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Week 25, in one sentence: Trump officially met Vladimir Putin for a one-on-one at the G-20 summit that lasted four times longer than scheduled; reiterated his demand that Mexico pay for a border wall with the U.S.; defended his daughter Ivanka for briefly taking his place at the G-20 by bashing Chelsea Clinton; repeatedly defended his eldest son Donald Trump Jr., a “high-quality person,” who took a meeting with a Russian lawyer who reportedly had dirt from the Russian government on Hillary Clinton; discussed forming an “impenetrable Cyber Security unit” with Putin, the man who ordered hackers to interfere with the U.S. election; accused fired FBI Director James Comey of leaking classified info; looked France’s first lady up and down and then told her she was in “such good shape”; walked back his border wall promise by saying it wouldn’t span the whole border; shook French President Emmanuel Macron’s hand for 29 tense seconds; and listened to Daft Punk, perhaps unwittingly.
Making friends (and enemies) at the G-20 Day 169 — July 7
Putin and Trump finally shook hands at the G-20 summit — which looked more like an awkward Tinder date than a diplomatic sit-down. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe couldn’t even keep a straight face.The first official meeting between the two leaders lasted four times longer than it was scheduled to. First lady Melania Trump even tried to break them up. During the two-hour-and 20-minute chat, Putin and Trump agreed to a ceasefire in southwest Syria (although Pentagon officials reportedly have yet to hear about it).The duo also discussed setting up a joint cybersecurity unit to guard each other’s countries from election hacking. The idea unsurprisingly attracted a ton of criticism, since the intelligence communities agree that Putin ordered hackers to interfere with the U.S. presidential election to Trump’s benefit.Trump also met with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto at the summit and took the opportunity to reiterate his demand that America’s neighbor to the south pay for the proposed border wall. (Numerous Mexican officials have said multiple times that nope, it won’t. The U.S. House of Representatives confirmed as much in a recent bill, too.)Poor Don Jr. Day 170 — July 8
Donald Trump Jr. began what would soon become a very bad! week for him by retweeting some violent fan fiction: doctored “Top Gun” footage depicting his father sitting in the cockpit of an aircraft shooting down a fighter jet bearing the CNN logo.Soon after, a New York Times report revealed the president’s eldest son took a meeting at Trump Tower with a Russian lawyer linked to the Kremlin. Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort, Trump’s then-campaign manager, came too.Trump Jr. initially brushed off the meeting as an inconsequential one mostly about Russian adoption. This, of course, turned out to be untrue.A little help from their friends Day 171 — July 9
The week only got worse for Trump Jr. Turns out he took that meeting with the Russian lawyer after being offered dirt on Hillary Clinton that could help his father win the election. From the New York Times:The meeting — at Trump Tower on June 9, 2016, two weeks after Donald J. Trump clinched the Republican nomination — points to the central question in federal investigations of the Kremlin’s meddling in the presidential election: whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians. The accounts of the meeting represent the first public indication that at least some in the campaign were willing to accept Russian help.
While Don Jr. didn’t mention Clinton at all in his previous statements, he later changed his tune, admitting that “it quickly became clear that [the Russian lawyer] had no meaningful information”A spokesperson for Trump Sr.’s lawyer said the president did not attend and wasn’t aware of the meeting.Ever sensitive to criticism, Trump backed away from the idea of a joint cybersecurity task force with Russia — after hyping the idea hours earlier. “The fact that President Putin and I discussed a Cyber Security unit doesn’t mean I think it can happen,” he tweeted. “It can’t-but a ceasefire can,& did!”Where’s your daddy Day 172 — July 10
The president remained curiously silent on Twitter about the accusations against Don Jr. He did, however, defend his daughter Ivanka, who came under fire for serving as his placeholder at a G-20 meeting with the likes of U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May and Chinese President Xi Jinping — by bringing up Chelsea Clinton, for some reason.He also accused James Comey of leaking “CLASSIFIED INFORMATION” to the press. “That is so illegal!”“I love it” Day 173 — July 11
After a few days of brushing off his meeting with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer as “nothing,” Trump Jr. tweeted an email conversation between himself and the publicist who set up the June 2016 meeting — you know, just to be “totally transparent.”In the email chain — with the subject line “Russia – Clinton – private and confidential” — the publicist, a former business associate of Trump Sr. named Rob Goldstone, said one of his clients had been contacted by a senior Russian government official with documents that would be “very useful” to the Trump campaign as “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.”Trump Jr. responded, “If it’s what you say, I love it especially later in the summer.”Father Trump came to his son’s defense: “My son is a high-quality person, and I applaud his transparency.”Despite the subject line, Manafort and Kushner, who also attended the meeting that came out of the emails, have both, independently, said they went because they didn’t read to the end.The rapidly unfolding saga includes a bizarre cast of characters:
- Goldstone, a British tabloid writer turned publicist for a Russian pop star
- Russian pop star Emin Agalarov, Goldstone’s client, who requested the meeting between Trump Jr. and the lawyer. (Trump appeared in one of Emin’s music videos.)
