Some graduating seniors at the University of Notre Dame walked out of their own graduation ceremony to protest Vice President Pence when he began to deliver the commencement speech on Sunday morning.

Pence was chosen to give the commencement address at the nation’s most prominent Catholic university — even though the school ordinarily invites newly inaugurated presidents to give the address in their first year of office.  Thousands of students and faculty members signed a petition asking Notre Dame’s president, the Rev. John Jenkins, not to invite President Trump, and the university chose instead to invite Pence, a former Indiana governor.

A coalition of student activist groups at Notre Dame called We StaND For planned a walkout to protest policies Pence pursued as governor that they say targeted the most vulnerable. Pence was planning to seek reelection as governor when Trump selected him to be his vice presidential running mate in the summer of 2016, but Pence was unpopular at the time in his own state and many thought he would lose his reelection bid.

[The defiant, the funny and the touching college commencement speeches of the week]

School officials knew of the student walkout plans and did not try to stop them. The students — more than 100 — walked quietly out, and there were some cheers and boos sounded, though only briefly. Paul Browne, vice president for public affairs and communications, said Notre Dame has been the site of protests of presidents and vice presidents in the past, and as long as the students did not disrupt the ceremony, it would be allowed to take place.

Hundreds of antiabortion activists protested President Barack Obama when he spoke at the 2009 graduation ceremony, and there were smaller protests too for Vice President Joe Biden at the 2016 commencement.

On Saturday, Pence delivered the commencement speech at Grove City College, a Christian liberal arts school in Grove City, Pennsylvania, about 50 miles north of Pittsburgh. Grove City is one of a handful of religious schools that have refused federal funds so they do not have to comply with specific federal mandates, such as Title IX, which bans discrimination based on the sex of a student.

There were strong similarities — even identical language — in his speeches before the Grove City and Notre Dame audiences. For example, in both speeches, Pence urged the graduating students to become leaders in various walks of life, and he asked them to stand up, “catch the eye of a loved one’s in the crowd” and thank them for their support through college.

The Notre Dame protest was far smaller than that faced by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos when she recently delivered the commencement speech at Bethune-Cookman University, a historically black college in Florida. Some students stood up and turned their back, and the booing was so loud at different points in the speech that the school’s president stood up, interrupted DeVos, took to the microphone, and said to the students, “If this behavior continues, your degrees will be mailed to you. Choose which way you want to go.”

[Booing students at Betsy DeVos’s commencement speech told to shut up or get diplomas sent in mail]

[Vice President Pence has a growing credibility problem]

A large group of students just walked out of Notre Dame’s commencement during VP Mike Pence’s address. #ND2017 pic.twitter.com/g3dCuqPbXg

— WNDU (@WNDU) May 21, 2017

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — President Trump forcefully summoned the Muslim world to confront “the crisis of Islamic extremism” here Sunday on the eve of visits to Israel and the Vatican as he seeks to unite followers of disparate faiths against global terrorism.

Speaking from the birthplace of Islam, Trump implored the leaders of dozens of Muslim nations to take their destinies in hand and, together with the United States, eliminate the “wave of fanatical violence” committed in the name of religion.

“This is not a battle between different faiths, different sects or different civilizations,” Trump said in the first major foreign policy address of his presidency. “This is a battle between barbaric criminals who seek to obliterate human life, and decent people, all in the name of religion — people that want to protect life and want to protect their religion. This is a battle between good and evil.”

Trump implicitly rejected the aspirational goals and call for democracy and human rights of former president Barack Obama, who also delivered a major speech to the Islamic world early in his presidency. “We are adopting a principled realism,” Trump said.

“We are not here to lecture,” he said. “We are not here to tell other people how to live, what to do, who to be or how to worship. Instead, we are here to offer partnership, based on shared interests and values.”

Trump called for unity in confronting Iran over its funding of terrorists and promotion of a “craven ideology.” He called on the Muslim world to help isolate Iran and, just days after Iranians reelected a moderate president, Hassan Rouhani, to “pray for the day when the Iranian people have the just and righteous government they so richly deserve.”

[Trump campaigned against Muslims but will preach tolerance in Saudi speech]

Trump was addressing a rare gathering of leaders of about 50 Muslim nations at the Arab Islamic American Summit.

It was the second day of a marathon foreign trip that will take Trump to Israel on Monday, where he is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin and visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Western Wall. On Tuesday, Trump will deliver a speech at the Israel Museum and briefly visit Bethlehem for a meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Trump will then fly to Rome, where he will have a private audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Wednesday morning. He will attend a NATO summit in Brussels and a Group of Seven summit in Sicily, Italy, later in the week.

In the run-up to Trump’s visit here, there was speculation about whether he would utter the phrase “radical Islamic terrorism” in his speech, the centerpiece of his Saudi trip. On the campaign trail, Trump loudly criticized Obama for refusing to describe the terrorism threat in those terms. But some of Trump’s top aides, including national security adviser H.R. McMaster, have been urging him to soften his language. Many Muslim leaders consider broad denunciations of their faith insulting.

In his Riyadh address, Trump decided to use a substitute phrase: “Islamist extremism.” But he slightly veered off the prepared excerpts released earlier by the White House, saying “Islamic” instead of “Islamist” on several occasions.

President Trump shakes hands with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, left, during a bilateral meeting on May 21, 2017, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Seated with them are, from center to right, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner and national security adviser H.R. McMaster. (Evan Vucci/AP)

[Read the full speech Trump delivered in Saudi Arabia]

Describing the fight against terrorism, Trump spoke of “honestly confronting the crisis of Islamic extremism and the Islamists and Islamic terror of all kinds.”

A senior White House official later said that Trump merely misspoke in using the word “Islamic” rather than “Islamist.”

“He’s just an exhausted guy,” said the official, who briefed reporters only on the condition of anonymity.

Lamenting the scourge of terrorism across the Middle East, Trump exhorted, “Drive them out! Drive them out of your places of worship. Drive them out of your communities. Drive them out of your holy land. And drive them out of this Earth.”

The Middle East, he said, had long been home to “Arabs and Christians and Jews living side by side” and could again be a place for “every person, no matter their faith.”

