care Act two weeks after a lack of support for the bill forced House Speaker Paul Ryan to pull the measure from the floor, ABC’s BENJAMIN SIEGEL reports. In a news conference Tuesday, Ryan said he was encouraged by the renewed health care discussions, but refused to lay out a timeline for a vote on the measure. "I don't want to put some kind of an artificial deadline because we're at that conceptual stage," Ryan, R-Wisconsin, told reporters at the Capitol. "We have very productive conversations occurring among our members." http://abcn.ws/2oWpGhZ
--POWERHOUSE POLITICS - REP. TED POE SAYS HOUSE GOP 'WILL HAVE ANOTHER BITE AT THE APPLE' ON HEALTH CARE: Last week, Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, became the first conservative Republican to jump ship from the House Freedom Caucus after the group effectively blocked the GOP health care plan last month. Now that the GOP is reportedly working to resurrect the bill he supported, Poe says he thinks House Republicans “will have another bite at the apple.” House Republicans have discussed some changes to the bill that they hope will bring more “yes” votes to the table, writes ABC's RILEY BEGGIN. http://abcn.ws/2n8Ukbx
SPEED READ with ABC’s ADAM KELSEY
TRUMP CAMPAIGN ADVISER SAYS INFO PROVIDED TO RUSSIAN SPIES WAS 'IMMATERIAL.' New York energy consultant Carter Page told ABC News Tuesday that he gave Russian spies, who held themselves out as trade officials, in New York only “immaterial” information as they sought to recruit him as an intelligence source two years before he became a foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign. “Any information I could give is, again, immaterial and all public information,” he said during a break in a New York energy conference. Page now appears to have been one of several individuals with ties to the Trump presidential campaign who had been targeted by Russian intelligence agents. ABC’s BRIAN ROSS, MATTHEW MOSK, CHO PARK, and ALEX HOSENBALL have more: http://abcn.ws/2nH1iRk
WHY THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT'S REVIEW OF POLICE AGREEMENTS MATTERS. One of the key -- and most controversial -- roles the Justice Department has come to play is policing the police in the United States. The DOJ has reviewed the Chicago and Baltimore police departments, and it has investigated police-involved shootings, such as the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Missouri, and other fatal encounters with law enforcement, such as the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore. Both incidents sparked a wave of protests across the country, ABC's MIKE LEVINE writes. http://abcn.ws/2o6pEHc
IVANKA TRUMP SAYS SHE'S 'COMPLICIT' IN BEING A 'FORCE FOR GOOD' AMID 'UNPRECEDENTED SITUATION.' In her first interview since taking a formal position as part of her father's administration, Ivanka Trump defended herself against a growing public impression that she plays a passive role in the midst of several swirling executive branch controversies. Asked by CBS News' Gayle King to "weigh in" on how she feels about the criticism that she is "complicit" in the actions of President Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump spun the question to imply that she's a party to positive endeavors, notes ABC's ADAM KELSEY. http://abcn.ws/2n8T6Nu
NATIONAL ARCHIVES ADVISES WHITE HOUSE TO PRESERVE ALL TRUMP TWEETS, INCLUDING DELETED ONES. The National Archives has advised the White House to save all of President Trump's tweets, even the ones he deletes, according to a letter the agency sent to two Democratic senators. "[The National Archives and Records Administration] has advised the White House that it should capture and preserve all tweets that the president posts in the course of his official duties," Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero wrote in a letter to Sens. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Tom Carper, D-Del. ABC's ALI ROGIN and VERONICA STRACQUALURSI have more: http://abcn.ws/2oAGMFt
NCAA SATISFIED WITH NORTH CAROLINA 'BATHROOM BILL' REPLACEMENT. The National Collegiate Athletic Association appears to be satisfied with the semi-repeal of North Carolina's so-called bathroom bill and is prepared to hold tournaments in the state once more, report ABC's PAUL BLAKE and AARON KATERSKY. The group, charged with organizing college basketball championships nationally, pulled seven tournament events from the Tar Heel State last summer, citing the 2016 law known as HB2, which barred people from using bathrooms that didn't match the sex indicated on their birth certificates. http://abcn.ws/2nTMZcX
NO, THE U.S. HOUSE DIDN'T VOTE TO BLOCK SHARIA LAW. A fake news story claiming the U.S. House passed a bill to block Sharia law has gotten twisted around online. Though no such bill has passed, the story does have its roots in actual events in a western state, explains ABC's RYAN STRUYK. The original fake news story, flagged by Facebook users as part of ABC News' partnership with Facebook, claims the House passed a bill to prohibit Sharia law in the United States. Sharia law is a set of religious rules that govern devout Muslim behavior, usually, in modern times, in their private lives. http://abcn.ws/2oYgg5B
WHAT WE’RE READING
‘ANALYSIS: A NEW WAY CAN BEGIN BY MAKING THE MEANS MATTER’: It is time we stop the end-justifies-the-means approach to politics, business and life in general. That approach to so many areas of our world has contributed to dysfunctional politics, to corrupt behaviors and to normalizing actions for which we would punish our children, inside or outside our homes, writes ABC's MATTHEW DOWD. http://abcn.ws/2oHicA1
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
CHELSEA CLINTON DOESN'T RULE OUT HER MOM RUNNING FOR PUBLIC OFFICE AGAIN. Will Hillary Clinton ever run for public office again? Her daughter Chelsea won't rule out the possibility. "I have no idea. I don't think so," Clinton said in an interview Tuesday on "CBS This Morning." As for her own political aspirations, Clinton shot down any talk of her running on the Democratic ticket in the next presidential election. "I clearly don't agree with our president. But I'm definitely not the right person to run to defeat him in 2020," Clinton said. "So right now the answer is no." http://abcn.ws/2oxTSE5
WHO’S TWEETING?
@IvankaTrump: Heartbroken and outraged by the images coming out of Syria following the atrocious chemical attack yesterday.
@StevenTDennis: Merkley is still going. Pulled a legit all-nighter fighting Gorsuch.
@maryaliceparks: Merkley staff says he ran 'Ironman Triathlon' in Nov. "So if anyone can keep going, he can," they said as he holds Senate floor over Gorsuch
@NorahODonnell: “But I think most of the impact I have, over time most people will not actually know about” @IvankaTrump only on @CBSThisMorning @GayleKing
@DavidWright_CNN: Ivanka Trump on disagreements with father: "I would say not to conflate lack of public denouncement with silence." (CBS)
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