June 20, 2017

“Battered by his first five months in the White House, President Trump is in many ways returning to campaign mode — concentrating his official travel on swing states that he won, bringing old political hands back into his orbit and continuing to relive his 2016 victory over and over again,” the Washington Post reports.

“The latest example comes on Wednesday, when Trump’s campaign committee plans to stage an old-fashioned political rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where the president is likely to get the kind of public adulation that he isn’t experiencing much of the time back in Washington.”

Brian Stelter: “Inch by inch by inch, the Trump administration is rolling back press access, which means less information for the public. And lack of accessibility is only half the problem. Lack of accuracy in official statements is a big issue too.”

“The president’s anti-media defenders may support the administration’s approach, but it’s hard to justify the rollback in accountability. It’s not just the White House, either: the State Department and the Pentagon have all but stopped holding on-camera briefings, too.”

“This isn’t exclusive to the executive branch. There are heightened concerns about legislative branch secrecy as well.”

The Atlantic: “Neither Spicer nor deputy press secretary Sarah Sanders responded to queries about the changes to the briefings. Asked why the briefings are now routinely held off-camera, White House chief strategist Steve Bannon said in a text message ‘Sean got fatter,’ and did not respond to a follow-up.”

“A veteran federal prosecutor recruited onto special counsel Robert Mueller’s team is known for a skill that may come in handy in the investigation of potential ties between Russia and President Trump’s 2016 campaign team: persuading witnesses to turn on friends, colleagues and superiors,” Reuters reports.

“Andrew Weissmann, who headed the U.S. Justice Department’s criminal fraud section before joining Mueller’s team last month, is best known for two assignments — the investigation of now-defunct energy company Enron and organized crime cases in Brooklyn, New York — that depended heavily on gaining witness cooperation.”

Jonathan Swan: “Trumpworld has been worried about Weissmann since they first got wind that Mueller added him to his team. I started getting phone calls from Trump associates about two weeks ago suggesting I look into his background.”

Washington Post: “At one point, the White House considered deploying a rotating cast of briefers, in part to prevent the president, who has a short attention span, from growing bored or angry with his press secretary. And if Spicer ultimately steps away from the podium, it remains unclear whether the West Wing would fill the press secretary role with just one person.”

Playbook: “The White House has been whispering about staff shake ups for months. We’ll believe it when we see it.”