On Monday morning U.S. President Donald Trump began the work week with a simple message for the American people: there is “no chaos” at the White House.
What followed were the ousting of communications director Anthony Scaramucci, reports that he personally dictated son Don Jr.’s misleading statement about a meeting with a Russian lawyer, and then leaked transcripts that revealed his private conversations with two world leaders.
Trump’s approval rating also plunged to its lowest level since the inauguration.
Here is a round-up of the events this week in the manic presidency of Donald J. Trump.
Aug 3: ‘Do not worry about Canada,’ and the Russia story is a ‘total fabrication’
Leaked transcripts of conversations Donald Trump had with the leaders of Mexico and Australia offered an intimate portrait of Trump’s unique foreign diplomacy style.
Whether it was urging Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto to remain quiet about the border wall, calling New Hampshire a “drug-infested den,” or telling Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull that he hates taking refugees, the transcripts published by The Washington Post contained several eyebrow-raising details.
READ MORE: Donald Trump’s leaked phone call to Mexican president
Here is one excerpt from Trump and Turnbull’s conversation, in which they discussed a commitment by the former Obama administration to accept refugees from Australian detention centres.
Trump: Can Australia give me a guarantee that if we have any problems, you know that is what they said about the Boston bombers. They said they were wonderful young men.
Turnbull: They were Russians. They were not from any of these countries.
Trump: They were from wherever they were.
WATCH: Leaked phone calls show Trump acknowledged border wall not a reality: Washington Post
Canada even turned up in a call as Trump and Nieto discussed NAFTA. The Mexican leader encouraged a more positive discussion and urged Trump to focus on the fact that the three countries could negotiate a new trade deal.
“Canada is no problem,” Trump replied, according to the leaked transcript. “Do not worry about Canada, do not even think about them.”
Also on Thursday, Trump blamed Congress for the poor relationship between the U.S. and Russia, one day after he signed sanctions legislation that he said was flawed and unconstitutional.
READ MORE: Trump urged Mexican president to stop publicly refusing to pay for border wall
Elsewhere, as he faced a rally at a venue built for 9,000 in Huntington, W. Va., Trump blasted allegations that Russians colluded with his campaign and interfered in the 2016 election as a “totally made up story,” and said the Democrats were only talking about it because they “have no message, no agenda and no vision.”
The rally came as news emerged that special counsel Robert Mueller, who is spearheading an investigation into alleged interference by the Russians, had convened a grand jury as part of his probe — a key step that could give him more tools to pursue evidence.
READ MORE: Donald Trump calls Russian story a ‘total fabrication’ as subpoenas are issued
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that a grand jury had issued subpoenas in connection with a June 2016 meeting between Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and a Russian lawyer.
WATCH: Trump calls Russia’s interference in U.S. election ‘total fabrication’
Aug 2: Jim, Jim, Jim
President Trump on Wednesday endorsed a new bill in the Senate aimed at slashing legal immigration levels in half, limiting the entry of non-English speakers, curbing family sponsorships and penalizing migrants whose spouses are less skilled.
The administration said it looked to the Great White North for inspiration and the use of a points-based system.
“The points-based system that Canada has, has a lot to recommend it,” said presidential adviser Stephen Miller. “We actually took that and added things.”
READ MORE: Would-be refugees fleeing Donald Trump policy may not fare better in Canada
The United States already has a far smaller proportion of immigrants, at one million per year compared to Canada’s 250,000. The proposal would cut those numbers in half.
Some Republicans and Democrats were quick to oppose the bill.
WATCH: Trump immigration legislation would prevent alleged welfare abuse
The issue also led to a fiery exchange between Miller and CNN reporter Jim Acosta, after the latter quoted the famous inscription on the Statue of Liberty.
“The Statue of Liberty says, ‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,’” he said. “It doesn’t say anything about speaking English or being able to be a computer programmer.”
“That is one of the most outrageous, insulting, ignorant, and foolish things you’ve ever said,” Miller told Acosta at one point during the argument.
READ MORE: New polling numbers show real trouble for Trump
Miller, who grew up in Santa Monica and went to Duke University, also accused the reporter of having a “cosmopolitan bias.”
Also Wednesday, Trump’s statement that he received a phone call from the head of the Boy Scouts telling him that his recent remarks to the group constituted “the greatest that was ever made to them” appeared to be not entirely accurate.
WATCH: White House says Trump didn’t lie about Mexico, Boy Scouts calls
Trump also said that he received a phone call from Mexican President Nieto, in which the latter said fewer people were crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. That, too, appears to not to have taken place.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a lie. That’s a pretty bold accusation,” White House press secretary said Sarah Huckabee Sanders when asked by a reporter.
“The conversations took place. They just simply didn’t take place over a phone call. He had them in person.”
Aug 1: Father helps out his son
The White House was on the defensive following a Monday report that Trump had dictated a statement, later shown to be misleading, in which Donald Trump Jr. said a meeting he had with a Kremlin-linked lawyer in June 2016 was not related to Trump’s presidential campaign.
The Washington Post reported that Trump “personally dictated a statement in which Trump Jr. said he and the Russian lawyer had ‘primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children.’”
READ MORE: Donald Trump ‘weighed in’ on son’s Russia attorney statement, White House confirms
This contradicted an earlier plan by Trump’s advisers that Trump Jr. should issue a truthful account of the episode so that it “couldn’t be repudiated later if the full details emerged.”
WATCH: Trump ‘weighed in’ on son’s misleading message
“The president weighed in as any father would, based on the limited information that he had,” Sanders told reporters. “He certainly didn’t dictate, but you know, he — like I said, he weighed in, offered suggestion, like any father would do.”
July 31: Goodbye Mooch
Anthony Scaramucci, the bombastic, fast-talking White House communications director, was fired just 10 days after he was hired.
The man, also known as the Mooch, was ousted by John F. Kelly, President Trump’s new chief of staff, who is said to be imposing military discipline on the undisciplined administration.
WATCH: White House on the dismissal of communications director Anthony Scaramucci
The major shakeup happened just hours after Trump tweeted there is “no chaos in the WH.”
READ MORE: Donald Trump insists White House not in chaos as new chief of staff John Kelly takes over
Scaramucci’s dismissal came just days after a crude conversation with a New Yorker reporter, in which he lashed out against Reince Priebus, the former chief of staff, and Stephen K. Bannon, the chief White House strategist.
The sudden turn of events sent social media into a frenzy.
Also on Monday, China shot back after Trump tweeted he was “very disappointed” in the country following North Korea’s latest missile test.
Meanwhile, U.S.-Russia tensions escalated amid new sanctions and diplomatic expulsions.
- With files from the Associated Press and Reuters
Comments