| This morning we bring readers the blowback, walk-back, retraction, confusion and drama from the fourth day of the Russia riptide that has engulfed the White House… In an interview last night with CBS News’s Jeff Glor, President Trump offered his most unambiguous remarks to date about Russian interference in the 2016 election (CBS News). After days of waffling and contradictions, Trump said he holds Russian President Vladimir Putin personally responsible for the election interference, which has produced dozens of indictments of senior Russian intelligence officials and satellite organizations. “[Putin’s] in charge of the country. Just like I consider myself to be responsible for things that happen in this country. So certainly as the leader of a country you would have to hold him responsible.” The president also said that he confronted Putin about the matter in their one-on-one meeting in Helsinki, although Trump notably declined to do so in the press conference that was broadcast around the world. “I let him know we can't have this, we're not going to have it, and that's the way it's going to be." The CBS interview took place after Trump spent three days digging new holes and creating headaches for himself and for his national security team. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will testify about the Russia summit in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee next week. The mess: Early on Wednesday, Trump responded “no” when a reporter asked him if he believes Putin is preparing to interfere in the 2018 midterm elections, putting him at odds with his own director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, as well as FBI Director Christopher Wray (The Hill). Wray on Wednesday restated the FBI’s belief that Russia interfered with the election and “continues” the meddling in 2018. The cleanup: White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders later said that Trump was responding “no” to a question about whether he would take questions from reporters. Reporters in the room dispute that explanation. Sanders went on to say that the administration believes Russia is preparing to interfere in the midterm elections and that the White House is taking the threat seriously. The mess: Trump provoked outrage among Republicans on Capitol Hill for declining to confront Putin over election interference at a press conference in Helsinki on Monday. Trump also suggested that he believed Putin’s denial over the information provided to him by Coats. The cleanup: Trump said that after reviewing the transcript of the press conference, he realized he misspoke. At the press conference with Putin, Trump said he didn’t think Russia “would” be involved in an election interference campaign. He later claimed that he meant to say that he “wouldn’t” have a reason to believe otherwise. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) called the explanations “dizzying.” 
© Twitter The Hill: Trump’s damage control falters. The New York Times: White House journos, including The Hill’s Jordan Fabian, try team approach. The White House wants the news media to focus on the actions the administration has taken against Russia, and not on the president’s words. The Hill: Trump’s policies, actions create divide on Russia. The Trump administration has sanctioned Russian oligarchs and firms for interfering in the 2016 election and joined more than a dozen countries this year when the United States expelled 60 Russian officials as punishment for Russian poisonings in the United Kingdom. The White House is accusing the media of hysteria around Russia and of ginning up a modern day Red Scare. Sanders pointed to errors from reporters who attempted to tie together threads she said do not exist. “This has gotten totally out of control. You guys need to take a step back and slow down and quit going after the Trump administration on everything little thing that takes place.” – Sanders But Trump’s main problem right now is that Republicans on Capitol Hill were wholly unnerved by the Helsinki summit and what they view as a capitulation by the U.S. president to Russia. The president’s remarks over the past few days and the subsequent corrections have only exacerbated those fears. There has been a rush by Republicans to rebuke the president for casting doubt on the assessments provided by his own intelligence officials. Late on Wednesday, the New York Times reported that the president, two weeks after his inauguration, read highly classified U.S. intelligence establishing that Putin himself “personally ordered” the plan of cyber attacks and disinformation to interfere with the election and to support Trump’s bid for the White House. GOP lawmakers are proposing new measures to sanction Russia or beef up election security ahead of 2018. A bipartisan bill called the DETER Act, backed by Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), is picking up steam. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) might skip the committee process and bring it straight to the floor for a vote. The Hill: GOP seeks separation from Trump on Russia. Reuters: Senate eyes swift sanctions in case of more election meddling. There is one other loose end the president will need to address shortly. The White House on Wednesday left open the possibility it would allow Russian investigators to come to the United States to question U.S. citizens, including Michael McFaul, the American ambassador to Russia under former President Obama, and Bill Browder, an investment fund manager who spearheaded an effort to pass the Magnitsky Act, which is reviled by Putin. “I can’t answer on behalf of the White House ... but what I can tell you is that the overall assertions that have come out of the Russian government are absolutely absurd – the fact that they want to question 11 American citizens and the assertions that the Russian government is making about those American citizens. We do not stand by those assertions.” – State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert. McFaul and Browder, respectively, have strong support on Capitol Hill, and lawmakers would go into full revolt if Trump were to give the Kremlin access to either individual. Browder: Why Putin hates me. 
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