(cache) It's Comey time, and Trump's war room has no soldiers - Axios
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It's Comey time, and Trump's war room has no soldiers

Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

With CNN's clock already counting down to fired FBI Director Jim Comey's testimony on Thursday morning, where's the White House war room? Remember the scandal-containment unit that was supposed to quarantine the rest of the White House from Russia questions, so that President Trump could pursue a positive agenda, with the Clinton-style scandal machinery handling the investigations?

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  • I'm told that the inside-outside machinery, as envisioned by aides who frantically planned it while Trump finished his overseas trip, may never exist. Top Republicans say the White House has been unable to lure some of the legal and rapid-response talent they had been counting on.
  • White House Counsel Don McGahn had drawn up an org chart that Trump's team liked. But Game Day is 48 hours away, and the boxes aren't filled.
  • A person involved in the conversations said: "They had a pretty good structure, but they're not able to close the deal."
  • Reasons include some power lawyers' reluctance to work with/for lead Trump lawyer Marc Kasowitz; resistance by Kasowitz to more cooks in his kitchen; and lack of confidence that Trump would stick to advice. Some prospects worry about possible personal legal bills, and are skeptical Trump can right the ship.
  • So far, the existing Trump and GOP infrastructure is still stuck with pushback duties.

After Trump's tweets yesterday undermining his own Supreme Court case on the travel ban, his Republican allies on Capitol Hill and downtown sounded weary and irritated at day after day of self-inflicted wounds:

  • A top GOP operative said: "People are running out of patience. He's in a very tenuous position, where it wouldn't take a lot more bad news for things to come crumbling apart. Their complete inability to get ahead of the Russia story is so strange to people."
  • The N.Y. Times' Michael Schmidt, who broke the story that Comey had kept memos of his conversations with Trump, made the remarkable disclosure on "Morning Joe" last week that it was Trump's twitter threat to Comey ("James Comey better hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!") "that motivated some of the folks that I was talking to ... and led to them talking about how Trump told Comey to end the Flynn investigation. ... [T]he tweets ... loosen them up to talk about things."

Why it matters: On a call with reporters last evening, White House Legislative Affairs director Marc Short said he expects Republicans to pass healthcare and the 2018 budget this summer so the fall can be focused on tax reform. That should be achievable, but many White House allies are skeptical because so much bandwidth, at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, is being diverted to scandals and distractions.

  • And don't forget it's Infrastructure Week!
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Report: Sessions offered to resign amid tensions with Trump

Evan Vucci / AP

Attorney General Jeff Sessions suggested he could resign as tensions with President Trump rose, ABC News' Jonathan Karl reports.

The source of the tension: Sessions' decision to recuse himself from the Russia probe, which he did not consult with Trump about ahead of time. Deputy A.G. Rod Rosenstein took over for Sessions, and later named Robert Mueller as special counsel in the case.

Per Karl, "Trump's anger over the recusal has not diminished with time. Two sources close to the president say he lashed out repeatedly at the attorney general in private meetings, blaming the recusal for the expansion of the Russian investigation… but sources say the frustration runs both ways."

Where things stand: Sean Spicer declined to say at Tuesday's briefing whether Sessions has Trump's confidence. A Justice Dept. spokesperson did not confirm or deny that he had offered his resignation.
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False news planted by Russia reportedly sparked Qatar crisis

Brendan Smialowski / AP

Russia planted a fake news report that contributed to the diplomatic crisis between Qatar and several of its neighbors, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt, CNN reports. Per CNN, the goal appeared to be to cause rifts between U.S. and key allies.

What Qatar says: The hack "undermines Qatar's reputation" and "does not support the unity of the region." The Qatari foreign minister said the FBI has confirmed that false comments attributed to its ruler were inserted into a May 23 article from its news agency. The comments were critical of Trump and favorable toward Iran.

Trump's role: He took credit for the diplomatic changes in tweets that also suggested Qatar was funding terrorism. The comments came despite the fact that Qatar hosts one of the largest U.S. military bases in the region.

The Kremlin has issued a denial, and the FBI, which reportedly sent a team to Qatar to investigate, declined to comment.

