RELIGION/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump will attend the National Prayer Breakfast Thursday [2-8-18], a prime networking opportunity for Beltway insiders. But this year’s event is also an opportunity for dozens of Russians. As many as 60 representatives from Russia’s religious and political elite are expected to attend, more than three times last year’s number, according to Russian officials… Two Russian officials said a ‘Russia house’ — a space to hold informal meetings — would be organized at the event. However, the Russian government is not sending an official delegation.
The spike in the number of Russians attending the event compared to last year comes amid multiple ongoing investigations into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia as well as continued fallout from Russian interference in the 2016 election…
Some Russian officials who have received invitations won’t be attending the breakfast. Anatoly Aksakov, a Russian lawmaker, told CNN he had decided not to go following the US Treasury’s publication last month of a list of Russian oligarchs and officials close to the Kremlin. Russia has issued a travel warning to its citizens, saying US law enforcement and intelligence are on a ‘hunt’ to detain Russian citizens traveling abroad.”
-Tim Lister, Mary Ilyushina, and Frederik Pleitgen, “Big Russian delegation anticipated for prayer breakfast in Washington,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, Feb. 7, 2018 01:03pm