On this FêteNationale in France, President Trump has completed a quick trip to Paris where he visited Napoleon’s tomb, dined at the Eiffel Tower, viewed a military parade on the Champs Élysées, and got to know his younger French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, a little better.
He made inappropriate remarks about the body of the first lady of France, but gone were disparaging remarks about how no one was going to visit Paris anymore. He promised to return, and Macron assured Mr. Trump that he was welcome any time.
Trump returns tonight to a Washington, DC that is all a-buzz about this morning’s latest revelation about the meeting between Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort and Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya. NBC news is reporting today that a Russian-American lobbyist, thought by some in the American intelligence community to be a former Soviet counter intelligence officer who may have ongoing ties to Russian intelligence, also attended the meeting in June 2016. NBC is not naming the person at this point.
The President says that anyone would have taken that meeting. There are many, on both sides of the political spectrum, who disagree, including Mr. Trump’s nominee to head the FBI, Christopher Wray.
As for his largely stalled legislative agenda, other than saying what the Senate should do about their healthcare bill, he is not, at least as far as most can tell, heavily involved in wrangling the 50 votes Mitch McConnell needs to pass his now revised legislation. In a tweet this morning, Trump announced that Vice President Pence was working hard with Republican Senators to do what is right for the people.
In the new version of the Senate bill, Senator Ted Cruz appears to have prevailed with his idea to allow less complete coverage options for some, amid worries that it will increase premiums and deductibles for others.
Tom is joined by Michelle Bernard, the CEO of the Bernard Center for Women, Politics & Public Policy. She’s the author of several books including Moving America Toward Justice: The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, 1963-2013.
Also joining is Domenico Montanaro, the lead editor for politics and digital audience at NPR, who joins us from the NPR mother ship in Washington.
