Category Archives: Donald Trump

The leaders appeared downright chummy during a joint press conference on Thursday in Paris, mostly skipping by their political differences and focusing on shared priorities like Syria, terrorism and what Macron described as "free and fair trade."

"Thank you for the tour of some of the most incredible buildings anywhere in the world," Trump said as he began his own remarks. "It was a very, very beautiful thing to see."

When asked about Trump's decision to pull the US out of the Paris climate deal, Macron soberly reiterated his own position, but didn't press or attempt to publicly shame his counterpart. The schism on that issue would "absolutely not" prevent France and the US from working together on other matters, he assured, turning kindly in his Trump's direction.

Trump was clearly charmed, echoing Macron's declaration of "friendship" before enthusing at the prospect of a shared dinner later on at the Eiffel Tower. Of the climate deal, he offered: "Something could happen with respect to the Paris accord, we'll see what happens. But we will talk about that over the coming period of time and if it happens, that would be wonderful and if it doesn't that will be OK too."

Perhaps it was all a bit of stagecraft. No one expects Trump to seriously reconsider his position on the climate pact. More instructive here were Macron's machinations. In a country where leaders prove themselves in their dealings with Europe, the new president stands to gain influence at home if he proves capable of influencing Trump where others, like German Chancellor Angela Merkel, could not.

The prospect is less of a stretch than it might seem on paper.

Macron entered office this year under ostensibly different circumstances than Trump. But like the President, he pitched voters on a demolition of the status quo and a French take on Trump's promise to "drain the swamp." Macron also upended the traditional partisan hierarchy in France. Though he served as a minister in his predecessor's French Socialist government, he rules now under the banner of his own centrist party, "En Marche!" Trump, though he came to power as a Republican and governs alongside them, sold himself as a right-wing populist. The fiscal conservatism championed by Republicans like House Speaker Paul Ryan was, at least during the campaign, very much an afterthought.

The parallels and similarities have some fairly strict limits. Trump is a nationalist. Macron is a proud globalist who came to power by routing the far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen. Trump prefers bilateral diplomacy. He cheered Brexit. He wants to share a private dinner, not a microphone with dozens of world leaders. Macron believes in a robust European Union and has been among the President's foremost critics on climate change policy. Temperamentally, they are also opposites. The handshake drama is resonant, to a point, because it provides a neat example of their respective preoccupations with personal power dynamics.

But unlike Trump, who has repeatedly expressed doubts over Russia's meddling in the 2016 US election, Macron has been less circumspect on the question. He earned applause among Democrats when he skewered Russian state-owned media during a joint press conference with Vladimir Putin.

Contrast that with Trump's own meeting with Putin, after which where was no press conference. What exactly was said between Trump and Putin when the American president "pressed" the Russian one on the issue of election meddling, remains the subject of debate between their two camps.

But over the past six weeks, Macron has made waves with a handful of less easily categorized remarks and public observations.

In an address to parliament 10 days ago, he shared plans to bypass lawmakers -- whose ranks he suggesting cutting by a third -- if they slowed or opposed his agenda.

"I want all these deep reforms that our institutions seriously need to be done within a year," he said. "These reforms will go to parliament but, if necessary, I will put them to voters in a referendum."

Those comments, and Macron's tweaks to what top White House adviser Steve Bannon might call the "administrative state" didn't go unnoticed by the President's team. Turning to his French counterpart with a smile on Thursday, Trump cheered Macron's "courageous call for that less bureaucracy. It's a good chant, less bureaucracy. We can use it too."

Macron offered his July 3 remarks at the Palace of Versailles, the 17th century home of the "Sun King," Louis XIV. While past French leaders have used the venue in times of crisis, Macron chose it as a backdrop -- ominously so, critics said -- for what amounted to a policy speech.

And while that might seem at odds with Trump and his hyperactive social media presence, the leaders seem to share a low opinion of the news media covering their administrations.

Trump could only be impressed.

Continued here:

Donald Trump is not the only unpredictable leader in Paris today - CNN

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Internal Transcript

July 12, 2017

REMARKS BY PRESIDENT TRUMP

IN AN OFF-THE-RECORD CONVERSATION WITH PRESS

Aboard Air Force One

En Route Paris, France

9:15 P.M. EDT

On the visit to France:

Q When were you last in Paris? When were you last in France?

THE PRESIDENT: So I was asked to go by the President, who I get along with very well, despite a lot of fake news. You know, I actually have a very good relationship with all of the people at the G20. And he called me, he said, would you come, it's Bastille Day -- 100 years since World War I. And I said, that's big deal, 100 years since World War I. SO we're going to go, I think we're going to have a great time, and we're going to do something good. And he's doing a good job. He's doing a good job as President.

On North Korea, China, and trade:

THE PRESIDENT: A big thing we have with China was, if they could help us with North Korea, that would be great. They have pressures that are tough pressures, and I understand. And you know, don't forget, China, over the many years, has been at war with Korea -- you know, wars with Korea. It's not like, oh, gee, you just do whatever we say. They've had numerous wars with Korea.

They have an 8,000 year culture. So when they see 1776 -- to them, that's like a modern building. The White House was started -- was essentially built in 1799. To us, that's really old. To them, that's like a super modern building, right? So, you know, they've had tremendous conflict over many, many centuries with Korea. So it's not just like, you do this. But we're going to find out what happens.

Very important to me with China, we have to fix the trade. We have to fix the trade. And I've been going a little bit easier because I'd like to have their help. It's hard to go ***. But we have to fix the trade with China because it's very, very none-reciprocal.

