“I never saw or imagined so uneven a handover of American security interests and principles with nothing in return… It was like watching the destruction of a cathedral.”
— Former Defense Secretary Ash Carter, quoted by Politico, on President Trump’s press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Speaker Paul Ryan “quashed a rank-and-file effort to force Democrats to take a politically toxic vote to abolish the federal government’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency,” Politico reports.
“House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) last week floated the idea of forcing Democrats to vote on a bill that would eliminate ICE, a proposal backed by the far-left but is unpopular with most voters. Republicans, the thinking went, would win either way: Democrats would either back the bill and watch Republicans use it against them in the midterms. Or a portion of Democrats would oppose it, depressing the liberal base.”
”But Ryan was concerned about a third option: that Democrats wouldn’t vote at all, or uniformly oppose it, making Republicans look silly.”
Thomas Friedman: “Such behavior by an American president is so perverse, so contrary to American interests and values, that it leads to only one conclusion: Donald Trump is either an asset of Russian intelligence or really enjoys playing one on TV.”
“Everything that happened in Helsinki today only reinforces that conclusion. My fellow Americans, we are in trouble and we have some big decisions to make today. This was a historic moment in the entire history of the United States.”
“There is overwhelming evidence that our president, for the first time in our history, is deliberately or through gross negligence or because of his own twisted personality engaged in treasonous behavior — behavior that violates his oath of office to ‘preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.’”
You're reading the free version of Political Wire
Upgrade to a paid membership to unlock full access. The process is quick and easy. You can even use Apple Pay.
Michelle Goldberg: “While I was as shocked as everyone else, I shouldn’t have been. Trump’s behavior on Monday recalled his outburst at Trump Tower after the violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, when he insisted there were ‘very fine people’ among the racist demonstrators. Both times, everything Trump said was in keeping with things he’d said before. The shocking part was his frankness. Then, as now, it forced, if just for a moment, a collective apprehension of just what a repulsive abomination this presidency is.”
“It’s always been obvious that Trump does not hold Russia’s hacking of the 2016 election, which he publicly encouraged and gleefully benefited from, against Putin. None of us yet know the exact contours of Trump’s relationship with Russia, whether Putin is his handler, his co-conspirator or just his hero. But it’s clear that Trump is willing to sell out American democracy for personal gain.”
Law & Crime: “The judge overseeing Paul Manafort‘s federal court case on charges of tax evasion and bank fraud in Virginia delayed proceedings in a surprise move on Monday afternoon. According to legal experts familiar with the federal court system, this could be an indication that Manafort is about to cut a plea deal.”
“The delay may or may not have caught the prosecution and defense off guard–but was certainly a shock to those watching the events unfold from a distance. According to the publicly-accessible court docket, no party had submitted a request for such a delay and there was also no indication of an official court notice being filed as of late Monday afternoon.”
Washington Post: “Administration officials had hoped that maybe, just maybe, Monday’s summit between President Trump and Russian President Vladmir Putin would end differently — without a freewheeling 46-minute news conference in which Trump attacked his own FBI on foreign soil and warmly praised archrival Russia.”
“Ahead of the meeting, staffers provided Trump with some 100 pages of briefing materials aimed at laying out a tough posture toward Putin, but the president ignored most of it… Trump’s remarks were ‘very much counter to the plan,’ one adviser said.”
“‘Everyone around Trump’ was urging him to take a firm stance with Putin.”
“A county Republican Party chairman from Southeast Ohio resigned on Monday, citing President Donald Trump’s meeting earlier in the day with Russian President Vladimir Putin,” the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.
Said Chris Gagin: “The President is entitled to GOP party leaders, at all levels, fully committed to his views and agenda. Following today’s press conference with Pres. Putin, as well as certain policy differences, most especially on trade, I could no longer fulfill that duty. Thus, I resigned.”
“There are few bigger warning signs for a member of Congress that their re-election may be in doubt than when a challenger outraises them. In Texas, it just happened to seven incumbents, all Republicans,” the Texas Tribune reports.
“The numbers only became more striking when compared to their rivals: Some Democratic challengers raised two, three or even four times what their Republican incumbent rivals posted… Along with Sen. Ted Cruz, the six congressional incumbents who were outraised are delegation fixtures: Reps. John Carter, John Culberson, Will Hurd, Pete Olson, Pete Sessions and Roger Williams.”
A senior Trump political appointee told the Daily Beast that President Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin “went about as well as I expected.”
Said the official: “I honestly had little to no good expectations for this.”
The official added: “Trump looked incredibly weak up there. Putin looks like a champion. I’d like to say I’m shocked but this is the world in which we live now.”
“Conservative mega-donor Robert Mercer has cut a $500,000 check to a super PAC backing Arizona Senate hopeful Kelli Ward, a major cash infusion that comes ahead of the Aug. 28 primary,” Politico reports.
“Polls have shown Ward, a conservative former state senator, trailing Rep. Martha McSally (R-AZ).”
A detailed review of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’ calendar from February to November 2017 — his first months in office — “reveals dozens of meetings with companies tied to his personal fortune, which he built up over years in private equity,” Forbes reports.
