Subject: ?Axios AM: Mike's Top 6 — Trump's bad idea — The 'killer networks' — Tweet du jour — 'The most valuable real estate on the internet'
From: "Mike Allen" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 10 Jun 2017 08:23:07 -0400 (EDT)

Presented by JPMorgan Chase & Co.:

Trump's bad idea — The 'killer networks' — Tweet du jour=— 'The most valuable real estate on the internet'

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Presented By JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Axios AM

By Mike Allen = ·Jun 10, 2017

1 big thing: ​Trump's bad idea

Comey walks through a corridor on the way to a secure room to give close= testimony after his public appearance (AP's J. Scott Applewhite)

Friends and lawyers were aghast after President Trump b=ashly declared yesterday that he was willing to testify under oath for spe=ial counsel Bob Mueller, to give his own version of events fired FBI direc=or Jim Comey described.

One well-wired Republican said:=/strong> "The White House says they have the investigation under control. =olunteering to sit down with a special prosecutor is kind of the definitio= of things not being under control."

These people said=/strong> the fact that Trump blurted out "100 percent!," in response to a =uestion from ABC's Jon Karl, is proof of why the president shouldn't be gi=ing a deposition to a federal prosecutor. He answered in the moment, with =rio, and without regard to what his lawyer or aides might advise.

<=i>How lawyers would have advised Trump to answer: "I've s=id that there's nothing there, but that I want to see this investigation d=ne and done properly, and so of course I will do what I can to help get th=re." He wants to sound positive, but avoid being specific or overcommi=ting.

The lawyers pointed out that Trump isn't bound by something he said at a press conference. A=d his lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, could always set terms that had the effect of=delaying or limiting Trump's testimony.

Here are some of the considerations that cause lawyers to strongly advise against suc= an appearance:

Danger 1: Lawyers said such=a meeting would be "a massive false-statements trap," because Trump is inc=ined to remember things selectively, and often embraces a version of event= that is the way he would like them to be. And by the time he talked to th= president, Mueller would have an arsenal of evidence. So Trump's characte=istic certainty — "I never said that!" or "I never did that!" �=80� could mean trouble. Trump in the Rose Garden yesterday (which made N=Y. Times Quote of the Day): "I didn't say that. ... And there would be not=ing wrong if I did say it.")

Danger 2: Trump woul= be unlikely to prepare adequately. He has little patience and a short att=ntion span, doesn't like to study written documents, and prefers to ad lib=

Be smart: Yesterday's declaration shows that=Trump's Russia-related comments aren't being fully vetted by his legal tea= — meaning that he may keep creating new landmines for himself, as=Mueller works away.

And yesterday's tweets won't help: =/strong>By calling Comey a liar and complaining about the probe, Trump ris=s coloring prosecutors' impressions of him. Lawyers explain that Trump's t=mperament and M.O. will be key if prosecutors are looking at intent. And w=th his tweets and barbs, a top lawyer said: "He is confirming that the way=they think he operates, is the way he actually operates."

=xtreme case: Marc Kasowitz can refuse to allow testimony �=94 and Trump could direct the firing of Mueller.

2. 'There would be nothing wrong if I did say it'

Cover of next week's issue ofThe New Yorker=/em>, "Modern Times," by Barry Blitt: "Charlie Chaplin and Donald Trump bo=h get caught in the grinding gears of modern times."

Exchange of a lifetime at Rose Garden presserwhere Trump was side by side with Romanian President Klaus Ioan=is:

Trump: "Who would like to ask — =hould I take one of the killer networks that treat me so badly as fake new=? Should I do that? Go ahead, Jon. Be fair, Jon."

ABC's =onathan Karl: "Oh, absolutely."

Trump: "Re=ember how nice you used to be before I ran? Such a nice man."

Karl: "Always fair. Mr. President, can we get back to James Come='s testimony. You suggested he didn't tell the truth in everything he said= He did say, under oath, that you told him to let the Flynn — you =aid you hoped the Flynn investigation he could let — "

Trump: "I didn't say that."

Karl: "So he=lied about that?"

Trump: "Well, I didn't say that. = mean, I will tell you I didn't say that. ... And there would be nothing w=ong if I did say it, according to everybody that I've read today. But I di= not say that."

Karl: "And did he ask for a pledge =f loyalty from you?" ...

Trump: "No, he did not."<=p>
Karl: "So he said those things under oath. Would you=be willing to speak under oath to give your version of those events?"
<=>Trump: "One hundred percent. I didn't say under oath �=80� I hardly know the man. I'm not going to say, I want you to pledge al=egiance. Who would do that? Who would ask a man to pledge allegiance under=oath? I mean, think of it. I hardly know the man. It doesn't make sense. N=, I didn't say that, and I didn't say the other."

<=trong>Karl: "So if Robert Mueller wanted to speak with you about =hat you would be willing to talk to him?"

Trump: "I=would be glad to tell him exactly what I just told you, Jon."

Karl: "And you seem to be hinting that there are recordings of t=ose conversations."

Trump: "I'm not hinting anythin=. I'll tell you about it over a very short period of time." ...

Karl: "When will you tell us about the recordings?"