- Emin’s father, Aras Agalarov, a Russian billionaire with ties to Trump and Putin
- And of course, the lawyer herself, Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Kremlin-connected criminal defense attorney who has lobbied against U.S. sanctions against Russian officials who violate human rights laws
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange also jumped into the mix with a claim that he’d contacted Trump Jr. that morning to advise him to publish the emails, with WikiLeaks’ help.Another day, another “witch hunt” Day 174 — July 12
Trump once again defended his “transparent and innocent” son and said he was subject of “the greatest Witch Hunt in political history. Sad!”Meanwhile, Trump’s nominee for FBI director, Christopher Wray, took questions from the Senate judiciary committee, and Comey’s firing took center stage. Wray, who will play a large part in the Russia investigation if confirmed, said that Comey was no “nutjob” — Trump’s infamous characterization of him to Russian officials in the Oval Office — and that he didn’t believe the Russia investigation was a “witch hunt,” as Trump has also claimed.As part of that investigation, the House and Senate intelligence committees are looking into whether Kushner helped direct Russian operatives spreading fake news to areas where Hillary Clinton had unexpectedly weak support.The day also revealed that:
- The State Department spent more than $15,000 on 19 rooms at the Trump hotel in Vancouver.
- Attorney General Jeff Sessions really believes D.A.R.E. videos kept kids off drugs.
Fourth time’s a charm Day 175 — July 13
Republicans unveiled** *the fourth version of their plan*** to repeal and replace Obamacare. While the core of the legislation remains the same, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made significant changes to win Republican support, including $70 billion more to help cover out-of-pocket costs and exceptions to Medicaid spending caps in case of public health emergencies.As Republicans trotted out their latest legislation, President Trump arrived in Paris on a diplomatic visit to celebrate Bastille Day with French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, whom Trump promptly evaluated like a Miss Universe contestant. “You’re in such good shape,” Trump said to Brigitte after looking her up and down. “Beautiful.”Trump also walked back a couple of his key campaign promises:
- The Wall: Trump said it should be 900 miles long, max (instead of 2,000), and that it should be transparent so the U.S. can see large sacks of drugs flying over.
- GDP growth: Trump’s budget director, Mick Mulvaney, laid out his vision for “MAGAnomics” with a goal of 3 percent economic growth, breaking months of promises from Trump to get to 4, or even 6, percent.
Meanwhile, things got a little NSFW for the rest of the Trump team:
- Marc Kasowitz, President Trump’s longtime personal attorney now on the Russia case, responded to an email from a ProPublica reader with profanity and threats. “I’m on you now. You are fucking with me now Let’s see who you are Watch your back, bitch,” Kasowitz said.
- Concerned Americans sent pleas, profanity, and even porn to Trump’s election integrity commission, which is “investigating” bogus claims of widespread voter fraud.
But wait, there’s more Day 176 — July 14
But wait, there’s moreRussian-American lobbyist and ex-Soviet spy Rinat Akhmetshin said he, too, attended the meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer who offered damaging information on Hillary Clinton. He wasn’t impressed.In the latest blow to Trump’s travel ban, a federal judge ruled that grandparents and other close relatives can’t be restricted from entering the U.S., which defied “common sense.”Trump can’t seem to shake another world leader’s hand without causing a minor scandal. This time, he and French President Emmanuel Macron spent 29 seconds shaking hands. Macron called their first white-knuckle encounter a “moment of truth.”Attending France’s Bastille Day celebrations, Trump scowled through a marching band’s Daft Punk medley, while Macron smiled and bopped his head.