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The Senate has an abortion problem

(Scott Applewhite / AP)

Senate Republicans have a new headache. They don't want any money in the GOP health care bill to be used for plans that cover abortions, but the restrictions in the House version may not pass Senate rules. And since members don't want to create a new health care tax credit that isn't explicitly pro-life, they may just have to work within the current Affordable Care Act premium subsidy structure, according to three GOP Senate aides.

They'll still try to convince the parliamentarian that the anti-abortion restrictions comply with budget rules, and some Republicans remain optimistic that they'll win. But members were warned at their working group meeting on Tuesday that things aren't looking good and given the alternative options.

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Public optimism: "I think they're still having this conversation with the parliamentarian, but I think everybody — and I think wisely so – is sort of gaming out how we deal with all these various issues" that may violate Senate rules, Sen. John Thune, the No. 3 Republican leader in the Senate, told me.

The response: Republicans "basically told McConnell to argue better" in persuading the parliamentarian that the anti-abortion restrictions should stay, a senior GOP aide said.

Sound smart: It's unclear how the ACA premium subsidies could be tweaked to be made more conservative or cost less money, but Republicans have said the way they're currently structured encourages insurers to charge higher premiums. Still, keeping the ACA subsidies is a serious option for Plan B.

Here's how different they are:

  • ACA premium subsidies are based on income, geography and the cost of a benchmark exchange premium.
  • The House bill's tax credits vary by age and phase out for higher-income people.

Plan C: If both of the other options fail, the third option is to end all tax credits and instead put $500 billion into the Children's Health Insurance Program, according to a senior GOP aide.

  • Fun fact: When I asked whether this was a joke, the aide said, "That's what several members asked."
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Trump's omitted Article 5 endorsement

Matt Dunham / AP

The National Security Council, the Pentagon, and the State Department all expected President Trump to endorse Article 5, NATO's collective defense agreement, at last month's NATO summit. Here are the words they expected to hear, but didn't, via Politico:

"We face many threats, but I stand here before you with a clear message: the U.S. commitment to the NATO alliance and to Article 5 is unwavering."

Why it matters: The decision to omit this sentence sent an ambiguous signal to other NATO members about Trump's commitment to Article 5, the cornerstone of the alliance, particularly as he continued to challenge them over defense spending.

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Trump pitched Republican leaders on a solar-paneled border wall

Evan Vucci / AP

In the meeting at the White House today with Republican Congressional leaders, President Trump spent some time talking up his latest idea for the border wall. According to 3 people with direct knowledge of the meeting, Trump floated the idea that the wall could be covered in solar panels and the electricity generated used to pay for the cost.

Trump said his vision was a wall 40 feet to 50 feet high and covered with solar panels so they'd be "beautiful structures," the people said. The President said that most walls you hear about are 14 feet or 15 feet tall but this would be nothing like those walls. Trump told the lawmakers they could talk about the solar-paneled wall as long as they said it was his idea. One person cautioned that the President wasn't presenting the solar-paneled wall as the definite solution.

Where this idea might come from: A proposal to cover the wall with solar panels was among those submitted when the U.S. requested designs earlier this year, according to the AP. Companies winning contracts and asked to build prototypes may be announced this month.

Also discussed

What else was discussed:

  • The majority of the meeting focused on healthcare. Trump started off by saying the base was stronger than ever now and it was time to come through for them. He asked Mitch McConnell when the bill would be ready and McConnell said the bill would be released soon and scored by the CBO and voted on before July 4. Everyone agreed June would be spent talking about the failures of the Obama healthcare bill.
  • McConnell suggested acting on the debt-ceiling before the August recess to clear the way for tax reform. But Trump said they ought to do it after August so it doesn't cloud the messaging [presumably on healthcare]. After the meeting, one source said the administration has little control over the timing of the debt-ceiling vote and that they expected Congress to deal with it promptly.
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Top Dem: Russian interference "much broader" than reported

Jacquelyn Martin / AP

Mark Warner, the top Dem on the Senate Intel Committee, said Tuesday that what has been made public thus far about Russian hacking during the 2016 election is the tip of the iceberg:

"The extent of the attacks is much broader than has been reported so far...none of these actions from the Russians stopped on Election Day."