[Trump mocked Obama for bowing to a Saudi king. And then he …]

By preaching tolerance and calling Islam “one of the world’s great faiths,” Trump departed from his previously stated views on Muslims. Anti-Muslim rhetoric and policies were hallmarks of his nationalist presidential campaign; he proposed banning Muslims from entering the United States and proclaimed, “I think Islam hates us.”

Trump gave his remarks in an opulent hall of the King Abdul Aziz International Conference Center, where crystal chandeliers hung from the gilded ceiling and attendees sat in plush armchairs. The president was seated at the front of the room, behind an ornate wooden desk and alongside the summit’s host, King Salman, before taking the lectern.

No final list of the leaders in attendance was initially released. Seen chatting in the chamber and then listening intently were kings, presidents and prime ministers from Jordan, Pakistan and the Palestinian Authority, as well as Egypt and numerous other African states with Muslim majorities. Some, including Turkey and ­Sudan, sent lower-level officials.

Speaking before Trump, Salman appeared to be gently admonishing the United States for its strict visa policies, saying that all in the room rejected “profiling religions and countries on a religious or sectarian basis.”

But he was effusive in his praise of Trump and the president’s decision to make Saudi Arabia the first stop on his first overseas trip. Trump, he said, “has many hopes and aspirations with the Arab and Muslim worlds.”

Salman said that his kingdom is committed to “fighting all forms of terrorism” and that “one of the most important goals of Islamic sharia is protecting life, and there is no honor in committing murder.”

The king excoriated Iran, saying the Arab world had no problems with that country until its 1979 revolution brought a theocratic government that quickly turned to terrorism and regional ambitions. “These odious acts are the products of attempts to exploit Islam as a cover for political purposes to flame hatred, extremism, terrorism and religious and sectarian conflicts,” Salman said.

Trump was equally generous in his praise for Saudi Arabia, a Sunni Muslim state that considers Shiite Iran its principal rival for regional power.

He made proud reference to the $110 billion arms deal signed with the Saudis during his visit here and said the United States was willing to extend the same partnership to other nations that share its objectives.

Trump also highlighted, in terms reminiscent of his domestic boasting, what he said were the achievements of his first months in office, claiming the creation of nearly 1 million jobs.

[Ivanka Trump meets with Saudi women leaders as some activists remain critical]

The president wants to both profit from the sales and move partners in the Middle East to share more of what he has said is the unequal burden of defending against the Sunni terrorism of the Islamic State and al-Qaeda and against Iran.

“America is prepared to stand with you — in pursuit of shared interests and common security,” he said. “But the nations of the Middle East cannot wait for American power to crush this enemy for them. The nations of the Middle East will have to decide what kind of future they want for themselves, for their countries and, frankly, for their families and for their children.”

Overall, Trump delivered a dark decree to the leaders in attendance.

“Religious leaders must make this absolutely clear: Barbarism will deliver you no glory — piety to evil will bring you no dignity,” he said. “If you choose the path of terror, your life will be empty, your life will be brief, and your soul will be condemned.”

A few hours before his remarks, Trump and the leaders of six Persian Gulf states reached an agreement to crack down on terrorism financing, including the prosecution of individuals who send money to militants.

The memorandum of understanding between the United States and the Gulf Cooperation Council, comprising Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, includes the creation of a center in Riyadh to fight extremism.

Dina Powell, Trump’s deputy national security adviser, called the agreement the “farthest-reaching commitment to not ­finance terrorist organizations” and said the Treasury Department would monitor it along with the gulf governments.

“The unique piece of it is that every single one of them are signatories on how they’re responsible and will actually prosecute the financing of terrorism, including individuals,” Powell told reporters.

[Trump signs ‘tremendous’ deals with Saudi Arabia on his first day overseas]

Outside funding for the Islamic State, al-Qaeda and other groups has come primarily from the Persian Gulf. U.S. officials in recent years have said that the gulf states have cracked down and virtually eliminated money coming from governments in the region. But they believe certain wealthy individuals — primarily in Kuwait and, to a lesser degree, Qatar — remain funnels for money or are themselves financing the groups.

A Kuwaiti cabinet minister was forced to resign in 2014 after the United States complained about his activities, and regional governments have instituted legal crackdowns, with varying degrees of success, to stem the practice. All have signed agreements in the past to stop it.

The Islamic State, in particular, has largely funded itself through extortion and taxes in the areas it controls in Syria and Iraq and through revenue for oil it sells clandestinely. But those sources, along with kidnapping for ransom, have diminished as the militants have lost territory.

The warm embrace of Trump that was on festive display on his first day in Riyadh continued during a trio of bilateral meetings the president held Sunday at the Ritz-Carlton hotel.

Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi praised Trump and invited him to visit Egypt, which Trump said he intends to do. Through a translator, Sissi said, “You are a unique personality that is capable of doing the impossible.”

“I agree!” Trump replied, as his advisers and others looking on laughed.

Trump went on to compliment Sissi on his fashion, telling the Egyptian leader, “Love your shoes. Boy, those shoes. Man . . .”

Trump met with Sissi this spring in Washington, breaking an Obama-era ban on receiving the Egyptian leader in the White House because of his crackdowns on political and civil expression since taking power in a 2013 coup.

Trump called Sissi “my friend” and thanked him for his help with the release of American aid worker Aya Hijazi, 30, who had been imprisoned in Cairo.

[Freed Egyptian American prisoner returns home following Trump intervention]

Trump also met with the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad al-Thani, and noted the long friendship between the two countries and the prospects of future trade.

“One of the things that we will discuss is the purchase of lots of beautiful military equipment, because nobody makes it like the United States,” Trump told reporters ahead of his talks with the Qatari leader. “And for us that means jobs, and it also means, frankly, great security back here, which we want.”

Read more:

‘I think Islam hates us’: A timeline of Trump’s comments about Islam and Muslims

Trump’s first trip abroad: Everything that’s happened so far

The past week and a half has been dizzy with developments:

• A senior White House official is under investigation by the FBI related to Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election.
• President Trump told Russian officials that firing FBI Director James Comey relieved “great pressure” on him.
• Notes have surfaced from Comey saying Trump asked him to lay off a probe.
• The Justice Department appointed a special counsel with wide latitude to investigate all of this.