John Shattuck: “According to the law, the federal crime of treason is committed by a person ‘owing allegiance to the United States who… adheres to their enemies, giving them aid or comfort.’ Misprision (abetting) of treason is committed if a person ‘having knowledge of the commission of treason conceals and does not disclose’ the crime.”
“Today the evidence of Russian cyberattacks against the US democratic process is overwhelming… The president’s hostility to the US investigation of Russian cyberattacks, his failure to impose a cost on Russia for the attacks, his denigration of US alliances, and his eagerness to have ‘an extraordinary relationship’ with the Russian leader all point toward giving aid and comfort to an enemy.”
Max Boot: “In the past, the only people who questioned the loyalty of U.S. presidents were crazy conspiracy theorists such as the John Birchers, who accused President Dwight Eisenhower of being a Russian agent — or the birthers, including Trump, who questioned whether President Barack Obama was really born in the United States. But today the question of where the president’s loyalties lie is a legitimate one, and it will only grow in urgency after Putin deflected the question about whether he had kompromat on Trump.”
“Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed a question Monday about whether the Russian government holds compromising material about President Trump, offering as evidence his claim that he was not even aware of Trump’s visits to Russia as a private businessman,” the Washington Post reports.
“However, Russian government officials — including Putin’s top spokesman — knew Trump was in Moscow in November 2013 to host the Miss Universe pageant and were told about the real estate developer’s eagerness to meet with Putin while he was there.”
“Putin did not explicitly deny that Russia has compromising information about Trump or his family. Instead, he offered a winding response about how little he knew of Trump’s travels to Russia.”
CNN: “What happened Monday in Helsinki isn’t likely to put the embers of those rumors out.”
Dan Balz: “When the history of Donald Trump’s presidency is ultimately written, July 16, 2018, will have a special entry. On a day when the setting called for a show of strength and resolve from an American president, Trump instead offered deference, defensiveness, equivocation and weakness.”
“If anyone can recall a performance by a U.S. president that rivaled the one seen around the world Monday, let them come forward. In the meantime, Trump’s extraordinary joint news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin will stand on its own, for sheer shock value and for the reality of an opportunity lost.”
“One can only imagine Putin’s satisfaction at the way things have turned out.”
Jonathan Swan: “I was sitting maybe 20 feet from Putin, in the second row of press gathered at the palace in Helsinki. Putin was subtly smirking throughout the conference and pumped his chest as he forcefully smacked down U.S. reporters with his lies.”
Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX), a former CIA officer, said on Twitter that President Trump was “getting played” by Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Said Hurd: “I’ve seen Russian intelligence manipulate many people over my professional career and I never would have thought that the US President would become one of the ones getting played by old KGB hands.”
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) told BuzzFeed News that “something close” to the long-rumored “pee tape” exists, saying he thinks “it’s likely” that Vladimir Putin has something on President Trump.
David Frum: “We still do not know what hold Vladimir Putin has upon President Trump, but the whole world has now witnessed the power of its grip.”
“Russia helped Donald Trump into the presidency, as Robert Mueller’s indictment vividly details. Putin, in his own voice, has confirmed that he wanted Trump elected. Standing alongside his benefactor, Trump denounced the special counsel investigating the Russian intervention in the U.S. election—and even repudiated his own intelligence appointees.”
“This is an unprecedented situation, but not an uncontemplated one. At the 1787 convention in Philadelphia, the authors of the Constitution worried a great deal about foreign potentates corrupting the American presidency.”
“A Russian woman who tried to broker a pair of secret meetings between candidate Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin during the 2016 presidential campaign, was charged Monday and accused of carrying out a secret Russian effort to influence American politics,” the New York Times reports.
“The Justice Department said in court documents that the woman, Mariia Butina, worked to establish ‘back channel’ lines of communication with American politicians… Ms. Butina twice tried to set up a meetings between Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin in 2016. The charges announced Monday do not name Mr. Trump but they make clear that Ms. Butina’s overtures were part of a Russian intelligence operation.”
The Washington Post notes that Butina is accused of developing relationships with American politicians and a “gun rights organization.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
“There are a lot of blogs and news sites claiming to understand politics, but only a few actually do. Political Wire is one of them.”
— Chuck Todd, host of “Meet the Press”
“Concise. Relevant. To the point. Political Wire is the first site I check when I’m looking for the latest political nugget. That pretty much says it all.”
— Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report
“Political Wire is one of only four or five sites that I check every day and sometimes several times a day, for the latest political news and developments.”
— Charlie Cook, editor of the Cook Political Report
“The big news, delicious tidbits, pearls of wisdom — nicely packaged, constantly updated… What political junkie could ask for more?”
— Larry Sabato, Center for Politics, University of Virginia
“Political Wire is a great, great site.”
— Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”
“Taegan Goddard has a knack for digging out political gems that too often get passed over by the mainstream press, and for delivering the latest electoral developments in a sharp, no frills style that makes his Political Wire an addictive blog habit you don’t want to kick.”
— Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post
“Political Wire is one of the absolute must-read sites in the blogosphere.”
— Glenn Reynolds, founder of Instapundit
“I rely on Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire for straight, fair political news, he gets right to the point. It’s an eagerly anticipated part of my news reading.”
— Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.