Q Is that your bargaining chip with them to get on board with North Korea? Is, like, you want to --

THE PRESIDENT: Nobody has ever said it before. I say it all the time. Somebody said, what cards do you have? I said, very simple -- trade. We are being absolutely devastated by bad trade deals. We have the worst of all trade deals is with China.

We have a bad deal with South Korea. We're just starting negotiations with South Korea. South Korea, we protect, but we're losing $40 billion a year with South Korea on trade. We have a trade deficit of $40 billion. The deal just came up.

That was another Hillary Clinton beauty. Remember she said it was five-year deal, and now it's an extension period. She said this will put jobs in our country. She said we'll make money with it. Great. We're losing $40 billion a year. It's a horrible deal. So we're starting -- we started, as of yesterday, renegotiating the deal with South Korea. We have to.

But the biggest strength we have are these horrendous trade deals, like with China. That's our strength. But we're going to fix them. But in terms of North Korea, our strength is trade.

Q And do you think that's going to bring them around?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, yeah, when I say reciprocal -- you make reciprocal deals, you're talking about hundreds of billions of dollars. But before I did that, I wanted to give it a good shot. Let's see. And they helped us. I have a very good relationship with him. I think he's a tremendous guy. But don't forget. He's for China. I'm for the U.S. So that's always going to be.

So he could be a tremendous guy, but he's going to do what's good for China. And he doesn't want 50 million people pouring across his border. You know, there are a lot of things. I understand the other side. You always have to understand the other side.

Q What about steel?

THE PRESIDENT: Steel is a big problem. Steel is -- I mean, they're dumping steel. Not only China, but others. We're like a dumping ground, okay? They're dumping steel and destroying our steel industry, they've been doing it for decades, and I'm stopping it. It'll stop.

Q On tariffs?

THE PRESIDENT: There are two ways -- quotas and tariffs. Maybe I'll do both.

On healthcare:

THE PRESIDENT: No, I think, first, I want to do -- well, we have a few things. We have a thing called healthcare. I'm sure you haven't been reading about it too much. It is one of the -- I'd say the only thing more difficult than peace between Israel and the Palestinians is healthcare. It's like this narrow road that about a quarter of an inch wide. You get a couple here and you say, great, and then you find out you just lost four over here. Healthcare is tough.

But I think we're going to have something that's really good and that people are going to like. We're going to find out over the next -- you know, we just extended for two weeks. Which, that's a big --

On the border wall:

Q You were joking about solar, right?

THE PRESIDENT: No, not joking, no. There is a chance that we can do a solar wall. We have major companies looking at that. Look, there's no better place for solar than the Mexico border -- the southern border. And there is a very good chance we can do a solar wall, which would actually look good. But there is a very good chance we could do a solar wall.

One of the things with the wall is you need transparency. You have to be able to see through it. In other words, if you can't see through that wall -- so it could be a steel wall with openings, but you have to have openings because you have to see what's on the other side of the wall.

And I'll give you an example. As horrible as it sounds, when they throw the large sacks of drugs over, and if you have people on the other side of the wall, you don't see them -- they hit you on the head with 60 pounds of stuff? It's over. As crazy as that sounds, you need transparency through that wall. But we have some incredible designs.

But we are seriously looking at a solar wall. And remember this, it's a 2,000 mile border, but you don't need 2,000 miles of wall because you have a lot of natural barriers. You have mountains. You have some rivers that are violent and vicious. You have some areas that are so far away that you don't really have people crossing. So you don't need that. But you'll need anywhere from 700 to 900 miles.

Plus we have some wall that's already up that we're already fixing. You know, we've already started the wall because we're fixing large portions of wall right now. We're taking wall that was good but it's in very bad shape, and we're making it new. We're fixing it. It's already started. So we've actually, in the true sense -- you know, there's no reason to take it down or ***. So in a true sense, we've already started the wall.

On Donald Trump, Jr.:

THE PRESIDENT: Don is -- as many of you know Don -- he's a good boy. He's a good kid. And he had a meeting, nothing happened with the meeting. It was a short meeting as he told me -- because I only heard about it two or three days ago.

As he told me, the meeting went -- and it was attended by a couple of other people who -- one of them left after a few minutes -- which is Jared. The other one was playing with his iPhone. Don listened, out of politeness, and realized it wasn't . . . .

Honestly, in a world of politics, most people are going to take that meeting. If somebody called and said, hey -- and you're a Democrat -- and by the way, they have taken them -- hey, I have really some information on Donald Trump. You're running against Donald Trump. Can I see you? I mean, how many people are not going to take the meeting?

On President Putin and Russia:

Q Are you mad that Putin lied about the meeting that you had with him, especially about --

THE PRESIDENT: What meeting?

Q At the G20, when he said that you didn't -- you know, you accepted that the hacking wasn't real.

THE PRESIDENT: He didn't say that. No. He said, I think he accepted it, but you'd have to ask him. That's a big difference. So I said, very simply -- and the first 45 minutes, don't forget, most of the papers said I'd never bring it up. Had to be the first 20 to 25 minutes.

And I said to him, were you involved with the meddling in the election? He said, absolutely not. I was not involved. He was very strong on it. I then said to him again, in a totally different way, were you involved with the meddling. He said, I was not -- absolutely not.

Q Do you remember what the different way was that you asked --

THE PRESIDENT: Somebody said later to me, which was interesting. Said, let me tell you, if they were involved, you wouldn't have found out about it. Okay, which is a very interesting point.

Q But did you say, okay, I believe you, let's move on?

THE PRESIDENT: What I said, I asked him, were you involved? He said, very strongly -- said to him a second time -- totally different -- were you involved? Because we can't let that happen. And I mean whether it's Russia or anybody else, we can't let there be even a scintilla of doubt when it comes to an election. I mean, I'm very strong on that.

