Kremlin controversy dogs president as he promotes American-made products
President Trump kicked off “Made in America Week” by donning a cowboy hat, climbing aboard a red firetruck parked on the White House lawn and swinging a wooden baseball bat — even as he continues to be dogged by questions over a campaign meeting with a Russian lawyer.
“Where’s the fire?” Trump asked from the front seat of the Wisconsin-manufactured engine, waving and flashing a thumbs-up, as Vice President Mike Pence waited below. “Put it out fast.”
The White House showcased American-made products from all 50 states, but Trump was the real star amid a bonanza of photo ops and memes.
“It’s so beautiful-looking,” Trump said, as he swung a Louisiana-made baseball bat. “Oh, I love baseball. I love to play baseball.”
A crowd applauded as the Queens-born president donned a Stetson cowboy hat from Texas. “Beautiful!” he declared. He also joked that he would play horseshoes later against the White House press corps while examining horseshoes made by Massachusetts-based St. Pierre Manufacturing.
But even a display of spacesuits from Delaware, Chick-fil-A sandwiches from Georgia and model airplanes from Wyoming could not take the focus off the lingering questions about the controversial meeting between Trump campaign aides and a Russian attorney over political dirt involving Hillary Clinton.
Trump took to Twitter once again to try to defend his son Donald Trump Jr., who set up the sit-down with Russian national Natalia Veselnitskaya. Also at the meeting were Rinat Akhmetshin, a Russian-American and registered lobbyist who reportedly had connections to Russian intelligence (though he denies that), and Anatoli Samochornov, a translator and American citizen.
“Most politicians would have gone to a meeting like the one Don jr attended in order to get info on an opponent,” tweeted the president. “That’s politics!”
But Senate Democrats are pushing for a full investigation and want to grill the three members of the Trump team who attended the June 2016 meeting — Trump Jr., ex-campaign manager Paul Manafort and son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Democratic U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Al Franken of Minnesota and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii are also calling for the White House to review and potentially revoke the security clearance of Kushner, the only one of the three with an official White House position.
The senators in a letter to the White House claimed that given the meeting with Veselnitskaya, Kushner’s top level of access “may pose a danger to this country.”
Over the weekend, Trump’s attorney Jay Sekulow made the rounds on Sunday morning news shows insisting the meeting was legal, but acknowledging that Trump Jr. himself has conceded he would have done things differently.
Still, the Russia scandal may be taking its political toll on the Trump White House. An ABC News/Washington Post survey found that only 26 percent feel that Trump Jr.’s meeting was appropriate, while 63 percent viewed it as not.
Overall, the president’s approval rating was a dismal 36 percent, versus a 58 percent disapproval.
Trump lashed out at the survey, reminding his followers how badly pollsters and pundits underestimated his 2016 general election victory in November.
“The ABC/Washington Post Poll, even though almost 40% is not bad at this time, was just about the most inaccurate poll around election time!” he tweeted.
One positive sign for Trump in the poll was the Democrats’ failure to capitalize on his missteps in his first six months in office. Just 37 percent felt the Democrats stand for something, while 52 percent believe they’re only about blocking his agenda.