Going against the family (Trump's) sparks GOP-on-GOP fight

Flares from the son

In retweet after retweet, Donald Trump Jr. reveled in the Republicans ripping one of their own, Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Richard Burr, for sending the president's eldest son a Russia-related subpoena.

The criticism from Burr's Senate GOP colleagues stopped short of making it personal. "I agree with Leader (Mitch) McConnell: this case is closed," said Sen. Thom Tillis. Like Burr, Tillis is from North Carolina. Unlike Burr, he will be running for re-election and doesn't want to face the wrath of Donald Trump's fans.

House Republicans like Rep. Lee Zeldin of Shirley didn't hold back. "Weak & ridiculous for Senate to perpetuate the Russia Collusion Delusion by continuing to harass @DonaldJTrumpJr. They should NOT be taking orders from unhinged resistance Dems," tweeted Zeldin, who had Trump Jr. headline one of his fundraisers last year. Pro-Trump Breitbart News said a top McConnell donor demanded he strip Burr of his chairmanship. (Trump Jr. retweeted that, too.)

Burr, who has sought to preserve his committee's traditional bipartisan approach, wouldn't answer reporters' questions. But he defended the decision in a closed-door Senate GOP lunch Thursday. The Senate committee's investigation, Politico reported, and some of his colleagues stood by him. 

“He’s a good chairman and I don’t have any problem with his decision,” said Intelligence Committee member Roy Blunt of Missouri. “We’re an oversight committee … and I think it’s important for us to finish this report,” said Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. McConnell also supported Burr and his handling of the committee, according to a New York Times reporter. 

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina straddled. "I don't want to second-guess" Burr, but Trump Jr. should be "very reluctant" to comply with the subpoena, Graham said. The president's son has been previously questioned about his roles hosting a 2016 campaign meeting with a Kremlin-connected Russian offering dirt on Hillary Clinton and in the pursuit of a Moscow development project.

The president's public reaction to the subpoena, by Trump standards, is mild so far. “I saw Richard Burr saying there was no collusion two or three weeks ago,” he told reporters Thursday. "Frankly, for my son, after being exonerated, to now get a subpoena to go again and speak again after close to 20 hours of telling everybody that would listen about a nothing meeting, yeah, I’m pretty surprised," Trump said.

The bible, by Robert Mueller?

You can rail against it. You can swear by it. Or if you're Trump, talking about special counsel Robert Mueller's report, you can do both at the same event.

Trump talked up Mueller's findings as proof of his son Donald Jr.'s innocence. "The Mueller report came out. That’s the bible. The Mueller report came out and they said he did nothing wrong," Trump said, before moving on to his usual denunciation of a "witch hunt" by "angry Democrats." 

Trump also said he will leave it up to Attorney General William Barr whether to allow Mueller to testify before Congress, though he made clear he's unhappy about it. For more from Trump's Q&A with reporters, see Newsday's story by Laura Figueroa Hernandez.

Pelosi: We're building a case

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she is holding off on scheduling a full House vote on the Judiciary Committee's contempt action against Barr because there may be more to come.

“When we're ready, we'll come to the floor," Pelosi said. "And we'll just see, because there may be some other contempt of Congress issues that we want to deal with at the same time.”

Barr refused to yield to demands for the unredacted Mueller report. Some current and former officials are refusing to turn over requested documents by House committees — including former White House counsel Don McGahn and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who rejected requests for six years of Trump tax filings. For more, see Tom Brune's story for Newsday.

Janison: So near, so far

What's the outlook for those crucial trade talks with China, Mr. President. “I think it’ll be a very strong day,” Trump said. But he added, “I have no idea what’s going to happen.”

For Trump, it has become a week of finessing questions about what hasn't happened, writes Newsday's Dan Janison. The sputtering effort to push out Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela? "However long it takes!" North Korea is firing off missiles again? Trump still sees a denuclearization deal in the future with Kim Jong Un: “He also knows that I am with him.”

Aid to Florida for damage from last October's Hurricane Michael has been stalled in Washington. So at a rally there Wednesday, he faulted others and promised it will work out. Trump blamed Democrats for stalling in Congress. He overstated the amount of disaster aid already received by Puerto Rico, attacked the Democrats for asking for more, and said "we're getting close" to a deal.

Bolton on a leash

Trump denied he's losing faith in national security adviser John Bolton but acknowledged he's a hawkish voice. The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the president groused about Bolton's advice on Venezuela and worried he was trying to get Trump "into a war."

"He has strong views on things but that's OK. I actually temper John, which is pretty amazing," Trump said. " … I have different sides. I have John Bolton and other people that are a little more dovish than him. I like John."

Boston socks

Trump made no note of a controversy surrounding Thursday's White House visit by the 2018 World Series champion Boston Red Sox. Nearly a dozen members of team, all black and Latino, skipped the ceremony, as did manager Alex Cora, a native of Puerto Rico who has criticized the president's response to Hurricane Maria.

Before and after the event, Trump's team committed errors. An item on the White House website previewing the event labeled the team as the "Red Socks."  An emailed transcript of Trump's remarks  had "2018 World Cup Series Champions" in the subject line.

What else is happening:

• Trump intends to nominate acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, a former Boeing executive, to be his permanent pick to replace James Mattis at the Pentagon, the White House said.
• Amid rising tensions with Iran, Trump said he wants to hold nuclear talks with the Iranians and that he can help their economy get “back to great shape.” Politico wrote it's another sign the president may be at odds with Bolton, though Trump talked tough against Iran and Obama's nuclear deal with them long before Bolton came on board.
• Trump accused former Secretary of State John Kerry of illegally talking to Iran's rulers and telling them "not to call" the U.S. "Frankly he should be prosecuted on that, but my people don't want to do anything," Trump said. A spokesman for Kerry, said in a statement that Trump's claim "is simply wrong, end of story."
• Trump called on Congress to find a solution to surprise medical bills patients receive when they are unknowingly treated by out-of-network doctors or hospitals, often in an emergency situation.
• A Monmouth University poll of early-primary state New Hampshire finds Joe Biden on top of the Democratic field with 36%, followed by Bernie Sanders, 18%, Pete Buttigieg, 9%, Elizabeth Warren's, 8% and Kamala Harris, 6%. Beto O’Rourke, Amy Klobuchar and Cory Booker each had 2%.
• Sanders joined Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Bronx) to propose legislation that would cap credit card interest rates at 15%.