Poll Shows How Americans Reacted to Trump’s Summit With Putin

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By The Blaze. While many in the media were excoriating President Donald Trump for his bizarre comments during the press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a new poll shows how Americans saw the episode. . .

According to a new Reuters poll, Americans’ approval of the president did not change substantively from the daily average in the same poll after the highly criticized meeting in Helsinki. . .

However, the average approval rating for Trump’s treatment remained low, at 42 percent of registered voters. The daily average for the month of July for the rating fell between 40 and 44.

When questioned about Russia specifically, a majority of registered voters (55 percent) said they disapproved of Trump’s handling of Russian relations, while only 37 percent approved of the same.

(Read more from “Poll Shows How Americans Reacted to Trump’s Summit With Putin” HERE)

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‘Better Than Super’: Russia Reacts to Trump-Putin Summit in Helsinki

By NPR. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, a master of diplomatic verbosity and sardonic barbs, summed up the results of the Helsinki summit in just three exuberant words: “better than super.”

After four years of getting short shrift by his American counterparts, Russian President Vladimir Putin was standing side by side with President Trump, who lavished him with the words of praise, respect and awe normally only heard on Russian state television.

When Putin militarily intervened in Ukraine in 2014, President Barack Obama called Russia a “regional power” that threatened its neighbors out of weakness, not strength. Russia’s annexation of Crimea set off a precipitous decline in relations with the United States. When he took office, Trump could not reverse the trend because of accusations that Moscow interfered in the 2016 election. . .

There is relief in the Kremlin that Trump didn’t do anything unpredictable, make any demands on which further cooperation would depend or just appear ambivalent, according to Stanovaya. But despite the friendly atmosphere, she said, the Kremlin is aware Trump could still end up taking them by surprise.

Alexander Gabuev, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center, says that in the short term, the Kremlin can be happy about Putin’s burnished image as a statesman who holds his own with the U.S. president. (Read more from “‘Better Than Super’: Russia Reacts to Trump-Putin Summit in Helsinki” HERE)

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According to Dem, THIS Is Enough to Impeach Trump

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President Donald Trump’s performance during a joint press conference with Russian leader Vladimir Putin is enough for a potential impeachment to go forward, according to the Democratic representative challenging Sen. Ted Cruz in Texas, The Dallas Morning News reported.

Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) told The Dallas Morning News that he would vote to impeach the president if he was asked to.

“Standing on stage in another country with the leader of another country who wants to and has sought to undermine this country, and to side with him over the United States — if I were asked to vote on this, I would vote to impeach the president,” O’Rourke said. . .

New calls for impeachment of Trump and even some mentions of the word “treason” followed a joint press conference during which Trump said he believed Putin that Russia did not interfere in the 2016 elections, despite U.S. intelligence agencies having said otherwise. . .

“In order to prosecute a case for impeachment, you have to have the underlying facts,” Sanchez told Politico. “We don’t know all the facts yet. And until the time that we do, we can’t make a decision on whether or not impeachment is warranted.” (Read more from “According to Dem, This Is Enough to Impeach Trump” HERE)

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Lesson From Putin Summit: Democrats and GOP Equally Hate President Trump

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By CNN. After President Donald Trump’s stunning news conference Monday next to Russian President Vladimir Putin, members of Congress — including some powerful Republicans — were quick to rebuke Trump’s performance on the world stage and Trump’s refusal to call Putin out for interfering in the US election.

House Speaker Paul Ryan contradicted several comments Trump made during his Helsinki news conference, most notably backing the US intelligence community assessment that Russia meddled with the US 2016 presidential election. . .

Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican who has consistently criticized the President, said Trump’s comments were “one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory.”

Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker said the President “made us look like a pushover” and that Putin was probably eating caviar on the plane home. (Read more from “Lesson From Putin Summit: Democrats and GOP Equally Hate President Trump” HERE)

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Trump-Putin Summit: U.S. Leader Hails ‘Good Start’ in Helsinki

By BBC. US President Donald Trump says his face-to-face meeting in Helsinki with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin was “a good start”.

After two hours of closed-door talks the two leaders went into a working lunch with their senior advisers.

Speaking earlier, Mr Putin said it was time to discuss “difficult multi-national issues”.

Relations between Russia and the West were severely strained by Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Russia is also accused of meddling in the 2016 US election, a claim it strongly denies. (Read more from “Trump-Putin Summit: U.S. Leader Hails ‘Good Start’ in Helsinki” HERE)

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Nunes: Mueller Indictment Would Look Ridiculous If Trump Had Taken This One Step

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By The Daily Caller. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes said Sunday that the special counsel’s indictment of 12 Russian intelligence officers “would look ridiculous” had President Donald Trump declassified portions of a congressional report that laid out Russian efforts to steal and disseminate Democrats’ emails. . .

The indictment accuses military intelligence officers with Russia’s GRU of hacking into the DNC and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton campaign’s computer networks and releasing stolen documents through the fake online personas, Guccifer 2.0 and DCLeaks.

