July 21, 2018 - Pence, Bolton, Kelly confronted Trump in Oval Office about Russia comments
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National security advisor John Bolton listens while President Donald Trump speaks to the press before a meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in the Oval Office on July 2, 2018. (Brendan Smialowski / AFP)
Facing condemnation from allies and foes alike on Capitol Hill, President Donald Trump was outnumbered even in the Oval Office. Top aides gathered to convince the president to issue a rare walk-back of the comments he'd made raising doubts about U.S. intelligence conclusions of Russian election interference as he stood alongside Vladimir Putin.
Vice President Mike Pence, national security adviser John Bolton and chief of staff John Kelly stood united in the West Wing on Tuesday in their contention that the commander in chief had some cleanup to do. They brought with them words of alarm from Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, as well as from a host of congressional leaders and supporters of the president for whom Trump's public praise of Putin proved to be a bridge too far.
Even for Trump, a leader who has increasingly come to cast off the constraints and guidance of aides, the him-against-the-world position proved untenable. Trump may like doing things his way, eschewing advice and precedent like no president before, but he never likes being alone.
Walking off stage with Putin following their joint press conference in Helsinki, Trump was riding high after his second summit with an adversarial leader in as many months. The highly choreographed affairs had been sought out by the U.S. leader as a way to boost his credibility abroad and his favorability at home, and he believed the latest one had accomplished the task.
But as Air Force One took off into Finland's endless sunlight on Monday night, Trump's mood darkened.
He told confidants in the days that followed that he was pleased with how his summit with Putin went, believing he had taken the measure of the man and opened the door to deals down the road on a number of thorny issues.
But that was not how it was being portrayed back home.
On the long flight back to Washington, the president began dialing around to allies and aides and started to stew about negative media coverage, even from usually friendly Fox News, according to five outside allies and Republicans close to the White House not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations.
The reviews he received were muted — Trump rarely takes kindly to direct confrontation — but it was a taste of what awaited him on his return in Washington, where stalwart allies like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich were speaking out.
By the time he arrived home, the parade of critical statements had become a stampede, leaving Trump the most isolated he'd been in the White House since last year's controversy over white supremacist protesters in Charlottesville. Some in the president's circle saw parallels in the response to that incident, when the president walked back his August comments critical of "both sides" for protests in the Virginia city, only to later revert to his initial position — that both white supremacists and their detractors shared blame for the violence.
Trump waited 27 hours, sent five tweets and sat for two television interviews after his initial comments in Helsinki before claiming he'd used a confusing "double negative" and meant "would" instead of "wouldn't" in a key sentence at his press conference about who was responsible for election meddling.
"The sentence should have been: I don't see any reason why I wouldn't -- or why it wouldn't be Russia," the president said Tuesday before a meeting with Republican members of Congress.
The next day brought a fresh challenge. Trump appeared to answer "no" to a reporter's question asking whether Russia was still targeting the U.S. Hours later, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders emerged to say Trump had merely tried to put a stop to the questioning by saying "no," although he continued discussing Russia after that.
And Sanders created a fresh headache for the administration when she said the White House was still reviewing a proposal from Putin to allow access by Russian law enforcement officials to Americans whom the Kremlin accuses of unspecified crimes in return for U.S. access to interrogations of Russian agents indicted for their alleged roles in interfering in the 2016 election.
The State Department, by contrast, rejected the proposal — which Trump days earlier had called an "incredible offer — as "absurd."
Many in the White House did not immediately see fault in Sanders' comments that the West Wing was merely considering the Kremlin offer, but it provided fresh tinder for the bipartisan firestorm.
As each White House effort to clean up the situation failed to stem the growing bipartisan backlash, Trump's mood worsened, according to confidants. He groused about his staff for not better managing the fallout. He was angry at the two American reporters, including one from The Associated Press, who asked questions at the Helsinki news conference. And he seethed at the lack of support he believed he received from congressional Republicans.
Also a target of the president's ire was Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats , who issued a rare statement rebutting the president's Monday comments. But
it was Coats' televised interview Thursday at a security conference in Aspen, Colo., that set off the president anew, as the intelligence director questioned the wisdom of the Putin meeting and said he had hoped Trump wouldn't meet alone with the Russian leader.
It all left White House staffers in a fresh state of resignation about their jobs.
"I saw the screaming headline on cable TV that there is malaise in the West Wing and I look forward to meeting her," quipped presidential adviser Kellyanne Conway. "I don't see that."
22.07.2018 - Soccer Ball Given to Trump By Putin Gets Security Screening 
Soccer Ball Given to Trump By Putin Gets Security Screening
Remember that white and red ball Russian President Vladimir Putin gave to US President Trump during the Helsinki press conference? The Secret Service says it gets a security screening.
Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told a security conference Saturday he's sure the ball "has been looked at very carefully."
July 20, 2018 - James Clapper Admits Obama Is Behind The Mueller Investigation
(5:59 min.)
BREAKING - James Clapper Admits Obama Is Behind The Robert Mueller Investigation
Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper just admitted that President Obama is ‘responsible’ for the Robert Mueller special investigation. In an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Clapper said that Obama should be credited for initiating a “whole sequence of events” that led to the special investigation.
Clapper said, “One point I’d like to make, Anderson, that I don’t think has come up very much before, and I’m alluding now to the President’s criticism of President Obama for all that he did or didn’t do before he left office with respect to the Russian meddling.”
