CHINA/ELECTION/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump threw up a smokescreen of deflection and confusing counter attacks Thursday [6-13-19] as a furor mounted over his staggering comment that he would be open to dirt dug up on his 2020 opponents by foreign powers such as Russia or China. The President even implied — clearly erroneously — that he had been merely referring to the content of his conversations with foreign dignitaries such as the Queen of England and Prince Charles when he made the remark in an ABC News interview. Even in a presidency that long ago burned through all conceivable superlatives, Trump’s statement was a stunner. This was more than a mere candidate calling on Russia to find Hillary Clinton’s emails. It went further than dumping on US intelligence agencies by believing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s smirking denials of election interference. Or Trump’s claims that the Kremlin’s 2016 interference caper is one big Democratic hoax. This was the President of the United States — the man charged with protecting the Constitution, American democracy and the Western world — sitting at the Resolute desk in the Oval Office, saying he would accept damaging information from Russia and China on his 2020 Democratic foe.”
–Stephen Collinson, “Trump tries damage control after offer to foreign spies,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, June 12, 2019 5:10 am