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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 11 July 2017

GOP health care divisions multiply Trump Jr. admits he met with Russian lawyer

as Trump puts pressure on Senate
By CHAD DAY riod,” said Noble, now se- meeting was arranged by
By ERICA WERNER NEKESA MOODY nior director at the Cam- an acquaintance he knew
ALAN FRAM Associated Press paign Legal Center. On through the 2013 Miss Uni-
Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A Monday, Trump Jr. tried to verse pageant Trump held
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican divisions over health meeting between Presi- brush off the significance of in Moscow. Trump Jr. didn’t
care multiplied Monday as President Donald Trump dent Donald Trump’s eldest the meeting, tweeting sar- name the acquaintance,
pressured GOP senators to act quickly, and Vice Presi- son and a Russian lawyer castically, “Obviously I’m but in an interview with
dent Mike Pence suggested they might have to revert during the presidential the first person on a cam- The Associated Press, mu-
to a straightforward “Obamacare” repeal if they can’t campaign occurred at paign to ever take a meet- sic publicist Rob Goldstone
agree on an alternative. the behest of a Moscow- ing to hear info about an confirmed he set up the
Consensus on a replacement seemed more remote
than ever as senators returned to the Capitol from a
Fourth of July recess. Some lawmakers spent the break
facing critics of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McCon-
nell’s bill, or voicing criticism of their own.
But Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Republican,
told reporters that a revised bill would be unveiled this
week, and “the goal continues to be to” vote next
week.
McConnell abruptly postponed a vote last month,
lacking GOP support for legislation he wrote largely in
secret.
To succeed, the new legislation will have to address
the concerns of conservatives like Mike Lee of Utah
and Ted Cruz of Texas, who want a more full-blown re-
peal, and moderates like Susan Collins of Maine and
Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who want essentially the op-
posite, a more generous bill.
McConnell has little room for error as he tries to pass a
bill with 50 GOP votes, and Pence as the tie-breaker, in
a Senate split 52-48 between Republicans and Demo-
crats. Some GOP senators are questioning McConnell’s
partisan approach, and the majority leader himself
acknowledged to a home-state audience in Kentucky
last week that if he can’t get the job done with Republi-
cans alone, he’ll have to turn to Democrats to shore up In this April 17, 2017 photo, Donald Trump Jr., the son of President Donald Trump, speaks to media
the market for individual insurance buyers. on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. A meeting between Trump Jr. and a Russian
Collins, referring to President Barack Obama’s Afford- lawyer during the presidential campaign occurred at the behest of a Moscow-based singer with
family ties to Trump’s businesses, according to a participant in the talks.
able Care Act, passed in 2010 without a single Repub- (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
lican vote, told reporters: “I believe that we should not
repeat the mistake that President Obama made in based singer with family opponent ... went nowhere meeting on behalf of his
passing major legislation with no support from the other ties to Trump’s businesses, but had to listen.” Hours client, Russian singer Emin
party.” according to a partici- later, New York-based at- Agalarov. Goldstone said
The Republican Party has been campaigning against pant in the talks. Donald torney Alan Futerfas said the Russian lawyer, Natalia
Obama’s law ever since, but having ridden the issue Trump Jr. acknowledged he had been retained to Veselnitskaya, stated that
to control of the House, Senate and the White House, Monday he made time for represent the president’s she had information about
they’re finding it nearly impossible to coalesce around the meeting hoping to get son. And Trump Jr. said on purported illegal campaign
an alternative. information about Demo- Twitter he was willing to contributions to the Demo-
Underscoring the divisions within the GOP, and an oc- crat Hillary Clinton. The cir- work with the Senate intel- cratic National Committee
casional communications vacuum between the White cumstances surrounding ligence committee, one of that she thought Trump Jr.
House and the Senate, Pence appeared on conserva- the meeting fueled new the panels probing possible might find helpful.
tive host Rush Limbaugh’s radio show to rule out work- questions about the Trump campaign collusion, “to Goldstone said Trump
ing with Democrats. campaign’s possible ties pass on what I know.” Law- Jr. agreed to squeeze
“The president’s made it very clear. We believe if they to Russia, which are be- makers on the committee the meeting into a tight
can’t pass this carefully crafted repeal and replace bill, ing scrutinized by federal from both parties said they schedule. Dmitry Peskov,
do those two things simultaneously, we ought to just and congressional investi- indeed wanted to talk with a spokesman for Russian
repeal only,” and then turn to replacement legislation gators. Some election law the president’s son. Sen. Su- President Vladimir Putin,
later on, Pence said, although Trump has at times dan- experts said a discussion of san Collins, R-Maine, said said Monday the Kremlin
gled the prospect of working with Democrats. potentially damaging in- the panel “needs to inter- doesn’t know Veselnits-
Few Republicans on Capitol Hill believe a repeal bill formation on Clinton could view him and others who kaya and “cannot keep
could pass Congress without a replacement. prompt scrutiny from Spe- attended the meeting.” track” of every Russian law-
The vice president made his comments after Trump him- cial Counsel Robert Mueller Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., yer who holds meetings in
self began his day with a tweet aimed at McConnell in light of federal laws bar- agreed, saying, “Based on Russia or abroad. Although
and his Republicans: “I cannot imagine that Congress ring foreign contributions to his own admissions, this is she has not been publicly
would dare to leave Washington without a beautiful campaigns. Larry Noble, a an attempt at collusion.” linked with the Russian gov-
new HealthCare bill fully approved and ready to go!” former general counsel at The sequence of events ernment itself, Veselnitska-
Congress is beginning a three-week sprint toward its tra- the Federal Election Com- that led to the June 2016 ya represented the son of
ditional five-week August recess, which some lawmak- mission, said the situation meeting highlighted the a vice president of state-
ers have suggested should be shortened or even can- “raises all sorts of red flags.” tangled web of relation- owned Russian Railways in
celed if they can’t get health care done first, though “You do not want your ships that investigators now a New York money-laun-
that’s unlikely to happen.q campaign to be involved are sorting through. dering case settled in May
with foreign nationals, pe- The president’s son said the before a trial.q