This comes after the report that Russian military intelligence operatives targeted more than 100 local election officials in the buildup to the election. Warner said he is encouraging intelligence agencies to declassify the states hit by the hack before midterm elections.

Warner added a caveat: "I don't believe they got into changing actual voting outcomes."

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Trump Org. reportedly billed son's foundation for fundraiser

Julio Cortez / AP

Eric Trump's annual charity golf tournament, which has raised more than $11 million for St Jude's Children's Hospital, generated more than $1 million in revenue for the Trump organization, Forbes reported Tuesday.

Despite Eric Trump repeatedly claiming he was able to use Trump National Golf Club in Westchester County, N.Y. for free, his charity was actually billed amounts that golf experts told Forbes far exceeded what would be normal for a one-day tournament. Two sources with direct knowledge told Forbes it was Donald Trump who insisted his son's charity be billed.

Forbes also reports that the Donald J. Trump Foundation "apparently used the Eric Trump Foundation to funnel $100,000 in donations into revenue for the Trump Organization."

Why it matters: President Trump's foundation has faced previous accusations of self-dealing, and questions have repeatedly been raised over the murky relationship between it and his for-profit business. The Washington Post's David Fahrentold is back on the case after today's story.

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Trump's message to Comey: good luck

President Trump was asked Tuesday if he has anything to say to former FBI Director James Comey before his testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee Thursday. His reply: "I wish him luck."

The president also weighed in on his son-in-law Jared Kushner and his increased media presence: "Jared's actually become much more famous than me. I'm a little bit upset about that," he joked.

Flashback to January:

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Report: Comey won't accuse Trump of obstructing justice

Carolyn Kaster / AP

ABC News' Justin Fishel and Jonathan Karl report that James Comey will not accuse President Trump of obstructing justice in his testimony Thursday before the Senate Intelligence Committee, citing "a source familiar with Comey's thinking."

  • The context: Trump allegedly asked Comey in February to stop investigating Michael Flynn, raising questions over potential obstruction of justice.
  • What he will say: Per ABC News, the former FBI director "will dispute the president's contention that Comey told him three times he is not under investigation."
  • What he won't say, per the ABC source: "He is not going to Congress to make accusations about the President's intent, instead he's there to share his concerns."
  • What to watch: Trump plans to give a speech in the middle of Comey's testimony, and may even live tweet in reaction to Comey's claims.
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Spicer dodges questions on Trump's confidence in Sessions

Andrew Harnik / AP

Sean Spicer repeatedly declined to say President Trump has confidence in Attorney General Jeff Sessions — after Trump's tweets yesterday questioning key Justice Dept. decisions — saying instead that he had not discussed the matter with Trump. Key takeaways from his Tuesday briefing:

  • Will Trump watch Comey's testimony? "The president has a full day Thursday."
  • Can Trump's tweets be considered official WH statements? "They are considered official statements by the president of the United States."
  • On Qatar's diplomatic crisis: "This issue is not new. There's been tension among Qatar's neighbors for quite some time."
  • On health care reform stalling in the Senate: "We just don't have time to waste. Obamacare continues to collapse."
  • On the alleged leaking a confidential NSA document by contractor Reality Winner: "While I don't want to comment on any specific case or allegation, I think it's important to note that any disclosure of classified information is a threat to national security."
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Uber fires 20 employees based on harassment investigation

Jeff Chiu / AP

Uber told employees during a company-wide meeting on Tuesday that it has fired 20 employees in connection with workplace harassment and bullying, as first reported by Bloomberg and BuzzFeed. None of the terminated workers were identified, but Axios has learned that they included former VP of product and growth Ed Baker (whose departure was previously disclosed).

The moves relate to an investigation by law firm Perkins Coie. Here are the key numbers, according to a source familiar with the situation:

  • 215 total incidents
  • 20 terminations
  • 7 written warnings
  • 31 employees required to undergo training and/or counseling
  • 57 cases still under review

Questions remain: Another report, compiled by former U.S. attorney general Eric Holder's law firm and commissioned following a former employee's explosive allegations of workplace harassment and discrimination, is still being reviewed by Uber's board of directors. Results are expected to be shared with Uber employees during next Tuesday's all-hands meeting.

The headline has been updated to better reflect the reasons for the firings.

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