And I'm not saying it wasn't Russia. What I'm saying is that we have to protect ourselves no matter who it is. You know, China is very good at this. I hate to say it, North Korea is very good at this. Look what they did to Sony Studios. They were the ones that did the whole deal to Sony. You know, we're dealing with highly sophisticate people.

So, China is very good. You have many countries. And you have many individuals that are very good at this. But we can't have -- and I did say, we can't have a scintilla of doubt as our elections and going forward.

Q Have you told him that?

THE PRESIDENT: I told him. I said, look, we can't -- we can't have -- now, he said absolutely not twice. What do you do? End up in a fistfight with somebody, okay? Because then I brought up Syria, and I said --

Q Afterwards?

THE PRESIDENT: Very shortly there afterward. And I said, there's so much killing in Syria. We got to solve Syria. We've got to solve Ukraine. And you know, I've always said -- and I'm not just talking about Russia -- we're a lot better off -- like it's a good thing that I have a good relationship with President Xi. It's a good thing I have a good relationship with every one of them -- Modi -- you saw that. Every single one of them of all 19 -- there's 20 with us. All 19, I have a great relationship with.

More on the Visit to France and Trade:

So we're doing well. I mean, we're doing well and we're having a good time. Now what we'll do is we'll go celebrate with the President of France -- we have a good relationship -- open up a little trade with them. But it's got to be fair trade. I mean, every deal we have is bad. It's got to be fair trade.

I mean, the European Union, as an example -- I'm all for the European Union, but we have things that we can barely sell into the European Union. They're very protectionist. And we're not. And you have to be reciprocal.

To me, the word reciprocal is a beautiful word. Because people can say, we don't like a border tax or we don't like this or we don't like that. But what they can't say is that, if you're selling a motorcycle and they're coming into your country and not paying tax, and they're going into another country and paying 100 percent tax, people understand that's not fair. So we say we make it reciprocal.

More on President Putin and Russia, and on energy:

Q Do you think you'll invite Putin to the White House?

THE PRESIDENT: I would say yes, yeah. At the right time. I don't think this is the right time, but the answer is yes I would. Look, it's very easy for me to say absolutely, I won't. That's the easy thing for me to do, but that's the stupid thing to do. Let's be the smart people not the stupid people. The easiest thing for me to tell you is that I would never invite him. We will never ever talk to Russia. That all of my friends in Congress will say, oh he's so wonderful, he's so wonderful. Folks, we have perhaps the second most powerful nuclear country in the world. If you don't have dialogue, you have to be fools. Fools. It would be the easiest thing for me to say to Maggie and all of you, I will never speak to him, and everybody would love me. But I have to do what's right.

And, by the way, I only want to make great deals with Russia. Remember this, I have built up -- we're getting $57 billion more for the military. Hillary was going to cut the military. I'm a tremendous fracker, coal, natural gas, alternate energy, wind -- everything, right? But I'm going to produce much much more energy than anyone else who was ever running for office. Ever. We're going to have clean coal, and Hillary wasn't. Hillary was going to stop fracking. She was going to stop coal totally. Hey, in West Virginia I beat her by 42 points. Remember, she went and sat with the miners and they said get the hell out of here. So, I was going to -- if Hillary got in, your energy prices right now would be double. You'd be doing no fracking. You'd be doing practically no fossil fuels.

So Putin, everything I do is the exact opposite. I don't believe -- in fact, the one question that I didn't ask him that I wish I did -- but we had so many other things going, and really the ceasefire was a very complicated talk, it was a very important talk to me because I wanted to see if we could start a ceasefire.

***

Now, why does that affect Russia? Because Russia makes its money through selling of oil, and we've got underneath us more oil than anybody, and nobody knew it until five years ago. And I want to use it. And I don't want that taken away by the Paris Accord. I don't want them to say all of that wealth that the United States has under its feet, but that China doesn't have and that other countries don't have, we can't use. So now we no longer have the advantage. We have a tremendous advantage. We have more natural resources under our feet than any other country. That's a pretty big statement. Ten years ago, five years ago even, you couldn't make that statement. We're blessed. I don't want to give it up. I don't want to say oh, okay, we won't use it. But think of it. So, if Hillary is there, you're going to have a far less amount of fuel. Therefore, energy prices will be much, much higher. That's great for Russia.

So, the next time I'm with Putin, I'm going to ask him: who were you really for? Because I can't believe that he would have been for me. Me. Strong military, strong borders -- but he cares less about the borders -- but strong military, tremendous. We're going to be an exporter of fuel this year. We're going to be exporting. What was the first thing I signed when I got in? The Keystone Pipeline, and the Keystone Pipeline goes from Canada all the way through our country right into the Gulf, and the ships are there to take it all over and compete with Russia.

More on Energy:

The first thing I signed, the first day, was the Keystone Pipeline. That first * was the Keystone and the Dakota Access Pipeline -- also Dakota Access. Now, what does that mean? Dakota Access takes it to the Pacific. Who do they compete with? Russia. Hillary would have never signed -- that was with the reservation -- she would have never signed it. I was given great credit for that one. That was a tough one. First day. It's also 48,000 jobs between both of them. The other one I signed, that was the Keystone. That was dead. That was dead for two years. It was never going to happen. I revived it on day one. You know, you'll check, please check it. I have to be exactly accurate. They'll say, oh I wasn't totally accurate. But that goes to the Gulf, right? Competes with Russia.

More on Energy and Russia:

THE PRESIDENT: So now oil is getting to be record low -- and gas -- because we're producing so much. That means Russia -- and you know Russia *** is having a little hard time because it has come down so much.