Trump: "Over a fairly short period of time. .=. Oh, you're going to be very disappointed when you hear the answe=. Don't worry."

3. Trump to Miami and Poland

"Trump expected to unveil new Cuba policy as early as n=xt Friday," by Reuters' Mat= Spetalnick: "Trump is expected to visit Miami as early as next=Friday to announce a new Cuba policy that could tighten rules on trade and=travel, rolling back parts of ... Obama's opening to the island."

White House statement yesterday: "President Donald J. Trump =ccepted the invitation of the President of the Republic of Poland, Andrzej=Duda, to visit Poland in advance of the G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany."

The big story at the G20 summit, in early July: =rump and Putin will both be there, and are expected to meet.

<=trong>Trumplomacy ... "As Tillerson calls for calm, Trump calls o=t Qatar on terror" AP's Josh Lederman: "Trump is ramping up pressure=on Qatar to stop what he calls a 'high level' of financial support of terr=rism, even as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson tries to calm the worst dip=omatic crisis in the Persian Gulf in years."

Phrase that=pays ... Trump, asked about NATO in the Rose Ga=den: "I'm committing the United States, and have committed, but I'm commit=ing the United States to Article 5. And certainly we are there to protect.=And that's one of the reasons that I want people to make sure we have a ve=y, very strong force by paying the kind of money necessary to have that fo=ce. But, yes, absolutely, I'd be committed to Article 5."

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Bonus: Tweet du jour

4. Article of the day

Dr. Russell Moore (black hair), at Obama's side in the Oval Office in 20=4. Also shown: Suzii Painter of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in Atla=ta, and Dieter Uchtdorf of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints=(AP's Carolyn Kaster)

Now he has no access to the White House," by Ian Lovett in Washington:

"When ... Trump signed an executive order on religious liberty l=st month, he was surrounded in the White House Rose Garden by religious fi=ures — Catholics, orthodox Jews, Sikhs and a host of evangelical C=ristians. One prominent evangelical was conspicuously missing: Russell Moo=e, the public face and chief lobbyist of the Southern Baptist Convention, =strong>the country's largest Protestant denomination."

"Moore's absence was a sign of the rift between=him and the new administration, and hinted at a rupture within the Souther= Baptist Convention itself that is challenging Mr. Moore's leadership and =otentially pushing the powerful, conservative institution off the politica= course he set."

Why it matters: The=outcome of Moore's internal and external power struggles will help determi=e "whether evangelical Christians remain a reliably Republican vot=ng bloc."

Rising stars ... Cover of N.Y. Times Sunday Styles, "'You Can't Rattle He=' ... Katy Tur Is Tougher Than She Looks: The NBC corres=ondent's swift and surprising rise at the network mirrored that of the pre=idential candidate she covered and occasionally battled with," by Luisita =orregrossa.

5. 'In office but not in power'

Cover of U.K. edition. Cover elsewhere is the one we showed you yesterda=, "Terror and the internet."

The Nate Silver of London ... "One analyst predicted th= UK general election exactly right," by Jim Edwards, founding editor of "On May 19, three weeks before the general election, Pant=eon Macronomics analyst Samuel Tombs published [a] chart =howing the relationship between consumer confidence and the size of a UK g=vernment's majority in the House of Commons after a general election. He p=edicted 'only a slender Tory win.'''

Why it matters: <=strong>"The economic data, Tombs argued, pointed to an electorate that was=unhappy — because of low pay and insecure work — and there=ore could not be expected to vote enthusiastically for a sitting governmen=."

Sound familiar? "An election that has deep=ned UK divisions" — Financial Times front-page column by Editorial Director Robert Shrimsley:

"Far from settling the divisions exposed by the Brexit=referendum, this election appears to have sharpened them. To purloin the w=rds used of another Tory leader: [Prime Minister Theresa May] remains 'in =ffice but not in power,' dependent on the goodwill of one of most sectaria= and sectional political parties in the UK."

Great N.Y. Time= online headline for p=int lead story: "The British Election That Somehow Made Brexit Even Ha=der."

Sidebar on A=: Labour Chief "Jeremy Corbyn Lost U.K. Election, but Is Stil= Its Biggest Winner."

6. 1 fun thing

Sam Island for BuzzFeed News

"Inside The Chaotic Battle To Be The Top Reply To A Tr=mp Tweet: The area below the president's tweets is the most valua=le real estate on the internet," by BuzzFeed's Charlie Warzel:

"Thanks to Twitter's weighted repl= algorithm, you don't even have to be the first to hit 'send' — th=ugh it certainly helps. So seconds after the president sounds off to his 3= million–plus followers, he's bombarded with replies — alm=st all of them extreme.

"There=are breathless condemnations of Trump policy; cries for his speed= impeachment; furious demands for his administration to admit its role in =ny number of global and political conspiracies; #Resist-ers; #TrumpTrain c=nductors and passengers; impassioned defenses of his character; praise for=Trump as chessmaster-in-chief, 10 steps ahead and constantly outwitting en=mies. ...

"And within seconds they're all just a few pixels below the president's missive �=94 yelling, arguing, and looking to be the one Donald Trump sees when he c=ecks his Twitter feed."

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