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Russia probe reaches Jared Kushner
9 days later, Trump hasn't changed. Neither has Washington
Story highlights
- Trump returned from his nine-day trip and immediately began tweeting about the press
- Trump is under pressure to stabilize a White House that was spiraling further out of control by the hour
(CNN)Donald Trump's global statesman act lasted all of 12 hours back in the United States.
Hours
after getting home from a trip to Europe and the Middle East, the
President unleashed a Twitter blast that felt like a pent-up release of
fury that had been simmering over the nine days of his debut foreign
tour.
Facing
a political situation that further deteriorated in his absence, with
questions now swirling over his son-in-law and indispensable aide Jared
Kushner, Trump is under pressure to stabilize a White House that was
spiraling further out of control by the hour when he flew overseas.
With
a special counsel probing, Russia questions now reaching into his
tightest family inner circle and West Wing staff turmoil deepening,
there ware expectations that the administration would change strategy to
quell the crisis. Already Trump has hired a lawyer, and a "war room" to
help insulate the rest of the presidency from the Russia saga is on its
way.
But the President is defiant.
"It
is my opinion that many of the leaks coming out of the White House are
fabricated lies made up by the #FakeNews media," Trump tweeted in an
early morning salvo that accused reporters of falsifying the controversy
over claims that his campaign aides colluded with Russians' election
hacking effort.
The President also slammed reporters who include the phrase "sources say" in their stories.
The
volley of tweets represented Trump at his most authentic and defiant,
lashing out when he feels he is under attack, and appeared to reflect a
belief that only he, and not his staff, is qualified to speak in his own
defense.
It was a side of the President that had not been much in evidence in his swing through Europe and the Middle East.
While
the Russia controversy deepened back home, Trump had remained unusually
disciplined -- even if his performance at NATO in Brussels deeply
alarmed European leaders who already doubted his commitment to the
alliance.
In
some ways, he proved doubters wrong on his swing through Saudi Arabia,
Israel, Belgium and Italy, advancing his goals, delivering on a
pre-planned strategy and avoiding self-harming controversies.
A
senior administration official told reporters on Air Force One
returning from Sicily this weekend that Trump had established an
"extraordinary rapport" with his fellow leaders, and that his foreign
tour "will shape, I think, history for generations to come."
But
it's one thing to show restraint and self possession during a locked-in
string of meetings, photo ops and summits abroad that limit the
off-the-cuff moments that often undermine Trump's fortunes.
It
will be another to drag his White House free of the political
controversy whipped up by the multiple strands of the Russia controversy
and endless damaging leaks feeding an extraordinary string of news
coverage about it -- not to mention get moving with Congress on health
care, tax reform and budget priorities.
There
were other signs that a White House team that enjoyed rare calm on the
road had returned to its normal crisis control mode back home.
It
emerged on Sunday that Trump's political aides had canceled a rally
that had been scheduled for Iowa next week, an occasion that would have
allowed the President to connect with his dedicated supporters.
CNN's Jeff Zeleny reported that Trump was meeting his legal team and other advisers on Sunday.
Multiple meetings at the Republican National Committee on Thursday involved Trump's sons: Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, in discussions about the mid-term elections and the President's 2020 re-election race, according to a GOP source.
But
the political activity could not disguise the possibility that the
latest escalation of the Russia drama could be its most damaging twist
yet.
Kushner
discussed creating a backchannel between the Trump campaign and the
Kremlin in a meeting last December with Russian ambassador to Washington
Sergey Kislyak, sources with knowledge of the situation told CNN.
While
on the road, the administration refused to even talk about the reports,
related to reports of intercepts of conversations between Kislyak and
Moscow first reported by The Washington Post.
"We're
not gonna comment on Jared. We're just not gonna comment," the
President's top economic adviser Gary Cohn told reporters in Sicily.
That
strategy might have been sustainable abroad, on a trip in which trip
ditched the traditional presidential press conference, but it did not
fly for long once Trump was home and Democrats went on the attack.
"If
these reports are accurate, right after that campaign, after that
intervention, to have the president's son-in-law, a key player within
the Trump Organization trying to establish a back channel with the
Russians through a Russian diplomatic facility, you have to ask, well,
who are they hiding the conversations from?" asked Adam Schiff, the top
Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, on ABC News "This Week" on
Sunday.
Some Republicans, however, played down the latest reports.
"I don't trust this story as far as I can throw it," South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham told CNN's "State of the Union."
Tennessee
Sen. Bob Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, said that Kushner was ready to clear up any questions.
"Instead
of getting wrapped up into a lot of hyperbole, as these things can
sometimes do, I think talking with him directly and getting him to
answer any and all questions, as he said he would do, would probably be
the prudent course of action," Corker told NBC's "Meet the Press."
The
swirling speculation and conjecture about Russia appeared to quickly
squelch any hope the administration may have had of pivoting from a
foreign trip the White House viewed as successful to alleviate the
political pressures Trump is facing at home.
With
the Republican Senate facing a treacherous effort to refashion the
House health care bill and little progress made so far on the next-big
ticket item, tax reform, the chances of a major legislative triumph for
Trump by mid-summer seem slim at best at the moment.
One
commodity that Trump's White House team might do well to import from
his overseas trip was discipline. With the foreign policy team to the
fore -- officials like National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster and
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, there was a sense that professionals
were in control.
That
has rarely been the case back home. The President has constantly
undermined his own staff with his unexpected interventions. In return,
the warring West Wing team, beset by factions and infighting, has
rewarded him with a constant stream of unflattering leaks and
speculation.
There
are signs that the White House hierarchy knows change is needed. Both
Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and senior political guru Stephen Bannon
returned home after only one leg of the foreign trip in Saudi Arabia.
Sources said that such was the roller-coaster nature of the
administration so far that there had been little time for strategic
planning. Priebus was able to help the budget rollout and prepare the
groundwork for Trump's return home.
The
White House has also recognized the need for a more formal and
effective pushback against the apparently endless stream of revelations
and damaging reports surrounding the Russia saga -- in the form of a
"war room" for rapid response and legal advice.
"Everyone
realizes we have to bolster our efforts," a White House official told
CNN's Jim Acosta last week. "There's got to be a stronger rapid response
and communications effort overall."
Outside
Trump loyalists like former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and
ex-top campaign official David Bossie have been mentioned as possible
recruits for the effort.
White
House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, for instance, seems even more
beleaguered than he was when he left for the Middle East. His omission
from a long-awaited audience with Pope Francis added to the impression
that he is on shaky ground with the President.
Yet
there's barely been a week in this administration without a report that
Trump is mulling a huge staff shakeup. Finding people to take the job,
however, is a challenge.
Some
have lucrative consulting practices they might be loath to give up.
With a special counsel investigation looming, others might be scared off
by the prospect of legal fees they might end up shouldering.
And finally, it may all come down to Trump himself. How prepared is the President to embrace change and change his behavior?
On the evidence of Sunday? Not so much.
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