On Russia sanctions:

Q But you wouldn't sign a new sanctions bill if it passes the House?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I'm not talking about new, I'm talking about the old sanctions. Wait, we got to get this right. Ready? I think I said it right but just in case. We have very heavy sanctions on Russia right now. I would not and have never even thought about taking them off. Somebody said, Donald Trump wants to -- I don't want to take them off.

Q Putin didn't raise that with you?

THE PRESIDENT: He never raised it. We did, I think, talk about the sanctions that Congress wants to pass, but it was very brief. Much of it was talked about Ukraine. Look, we talked about the elections. We talked about Ukraine and Syria. Not in that order. We talked about Syria and Ukraine. But I will just tell you, I didn't say this to him. We didn't talk about this aspect of it. I would never take the sanctions off until something is worked out to our satisfaction and everybody's satisfaction in Syria and in Ukraine.

I saw a report and I read a report that Trump wants to take off the sanctions. I've made a lot of money. I've made great deals. That's what I do. Why would I take sanctions off without getting anything?

On allegations of collusion with Russia:

THE PRESIDENT: What pressure? I didn't -- I did nothing. Hey, now it's shown there's no collusion, there's no obstruction, there's no nothing. Honestly, the whole thing, it is really a media witch hunt. It's been a media witch hunt. And it's bad for the country. You know, when you talk about Russia, if Russia actually did whatever they want to do, they got to be laughing, because look at what happens -- how much time. . . .

They feel it's a witch hunt, the people. There are a lot of people. And those people vote. They don't stay home because it's drizzling. We proved that. But every single party chairman said that my base is substantially stronger than it was in November. That's a big compliment. That's a big compliment. And I feel it.

And I think what's happening is, as usual, the Democrats have played their card too hard on the Russia thing, because people aren't believing it. It's a witch hunt and they understand that. When they say "treason" -- you know what treason is? That's Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for giving the atomic bomb, okay? But what about all the congressmen, where I see the woman sitting there surrounded by -- in Congress.

So I think it's a good thing. When Hillary Clinton spent her ads -- you know, she spent almost 100 percent of her ads on anti-Donald Trump ads. You know that. Every ad was an anti ad. When the election came, nobody knew what she stood for.

I heard tonight, and I saw tonight, and I read tonight that they're making a big mistake. And I a lot of the Democrats feel -- they say, we're putting all our money into this Russia stuff and it's making Trump stronger. Because my people and the people that support me, who are incredible people, those people are angry because they feel it's being unfair and a witch hunt.

***

END

10:15 P.M. EDT

On Don Jr, POTUS was asked if as a father he supported Don Jr. being willing to testify.

"I think if he wants to," Trump said. He mentioned that h had seen something about her being in congress recently talking to members. "She had meetings with various people. So it's the same thing."

He said the press had been unfair and said of the meeting that "they talked about the adoption stuff which was actually a big thing at the time but nothing happened." He addd, "In fact maybe it was mentioned at some point," but then when asked if he had been told that it was about Hillary Clinton and dirt against her he said no.

POTUS was asked about Kelly suggesting to CHC that DoJ has say on what happens to DACA.

"It's a decision that I make and it's a decision that's very very hard to make. I really understand the situation now," POTUS said. "I understand the situation very well. What I'd like to do is a comprehensive immigration plan. But our country and political forces are not ready yet."

He added, "There are two sides of a story. It's always tough."

See original here:

Excerpts of transcripts between Trump and press on Air Force One - CNN

By Richard A. Moss By Richard A. Moss July 13 at 11:47 AM

Donald Trump Jr. appeared on Fox News's "Hannity" on July 11 to defend his meeting with a Russian lawyer during the 2016 presidential campaign, and his father jumped to his defense on Twitter. (Amber Ferguson,Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

Yesterday, President Trump suggested in a Reuters interview that there wasnt anything surprising or wrong about his sons enthusiasm for learning secrets that he had been told were part of a Russian effort to help Trumps presidential campaign. He said:

I think many people would have held that meeting. Most of the phony politicians who are Democrats who I watched over the last couple of days most of those phonies that act holier-than-thou, if the same thing happened to them, they would have taken that meeting in a heartbeat.

Trump is right that foreign powers have tried to influence U.S. politicians in the past. Foreign powers have many ways to exercise influence in representative democracies. Some of these may be public, and others surreptitious. 2016 certainly wasnt the first time the Kremlin tried to influence a U.S. election, and Moscow is by no means alone in attempting to sway U.S. politics. However, these efforts have worked in complicated ways, andAmerican politicians have not been as quick to accept their help as Trump suggests.

Russia tried and failed to support the Democrats in 1968

In 1968, Moscow feared that the staunchly anti-communist Richard M. Nixon would be elected. To forestall that, the Kremlin decided to reach out to Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Hubert H. Humphrey. As Anatoly Dobrynin, the Soviet ambassador to the United States from John F. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan, revealed in his memoir,In Confidence, two decades ago: The top Soviet leaders took an extraordinary step, unprecedented in the history of Soviet-American relations, by secretly offering Humphrey any conceivable help in his election campaign including financial aid. Dobrynin explained:

I received a top-secret instruction to that effect from [Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei] Gromyko personally and did my utmost to dissuade him from embarking on such a dangerous venture, which if discovered certainly would have backfired and ensured Humphreys defeat, to say nothing of the real trouble it would have caused for Soviet-American relations. Gromyko answered laconically, There is a decision, you carry it out.