Believe it or not, Congress can help contextualize this. Its main function is to oversee the federal government, which means lawmakers are in a position to get clarity from the executive branch that can help the rest of us better understand what’s really happening to the Trump administration right now.

Here are five questions Congress can — and should — answer about Trump and Russia:

1) Did Trump do anything illegal in his conversations with Comey?

Then-FBI Director James B. Comey prepares to testify before Congress in July. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg News)

This is not a question Congress can answer right away. But after news broke this week that Comey had put to paper that the president asked him to drop an FBI investigation of Michael Flynn, it’s a question Congress is trying to answer.

Making the matter more urgent: On Friday, the New York Times reported Trump told Russian diplomats that firing Comey took “great pressure” off the president. “I just fired the head of the FBI,” Trump said, according to notes of the meeting read to the Times by an American official. “I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.”

Several committees in Congress have already requested documentation of Comey’s notes about his conversations with Trump. Many of those committees have asked Comey to testify, and late Friday, leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Comey will appear before the panel publicly sometime after Memorial Day. Depending on what Comey says, it could be his word against Trump’s.

And Congress will have to decide whom to believe. Stay tuned on this.

2) Can Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein’s judgment be trusted?

Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein arrives to brief the Senate on May 18 (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

He appointed former FBI director Robert S. Mueller III to a job giving him wide latitude to investigate whatever and whomever he wants under the umbrella of Russia and Trump. But ultimately, Mueller is answerable to the Justice Department. And since Attorney General Jeff Sessions has recused himself from all Russia investigations, Mueller is answerable to Rosenstein.

Except Rosenstein’s reputation may have taken a hit in all this.

At least two Democratic senators said Rosenstein told them this week that he knew Trump was going to fire Comey when he wrote a hasty memo outlining what he sees as Comey’s faults.

But Rosenstein also threatened to resign if Trump’s White House kept using his memo — which never explicitly advocated for firing Comey — as the linchpin for doing Comey in.

So, if Rosenstein didn’t want to be the torpedo that sunk a widely respected FBI director, why did he assemble one knowing Trump was going to fire Comey? And what does writing the memo anyway say about Rosenstein’s allegiances?

Capitol Hill hasn’t come to any consensus about whether to give Rosenstein the benefit of the doubt.

“I don’t believe anyone in any way directed him,” said Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), “but in fact he wrote the memo.”

3) Is the special counsel a “witch hunt”?

The president thinks so:

This is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 18, 2017

Republicans in Congress aren’t so sure.

Republicans are in the awkward position of welcoming an investigation they never wanted while trying to stay on good terms with a president who really, really doesn’t want it.

“We’re a nation of laws,” was all Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) would say when asked by reporters Thursday to weigh in on Trump’s “witch hunt” characterization. “I have full confidence he will conduct an independent, thorough and fair investigation.”

Now that we know the FBI is targeting a senior White House adviser, Republicans will have to decide whether to keep balancing this tightrope or whether to fully support the independent investigations going on into ties between Russia and the president.

[Your cheat sheet to the investigations on Russia and Trump]

4) How will Congress’s Russia investigations change?

Reporters surround the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), in May. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Congress has two committees — the House and Senate intelligence committees — that are taking the lead on investigating Trump-Russia connections in Congress.

But the special counsel’s investigation arguably takes priority over all that.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said he got the indication from Rosenstein that the special counsel will essentially put Congress’s investigations “on the back burner,” because Mueller will have priority over key documents and witnesses.

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said maybe Congress’s role will have to change from finding out what happened to finding a way to make sure Russian meddling does not happen again.

“I am convinced that the Congress has a very significant role,” Cummings told reporters Friday.

Congress just has yet to define it.

5) Who will be the new FBI director?

FBI headquarters. (Marvin Joseph /The Washington Post)

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — President Trump was received like visiting royalty here Saturday, as his debut on the world stage competed for attention at home with ongoing news of the scandal encircling his presidency.

In a series of official arrival ceremonies — at the airport and the Royal Court palace — Trump, his wife Melania, and an entourage including virtually his entire senior White House staff and much of his Cabinet, were serenaded by military bands, treated to a flyover of Saudi jets, feted in oppulent palaces and given the undivided attention of King Salman, the ruler of this ultra-conservative Muslim nation.

The welcome reflected a kingdom eager to rekindle its relationship with the United States, and to use the visit to declare and solidify its own leadership role in the Muslim world.

As this desert capital baked in triple-digit heat under a pall of dust, American and Saudi flags flew from lightpoles. The facade of the Ritz Carlton, the palace-like hotel where Trump is staying, was illuminated with massive photographs of the two leaders and the red, white, blue and green of the two nations’ flags.

The only U.S. president to make Saudi Arabia his first foreign visit, Trump was presented with the highest honor for a foreign dignitary, the collar of Abdulaziz al-Saud, named for the for the kingdom’s founder, which Salman hung on a thick gold chain around Trump’s neck.

[First stop on Trump’s official trip overseas signals Saudi Arabia’s importance]

In an ornate receptional hall at the Royal Court, members of the U.S. delegation lined up to shake hands with Salman, then took a seat along the periphery of the grand room aside a member of the Saudi delegation.

On the dais with Trump were the First Lady, Ivanka Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Others included Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, Trump adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner and chief strategist Steve Bannon.

Lunch with the King then followed, and a closed-door bilateral meeting. Later in the day, Trump and Tillerson will attend a signing ceremony for $110 billion in U.S. defense sales to Saudi Arabia, in many cases reconfirming deals that pre-date Trump’s election. The two governments also plan to sign additional commitments on counter-terrorism cooperation.

Among the issues discussed will be oil — the kingdom is the world’s largest producer — as well as Iran and Syria. Saudi Arabia is part of the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State, but relations were strained with the Obama administration over U.S. failure to push for the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with strong support for rebels fighting against him.

During his campaign, Trump indicated he was uninterested in U.S. involvement in Syria’s civil war, but as President has spoken out against Assad and last month launched a cruise missile attack against a Syrian government air base.

