Reviewing the Trump-Putin Summit

President Donald Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland, at the Mantyniemi Palace on July 16. Trump began his European trip with a NATO summit in Brussels and ended it with a meeting with Vladimir Putin. 

After the meeting between Trump and Putin, the men held a news conference where both addressed accusations that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election. Trump’s trip lasted seven-days and travelled across three-nations.

Major Headlines from the Trump-Putin Summit in Helsinki

Poor Relations Between the U.S. and Russia: The president began the summit by vaguely saying he held both the US and Russia responsible for poor relations, before blaming the U.S. (under President Barack Obama) for being “foolish” and saying relations are now improving:

• Trump: “I do. I hold both countries responsible. I think the United States has been foolish. I think we have all been foolish. We should have had this dialogue a long time ago, a long time, frankly, before I got to office. I think we’re all to blame. I think that the United States now has stepped forward along with Russia. We’re getting together and we have a chance to do some great things, whether it’s nuclear proliferation in terms of stopping — you have to do it. Ultimately, that’s probably the most important thing that we can be working on. I do feel that we have both made some mistakes.”

“No Collusion” in 2016 Election: The president insisted there was “no collusion with the campaign.” He pointed out that the indicted Russian intelligence officers were not involved with the campaign — not mentioning that they did privately communicate with his longtime adviser Roger Stone.

• Trump: “Frankly, I’m going to let the president speak to the second part of your question. Just to say it one time again and I say it all the time, there was no collusion. I didn’t know the president. There was nobody to include with. There was no collusion with the campaign. Every time you hear all of these 12 and 14 — it’s stuff that has, frankly, they admit, these are not people involved in the campaign. But to the average reader out there, they are saying, maybe that does. It doesn’t.”

The DNC server and a “Pakistani gentleman”: Later on, in the press conference, an Associated Press reporter posed an even starker question to Trump — asking him whom he believed, the US intelligence agencies asserting Putin interfered with the 2016 election or Putin’s own denials of it. He also asked whether Trump would “denounce” what happened in 2016 and “warn” Putin never to do it again.Trump did no such thing, instead immediately launching into a conspiratorial rant about the investigation and Democrats. He began by questioning why the FBI “never took” the DNC’s “server,” another favorite talking point of right-wing media.

• Trump “So let me just say that we have two thoughts. You have groups that are wondering why the FBI never took the server, why haven’t they taken the server. Why was the FBI told to leave the office of the Democratic National Committee. I’ve been wondering that. I’ve been asking that for months and months and I’ve been tweeting it out and calling it out on social media. Where is the server? I want to know where is the server and what is the server saying. With that being said, all I can do is ask the question.”

Hillary Clinton’s deleted emails and Peter Strzok: Trump alluded that the true unspecified wrongdoing must have been committed by Hillary Clinton. Here he alludes to an old classic, how Clinton deleted tens of thousands of emails on her personal account that she’d also used for work, saying those emails were personal and not work-related.

• Trump: “Where are those servers? They’re missing. Where are they? What happened to Hillary Clinton’s emails? 33,000 emails gone, just gone. I think in Russia they wouldn’t be gone so easily. I think it’s a disgrace that we can’t get Hillary Clinton’s 33,000 emails. So I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today. And what he did is an incredible offer. He offered to have the people working on the case come and work with their investigators with respect to the 12 people. I think that’s an incredible offer.”

Cable News is Outraged Over Trump’s Meeting with Putin

Within mere hours of President Trump’s press conference with Vladimir Putin concluding, cable news had worked themselves into a frenzy that suggested the sky itself must be falling.

CNN’s Anderson Cooper appeared hardest hit by the summit. While many of his colleagues were behaving as though a fire had been lit beneath their feet, Cooper spent the 2 p.m. Eastern hour sulking and sighing at length about how “disgraceful” the President’s performance had been. “I just personally think today is just an incredibly depressing moment in our time, in our history, as an American,” he huffed.  

Over at MSNBC, Russia conspiracies were plentiful. LA Times White House Reporter Eli Stokols reflected that President Trump’s past week abroad in Europe had made “Hillary Clinton seem all the more prescient,” in regard to her criticism of Trump’s stance towards Russia during the 2016 election.  

Former CIA Director and MSNBC contributor John Brennan called into “Andrea Mitchell Reports” shortly after the press conference had ended, to opine that Vladimir Putin had become “the master puppeteer of Donald Trump.” Deadline: White House host Nicolle Wallace echoed this sentiment when she asked panelists on her show, “If Vladimir Putin picked our president, does anything else matter?”