The opportunity soon arose for the well-connected ambassador at a breakfast at Humphreys home. Dobrynin subtly raised the issue of Humphreys campaign finances during a discussion of the election, but the vice president deflected the issue. Humphrey, I must say, Dobrynin wrote, was not only a very intelligent but also a very clever man. He knew at once what was going on. Humphrey told Dobrynin that it was more than enough for him to have Moscows good wishes which he highly appreciated. Dobrynin felt relieved that he had followed his orders and Humphrey had avoided the potentially explosive issue.

Humphrey did not mention the Soviet election outreach or even Dobrynin in his 1991 memoir, The Education of a Public Man: My Life and Politics.

Russia had tried to hurt Nixons chances in 1960

Russian worries about Nixons anti-communism did not begin in 1968. At their first face-to-face meeting in Vienna, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev joked with the new U.S. president, John F. Kennedy, that the Soviet Union had cast the deciding ballot in [Kennedys] election to the Presidency over that son-of-a-bitch Richard Nixon, in 1960. When Kennedy asked for clarification, Khrushchev explained that he had waited until after the U.S. election to release Francis Gary Powers, a U-2 spy-plane pilot shot down over the Soviet Union on May 1, 1960, to undercut Nixons claim that he could work with the Soviets.

Khrushchev may have conflated Powerss release which didnt happen until 1962 with two American survivors of an RB-47H spy plane that was shot down in July 1960. Both Nixon and Kennedy had called upon the Soviet Union to release the American pilots. Nevertheless, as Adam Taylor previously wrote in The Washington Post:

Noting that the two candidates were at a stalemate, Khrushchev recalled saying that if Powers or the other Americans were released before the election, it could give Nixon a boost. It would be better to wait until after the election, the Soviet premier thought.

My comrades agreed, and we did not release Powers, he wrote. As it turned out, wed done the right thing. Kennedy won the election by a majority of only 200,000 or so votes, a negligible margin if you consider the huge population of the United States. The slightest nudge either way would have been decisive.

Even 57 years later, the consequences of Khrushchevs actions remain difficult to assess. However, the Soviet Unions activities apparently were indirect, and did not involve any quid-pro-quo.

China possibly tried to influence U.S. politics in 1996

Moscow isnt the only foreign power that has probably tried to influence U.S. politics. The China Lobby the efforts of the Republic of China (Taiwan) under the Kuomintang has been well-documented (for example) as soliciting political, economic and military support from the 1940s to the 1970s for Chiang Kai-shek and Taiwan in opposition to Mao Zedong and the Peoples Republic of China. In addition to Taiwans efforts, and possibly to counter them, the PRC may have been involved in U.S. congressional and presidential elections during the 1990s.

In February 1997, Bob Woodward of Watergate fame and Brian Duffy wrote of alleged efforts by the PRC to direct contributions from foreign sources to the Democratic National Committee before the 1996 presidential campaign. The 1996 U.S.campaign finance controversy resulted in congressional and FBI investigations but did not lead to the appointment of an independent counsel. The Peoples Republic of China consistently denied any involvement in the U.S. election campaign.

These are the games nations play

In his interview with Reuters, Trump also said: I am not a person who goes around trusting lots of people. But [Putins] the leader of Russia. It is the second most powerful nuclear power on earth. I am the leader of the United States. I love my country. He loves his country. It should come as no surprise that Russian leaders saw it in their interests to support him.

Trumps statement suggests that countries will pursue their interests when and where they can. This reflects the pragmatic realpolitik (devotion to interests above ideals) embodied by Lord Palmerstons famous quip in 1848: We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.

In its influence campaign and possibly more direct efforts to shape the 2016 election, Russian leaders were almost certainly opposing a candidate, Hillary Clinton, who they saw as an impediment to their interests, much as the Kremlin opposed Richard Nixon in 1960 and 1968. One of the ironies of history is that the Soviet Union was able to achieve a relaxation of tensions dtente with the United States with the very person it had opposed, Nixon.

Other great powers have attempted to influence or have actually influenced elections including the United States in places like France and Italy in 1948, Latin America and elsewhere. Great powers will do so as long as it is in their interests and as long as they feel they can get away with it.

The problem is that if you are caught doing it, you, and the politicians you support, may face serious blowback, as Anatoly Dobrynin recognized in 1968 when he did his utmost to dissuade the Kremlin from attempting to support Hubert Humphrey.

Richard A. Moss is an associate research professor at the U.S.Naval War Colleges Center for Naval Warfare Studies. He is grateful to John B. Turner Jr. of Memphis for reminding him about the section of Dobrynins memoir on the 1968 election

Authors note: The views presented here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Defense Department or its components.

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Donald Trump is wrong. When Democrats were offered secret help by the Soviets, they refused. - Washington Post

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Twitter users sue Donald Trump for excluding them - The Economist (blog)

BBC News

Donald Trump: Time to work more constructively with Russia BBC News US President Donald Trump says it is time to work "constructively" with Russia after his meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. He tweeted that Mr Putin "vehemently denied" interfering in the US election at their first face-to-face encounter ... Inside Trump's Europe trip: The President settles into role of global agitatorCNN International Donald Trump Solved the CyberGizmodo Donald Trump puts US in a club of oneCNN Washington Post -Politico all 4,699 news articles »

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Donald Trump: Time to work more constructively with Russia - BBC News

John Daly is a close friend of Donald Trump, and he was among the earliest supports of this campaign for the presidency. When Daly collected his first victory in 13 years back in May, Trump praised the great guy on Twitter.

Now, Daly is returning the favor.

The catalyst was an article in theChicago Tribunefollowing the KPMG Womens PGA Championship in which LPGA Tour star Brittany Lincicome said she would prefer if President Donald Trump didnt make an appearance at the U.S. Womens Open next week, being played at Trumps golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey.

