First Draft on Politics: Trump Lashes Out

In an interview with The Times, he said Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s recusal was “very unfair to the president.” View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Thursday, July 20, 2017 [NYTimes.com/Politics »]( [President Trump discussed Jeff Sessions, Donald Trump Jr., Robert S. Mueller III and the newly disclosed conversation he had with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.]( President Trump discussed Jeff Sessions, Donald Trump Jr., Robert S. Mueller III and the newly disclosed conversation he had with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Stephen Crowley/The New York Times Good Thursday morning, Here are some of the stories making news in Washington and politics today: In an interview with The Times, President Trump said he would have never named Jeff Sessions as attorney general if he had known Mr. Sessions would recuse himself from the Russia inquiry. - In a rebuke of one of his staunchest supporters, Mr. Trump said Mr. Sessions “should have told me before he took the job and I would have picked somebody else.” In the wide-ranging interview, Mr. Trump [also criticized the special counsel on the Russia inquiry]( and warned him about delving into his family’s finances. - [Mr. Trump discussed]( his increasingly warm relationship with France’s leader, which follows an awkward first encounter. - [Read an edited transcript of the interview]( and [hear excerpts on]( “The Daily,”]( our audio report. Senator John McCain has brain cancer, his office disclosed. - ​Mr. McCain, a Republican of Arizona and a former presidential candidate, [received the diagnosis]( after having a blood clot removed from above his left eye. - Republican and Democratic politicians alike [praised him](. Mr. Trump persisted in urging senators to revive the health care overhaul. - The president [vigorously defended the Senate health bill]( and pressed Republicans to stay in Washington through their recess to improve their proposal. - Even without Congress, Mr. Trump has [already started doing three things]( to undermine important provisions of the health law, and there are a few more things he could do. — The First Draft Team HAVE A CONFIDENTIAL NEWS TIP? Do you have the next big story? Want to share it with The New York Times? We offer several ways to get in touch with and provide materials to our journalists. [Learn More »]( ADVERTISEMENT [Trump’s Agenda]( We’ll keep you updated on the recent legislative action by the Trump White House. [• Sign up »]( On Washington [Republicans’ Push to Overturn Health Law Is Back From the Dead]( By CARL HULSE [The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, has backed away from his earlier insistence that the Senate focus on a plan to repeal much of the Affordable Care Act and allow a two-year window for its replacement.]( The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, has backed away from his earlier insistence that the Senate focus on a plan to repeal much of the Affordable Care Act and allow a two-year window for its replacement. Doug Mills/The New York Times The Republican health care push was declared dead Wednesday morning. By afternoon it had a breath of life. Legislation in Washington can assume Frankenstein-like qualities. On the cusp of a humiliating and politically disastrous defeat, President Trump and the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, took extraordinary resuscitative measures on Wednesday to pump oxygen back into their badly fading effort to overturn the Affordable Care Act. They somehow managed to stave off its imminent demise. It may be only a temporary reprieve, but a fight that seemed finished just hours earlier was renewed and headed for a pivotal vote next week. [Read more »](  [Neomi Rao, the new administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.]( [White House Boasts of Its Savings in Regulatory Rollback]( By STEVE EDER The Trump administration said it had brought about savings for the economy rather than regulatory costs during the president’s first months in office. [Trump family properties, clockwise from top left: Trump World Tower, New York; Trump National Doral in Miami; Trump International Hotel in Washington; Trump International Hotel in Chicago; 40 Wall Street in New York and the former New York Times building in New York.]( [Big German Bank, Key to Trump’s Finances, Faces New Scrutiny]( By BEN PROTESS, JESSICA SILVER-GREENBERG AND JESSE DRUCKER Regulators are reviewing loans from Deutsche Bank, which is also expecting to have to share information with the authorities investigating campaign ties to Russia. [Paul J. Manafort at Trump Tower in Manhattan last August, days before he resigned as Donald J. Trump’s campaign manager.]( [Manafort Was in Debt to Pro-Russia Interests, Cyprus Records Show]( By MIKE MCINTIRE Business records from the secretive tax haven of Cyprus suggest that Paul J. Manafort owed millions to pro-Russia interests before joining Donald J. Trump’s campaign. [President Trump with Kris Kobach, left, and Vice President Mike Pence during the first meeting of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity.]( [Trump Election Commission, Under Fire, Holds First Meeting]( By MICHAEL WINES The Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity begins public life facing questions about its impartiality, its agenda and even its reason for being. [Protesters outside the Supreme Court in June after it announced that it would hear arguments on President Trump’s revised travel ban.]