As they chatted following the award ceremony, Salman was overheard telling Trump that “Syria too used to be one of the most advanced countries. We used to get our professors from Syria. They served our kingdom. Unfortunately, they too brought destruction to their own country. You could destroy a country in mere seconds, but it takes a lot of effort.”

Ivanka Trump, left, and Jared Kushner arrive to attend the presentation of the Order of Abdulaziz al-Saud medal at the Saudi Royal Court in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 20, 2017. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

[Melania and Ivanka Trump, following tradition of western visitors, forgo headscarves in Saudi Arabia]

Air Force One touched down here shortly before 10 a.m. local time after an all-night flight. Salman, 81, who ascended to the Saudi throne in early 2015, was brought to the edge of the red carpet in a golf cart, then walked with a cane to the bottom of the aircraft stairs to await Trump.

The two exchanged greetings as a military brass band played, distant cannons boomed and seven Saudi jets flew overhead in formation, trailing red, white and blue smoke.

“I’m very happy to see you,” Salman told Trump, who responded that it was a “great honor” to be visiting the kingdom.

Trump and the first lady — who had her hair uncovered and wore black long sleeves and flared pants, cinched with a wide, metallic gold belt — were presented bouquets of flowers by three traditionally dressed little girls.

Salman’s presence at the airport ceremony was a sign of the importance of Trump’s visit to the Saudis. Chatting through an interpreter, the two men then walked into the VIP reception terminal at King Khalid International Airport for a cup of coffee. Salman rode with Trump in the president’s armored Cadillac for the drive into the city.

Trump has two days of meetings scheduled in Riyadh, including with the heads of the six Persian Gulf monarchies of the Gulf Cooperation Council, and an Arab Islamic American Summit of at least 40 nations, primarily from the Middle East, Africa and Asia. He hopes to forge new partnerships in fighting global terrorism and confronting a common enemy, Iran, which on Friday re-elected President Hassan Rouhnani.

Before a royal banquet Saturday night, Trump will also hold a brief meeting with Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef, the heir to the Saudi throne, and an open ended meeting with the Deputy Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, who visited Trump at the White House earlier this spring.

[An ambitious young prince wants to reimagine Saudi Arabia — and make it fun]

The young deputy crown prince, at 31, is the architect of a massive plan for Saudi economic and cultural renovation and also serves as defense minister. Saudi-watchers also consider him in competition with Nayef for power.

MSB, as the deputy crown prince is known, has been in close contact with Kushner and the two were the prime movers behind Trump’s trip here.

The highlight of Trump’s stop in Riyadh is expected to be a speech on Islam that he will deliver Sunday to the larger summit meeting. Though his campaign was marked by harsh anti-Muslim rhetoric, Trump is planning to preach religious tolerance here, inviting the Arab world to join the United States in combating terrorism and evil in the region.

Trump also planned to participate in the inauguration of a new Saudi center to fight radicalism and promote moderation, as well as take part in a Twitter forum with young people.

Both countries are eager to spark more trade and investment between them.Total U.S.-Saudi trade last year was around $38 billion, with a U.S. surplus of $2.7 billion, according to the Saudi Commerce Ministry. A group of chief executives from leading U.S. companies hoping to do more business here has traveled separately to Riyadh this weekend for a CEO summit.

[Trump campaigned against Muslims, but will preach tolerance in Saudi speech]

Trump’s advisers hope his foreign trip will offer a reset after two weeks of bruising headlines in Washington stemming from his abrupt firing of James B. Comey as FBI director and the escalating investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

“I think there is a great anticipation of the president’s trip as to what could be accomplished,” said Tillerson. “The purpose of this trip is really one of conveying a message that America is back in terms of our role as a convener, our role as a facilitator to address the daunting challenges that exist in that part of the world, most particularly the challenge of global terrorism.”

Trump’s nine-day trip will be daunting. From here, he will travel to Jerusalem for meetings with Israeli officials, as well as a visit with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem, and then to Rome, where he will have a private audience with Pope Francis. He sees these stops as a way to unite three of the world’s religions, Islam, Judaism and Catholicism.

Trump then visits Brussels for a meeting with NATO leaders, including a bilateral session with newly-elected French President Emmanuel Macron, and finally to Sicily, Italy, where he will attend a G7 summit of the United States’ closest economic allies.

A foreign affairs novice, Trump will have to navigate many diplomatic land mines in his meetings, dealing with issues ranging from terrorism to trade to hot spots like North Korea and Syria.

Trump has tried to make time over the past two weeks to prepare for his trip, which aides hope could become a resounding triumph but risks going horribly awry with just one mistake. He has welcomed some visitors, such as former secretary of state Henry Kissinger, the Republican Party’s leading elder statesman, to deliver tutorials on world affairs, and also has attended regular briefings by his national security team, including Tillerson.

[Trump will have to navigate diplomatic land mines abroad. Here’s how he’s preparing.]

Melania Trump will make some cultural visits of her own. Ivanka Trump plans to hold a roundtable session on “women’s economic empowerment.” The role of women in Saudi society, where they are denied basic rights, is a source of controversy for the monarchy.

Other officials accompanying Trump include national security adviser H.R. McMaster, and deputy national security adviser Dina Powell, senior policy adviser Stephen Miller, National Economic Council director Gary Cohn and press secretary Sean Spicer.

Though Trump has done business abroad as a real estate developer, with hotels and golf courses on several continents, this is his first time traveling as a head of state.

“For Americans, it will be a chance to see him in a different setting,” said Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations. “Quite honestly, people will be looking to see how he does. There will just be flat-out curiosity about how well he does handling that dimension of the job.”

With Breanne Deppisch

THE BIG IDEA: Donald Trump goes wheels up at 2:10 p.m. for Riyadh. His nine-day tour will then take him to Jerusalem, the West Bank, Rome, Brussels, and Sicily.

Walter Pincus, who has one of the longest memories in Washington, sees parallels between the president’s first foreign trip and a journey Richard Nixon took to the Middle East as Watergate consumed his presidency in June 1974. It came at the very time the Watergate special prosecutor was in court seeking the actual White House tapes of presidential conversations (do such tapes exist now?) and congressional committees were beginning to look into impeachment. “Back then, ironically, Nixon visited leaders in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Israel in an unsuccessful attempt to strengthen the ceasefire agreement that halted fighting in the Yom Kippur, Arab-Israeli war,” Walter writes for the Cipher Brief. “Nixon returned home to challenge and lose his Supreme Court argument over the tapes that set him down the path to resigning the presidency.”