ViaGolfweek:

Hopefully maybe he doesnt show up and it wont be a big debacle and it will be about us and not him. I dont know him. I have met him probably once. I think it will be fine. Were going to play an amazing golf course and let our clubs do the talking.

Enter Daly, who sent a tweet from his official account defending his great friend and his great heart.

Original post:

John Daly defends Donald Trump's 'great heart' from critics - For The Win

Less than a week after President Donald Trump posted a video on Twitter edited to show the president body slamming the CNN logo, Donald Trump Jr. is continuing the anti-media meme war.

On Saturday, Donald Trump Jr. posted a video on Instagram that shows footage from "Top Gun" edited to appear as if Donald Trump is shooting a missile at a jet covered with the CNN logo. The CNN jet explodes after being hit by a missile from the Trump jet (the president's face is superimposed over that of Tom Cruise's "Maverick" character).

According to the Daily Caller, a far right news site, the video was originally posted on Twitter by the website's chief video editor, Richard McGinnis.

Trump Jr. reposted the video from Old Row Sports, a website owned by Barstool Sports.

President Trump has been extensively criticized for threatening the media by posting the video that appeared to portray him assaulting "CNN."

"It is a sad day when the President of the United States encourages violence against reporters," CNN said in a statement released Sunday after Trump's tweet went out.

However, supporters argued that Trump was merely attempting to communicate his views to the country, as he believes the media has treated him unfairly.

"There's a lot of cable news shows that reach directly into hundreds of thousands of viewers, and they're really not always very fair to the president," homeland security adviser, Thomas Bossert, told ABC's "This Week." "So I'm pretty proud of the president for developing a Twitter and a social-media platform where he can talk directly to the American people."

Trump's body slam video is still up on Twitter, despite arguments that it and other tweets from the president could violate the social network's abuse and harassment policy. Instagram, on the other hand, is known for more actively enforcing its anti-harassment policy, so Trump Jr.'s meme may not be up for long.

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SEE ALSO: Trump 'should start doing his' job: CNN responds to video Trump tweeted of him body slamming and punching 'CNN'

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Donald Trump Jr. one-ups his dad with new Instagram that shows the president shooting down 'CNN' - AOL

Donald Trump couldnt seem to get a hotel room organized in Hamburg for the G-20 summit, but the Presidents lawyer was sure to move late tonight to try to get formerThe Apprentice contestant Summer Zervos defamation lawsuit against the ex-reality-TV host thrown out. And one of his main targets seems to be attorney Gloria Allred.

Ms. Zervos and her counsel have openly conceded indeed, bragged that their true motivation is to use this action for political purposes as a pretext to obtain broad discovery that they hoped could be used in impeachment hearings to distract from the Presidents agenda, states the memorandum of law accompanying the motion for dismissal filed Friday in New York state court by Trumps top attorney Marc Kasowitz of NYCs Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP (read it here).

In her defamation suit filed three days before Trump was sworn in, Zervos called the ex-Apprentice host a liar and misogynist.

This action should be dismissed in its entirety, the rarely understated Kasowitz added in tonights filing, which was accompanied by dozens of exhibits of media clippings and even a press release by Zervos lawyer Allred, who seems to be one of the main wedges Trumps legal crew is trying to get traction off.

Not that Allred is the only angle the Presidents personal lawyers are ginning up.

First, and fundamentally, the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution prevents this State Court from hearing this action, whatever its merit or lack thereof, against a sitting President, Kasowitz goes on to argue broadly and jurisdictionally in the 53-page memo. While refuting the initial sexual assault allegations, the filing tonight never actually denies Zervos accusations of defamation directly. The action therefore should be dismissed without prejudice to Ms. Zervos refiling after the President leaves office, or stayed until such time, the filing also brazenly asserts, along with more rhetoric of its own and the opinion of Zervos cousin that she is simply seeking notoriety.

Allred did not respond to request for comment from Deadline tonight on the dismissal filing. Her client has until later this summer to respond in the courts.

A participant in the 2006 season of the now-shuttered NBC show, Zervos alleged during last years election that Trump tried in meetings in both New York and LA in 2007 to kiss her. Around the same time that the now infamous Access Hollywood recordings from 2005 were going public and looked to sink The Art Of The Deal authors candidacy, Zervos also claimed that in the latter meeting with Trump at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 2007 he grabbed her breasts and thrust his genitals at her in his bungalow on the property. Zervos was seeking a job in one of Trumps businesses but was disappointed in the salary she was offered, she admitted at a press conference last year with Allred by her side.

On the campaign trail, seemingly behind in the polls against Hillary Clinton and facing accusations of inappropriate behavior from a number of women, Trump typically swung back, accusing Zervos of being a liar. The candidate also detailed how Zervos had continued to pursue a job with him and even reached out to him in April 14, 2016 asking that I visit her restaurant in California.

As a part of what could be considered the far-reaching and with deep implications points put forth by Kasowitz in his desire for a dismissal is that the statements by Trump were OK in context. The remarks by the often quick to hit back candidate and now Commander-in-Chief were nothing more than heated campaign rhetoric designed to persuade the public audience that Mr. Trump should be elected president irrespective of what the media and his opponents had claimed over his 18-month campaign.

Yep, it was just standard stuff like the President last week tweeting out videos of him attacking a man with a CNN logo superimposed on his head or more on the Russian investigation, which Kasowitz is helping him with too.

Allred may be a target for the Trump Team in this suit, as she was for Bill Cosbys defense in his recent rape case mistrial, but theyve certainly given her a lot to work with tonight lets see where the L.A.-based lawyer takes it when she responds for her client.