Nunes said in an interview on “Fox Sunday Futures” that much of the information was included in Chapter 2 of the House Intelligence Committee’s report, but it was heavily redacted in response to requests from the Department of Justice and intelligence community. . .

“If the President of the United States had declassified this … the Mueller indictment would look ridiculous today if this was unredacted and declassified,” Nunes said Sunday.

Nunes’ call for declassification mark a subtle shift in the Republican’s public stance on the Russia investigation. He only recently started calling on Trump to declassify documents related to the investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian government. The comments suggest that Nunes believes that the only way that the public will see some of the information about the Justice Department and FBI’s investigation of the Trump campaign is if Trump orders the documents be declassified. (Read more from “Nunes: Mueller Indictment Would Look Ridiculous If Trump Had Taken This One Step” HERE)

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Rep. Devin Nunes: Indictment of Russians Leaves out Targeting of GOP

By Washington Examiner. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said special counsel Robert Mueller’s recent indictment of 12 Russian officials on charges of hacking Democrats’ computers during the 2016 campaign looks “ridiculous” because it left out Republicans who were also targeted.

During an interview Sunday on Fox News, Nunes accused the media of largely ignoring the findings of his committee’s months-old report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, which he asserted was more comprehensive than Mueller’s indictment. However, he also claimed the redactions in his panel’s report prevented the presentation of the full picture and urged President Trump to declassify it.

“This entire report that you have in front of you, all you had to do was get to page 4, and you only had to read chapter 2 and you would have had nearly everything that’s in the indictment,” Nunes said, referring to a copy of the report held by host Maria Bartiromo. “There’s more in this report than what’s in the indictment. And this is what’s very frustrating.”

A grand jury returned Mueller’s indictment Friday, after which it was announced by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The charges said 12 Russian officials “engaged in a sustained effort” to break into computers owned by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Democratic National Committee, and Hillary Clinton’s campaign in the lead-up to the 2016 election. (Read more from “Rep. Devin Nunes: Indictment of Russians Leaves out Targeting of GOP” HERE)

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Congressman Calls for Military Coup Against Trump

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On Monday, after President Trump’s inflammatory remarks concerning the U.S. intelligence community, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) seemingly called for a military coup to overthrow Trump:

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Cohen has made his feelings quite clear when it comes to President Trump; Speaking with MSNBC in January, Cohen snapped, “Donald Trump is the most despicable human being to ever reside at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue … a narcissistic sociopath doesn’t change. It endangers the country. And war … is something he could get into to improve the rating for the [20]18 elections, where [Republicans] are in desperate shape. And will do anything to improve ratings.”

(Read more from “Congressman Calls for Military Coup Against Trump” HERE)

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NRA-Involved Woman Charged With Being a Russian Spy

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A 29-year-old woman active in Washington, D.C., politics has been arrested and charged with being a Russian agent. She was reportedly very involved with gun rights groups in D.C., including the NRA, and conspired to use one of these groups as a conduit to facilitate communication between a U.S. political party and the Kremlin. . .

Maria Butina was arrested on Sunday and appeared before a U.S. District Court judge on Monday. According to the unsealed criminal complaint, Butina was charged “with conspiracy to act as an agent of the Russian Federation within the United States without prior notification to the Attorney General.”

A press release from the Department of Justice stated that “from as early as 2015 and continuing through at least February 2017, Butina worked at the direction of a high-level official in the Russian government who was previously a member of the legislature of the Russian Federation and later became a top official at the Russian Central Bank. This Russian official was sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control in April 2018.

The Washington Post reported that her attorney had said that the FBI had searched Butina’s residence. The complaint lists (with redacted names) messages between Butina, a Russian official, and at least two U.S. citizens.

According to a LinkedIn page for a Maria Butina with a profile picture that resembles pictures of her from news stories, Butina has been a research assistant at American University’s Kogod School of Business in Washington, D.C., since October 2017. It also claims that she “founded a gun rights organization in Russia [The Right to Bear Arms] that grew to over 10,000 members.” Her lawyer confirmed to the Post that she had recently earned a master’s degree from American University. (Read more from “NRA-Involved Woman Charged With Being a Russian Spy” HERE)

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Al Franken Releases His List of Questions for Brett Kavanaugh – but There’s One Big Problem

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Late Saturday night, Al Franken “released” a list of questions for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. There’s just one problem, though: Al Franken won’t be able to question Kavanaugh, because he’s no longer a sitting United States senator.

Franken, who has not changed his Twitter handle from “U.S. Senator Al Franken,” despite resigning from office amid a series of sexual harassment allegations, announced his opposition to Kavanaugh on Saturday in a post to Facebook.

What follows is a fever dream in which Franken “nails” Brett Kavanaugh for a comment Kavanaugh made during his official introduction last Monday, suggesting that President Donald Trump presided over a thorough and extensive vetting process, and that “no president has ever consulted more widely, or talked with more people from more backgrounds, to seek input.”