Reps. Meadows, Jordan: Ask IG to Investigate Rosenstein's Threats

Two House Freedom Caucus leaders, Representatives Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows want the Justice Department’s Inspector General to investigate whether Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein threatened congressional aides. 

Representative Meadows, chairman of the conservative group and its cofounder, Representative Jordan, made the request in a letter on Monday to Inspector General Michael Horowitz. 

Both lawmakers have been critical of the Justice Department’s handling of the 2016 campaign probes and special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Only Rod Rosenstein can dismiss Robert Mueller for cause, though as a presidential appointee, President Trump can remove Rod Rosenstein himself at will.

"This notion Mr. Rosenstein threatened to use his official investigative powers as Deputy Attorney General to retaliate against rank-and-file staff members for sending written oversight requests raises concerns he has abused his authority in the context of this investigation," they wrote. 

During a House Judiciary Committee hearing last month, Jim Jordan questioned Rod Rosenstein about the episode, citing “media reports” that indicated he had threatened Intelligence Committee staffers: “Did you threaten to subpoena their calls and emails?” he asked. 

The call for a probe comes as President Trump’s defenders in Congress have turned up the heat on the Justice Department and the FBI over their probes into the 2016 presidential candidates. This has even prompted talk of a possible impeachment of Rosenstein over what his prominent critics call a lack of transparency and cooperation with House Republican investigators. 

According to the Washington Post, Monday's letter from Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan appears to have delayed any impeachment effort for the time being. Rod Rosenstein's alleged threats at a January meeting, delivered to Republican staff members for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, were first reported last month by Fox News, which noted the threats came in retaliation for committee oversight requests. 

Some of the Freedom Caucus group members have floated the idea of impeaching Rosenstein over what they call a lack of transparency and cooperation with House Republican investigators. Meadows acknowledged in late April that he had been involved in drafting articles of impeachment as a “last resort” if the Justice Department did not cough up relevant documents. 

On Friday, talk started that the House conservatives might actually file the resolution after Mark Meadows was seen off the House floor holding a red file folder containing a piece of legislation he refused to describe to reporters. Asked then if it was a resolution to impeach Rosenstein, he said, “Certainly there are concerns about the Department of Justice and the FBI.”

CBP Says National Guard deployment led to more than 10,000 arrests of illegal immigrants

The National Guard’s deployment to the southwest border in mid-April has led to 10,085 “deployable alien arrests” of people who illegally entered the United States from Mexico. Because guardsmen are military personnel and not law enforcement officers, they cannot apprehend illegal immigrants. 

CBP officers and Border Patrol agents apprehended thousands of people that guardsmen helped point out. 

The National Guard's presence also helped lead to the interception of more than 3,300 others who were turned back before they crossed into the U.S., CBP press secretary Corry Schiermeyer said in an email to the Washington Examiner. 

The Guard's deployment has also led to an additional 11,686 pounds of marijuana being seized as a result of their work. 

There are 1,601 National Guard troops at the border assisting with various surveillance, maintenance, and related operations. That number could rise up considerably if the 4,000 National Guard troops President Trump approved on April 4 are called on in a future request from CBP. 

President Trump announced in April his decision to deploy the National Guard to the US-Mexico border until a “permanent border wall” could be erected to help crackdown on illegal entry into the United States.

The deployment is funded through the end of fiscal 2018, Sept. 30. Ronald Vitiello, then-acting CBP deputy commissioner, said in April the intent of the mission is for CBP to regain operational control of the border.

Mail Time!

• To hear Monica recount her first encounter with Putin as an aide to Nixon makes the analysis so much more relevant, who would have known, kudos Bill and Monica, as always, on point, and accurate. 

• Wow what an experience to be an Nixon's aide beside the Russian aide Putin back in '93! (How old were you, Monica?). I totally enjoyed your brilliant commentary tonight. It seems we have some of our own "professional liars" here, as in Peter Stzrok. Maybe he can get a job with the KGB. I don't think Trump is soft on Putin. He just met the man and Trump is trying to schmooze him. I do think Trump is soft on Hillary. If he can demand Hillary's server, he should. 

• With all the indictments that have been revealed so far specifically the Russian operatives, couldn't have all of them been discovered without a Special Council? Isn't that what the FBI is supposed to be doing every day?

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