Read this article:

Donald Trump Attacks Gloria Allred, Seeks Dismissal Of Ex-'Apprentice' Contestant's Defamation Suit - Deadline

President Trumps trip to Poland and the Group of 20 summit in Germany is yet another reminder that his presidency has the qualities of a three-ring circus, with activity coming from a variety of directions all at the same time and with no easy way in the moment to decide what is most important or credible.

Two events dominated the presidents European visit: his eagerly anticipated meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday and his tone-setting speech about the future of the West a day earlier in Warsaw. Each rightly drew worldwide attention. Both could prove to be potential foundational moments in the Trump presidency.

But there were other discordant moments that distracted from the big set pieces. They were a reminder of how difficult it is to find consistency or predictability in Trumps presidency. They included the presidents public equivocation about Russian interference in the 2016 election and his dissing of U.S. intelligence capabilities during a news conference in Poland, and then a bizarre and inaccurate tweet on Friday morning about John Podesta and Russian hacking hours before Trump was to see Putin.

[Podesta calls Trump our whack job president in response to error-filled tweet]

No recent meeting between world leaders came with such advance hype as the session between Trump and Putin. Thats because no relationship has been more fraught for Trump, because of Russias efforts to meddle in his behalf during the election backdropped by Trumps regular expressions of admiration for Putin.

This was more than an opportunity for Trump and Putin to get acquainted and to take a measure of each other, more than a moment for photo ops and handshakes and other trappings that often signify little. Dangers from North Koreas nuclear pursuits, the war in Syria (where the two agreed to try to enforce a cease-fire in the southwestern part of the country) and the overall fight against the Islamic State demanded serious and presumably frank discussions.

That their meeting lasted far longer than scheduled at two hours and 15 minutes, it was more than twice as long as planned was not a surprise. The leaders of the nations with the worlds biggest nuclear arsenals and with clear differences about many issues had a potential agenda that could have kept them together hours longer. The lengthy meeting was a constructive sign, given the state of the relationship.

What isnt known is what Trump, who is quick to judge the strengths and weaknesses of people, made of Putin. Did he emerge from their two hours of talks and sparring with a different impression of the Russian leader? Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the two had good chemistry. Trump is susceptible to flattery. Did he leave with a feeling that Putin was more trustworthy or less trustworthy than when he entered the room?

Then, of course, there was the elephant in the room, which was Russias role in the U.S. election. Pregame speculation questioned whether Trump would even address it face to face. He did, but there were conflicting accounts of what was said on that topic.

Tillerson said Trump had started the meeting by raising the issue of Russian interference and that Putin had offered what is his standard denial that the Russians did anything nefarious during the 2016 campaign.

Just how forcefully Trump pressed the issue Tillerson said the president brought it up more than once is so far unknown. There was no immediate indication of any softening of the sanctions imposed by the Obama administration in retaliation to the hacking, which has been a Russian goal. But the readouts suggested that Trump had no appetite for a sustained argument about Russias behavior.

As he has signaled in other interactions with other world leaders, Trump is transactional and therefore willing to look past such things as human rights abuses and other transgressions that have drawn rebukes from previous U.S. administrations as he pursues other goals. Whether that approach will produce desired results hasnt been given a full test, although it has not prompted the kind of tough action by China toward North Korea that Trump wants.

Tillerson told reporters in Hamburg that neither leader was eager to re-litigate the past, that their differences on Russian meddling were intractable and that each was looking for a way to put the relationship between these two adversaries on firmer and more positive footing.

On one key point, the accounts of the meeting were at odds. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Trump had listened to Putins denial of interference, had accepted those statements and had dismissed the investigation into Russian interference. Tillerson said Putin, despite the denials, had nonetheless agreed to talks about noninterference in U.S. elections.

[Kremlin defends account of Trump-Putin talks]

What Trump said in response to Putins denial is a critical question, given what he said the day before at a news conference. Asked by reporters on Thursday whether he fully accepted U.S. intelligence findings of Russian interference, Trump again declined to give a clear answer. I think it could very well have been Russia, but I think it could well have been other countries, he said. Trump added that a lot of people interfere and have been for some time. Nobody really knows for sure, he said.

If that is Trumps true belief, and he has said it often enough over many months to make it seem as though it is what he thinks, then how exactly did he raise the issue directly with Putin, and how forcefully did he press the case when Putin offered his denial? Having raised it with the Russian leader, is that the end of it for the president, at least in terms of what he plans to do either to punish the Russians or aggressively look to prevent a repeat performance in 2018 or 2020?

His true feelings may have come out on Friday morning when he tweeted, Everyone here is talking about why John Podesta refused to give the DNC server to the FBI and the CIA. Disgraceful! There are any number of inaccuracies in that tweet, and Podesta, on a road trip with his wife, pointed them out in a response published by The Washington Post. Trumps tweet was a reminder that, on matters related to Russia and the election, the president continues to look for diversions and digressions, raising more questions about what transpired in his meeting with Putin.

Trumps speech in Warsaw drew more positive reviews than his address to NATO when he was in Europe in May. In Poland, he unequivocally reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to Article 5 of the NATO treaty dealing with common defense. In May, he pointedly did not.

His speech was nationalistic in tone, yet different from some in the past. Critics found the speech still too dark in tone. The Economist called it a departure from past administrations, and not that far from the American carnage language of his inaugural address, a philosophy that champions closed borders and that does not celebrate pluralistic values.

More positively, the Wall Street Journal said that, in his affirmative defense of the western tradition, Trump offered the core of what could become a governing philosophy. The editorial ended with this statement, It was an important and, we hope, a defining speech for the Trump presidency and for Donald Trump himself.

