President Donald Trump shifted from an aggressive and attacking offense on the first day of a NATO summit in London to a more defensive posture on its second and final day.
Trump resorted to name-calling Wednesday as he and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau renewed their on-again, off-again feud. The president called Trudeau two-faced after the Canadian prime minister was caught on a hot mic Tuesday evening mocking his American counterpart for delaying other leaders by holding lengthy question-and-answer sessions with reporters that altered the agenda.
That followed Trumps nearly 40-minute public argument with French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday about a range of issues as the two contradicted and interrupted one another in a wild scene broadcast live around the world.
As Trump took his shot at the Canadian leader Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee was about to kick off its first public impeachment hearing, during which several constitutional scholars testified his actions toward Ukraines president amount to impeachable offenses.
Whats more, the House Intelligence Committee released call logs showing his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, had telephone conversations with White House officials after Trump placed him in charge of Ukraine matters. Two Ukrainians with whom Giuliani was working already have been indicted.
Though the president took a number of questions during two impromptu gaggles Wednesday, he abruptly canceled a news conference his staff had planned after his final event at the alliance meeting.
Trump would not pin that decision on a reluctance to face questions about Giuliani, who has said his actions were solely taken on behalf of the client in chief. Instead, the president said the move to ax the more formal back-and-forth with reporters was made because of the amount of time he gave them earlier in the summit.
Either way, Trump was in no mood to discuss the former New York mayor Wednesday.
I really dont know. Youll have to ask him, Trump replied when asked of Giulianis phone conversations with White House Office of Management and Budget officials. It sounds like something thats not so complicated. … No big deal.
Perhaps sensing he would be forced to defend himself, Giuliani minutes earlier had tried doing just that with this tweet: The mere fact I had numerous calls with the White House does not establish any specific topic. Remember, Im the Presidents attorney.
As he left the British capital, Trump was jetting back to the House Democrats impeachment inquiry following another performance on the world stage in which he clashed with allies and inched closer to countries like Turkey and Russia.
I think we feel that we can get along with Russia. And I think its a good thing to get along with Russia, Trump said, indicating he has a mandate to do just that: And I campaigned on it. I mean, Id go into big stadiums; people liked it. And I think the Russian people would like to see it too. A lot of … good can come of it.
Trump went so far as to suggest NATO _ established in large part to guard European countries against aggression from the then-Soviet Union _ should change its primary mission.
You know, a lot of people say it was meant to look at, originally, the Soviet Union _ now Russia, he said. But we also have other things to look at, whether its radical Islamic terrorism, whether its the tremendous growth of China. There are a lot of other things.
As always, Trump did not describe who those people are. But they are not most of his fellow NATO leaders. Macron said while it is important to have a strategic dialogue with Russia, Western officials must do so without naivete.
