With Jane Clayson
The Summit crisis. President Trump in his own words. Suspected Russian spy jailed in the U.S. The roundtable dives in.
Guests
Ishaan Tharoor, foreign affairs reporter for The Washington Post. (@ishaantharoor)
Alexis Simendinger, national political correspondent for The Hill. (@ASimendinger)
Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst. (@JackBeattyNPR)
From The Reading List
BBC: “Trump Putin: Incredulity as Russian leader is invited to visit US” — “President Donald Trump has invited Russian leader Vladimir Putin to visit America, in a move that drew startled laughter from a U.S. intelligence chief. “That’s gonna be special!” said Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, when he was told about the invitation during a live interview. A row is continuing over Mr Trump’s first summit with Mr Putin, in Helsinki, where they talked privately.”
Reuters: “Despite summit criticism, Trump looks to next Putin meeting” — “U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed forces within the United States on Thursday for marring what they called the success of their first summit, with Trump saying he looked forward to their second meeting.”
Vox: “Maria Butina, explained: the accused Russian spy who tried to sway US politics through the NRA” — “Amid the sprawling scandal over Russian interference with the 2016 election, there’s long been an odd subplot over Russian ties to, of all groups, the National Rifle Association — ties that, according to McClatchy, have been investigated by the FBI. Now the arrest of 29-year-old Russian national Maria Butina on charges of conspiracy and acting as an agent of a foreign government has put those questions about the famous gun rights group on center stage. But despite the new indictment (which is not part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe), the full extent of what happened here remains mysterious.”
CNN: “Senators scramble to deal with fallout from Trump’s news conference” — “Senators in both parties were considering options Tuesday to push back against President Donald Trump’s decision to align himself with Russian President Vladimir Putin at their summit in Helsinki, Finland. As Democrats sense a moment of political vulnerability for the President, Republicans are under pressure to stand by US intelligence findings that Russia meddled in the 2016 election. Hearings and additional sanctions against Russia are being floated amid bipartisan public statements of support for the US intelligence community. Tuesday afternoon, Trump issued a statement of support for the intelligence agencies and said he accepted their findings on Russian election meddling, though he said other actors could be responsible and kept up his defense of the Helsinki meeting Wednesday morning.”
If you blinked, you missed a lot this week. And even for those who didn’t miss a beat, it’s hard to make sense of everything that went down. In Helsinki, the American president backed Putin over U.S. intelligence on election hacking. He later tried to walk it back — sort of. Now comes news that he has invited Putin to the White House. And, let’s not forget, there’s an accused Russian agent in a jail cell. But wait, there’s more.
This hour, On Point: The roundtable dives in.
— Jane Clayson
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