Trying to look at the bright side, David Ignatius notes in his column that “domestic scandals can have the odd effect of encouraging diplomacy abroad”: “Nixon made major peace deals in the Middle East after the Watergate debacle began. But even so, that story didn’t end happily for Nixon or the United States.”

— While many presidents have tried to use statesmanship abroad to distract from their problems at home, the Trump brand of diplomacy has some analysts worried that the tour might only make his troubles worse, Post diplomatic correspondents Anne Gearan and Carol Morello write in a preview of what to expect.

James Carafano, a foreign policy expert at the Heritage Foundation who has close ties to the White House, told them that an overseas trip presents a real opportunity, given all the turmoil in Washington. “Just being out of town for two weeks is probably great,” he said. “The great thing about a trip, they control the environment, you control the interaction, you control the agenda and you control the press access. If you fumble on one of these trips, it’s nobody’s fault but your own.”

Trump listens during a news conference yesterday. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

— Despite Trump’s brooding and desperation to turn the page, the truth is that he doesn’t really want to go abroad. “In recent days, Mr. Trump has groused to several friends that he is not looking forward to leaving his new White House cocoon,” Maggie Haberman and Mike Shear report in the New York Times. “At one point, he barked at an aide that he thought his first tour abroad should be only about half as long. He will have to abandon his well-known preference for sleeping in his own bed (or in one at the hotels or golf resorts he owns) as he hops between … places without a Trump-branded property. … In private, Mr. Trump’s advisers acknowledge that they are concerned about his off-script eruptions, his tendency to be swayed by flattery and the possibility that foreign leaders may present him with situations he does not know how to handle. They worry he will accidentally commit the United States to something unexpected, and they have tried to caution him about various scenarios.”

— The cloud hanging over Trump will follow him and his entourage past the water’s edge. Michael Birnbaum reports from Brussels: “Washington’s closest allies in Europe are increasingly worried that rising political chaos in the United States is undermining the strength of the most powerful nation in the world. In conversations with more than two dozen current and former European ministers, lawmakers, diplomats, intelligence officials and military officers in recent days, there was a common theme: …. Many fear that mounting domestic scandals could sap Washington’s ability to respond to challenges ranging from Russia to terrorism to North Korea.” The quotes in the story paint a portrait of a continent on edge:

• “It’s disturbing,” said Marietje Schaake, a Dutch member of the European Parliament who works on U.S. affairs. “The vacuum may encourage people all over the world to seize the moment of an absent United States.”
• “One senior European intelligence officer said if his agency ever came into possession of information that was incriminating to Trump or his circle, it would hold back from sharing with the United States for fear the U.S. president would seek revenge.”

— Israel was supposed to be one of the easiest stops on Trump’s tour, but it has become the most awkward for a host of reasons. It offers another case study, if you needed one, of the challenges such an inexperienced president faces as he tries to tackle complex problems.

This is how the visit is playing in today’s Jerusalem Post: “As the [city] is poised to line its streets with festive American flags, a trip that was expected to be one long, smiling photo-op has suddenly gone way off script, as the spring love affair comes closer to hitting the reality of the summer heat in the Middle East.”

The top-secret information Trump slipped to the Russians during their Oval Office meeting last week came from an Israeli source, according to several news reports. Multiple U.S. officials have said that this was the single most valuable source of information on external plotting by the Islamic State. Iran is one of Israel’s biggest enemies and Russia’s closest allies. Trump’s disclosure possibly puts the source and lives at risk, as well as undermines the war effort against ISIS, experts say. This intelligence was so sensitive that the U.S. was not even permitted to share it with our closest allies who we share other super-sensitive information with as part of standard practice.

White House officials then let it be known this week that Trump will not move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, at least for now. There had been some internal conversations about using this trip to do so as a way to follow through on one of the president’s signature campaign promises, but he was persuaded by career diplomats and Arab leaders that doing so would complicate efforts to negotiate peace.

Bibi and The Donald participate in a joint news conference in the East Room on Feb. 15. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)

Adding insult to injury has been a donnybrook over the Western Wall. “Israel’s Channel 2 reported that during a planning meeting between U.S. and Israeli officials, the Israelis were told that Trump’s visit to the Western Wall was private, Israel did not have jurisdiction in the area and that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not welcome to accompany Trump there,” according to Reuters. “The statement that the Western Wall is in an area in the West Bank was received with shock, » said an official in Netanyahu’s office.

During a briefing about the trip, national security adviser H.R. McMaster twice refused to answer reporters’ questions about whether Trump believes the Western Wall is part of Israel. Press secretary Sean Spicer also declined to answer, saying only that it is “in Jerusalem.”

Meanwhile, pro-Israel hard-liners inside the Trump administration are sending the opposite messages. “The Western Wall is part of Israel, and I think that is how we have always seen it,” U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley said on the Christian Broadcasting Network on Tuesday. And the new U.S. ambassador to Israel, former Trump attorney David Friedman, went straight to the wall after landing at the airport.

Another story souring the mood of Israelis is Trump’s cancellation of a planned visit to and speech at Masada. After authorities told him that he could not land his helicopter on top of the ancient mountain fortress (a UNESCO-listed site), he said he’d rather not go at all. Newsweek’s Jack Moore notes that both George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were perfectly happy to take the cable car up. (I hiked to the top when I went in 2013.)

A visit to Jerusalem’s impressive Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem, was also cut short at Trump’s request. Local press reports say he’s scheduled to drop by for just 15 minutes, despite requests that he spend much longer. That is barely enough time to sign a guest book.