That, like the question of what Trump truly thinks about Putin, Russia and the interference in American democracy, is the persistent puzzle about this president. Are speeches like the one he gave in Warsaw genuine expressions of his views or more the assembled consensus of his advisers? Are his views expressed best in readouts by advisers from his private discussions with the likes of Putin, or by what he says during his infrequent news conferences or his more frequent tweets? Answers still to come.

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Who is the real Donald Trump? - Washington Post

Don't expect him to apologize, though.

The lonely US role at the G20 summit, a forum of the world's most powerful economies that Washington once dominated, is exactly consistent with what Trump sees as his mandate for a nationalistic, "America first" foreign policy.

As Trump boarded Air Force One in Germany for the long flight across the Atlantic, some G20 leaders were left to reflect that their fears that he would be a disruptive force on the world stage have unarguably come true.

By now, most US allies had expected to be settling into the Hillary Clinton era, forging progress based on a shared vision of Western civilization, pursuing familiar multilateral approaches to saving the planet and to globalization.

Instead, they are learning to live with a sometimes capricious American President keen to redefine the West in his own nationalist image, who goes against the consensus of centrist, multilateral international politics, and who is not afraid to pull at the divisions existing within the European Union.

The United States' step back has left other nations, especially Germany under veteran Chancellor Angela Merkel, to take up the banner of traditional Western leadership -- a stunning scenario given Washington's decades-long role as the most prominent player in global diplomacy.

At the end of Saturday's meeting in Hamburg, Trump declined to give a traditional end-of-summit press conference, leaving it to leaders like Merkel, Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron to give their take on developments with no push-back from the US side.

But it didn't need a rare presidential press conference to make clear that the President's second trip abroad showed just how much he has reshaped America's role in the world since taking office six months ago.

The President appeared increasingly at ease on the international stage, mixing with foreign leaders, holding a flurry of bilateral meetings and sitting through long summit sessions -- even if his daughter Ivanka caused a stir by briefly sitting in him for him in one meeting Saturday.

The broad language appeared to be an attempt to keep Washington in the big G20 tent in terms of trade policy, even though leaders recognize there are broad differences of approach. The President won the White House partly by arguing that large multilateral trade deals had shattered the American economy, and he also has cast doubt on the existence of global warming and said the Paris accord would kill US jobs.

Merkel used the word "deplore" to describe her reaction to the US withdrawal from the Paris pact that Trump's predecessor Barack Obama played a prominent role in negotiating. The German leader pointedly noted that the other 19 of the group's 20 nation's agreed the climate change agreement was "irreversible."

The most significant moment of Trump's trip was his more than two-hour meeting with Putin, in which he raised the issue of alleged Russian election meddling. But there were conflicting accounts from each side over whether the President had accepted Putin's insistence that he had done nothing wrong.

A senior Trump administration official told CNN on Friday, however, that Trump did not accept Putin's claim of noninterference.

The meeting will be interpreted by many of Trump's critics as a sign that Russia will pay no real price for an alleged attempt to help defeat Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

But in geopolitical terms, it was also significant. Trump effectively welcomed Putin back to the international stage as an equal, validating the Russian leader's core goal of reestablishing Russia's lost influence. Just last month, the US and European Union respectively tightened and extended sanctions on Russia over its alleged incursion in Ukraine. European leaders hope the meeting between Trump and Putin does not mean a weakening of the US position on the Ukraine question, more than three years after Russia's takeover of Crimea.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson explained that the relationship between the world's two top nuclear powers was too important to let the estrangement between Moscow and Washington linger any longer.

"How do we start making this work? How do we live with one another? How do we work with one another?" he said.

Trump did go some way to living up to his claims to being a master deal-maker presiding, along with Russia and Jordan, over a renewal of a ceasefire deal in southwestern Syria. The deal could lead to more US-Russia cooperation in the looming post-ISIS future in the shattered nation, but critics will see it as Washington acquiescing in Russia's geopolitical influence in the region.

It is also clear that there are sharp differences emerging on what exactly the West, the block of liberal, democratic, globalized nations, that have dominated global politics since World War II, should stand for.

Trump's speech in Warsaw on Thursday -- already one of the seminal moments of his presidency -- set out a strikingly different world view than his predecessors.

"The fundamental question of our time is whether the West has the will to survive," Trump said. "Do we have enough respect for our citizens to protect our borders?"

Those words, coming from a President who has tried to impose a ban on travel by residents of six predominantly Muslim nations to the US, and halted refugee admittances, appeared to be a clear critique of European leaders who have permitted Muslim immigration which critics say threatens Western values.

"Do we have the desire and the courage to preserve our civilization in the face of those who would subvert and destroy it?" he said in a remark that may have been aimed at Merkel herself, who let hundreds of thousands of refugees into Germany -- a move harshly criticized by Trump during his campaign.

While Trump's remarks could be popular in Poland and its right-wing government, they might have set him on a collision course with other allied leaders who view his actions and rhetoric as a far greater threat to Western values than immigration.

There is also frustration in Germany, and in Europe more generally, at the President's repeated criticisms of the trade imbalance between Washington and Berlin, a sentiment that has come through in Merkel's rhetoric as she campaigns for a fourth term in office ahead of September's election.

While Trump was isolated from most of America's allies at the G20, he smartly offered a valuable political gift to one leader, weakened British Prime Minister Theresa May.

The President said that he expected a trade deal that would bolster Britain after its exit from the EU could be agreed to "very, very quickly."

The move stored up a favor, should he need May to return it, in the months to come.

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Donald Trump puts US in a club of one - CNN