Trump Watch: Day 123 Wrap-Up
Good Monday evening, Trump watchers. Before I begin, I have an important announcement about an upcoming Trump Watch hiatus. I’ll be traveling for about three weeks and will not be able to post regular updates while I’m on the road and overseas. Trump Watch will continue with its regular publishing schedule until next Monday, May 29. After that, I’ll be taking a three week break from these posts. I plan to return to a regular publishing schedule on Monday, June 19. I apologize for the inconvenience, but it will be impossible for me to post while I’m traveling. I will continue to post links to important stories from the Facebook page when I’m able!
Now, without further ado, here’s the latest in Trump-world for Monday, May 22:
— First, a bit of breaking news from the Washington Post that just came in: according to the Post, Trump asked two top intelligence officials, director of national intelligence, Daniel Coats, and Adm. Michael S. Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency, for assistance in pushing back against the FBI’s investigation into his campaign’s possible collusion with Russia during the election. Trump apparently asked the two men for their assistance in March, and both refused to comply with his requests. A memo documenting Trump’s conversation with Rogers exists, although it is unclear if such a document exists for his conversation with Coats. According to the Washington Post, “Officials said such memos could be made available to both the special counsel now overseeing the Russia investigation and congressional investigators, who might explore whether Trump sought to impede the FBI’s work.” Stay tuned.
— Trump traveled to Saudi Arabia over the weekend and gave a speech to leaders of 55 Muslim-majority countries on Sunday. In the speech, he tried to make it clear that the U.S. is not at war with Islam, and he called Islam “one of the world’s great faiths.” He referred to the battle against terrorist groups as a “battle between good and evil” and urged Muslim-majority countries to do more to “drive out” terrorists. You can read an additional recap of the speech here and a full transcript of the speech here.
— Today Trump is in Israel. I am admittedly not as up-to-speed on Israeli-Palestinian relations as I should be, so I’m going to rely on some direct quotes from the New York Times for this one: “President Trump began a two-day visit to Israel on Monday with a blunt assessment for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: If Israel really wants peace with its Arab neighbors, the cost will be resolving the generations-old standoff with the Palestinians.” Additionally, the article said that Trump’s visit “opened a new chapter in Middle East peacemaking, one that will test whether a career of business deal-making can translate to success in the world of international diplomacy.” Despite this, though, neither Trump nor Netanyahu mentioned any specific steps to be taken in pursuing a peace agreement. Tomorrow Trump is scheduled to meet with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader. After that, Trump will visit Rome and the Vatican, Brussels, Taormina, and Sigonella. His travels will conclude on Saturday.
— Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser, said today that he will not comply with the Senate Intelligence Committee’s subpoena for documents in its Russia-Trump campaign investigation. Flynn invoked the Fifth Amendment to protect himself against self-incrimination in the investigation. The two top members of the committee, Richard Burr of North Carolina and Mark Warner of Virginia, said they will “vigorously pursue” Flynn’s testimony. Additionally, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Elijah Cummings of Maryland, sent a letter to Jason Chaffetz, the Republican Chairman of the committee, to inform him that Flynn misled Pentagon investigators in 2016 during a security clearance review in which he said that he had never received income from foreign companies and had only had “insubstantial contact” with foreign nationals. According to Cummings’ letter, Flynn was actually paid $45,000 by a Kremlin-financed TV network to attend an event in which he sat by Russian President Vladimir Putin and also gave a speech at a separate event. This article contains a link to the full letter from Cummings.
— Trump’s first full budget is set to be released tomorrow, and Reuters reports that it is expected to include over $800 billion in cuts to the Medicaid program for the poor, as well as massive cuts to other social services such as food stamps and rental assistance. An article in the Washington Post pointed out that those who stand to lose the most from Trump’s budget are those who voted for him; many in poor, rural communities throughout the country. The Reuters article cited budget expert Robert Greenstein, who said that the budget shouldn’t be viewed as “dead on arrival”, as it will need to pass votes in both the House and the Senate, both of which are controlled by Republicans feeling pressure to enact tax cuts. Stay tuned.
That’s all for this evening. I’ll be back on Wednesday with another wrap-up!