Palestinian youth stand next to a poster depicting Abdel Hamid Abu Sorur at the Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem. The 19-year-old died last month after an explosive device blew up on a bus in Jerusalem. (Thomas Coex/AFP/Getty Images)

— The cover story in next week’s Economist, aptly enough, is about the legacy of the Six-Day War: “Unexpectedly, there may be a new opportunity to make peace: Trump wants to secure ‘the ultimate deal’.… Netanyahu appears as nervous as the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, seems upbeat [about Trump]. … The outlines of peace are well known. … The fact that such a deal is familiar does not make it likely. Mr Netanyahu and Mr Abbas will probably string out the process—and try to ensure the other gets blamed for failure. Distracted by scandals, Mr Trump may lose interest; Mr Netanyahu may lose power (he faces several police investigations); and Mr Abbas may die (he is 82 and a smoker). The limbo of semi-war and semi-peace is, sadly, a tolerable option for both.”

The settlements remain a big hurdle. Trump has backed away from the decades-old U.S. commitment to a Palestinian state, though he had a cordial meeting recently at the White House with Abbas. William Booth, in a great story from Bethlehem that just posted, explains how Palestinian payments to prisoners and the families of “martyrs” will be a very big challenge for the two sides in any serious peace talks. (Read it here.)

If you looked at Trump’s itinerary four months ago, all these problems with Israel would have been surprising. Trump exempted the Jewish state from his tough-talking, isolationist rhetoric during the campaign. He repeatedly said no one loves the country more than he does, and Netanyahu said Israel has “no greater friend” than Trump when he took office.

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING:

Then-New York mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner and his wife Huma attend a news conference in 2013. (Eric Thayer/Reuters)

— Anthony Weiner plans to plead guilty to “sexting” with a minor in federal court today. The New York Times’ Benjamin Weiser and William K. Rashbaum report: “Mr. Weiner will plead guilty to a single charge of transferring obscene material to a minor, pursuant to a plea agreement with the United States attorney’s office in Manhattan … Mr. Weiner surrendered to the F.B.I. early Friday morning. The federal authorities have been investigating reports that, beginning in January 2016, Mr. Weiner, then 51, exchanged sexually explicit messages with a 15-year-old girl in North Carolina.” The charge carries a potential sentence of between zero and 10 years in prison, meaning that the disgraced congressman and estranged husband of Clinton confidante Huma Abedin could avoid prison. A likely result of the plea is that he will end up as a registered sex offender.

— Swedish prosecutors dropped their investigation into a rape allegation against Julian Assange, closing the seven-year legal saga that led the WikiLeaks founder to seek sanctuary in Ecuador’s embassy in London. “But British police said that Assange still faced arrest on charges of jumping bail if he walked out of diplomatic protection,” Karla Adam reports, “which Assange claims is needed to keep him from being extradited to the United States on charges of disclosing confidential military and diplomatic documents. … He took refuge in Ecuador’s embassy in 2012.”

— The driver who rammed into a Times Square crowd, killing a woman and injuring 22 others, has been charged with 20 counts of attempted murder and five counts of aggravated vehicular homicide. Samantha Schmidt reports: “Richard Rojas, the 26-year-old suspect, was taken into custody after he allegedly mounted the sidewalk on Seventh Avenue in Manhattan, plowing through pedestrians at high speeds, creating a chaotic and terrifying scene amid the afternoon lunch rush at one of the busiest intersections in the world. Preliminary tests show Rojas, a U.S. citizen and resident of the Bronx, was under the influence of the mood-altering drug PCP. He had previously been arrested for drunk driving, and remained in custody Thursday night. … Alyssa Elsman, an 18-year-old tourist from Portage, Mich., was the sole person killed in the crash.”

— Want the smartest and most engaging energy and environment newsletter in Washington? Sign up for Dino Grandoni’s The Energy 202, which will launch next Tuesday.

An Adelie penguin is seen at the New Harbor research station in Antarctica. (Mark Ralston/Getty) 

GET SMART FAST:​​

1. Researchers in Antarctica say they have discovered rapidly-growing banks of moss popping up around the icy continent, a striking example of how climate change has affected the coldest, most remote area on the planet. (Chris Mooney)
2. U.S. aircraft struck a convoy of troops aligned with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, launching a rare and intentional assault on pro-regime forces after they advanced into a de-confliction zone and posed a threat to coalition-backed forces. The Pentagon says that, before the attack, the American aircraft fired warning shots but the Syrian fighters “did not choose to turn away.” (Missy Ryan)
3. The Treasury Department sanctioned eight judges on Venezuela’s Supreme Court, freezing their assets and prohibiting transactions with U.S. citizens in response to a ruling that stripped power from the country’s opposition-controlled Congress. (Carol Morello)
4. The Republican-led Federal Communications Commission voted to begin rolling back “net neutrality” rules, drawing fresh battle lines between Democrats and consumer advocates on the future of the Obama-era policy. (Brian Fung)
5. Planned Parenthood announced it will close four clinics in Iowa, following newly passed state legislation that blocks public family planning funds to abortion providers. The impact will be greatest on women who already face barriers to health care: minorities, the poor and those in rural areas. (Des Moines Register)
6. John McCain called for the Turkish ambassador to be thrown out of the United States. His remarks come amid growing anger over the violent beating of protesters outside the Turkish embassy in D.C. earlier this week, as President Erdogan watched. (CNN)
7. Brazilian President Michel Temer defied calls for his resignation overnight, just hours after a bombshell report alleged that he was secretly recorded discussing bribes during in a sprawling corruption investigation. (Marina Lopes and Nick Miroff)
8. Iranians are voting for a new president today, casting their ballots in an election that could either boost the country’s reform efforts and engagement with the world – or plunge it back into greater isolation. (Erin Cunningham)
9. The Islamic State’s last stand in Mosul will test the best of Iraqi forces. The Old City, with its labyrinth of streets and alleys, will force Iraqi counter-terror forces to change how they approach the now seven-month-old battle. (Thomas Gibbons-Neff and Mustafa Salim)
10. Facebook will pay $122 million in fines to the European Union for giving regulators misleading information about its 2014 deal to acquire WhatsApp. It is one of the largest fines the company has paid to a government entity. (Hayley Tsukayama)
11. The Daily Stormer, a neo-Nazi website that heavily promoted Trump last year, may have helped post fake documents in the 11th hour effort to damage now-French President Emmanuel Macron. The Wall Street Journal reports on digital fingerprints left behind by somebody affiliated with the site. (Craig Timberg and Derek Hawkins)
12. A Seattle obituary writer is “horrified” after learning one of the subjects she covered was not simply a local woman who lived a “life of devotion to family, » as relatives told her, but she was instead a modern-day slave brought to the U.S. and forced into decades of service. « Lola’s story » is on the cover of The Atlantic this month. (Samantha Schmidt)

