Trump invites Putin back for more
Until then, Capitol Hill clamor unlikely to subside
WASHINGTON – America, get ready for more news about Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
Trump invited his Russian counterpart to Washington for another summit this fall, possibly at the White House, so the nature of their relationship will continue to be a big story.
Trump would probably like to see the furor over his meeting with Putin in Helsinki fade. He walked back his suggestion at Monday’s post-summit news conference that he believed Putin’s denials of meddling despite U.S. intelligence assessments that the Russians interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump.
Trump insisted that the Putin summit was a success as he announced the yet-to-be-scheduled follow-up with Putin on Thursday in Washington.
“I look forward to our second meeting so that we can start implementing some of the many things discussed” in Helsinki, Trump tweeted. Trump said the two discussed global issues such as North Korea and nuclear proliferation, but other than that, little is known about what happened.
Here’s what to watch for:
Congressional hearings
Next week, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hear from a key figure in Trump’s Russia policy: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
One topic is Trump’s dealings with another foreign authoritarian leader, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
Lawmakers are also likely to ask about what transpired between Trump and Putin when they met in secret for more than two hours Monday.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the chamber’s top Republican, asked two committees to hold hearings on Russian sanctions. Those sessions are likely to focus on Trump and Putin, as well as Russian hacking and fake news operations in the U.S. presidential race.
Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said, “I take a back seat to no one on pressing this administration for some of the worst things that I’ve seen happen in public as it relates to our country.”
News leaks
A New York Times story Thursday cited unnamed sources who said that two weeks before his inauguration in 2017, Trump “was shown highly classified intelligence indicating that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia had personally ordered complex cyberattacks to sway the 2016 American election.”
Special counsel Robert Mueller
Special counsel Robert Mueller may be near a turning point in his investigation into Russian election interference and whether there was collusion with the Trump presidential campaign.
Three days before the sit-down in Helsinki, Mueller secured indictments of 12 Russian military intelligence officers. They are charged with a hacking scheme that targeted the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
Mueller seeks testimony from Trump, who claims the investigation is a partisan “witch hunt.”
The Democrats
Ever since the night of Nov. 8, 2016 – Election Day – Democrats have wanted to know more about Russian election activity (and whether Trump or his aides were involved).
They’re not going to pass up the chances offered by the mystery surrounding the Trump-Putin summit. Some want to make Trump and Putin issues in the elections in November to decide control of the House and Senate; a Democratic takeover of either body would probably mean more Russia hearings.
“President Trump has put our country in a foreign policy crisis,” said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., the Senate minority leader.
The Republicans
Trump has always had his critics within the Republican Party, such as Arizona Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake, but even supportive Republicans seek answers about Trump, Putin and Russia, and their concerns are likely to drive the story further.
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, raised the prospect of having the intelligence committee talk to Trump’s interpreter at the Putin meeting. Ernst said the president should never be in such a meeting without a witness.
“We don’t know what follow-up actions, if any, are out there,” Ernst said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “We don’t know what the president’s demands are. We don’t know what Putin’s demands are.”
Even before the Trump-Putin meeting, Republicans expressed concern over Trump’s criticisms of NATO and the European Union.
Congressional Republicans are working on bills that would put more sanctions on Russia if it tries to interfere with the congressional elections in November.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., co-sponsor of a new sanctions bill, said, “We must make sure Putin understands that we will not overlook his hostilities, and he will face punishing consequences if he tries to interfere in our elections again.”
Trump himself
Throughout all the criticism, all the skepticism, all the news coverage, Trump declared the Putin meeting a success.
He bashed “fake news” for its coverage.
There’s no reason to think he will stop promoting what he calls improved ties with Russia, even amid suspicion about his relationship with Putin.
There’s also that second summit, possibly at the White House itself.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders tweeted Thursday that Trump asked national security adviser John Bolton “to invite President Putin to Washington in the fall, and those discussions are already underway.”
She did not say whether that meeting would take place before or after the elections in November.
“The Summit with Russia was a great success, except with the real enemy of the people, the Fake News Media,” Trump tweeted.
He said the agenda of a second Putin meeting would include stopping terrorism, reducing nuclear weapons and preventing cyberattacks.
The president wrote, “There are many answers, some easy and some hard, to these problems ... but they can ALL be solved!”
Stay tuned.