Trump has a busy day on calendar for Tuesday. He's slated to actually attend an intelligence briefing at 10:30 a.m. Then at 12:30 p.m. a telephone call from Moscow and Vladimir Putin is scheduled and a meeting with H.R. McMaster is set for 5:30 p.m. What might the topic of conversation between the two leaders be? Not having a crystal ball and certainly lacking insider information at the White House, I can say nothing definitive; but take a look at what The Hill says in its article on the upcoming phone call and see if you can read between the lines:
Russia is under intense congressional and media scrutiny following FBI Director James Comey’s announcement in March about his bureau’s activities.
Comey said that FBI is probing Moscow’s interference in the 2016 presidential race, including collusion between Russian officials and members of Trump’s campaign.
The House Intelligence Committee has invited Comey and NSA Director Mike Rogers to appear before the panel Tuesday as part of its probe into Russia’s meddling.
The Senate Intelligence Committee, which has its own investigation of Moscow’s intrusions, reportedly brought on two additional staffers last week.
Trump repeatedly praised Putin during his election campaign, adding his administration would improve relations with Russia.
It's important to note that the last time Trump spoke with Putin since taking office, February 3, 2017, to be exact, a transcript of the Trump-Putin conversation was significantly not kept. Here's what happened per The Washington Examiner, who reported what the White House said about the call, then the underlying story of why no transcript existed, in flagrant disregard of White House protocol regarding international telephone calls between heads of state:
“President Donald J. Trump received a congratulatory call today from Russian President Vladimir Putin. The call lasted approximately one hour and ranged in topics from mutual cooperation in defeating ISIS to efforts in working together to achieve more peace throughout the world including Syria. The positive call was a significant start to improving the relationship between the United States and Russia that is in need of repair. Both President Trump and President Putin are hopeful that after today's call the two sides can move quickly to tackle terrorism and other important issues of mutual concern.”
On Wednesday, the vice president of the right-leaning American Foreign Policy Council, Ilan Berman, suggested at a panel discussion that there is, "no readout of the Trump-Putin call [because the White House] turned off recording."
Turkish journalist Ilhan Tanir tweeted Berman's comments at 9 a.m.
The next day at around 11 a.m., Raw Story published a report titled, "Foreign policy insider: 'No readout of Trump-Putin call because White House turned off recording."
The story was noticed immediately, gathering thousands of shares on social media in just a few hours. An author and activist named Geraldine then shared Raw Story's report with her more than 26,000 followers, and she, too, garnered thousands of shares within hours. Outlets far more hostile to the Trump administration, including Daily Kos and Salon, followed Raw Story's lead, and they published articles that included Berman's supposedly shocking revelation.
As the story continued to pick up steam, however, Berman chimed in with an important clarification.
"[For what it's worth], I don't know for a fact that they turned it off.”
It will be interesting to see if the White House recording equipment is turned off for a second time on Tuesday. With The Hill giving a heads up, all the media outlets will be there. Will Tuesday be a reprise of February 3rd?
There's nothing. There's simply no recording of what the two talked about, at least on our end, in Donald's call to the one and only world leader the ever-insulting Trump has never, ever had an unkind word for.
If Trump is trying to look like a puppet for the Putin regime, he could not possibly do a better job. — Hunter, Daily Kos, 02/03/17
Top off the popcorn and stay tuned, kossacks.