Whenever Trump has faced widespread criticism of his statements and actions, he has immediately doubled down. Standing next to Russian President Vladimir Putin and siding with him over his own government, however, was a whole different story.
Once again, Trump undercut the US intel community multiple times next to Putin, citing Putin’s “strong” denials and repeating the DNC sever conspiracy theory as reasons to doubt the assessment. The President did not correct any of those comments. Would-wouldn’t is a red herring https://t.co/zASIleqH9Y
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) July 18, 2018
According to an article from Vanity Fair, corroborated by The Washington Post and other news media outlets:
‘Chief of Staff John Kelly was irate…Kelly called around to Republicans on Capitol Hill and gave them the go-ahead to speak out against Trump.’
John Kelly began calling Hill lawmakers after Helsinki, doing damage control and urging them to speak bluntly to Trump — hoping it would help him understand the magnitude of his blunder. https://t.co/RUK57hgPlb pic.twitter.com/22NG6QNVGz
— Ashley Parker (@AshleyRParker) July 18, 2018
Kelly was outraged by Trump’s statements and told Trump that it was making the collusion case against him stronger than ever. Trump, on the other hand, was simply furious over the backlash and the lack of support he was receiving from his own party and White House officials began to believe that Trump had surely spelled his own doom.
‘Trump reacted with surprise at the horror and outrage that was being expressed by much of the American political world…The mood among West Wing advisers was downright funereal. “This was the nightmare scenario,” another Republican in frequent contact with the administration said.’
The Trump administration is in deep crisis. Even staunch supporters of Trump are now turning against him.
??
Three sources tell Vanity Fair that John Kelly called Republicans on Capitol Hill and gave them the go-ahead to speak out against Trump.https://t.co/RruDyutZMw
— The Hummingbird ? (@SaysHummingbird) July 18, 2018
Instead of doubling down like he did with his Charlottesville comments and his family separation policy, Trump held a press conference following the ones by House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (both of whom stood with the intelligence community over Trump) trying to backtrack on his statements during the press conference with Putin.
‘In a key sentence in my remarks I said the word ‘would’ instead of ‘wouldn’t’…The sentence should have been: ‘I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be Russia.’
I would say that I completely believe President Trump misspoke and that he has full faith and confidence in the members of our intelligence community and understands that Putin and Russia were fully responsible for intervening in our election.
Sorry. I meant wouldn’t.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) July 17, 2018
Trump read that backtrack from a prepared statement. Apparently, his own secretary of state pushed for that to happen.
Featured image screenshot via YouTube