Trump/Putin Meeting Revealed, Saudi Legs

The Russian Front: President Trump had a second previously-undisclosed meeting with Russia’s Vladimir Putin at the G-20 summit, the White House confirmed yesterday.

The US has no record, notes, or transcript of the one-hour meeting. The only other person present was a Kremlin translator. The meeting took place in the middle of a banquet when Trump got up and moved to where Putin was sitting.

What the meeting was about, and why Trump had no American aides with him, has fed the mystery over the relationship, if there is one, between the two men. The meeting came to light because it alarmed other people at the dinner.

Press Secretary Sean Spicer described the encounter as “pleasantries and small talk.”

Trump defensively tweeted, “Fake News story of secret dinner with Putin is ‘sick.’ All G 20 leaders, and spouses, were invited by the Chancellor of Germany. Press knew!”

What the press did not know about was Trump’s tête-à-tête with Putin because the press was not allowed inside the dinner. The travelling press noted that Trump’s motorcade left four minutes after Putin’s.

As if that’s not enough about the Russia connection, one more man has been identified as having attended the meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a lawyer offering to dump some dirt on Hillary Clinton. Irakly Kaveladze’s lawyer said he was there to represent a prominent Russian family that had arranged the meeting.

The Wall Street Journal dumped some dirt of its own on the Trumps in an editorial excoriating their handling of the Russia mess. The paper said, “Even if the ultimate truth of this tale is merely that Don Jr. is a political dunce who took a meeting that went nowhere — the best case — the Trumps made it appear as if they have something to hide. They have created the appearance of a conspiracy that on the evidence Don Jr. lacks the wit to concoct.”

Failure is an Option: After Senate leaders failed yesterday with a proposal to repeal Obamacare and replace it later, President Trump said his plan now is to “let Obamacare fail.”

What the President proposed is the collapse of a healthcare insurance system that covers 30 million people. “It’ll be a lot easier,” Trump said at the White House. “We’re not going to own it. I’m not going to own it. I can tell you the Republicans are not going to own it. We’ll let Obamacare fail, and then the Democrats are going to come to us.”

Trump has the power to choke Obamacare by cutting off subsidies and failing to enforce the mandate that everyone must have insurance.

Police Beat: Investigators and critics at home in Australia are mystified by the shooting of an Australian woman by a police officer in Minneapolis last weekend. Justine Damond, who was engaged to be married, died of a single gunshot to the abdomen. The officer who shot her has refused to talk to investigators.

According to the police department, two cops in a squad car had driven down an alley looking for an assault suspect. One of the officers said he heard a loud noise a moment before Damond approached the driver’s side and his partner fired through the open window, killing her. Neither officer had activated his body camera.

The headline in a Sydney newspaper read, “AMERICAN NIGHTMARE.”

The Kingdom: A woman in Saudi Arabia has been arrested after appearing in a 6-second Snapchat video walking through an historic fort wearing a crop top and a mini skirt. Saudi law requires all women living in the kingdom, including foreigners, to wear long, loose robes and head coverings in public. Women have been granted some new freedoms in Saudi Arabia recently, but not the freedom to wear whatever they want.

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It's Been Said

"Christians, get out and vote, just this time. You won't have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what, it will be fixed, it will be fine, you won't have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians. I love you Christians. I'm a Christian. I love you, get out, you gotta get out and vote. In four years, you don't have to vote again, we'll have it fixed so good you're not going to have to vote."

  • Donald Trump courting the vote of the Christian right

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