( [Trump Refugee Restrictions Allowed for Now; Ban on Grandparents Is Rejected]( By ADAM LIPTAK The Supreme Court on Wednesday gave the White House a mixed ruling as challenges to the travel ban make their way through the courts. [Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in Washington last week. He is working with congressional leaders to introduce a tax bill in the House in early September.]( [White House Is Scaling Back Goals to Cut Corporate Tax Rate]( By KATE KELLY AND ALAN RAPPEPORT The proposed tax rate for businesses is now said to be around 20 percent, rather than the 15 percent rate the administration said it wanted. [Syrians combed the rubble of their houses, which were destroyed on Wednesday during clashes on the outskirts of Raqqa.]( [Trump Ends Covert Aid to Syrian Rebels Trying to Topple Assad]( By DAVID E. SANGER, ERIC SCHMITT AND BEN HUBBARD The decision amounted to a recognition that the effort was failing and that the administration has given up hope of forcing the Syrian leader from power. [Attorney General Jeff Sessions at a meeting of the country’s district attorneys in Minneapolis on Monday.]( [Justice Dept. Revives Criticized Policy Allowing Assets to Be Seized]( By REBECCA R. RUIZ The practice allows state and local authorities to use federal law to take cash, cars and other property from people suspected of crimes, but not charged. [Members of the rebel United Wa State Army at a ceremony in Poung Par Khem, Myanmar, in June. China made use of its ties to the group to bring its leaders, and those of six other rebel groups, to a peace conference in May.]( [As U.S. Attention Wanes in Southeast Asia, China Woos Myanmar]( By JANE PERLEZ Myanmar’s opening had been considered an American victory, but China is bringing it into its fold with money and diplomacy. [A protester in Washington in March. The failure of efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act is a setback for those who hoped Republican control in Washington would reverse Obama-era policies.]( [Health Care Has G.O.P. Down. Tax Cuts May Be the Cure.]( By JEREMY W. PETERS Many conservatives are worried that the party’s inability to pass ambitious legislation will imperil its chances in next year’s elections. [President Trump remains popular among Republicans and Republican leaners, but some erosion of support may be hidden.]( Survey Says [Why Trump’s Base of Support May Be Smaller Than It Seems]( By BRENDAN NYHAN His approval rating remains strong among self-described Republicans, but a new paper suggests the number of such people could be shrinking. [Vice President Mike Pence, far left, with the hosts of “Fox & Friends”: Steve Doocy, center; Ainsley Earhardt; and Brian Kilmeade.]( Critic’s Notebook [Watching ‘Fox & Friends,’ Trump Sees a Two-Way Mirror]( By JAMES PONIEWOZIK Sometimes the president’s tweets program his go-to cable morning show. And sometimes the show programs him. [From left, Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank; Ivanka Trump; and Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, during an event focused on for female entrepreneurs at the Group of 20 summit meeting in Hamburg, Germany, this month.]( [With World Bank Initiative, a Change in Tone for Trump Administration]( By AVANTIKA CHILKOTI A World Bank initiative to advance women’s entrepreneurship could be a sign that the White House might not be as combative toward multilateral institutions. [Novelists and historians have strained to follow the narrative arc of the Trump White House.]( Washington Memo [Trump as a Novel: An Implausible ‘Soap Opera Without the Sex and Fun’]( By MATT FLEGENHEIMER These first months have been trying for Washington’s storytelling swamp creatures, with novelists and historians straining to follow the narrative arc. Right and Left: Partisan Writing You Shouldn’t Miss Read about how the other side thinks. We have collected political writing from around the web and across ideologies.  From the Right • [Rich Lowry]( in [National Review]( “If the Republican attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare ultimately fails, it will be a lesson in the wages of political bad faith.” On the heels of the Senate health care bill’s collapse, Mr. Lowry looks at the prospective landscape for legislative health care action. And he doesn’t see many paths for success.  [Read more »]( ____ From the Left • [Norm Ornstein]( in [The Atlantic]( “What emerges is a truly disturbing picture of a failed legislative process built on a deep distortion of representative democracy. A thoroughly partisan, ill-conceived and ill-considered bill, slapped together without the input of experts or stakeholders, done not to improve the health care system.” Mr. Ornstein is displeased with the way health care is being deliberated in Congress. He discusses the history of the Affordable Care Act and says that Republicans who reflexively opposed it have offered no alternative framework. _____ [More selections »]( ADVERTISEMENT HOW ARE WE DOING? We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [washington-newsletter@nytimes.com](mailto:washington-newsletter@nytimes.com?subject=Newsletter%20Feedback). FOLLOW NYTimes [Facebook] [FACEBOOK]( [Twitter] [@NYTPolitics]( Get more [NYTimes.com newsletters »](  | Get unlimited access to NYTimes.com and our NYTimes apps for just $0.99. [Subscribe »]( ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's First Draft newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Manage Subscriptions]( | [Change Your Email]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Contact]( | [Advertise]( Copyright 2017 The New York Times Company 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018