| | | | SHOCKER: Twitter diplomacy doesn't always work! | | On Wednesday afternoon, national security adviser John Bolton conducted a major league walk-back.
"The President believes that the next bilateral meeting with President Putin should take place after the Russia witch hunt is over, so we've agreed that it will be after the first of the year," Bolton told reporters.
And with that ended the idea of a second summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin sometime before the midterm election this fall. It lived a short life: Six days.
It was last Thursday when, via Twitter, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders announced that Trump -- via Bolton -- had extended an invitation to Putin to travel to Washington to follow up on the duo's first meeting in Helsinki, Finland, earlier this month. Asked about the planned second summit shortly after it was announced, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats admitted to knowing nothing about it. "Okaaaay," Coats told NBC's Andrea Mitchell, who informed him of the summit invite. "That's going to be special." (Coats later issued a public apology, insisting he meant no disrespect to Trump in his answer.)
There was no immediate response from Russia to the invite but leaders in Trump's party on Capitol Hill were quick to voice their displeasure with the plan. Asked about the potential Putin visit, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell offered this terse response: "There is no invitation from Congress." Ooomph.
Then, as suddenly as the idea of the second summit emerged, it died -- leaving behind a sense that the entire thing had been a slapdash production, ill thought out (if thought out at all) by a White House and a President who loves to make decisions by his gut.
The White House would never admit they were being forced to back off a plan that barely deserved the name. Instead, "Russia witch hunt!"
So, sure.
The Point: Twitter diplomacy isn't foolproof.
-- Chris | | "Going back to election night, the primary night itself, neither side had each other's phone numbers, and maybe that's more reflective of the fact that people didn't see this coming, nor did we quite frankly ... eventually we did have a conversation, it was a positive conversation."
-Rep. Joseph Crowley on Wednesday, regarding Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's win against him in New York's primary. | | | GOP SENATORS DODGE Q'S ABOUT TRUMP-COHEN TAPE | | On Tuesday, a previously secret recording of a 2016 conversation between Trump's personal fixer and the then-presidential candidate aired on CNN's "Cuomo Prime Time." The recording, in which the two men discussed a potential payoff tied to allegations of an affair made by a former Playboy model named Karen McDougal, was provided to CNN by Lanny Davis, the newly hired attorney for Cohen. Davis, in an interview with Cuomo after the playing of the tape, made very clear Cohen had now broken free of his oft-pledged total loyalty to Trump and was looking out for himself and his own interests. Read Chris' full analysis on Cohen's war with Trump.
Meanwhile, on the Hill, CNN's Manu Raju reports: "GOP senators really have no desire to talk about Trump on tape discussing with Cohen a scheme to silence a story about his alleged affair with a Playboy model." Some of their reactions to Manu asking them questions about the tape: - Sen. Tom Cotton: "No comment."
- Sen. Roy Blunt: "I don't know enough about this to evaluate that."
- Sen. Ron Johnson: "I have no knowledge of any of that."
| | | Leigh saw Jason Isbell perform in D.C. last night. Here's him playing "Cover Me Up" on "Austin City Limits" in 2013. | | As midterms approach in November, more Americans are worried Russia may interfere in the upcoming election. From CNN's Grace Sparks: "More than half of American adults say they believe it's likely there will be Russian interference in November's midterm elections, according to a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll released on Wednesday. - "The 57% of Americans who believe there will be interference represents a new high since the poll began tracking the question in February, when only 41% of Americans said the same.
- "The most likely to believe Russia will meddle in the midterms are strong Democrats (77% likely), those who live in suburban areas (68%), and whites who graduated college (67%).
- "The groups most likely to say Russia won't do anything are strong Republicans (63%), Donald Trump supporters (58%), and white evangelical Christians (54%)."
Read more here. | | PAUL RYAN READS 'MEAN TWEETS' | | House Speaker Paul Ryan took a page out of late-night host Jimmy Kimmel's book on Wednesday and read "mean tweets" poking fun at him.
"Paul Ryan's the kind of guy who crashes your kegger, drinks all your beer, and then calls the cops to make his noise complaint," Ryan says, quoting a tweet.
The video, uploaded to Ryan's YouTube and Twitter page, is similar to a segment popularized on Kimmel's ABC show, during which celebrities and other public figures read tweets mocking them.The video dropped ahead of Ryan's speech to congressional interns, which focused on what Ryan described on Twitter as "rediscovering our common humanity."
BTW, when asked by a Hill intern how he feels when people are mean to him on Twitter, he said: "Don't take the bait and don't worry about it. ... Don't take it so personally."
Read more here; and watch the full video on YouTube here. | | CNN's Daniella Diaz is keeping tabs on where senators stand on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Trump announced earlier this month that he is nominating the D.C. appeals court judge to the Supreme Court bench. Republicans hold a slim 51-49 majority in the Senate chamber.
Undecided red-state Democrats: Bill Nelson of Florida, Jon Tester of Montana and Joe Donnelly of Indiana.
Undecided Democrats: Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Chris Coons of Delaware, Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Brian Schatz of Hawaii.
Read the full list -- which will continue to be updated -- here. | | | From Brenna: "Sen. Bob Menendez was not thrilled while talking to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about the Trump-Putin meeting. And he let him know by pointing at him with a pencil. The only thing we love more than pointing here at The Point is props. Pointing with props is really just about as good as GIF material gets. Point your friends in our direction by telling them to subscribe. | | We'd love to share our other newsletters with you. Follow this link for daily coverage of the world's top stories, savvy market insights, an insider's look into the media, and more. Our authors for The Point are Chris Cillizza and Saba Hamedy. Send your tips and thoughts via email to Chris or Saba. Follow on Twitter: Chris and Saba.
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