“If it weren’t for President Obama,” Clapper continued, “we might not have done the intelligence community assessment that we did that set off a whole sequence of events which are still unfolding today, notably, special counsel Mueller’s investigation. President Obama is responsible for that, and it was he who tasked us to do that intelligence community assess in the first place.
And they got the important point when it comes to critiquing President Obama.”
Lifezette has more on why Clapper wants to give credit to Obama
for the Mueller investigation:
“But Clapper wanted to ensure that Americans gave credit to Obama for the events leading to the creation of Mueller’s probe into allegations of collusion between Trump campaign officials and Russia.
“’And it is not a witch hunt. It is a serious, serious investigation, the catalyst for which was the intelligence community assessment that we did in the last administration,’ Clapper emphasized.
“Trump has long railed against the Mueller probe as a “witch hunt,” pointing to “13 angry Democrat” donors who are in key positions on the special counsel’s staff, along with the anti-Trump and pro-Clinton text messages exchanged between FBI counterintelligence agent Peter Strzok and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page.”
Clapper is trying to argue that President Obama took action against Russia while president, even though he clearly did not. But many will view this admission as confirmation that President Obama wanted President Trump to look bad and helped usher the Mueller investigation in order to meet that end.
July 15, 2018 - Devin Nunes: Mueller indictment looks 'ridiculous' because it omitted Republicans targeted by Russia (Video)
Devin Nunes: Mueller indictment looks 'ridiculous' because it omitted Republicans targeted by Russia
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said special counsel Robert Mueller's recent indictment of 12 Russian officials on charges of hacking Democrats' computers during the 2016 campaign looks "ridiculous" because it left out Republicans who were also targeted.
During an interview Sunday on Fox News, Nunes accused the media of largely ignoring the findings of his committee's months-old
report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, which he asserted was more comprehensive than Mueller's indictment. However, he also claimed the redactions in his panel's report prevented the presentation of the full picture and urged President Trump to declassify it.
"This entire report that you have in front of you, all you had to do was get to page 4, and you only had to read chapter 2 and you would have had nearly everything that's in the indictment," Nunes said, referring to a copy of the report held by host Maria Bartiromo. "There's more in this report than what's in the indictment. And this is what's very frustrating."
A grand jury returned Mueller's indictment Friday, after which it was announced by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The charges said 12 Russian officials "engaged in a sustained effort" to break into computers owned by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Democratic National Committee, and Hillary Clinton's campaign in the lead-up to the 2016 election.
"It's great that they indicted Russians — yes, they did bad things. They're always up to bad things. We know that. They have very sophisticated intelligence capabilities in Russia. And they're always — they're constantly attacking the United States and our allies," Nunes said Sunday.
"However, in the indictment, they leave out some really important people that they also went after, so the indictment plays like they are only going after the Democrats, when Bob Mueller and all his investigators and his lawyers know for a fact that they also targeted Republicans. Why is that not in the indictment? It makes the indictment look ridiculous."
Devin Nunes ✔ @DevinNunes
All you need to know about Friday indictment and Trump/Putin meeting...thx
@MariaBartiromo... only 10 minute clip then you can watch World Cup final!
http://video.foxnews.com/v/5809493279001/ …
10:55 AM - Jul 15, 2018
July 10, 2018 - Newt Gingrich Reveals Trump’s ‘Grand Strategy’ And Libs Should Be Nervous
Newt Gingrich Reveals Trump's 'Grand Strategy' And Libs Should Be Nervous
Streamed live on Jul 9, 2018 (16:17 min.)
Newt Gingrich wrote a piece for Fox News explaining what the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh means for the Republican party. Along with those thoughts, Gingrich stated that one of the primary needs Trump fulfilled with this selection was the need to have judges that remain true to the constitution, Kavanaugh is that judge.
Inside of this nomination speech, Trump lays out some important qualities that Kavanaugh possesses as a judge:
Judge Kavanaugh has devoted his life to public service. For the last 12 years, he has served as a judge on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals with great distinction, authoring opinions which have been widely admired for their skill, insight and rigorous adherence to the law. Among those opinions are more than a dozen that the Supreme Court has adopted as the law of the land. Beyond his great renown as a judge, he is active in his community. He coaches CYO basketball, serves meals to needy families, and having learned from his mom who is a schoolteacher in D.C., tutors children at local elementary schools.
There is no one in America more qualified for this position, and no one more deserving. I want to thank the senators on both sides of the aisle, Republican and Democrat, for their consultation and advice during the selection process. This incredibly qualified nominee deserves a swift confirmation and robust bipartisan support. The rule of law is our nation’s proud heritage. It is the cornerstone of our freedom. It is what guarantees equal justice, and the Senate now has the chance to protect this glorious heritage by sending Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court.
Gingrich continues to list reasons that the appointment of Kavanaugh is a work of genius by president Trump:
So, once again, President Trump has named an excellent candidate to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. With this nomination, the president is continuing to make good on a promise he made early in his presidency – that “a big percentage of the court will be changed by this administration over a very short period of time.”
Not only is the president nominating judges at a fast clip, he is tending to nominate judges who are relatively young. Kavanaugh is only 53. If he serves until he is Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s age, he will be on the nation’s highest court until 2050.
This is the Trump plan to strategically shift the judiciary toward constitutionalism. Since these appointments are for life, President Trump’s influence on the federal court system will last decades beyond his time in office.
Kavanaugh is one of the most likable judges to ever be nominated for the position of Supreme Court Justice. Without one bad mark on his record, Kavanaugh is poised to be a strong justice for years to come.
Me ... a River! ) 
