Opinion: Remember the secret 2016 tape?

“There’s two people I think Putin pays ...” View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Wednesday, July 18, 2018 [NYTimes.com/Opinion »]( [David Leonhardt] David Leonhardt Op-Ed Columnist Do you remember the secret tape of a meeting that House Republicans held in 2016, later [discovered by The Washington Post]( “There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump,” Kevin McCarthy, the second-ranking House Republican, told his colleagues during the meeting. Some of those colleagues then laughed, and McCarthy added: “Swear to God.” Rohrabacher is Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican member of Congress from California with a long history of pro-Russian sympathies. Trump, of course, was then the leading Republican candidate for president. And the last few days have highlighted the alarming Russian ties to both men. On Tuesday, a Justice Department investigation led to the indictment of Maria Butina, charged with being a Kremlin agent posing as a pro-gun activist. The affidavit in the case mentions a planned meeting between a prominent Russian official and an unnamed member of the United States Congress. That member, according to [media reports]( is Rohrabacher. President Trump, meanwhile, tried to do some damage control yesterday. He walked back — sort of — his obviously false Monday claim that the Russians didn’t interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. But his walkback was so grudging — and he quickly [undermined it]( — that it seemed designed not to be persuasive. It instead seemed designed merely to be just strong enough to get some positive headlines and to allow Trump’s allies to wave away the whole incident. “Likely the main reason Trump ‘clarified’ his comments: To give GOPers cover,” [David Joachim of Bloomberg]( tweeted. Senators Marco Rubio and Rob Portman were among the Republicans who did precisely that, pretending the problem was now solved. It’s not. There are plenty of reasons to wonder if the president of the United States has financial (or other) ties to a hostile foreign power. The same may apply to a member of Congress. It’s time for the rest of Congress to use its Constitutional power and figure out the truth. Elsewhere. Republicans’ rigmarole on Trump and Russia fits a pattern, [notes Vanity Fair’s Bess Levin](. “Republicans have made a cottage industry of publicly taking umbrage at things Trump has done — whether it’s leaking classified information to Russian envoys, siding with Nazis, or destroying our alliances abroad — and then proceeding to insist that their hands are tied,” she writes. In The Times, the [editorial board]( [Ross Douthat]( [Katherine Stewart]( and [William Webster]( a Republican former director of the F.B.I. and C.I.A., all write about Russia. The full Opinion report follows. [Time for Republicans to Grow a Spine]( By THE EDITORIAL BOARD Some Republicans say President Trump embarrassed himself and the country in his meeting with Vladimir Putin. Here’s what they can do about it. [Trump Says He Got Only One Word Wrong. Please Decide for Yourself.]( Doug Mills/The New York Times By THE EDITORIAL BOARD We invite you to read the president’s own words and decide for yourself what he really thinks. [What Was Maria Butina Doing at the National Prayer Breakfast?]( By KATHERINE STEWART America’s Christian nationalists have been finding common cause with the Russian government for a while now. From Our Columnists [A President With No Shame and a Party With No Spine]( By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN It’s become a huge source of power for Trump and trouble for the rest of us. [Trump and Russia: One Mystery, Three Theories]( By ROSS DOUTHAT An agnostic’s guide to our president’s strange conduct. [Trump’s Road to American Martial Law]( By ROGER COHEN For Putin, Trump is the gift that keeps on giving. Republicans may grumble over this, but they are Trump’s indecent enablers. LIKE THIS EMAIL? Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up [here](. ADVERTISEMENT The World Cup Is Over [The Hidden (and Not So Hidden) Politics of the 2018 World Cup]( By TONY KARON What this year’s tournament taught us about the upending of the global order and the conflicts between nationalism and globalization. Offsides [The World Cup Ends. The Hangover Begins.]( By MUSA OKWONGA As much as I love this tournament, I know that it can’t last forever. More in Opinion [Let Robert Mueller Do His Job]( By WILLIAM WEBSTER Faith in the justice system and in our intelligence agencies cannot be collateral damage in a partisan grudge match. [The Trump Administration Caves on Plastic Guns]( By STEVE ISRAEL The government has just made it easier for terrorists and criminals to produce deadly weapons with an inexpensive 3-D printer. Op-Docs [Death Metal Grandma]( By LEAH GALANT A 96-year-old who fled the Holocaust finds a new way to be heard. SIGN UP FOR THE OP-DOCS NEWSLETTER Find out about new [Op-Docs]( read discussions with filmmakers and learn more about upcoming events. ADVERTISEMENT Letters [Outrage Over Trump’s Behavior With Putin]( Readers speculate about why the president “chooses to believe Russia and attack his own intelligence agencies.” HOW ARE WE DOING? We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [leonhardt@nytimes.com](mailto:leonhardt@nytimes.com?subject=Opinion%20Today%20Newsletter%20Feedback). 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