IF YOU COME AT THE KING, YOU BEST NOT MISS:

— James Comey prepared extensively for his discussions with Trump because he was so concerned the president was unlikely to respect legal and ethical boundaries between the White House and the FBI. That’s also why Comey took detailed notes of their encounters afterwards. Devlin Barrett, Ellen Nakashima and Adam Entous have another scoop: “[FBI] associates recounted how worried Comey was about meeting with Trump and recalled conversations in which they brainstormed how to handle moments in which the president asked for details of an investigation. One associate referred to Comey’s preparation as a kind of ‘murder board’ — a phrase used to describe a committee of questioners that hurls tough questions at someone as practice for a difficult oral examination. ‘He was pretty insistent that he would have to find a way to politically not answer it,’ one associate recalled. ‘He was confident that he was not going to sacrifice the independence of the investigation, or his own moral compass, but at the same time, he would not try to purposely inflame his commander in chief.’ Before going to the dinner, Comey practiced Trump’s likely questions and his answers … in part to ensure he did not give Trump any ammunition to use against him later.” One associate recalled there were times when, after meeting with Trump, Comey started writing notes as soon as he got into a car, “to make sure he could accurately record what was said.”

— Another significant development: Comey told Trump that, if he wanted to know details about the ongoing FBI investigations, he should not contact him directly but instead follow the proper procedures and have the White House counsel send his inquiries to the Justice Department, the New York Times’ Michael Schmidt reports on this morning’s front page: “After explaining to Mr. Trump how communications with the F.B.I. should work, Mr. Comey believed he had effectively drawn the line after a series of encounters he had with the president and other White House officials that he felt jeopardized the F.B.I.’s independence. The day after the Michael Flynn conversation, [however], Reince Priebus … asked Mr. Comey to help push back on reports in the news media that Mr. Trump’s associates had been in contact with Russian intelligence officials during the campaign.”

— Lawfare editor-in-chief Benjamin Wittes,  a close Comey friend, says that the ousted FBI director was deeply unsettled by what he believed were personal efforts by the president to compromise or implicate him. Ben describes two instances below:

• Comey was “disgusted” when Trump, two days after his inauguration, tried to hug him. The FBI director told Wittes he “really did not want to attend” and went so far as to try camouflage his dark blue suit with the blue drapes in the back of the room before Trump spotted him. When Trump finally did single him out – “He’s become more famous than me!” – Comey told Wittes that he emphatically did not want any show of warmth. He regarded the episode as a physical attempt to show closeness and warmth in a fashion calculated to compromise him before Democrats who already mistrusted him.
• “On March 27, he described one incident in particular that had bothered him. Comey was about to get on a helicopter when his phone rang. It was the White House saying that the President wanted to speak with him. Figuring there must be something urgent going on, he delayed his flight to take the call. To his surprise, the President just wanted to chitchat. He was trying to be social, Comey related [and] indeed, he regarded the call as weird for how substanceless it was. What bothered Comey was twofold—the fact that the conversation happened at all (why was Trump calling him to exchange pleasantries?) and the fact that there was an undercurrent of Trump’s trying to get him to kiss the ring.”
• As a general observation, Wittes notes that Comey was “preoccupied” throughout this period with the need to protect the FBI from inquiries on investigative matters from the White House: “While I do not know how many incidents we’re talking about, how severe they were, or their particular character, I do know this: Comey understood Trump’s people as having neither knowledge of nor respect for the independence of the law enforcement function. And he saw it as an ongoing task on his part to protect the rest of the Bureau from improper contacts and interferences from a group of people he did not regard as honorable. This was a general preoccupation of Comey’s in the months he and Trump overlapped.”

— Don’t forget as these shoes continue to drop: Comey is a Republican.

— Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein indicated to Senate lawmakers during a classified briefing that, contrary to the White House’s version of events, he knew Comey would be fired before he wrote the memo that was used as justification for the dismissal. 

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said his takeaway from Rosenstein’s briefing is that the focus of the FBI’s investigation has shifted: “It was a counterintelligence investigation until now. It seems to me now to be considered a criminal investigation.”

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said Rosenstein refused to answer « completely appropriate » questions asked by his colleagues, our colleagues report. But several Republicans asked Rosenstein if the Intelligence Committee could continue its work now that Mueller is conducting his investigation, and Rosenstein was “unequivocal” that the panel can and should continue its investigation, according to one attendee.

— During the session, Rosenstein faced especially aggressive questions from two Democrats about the scope of the investigation, why Jeff Sessions was involved in Comey’s firing when he had recused himself and what his role is in selecting a new FBI director. Ed O’Keefe has some buzzy inside details: « Kirsten Gillibrand and Al Franken especially grilled Rosenstein on Sessions’s role and the scope of Mueller’s new investigation … Another aide familiar with the exchange described Franken as ‘heated.’ But one of the senators asked to recount the meeting said that Franken and Gillibrand were ‘passionate’ – not rude. Rosenstein confirmed that Mueller’s investigation will have a broad scope — encouraging news to Democrats especially eager for an investigation to cover all potential angles. Because of the wide berth, Rosenstein referred several of the senators’ questions to Mueller, which caused much of the frustration in the room. »

Comey testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month. (Jim Watson/Getty)

— On Capitol Hill, the race is on to see who can land Comey’s first public appearance. Paul Kane reports: “Leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee, operating the highest-profile investigation of Russian interference, are trying to reschedule a hearing with Comey after he declined their request to appear in private Tuesday. On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a formal request for Comey to come before the panel … And not to be outdone, [House Oversight Chairman] Jason Chaffetz … announced on Twitter that he had scheduled a hearing for Comey next week — before he had made contact with the former FBI director. » Every panel believes Comey should still testify even with Muller in place: “Lawmakers can barely hide their ambition at landing what would be a grand media spectacle. It’s a lot like Barbara Walters and other TV personalities fighting over the first interview with a Hollywood starlet beset by scandal.”