Franken concludes by noting that he “knows” precisely what would happen in the exchange: that Kavanaugh would reveal he was selected “through a shoddy, disgraceful process” conducted using resources from those nefarious, shady conservative groups, the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation, and that Kavanaugh has worked, from the beginning, as if pushed by a vision of a future where Donald Trump nominated him to the Supreme Court, to cover his tracks as an utterly partisan official. . .

(Read more from “Al Franken Releases His List of Questions for Brett Kavanaugh – but There’s One Big Problem” HERE)

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GOP Governor Signs Gun Control Legislation – Here’s What Will Change

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Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner signed new gun control legislation Monday, again showing himself to be a Republican politician willing to give some ground on gun issues to pass bipartisan legislation, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The bills Rauner signed Monday will extend the waiting period to 72 hours for all firearm purchases and allow police to take guns from people deemed to be a threat to themselves or others. . .

Rauner signed a bill that gives family members or law enforcement officers the ability to seek an order of protection to have guns taken away from a person who is found to be a danger to themselves or others. . .

The length of the gun removal was shortened to six months, down from a full year, during negotiations. If a petition for gun removal is denied, that file will be expunged from the subject’s record. If it is granted, it will be sealed after three years.

Some of the factors in determining whether someone is dangerous include reckless use, display or brandishing of a gun, felony arrests, drug or alcohol abuse, or violent acts or threats. Clear and convincing evidence of danger is required for a person’s guns to be seized. (Read more from “GOP Governor Signs Gun Control Legislation – Here’s What Will Change” HERE)

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Fox Host Shocks Panel When He Drops Country Actually Influencing Elections

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By The Daily Caller. Fox News television host Tucker Carlson explained that the country that has had the greatest influence on the United States’ elections is actually Mexico for “packing our electorate” on The Five Monday night.

“It’s very hard at least for me, Tucker, to take that media response to this seriously. Since it’s always been at an incredible high pitch,” Greg Gutfeld, one of the show’s hosts said. “I’m wondering if this is because the media is blaming Putin for Hillary’s loss and they are constantly demanding their pound of flesh and nothing will ever be enough.”

“Of course they are trying to interfere in our affairs. They have a long time. Many countries do. Some more successfully than Russia like Mexico, which is routinely interfering in our elections by packing our electorate. I don’t understand why we need to believe that Russia is the primary issue of American political life,” Carlson responded. (Read more from “Fox Host Shocks Panel When He Drops Country Actually Influencing Elections” HERE)

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Rep. Diane Black: Ending Illegal Immigration Starts With Zero Tolerance

By Washington Examiner. We are a blessed and compassionate nation filled with people from all walks of life, backgrounds, and countries. That’s what makes America great.

But we’re a great nation because we were founded on the principle of law and order. And right now we have a problem.

When it comes to illegal immigration, many people don’t know that under current law, crossing the border illegally for the first time is classified as only a misdemeanor — with punishment equal to that of petty theft or public intoxication. When immigrants cross the border without going through the proper channels and designated areas, they are breaking the law. Plain and simple.

President Trump has been resoundingly clear on illegal immigration since he began his campaign: We must put American citizens first, fix the system, and secure the border. While I have introduced the Border Wall Trust Fund Act to fund the construction and maintenance of a barrier along our southern border, I believe the next step is to disincentivize illegal immigration from the very beginning.

The Zero Tolerance for Illegal Entry Act would establish a minimum prison sentence of one year and one day for unlawfully entering our country, making it a felony. The larger significance of this is that once you receive a felony conviction and you try to enter again, by legal means, you will not be able to obtain a green card. The goal of my bill is to provide a deterrent for breaking the law; hiring new judges and lawyers alone to prosecute criminals is not going to simply fix the issue. It’s going to be fixed by addressing the heart of the problem. (Read more from “Rep. Diane Black: Ending Illegal Immigration Starts With Zero Tolerance” HERE)

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James Woods Goes off on Hillary in What Could Be His Best Tweet Ever

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Hillary Clinton is on the comeback trail. She’s officially out of the woods, running second in polls regarding 2020 Democrat contenders and is even portraying herself as a woman of the people by flying commercial transportation (a short trip on Delta which seemed to have a conspicuous number of media figures present at the airport and on the flight).

All of these facts ought to be great news for conservatives. Please, let’s have a 2020 rematch, except one where Hillary won’t have a two-to-one advantage in campaign funds, one where Trump has already proven himself as a reliable conservative and one where the Democrats continue to drift further and further to the left without any real evidence that’s where the electorate is going.

Perhaps the recent trip on Delta was darkly apropos one, since one trivia Twitter account decided to post a surprising fact about your chances of becoming the president of this great country.

. . .

Hrm. Who could it be? I don’t think it’s Martha from “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” Then again, it certainly sounds like someone who might be experiencing the same marital issues she was…

By the way, rumors of Hillary’s boozing aren’t exactly idle speculation. One of the trove WikiLeaks emails instructs John Podesta to “sober her up some,” which could have been a joke.

(Read more from “James Woods Goes off on Hillary in What Could Be His Best Tweet Ever” HERE)

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