Michael Flynn speaks during the daily news briefing at the White House. (AP/Carolyn Kaster)

IS TRUMP TALKING WITH FLYNN?

— Trump has expressed hope that Michael Flynn could rejoin the administration in some capacity after the FBI investigation concludes, The Daily Beast reports: “The president’s continued loyalty to his ousted former aide is so strong, in fact, that the two have remained in touch despite the potential that their communication could be portrayed as White House interference in a federal investigation. ‘He did not want to be national security adviser,’ Michael Ledeen, a friend of the retired Army general. ‘He didn’t want to be in the government. He wanted to go back to private life. But Trump insisted on it.’ Flynn was ‘reluctant but honored’ when offered the post, according to a senior Trump administration official, and only accepted it at the president’s urging. … Several sources [said] Trump has expressed his hopes that a resolution of the FBI’s investigation in Flynn’s favor might allow Flynn to rejoin the White House … a scenario some of Trump’s closest advisers in and outside the West Wing have assured him absolutely should not happen. ‘Trump feels really, really, really bad about firing him, and he genuinely thinks if the investigation is over Flynn can come back,’ said one White House official. One former FBI official and a second government official said Trump thought he owed Flynn for how things ended up and was determined to clear Flynn’s name and bring him back to the White House.”

— « As investigators circled Flynn, he got a message from Trump: ‘STAY STRONG,’” by Yahoo News’ Michael Isikoff: « Saddled with steep legal bills, Flynn wanted to reconnect with old friends and talk about potential future business opportunities. … ‘I just got a message from the president to stay strong,’ Flynn said after the dinner was over, according to two sources who are close to Flynn and are familiar with the conversation, which took place on April 25. »

— Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr said Flynn has not responded to a subpoena from his panel in its ongoing Russia investigation, which was issued last week after he refused to cooperate with an April 28 request for documents. The AP reports: “Legal experts say it’s unlikely Flynn would agree to turn over the personal documents because he would be waiving his constitutional protection against self-incrimination by doing so. Flynn, though his lawyer, had earlier asked for immunity from ‘unfair prosecution’ in exchange for agreeing to cooperate with the committee.”

TRUMP LAWYERING UP FOR WHAT COULD BE A MULTI-YEAR INVESTIGATION:

— Trump convened his legal team yesterday for a strategy session. Politico’s Alex Isenstadt and Josh Dawsey report: « One White House official said the discussion … centered around the nuts and bolts of how the investigation would work – and how the administration will need to handle the inquiry. Among those in attendance was longtime Trump Organization attorney Michael Cohen, who came down from New York to attend. White House Counsel Don McGahn and his team are urging the White House – and Trump – to be cautious in its comments with a special prosecutor involved. McGahn has begun explaining to aides in detail about records retention and potential requests, two people familiar with the conversations say. One objective: to keep Trump from hurting himself any further. Two senior administration officials said they believed Trump’s letter firing Comey was a mistake. Some aides have begun reaching out to lawyers to see if they need (their own) counsel. »

— A longtime private attorney who represented Trump for more than a decade said he has advised the White House that the president really needs to hire a “tough Washington lawyer” to help navigate the special counsel investigation. « He needs a good lawyer, someone who is strong, not that he would go against the lawyer’s advice, but everybody should have a lawyer who sees things through and comes up with good advice, » Jay Goldberg told The Post’s Michael Kranish, who adds: « Trump’s need for a private attorney is viewed as a high priority because he so far has been relying on government lawyers, including his White House counsel, who could eventually be called to testify about their private conversations with him. … Trump’s constant tweeting about subjects under investigation … could undermine efforts to cite executive privilege, analysts said.”

— Trump has signaled that he is likely to hire a new lawyer to join his defense team, but he has not yet made a final decision. From the New York Times’ Maggie Haberman and Glenn Thrush: “The president is said to recognize that he needs help beyond the White House counsel. But he is deeply cautious in selecting people he trusts, and he adds new people to his orbit slowly. … Some of Mr. Trump’s advisers and allies … are pushing him to move at an accelerated pace. »

A DEFIANT PRESIDENT — WHO STILL CAN’T GET HIS STORY STRAIGHT:

— Trump again denied asking Comey to obstruct any FBI investigation. Ashley Parker and David Nakamura report: Asked at a new conference whether he urged Comey to ease up, the president said: « No. No. » Then he ordered the media to move on to the « next question. » Trump also repeated his claim that the decision to appoint a special counsel to look into possible collusion with Russia was “a witch hunt. » “I respect the move, but the entire thing has been a witch hunt, and there is no collusion between — certainly myself and my campaign, but I can only speak for myself and the Russians. Zero,” Trump said. « Believe me, there’s no collusion.”

“In addition to contradicting Comey’s account of their encounter, Trump’s comments also put him into stark opposition with Rosenstein, who appointed the special counsel and whose memo criticizing Comey was initially used as justification by the White House to explain the president’s decision to fire his FBI director. The president himself later said he had long disliked Comey and made up his mind to fire him before Rosenstein presented him with his memo … But during the news conference, Trump contradicted both his own account and that of Rosenstein. » “Director Comey was very unpopular with most people,” Trump said. “I also got a very, very strong recommendation, as you know [from] Rosenstein.”

Even though a Trump appointee decided to name the special counsel, Trump claimed that it was actually “a pure excuse for the Democrats having lost an election » and « hurts our country terribly »: “It shows we’re a divided, mixed-up, not-unified country,” he said during a lunch with television anchors at the White House. “I think it shows division, and it shows that we’re not together as a country. And I think it’s a very, very negative thing.”

Mike Pence prepares to enter the Indian Treaty Room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House last week. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

WHAT DID THE VICE PRESIDENT KNOW AND WHEN DID HE KNOW IT?

— Pence has begun tiptoeing much more gingerly in recent days as scandal has engulfed the White House. From the Associated Press’s Ken Thomas and Catherine Lucey: “It hasn’t been easy, and it’s getting harder by the day. … And there are fresh questions about how much Pence knew as head of Trump’s transition team. The vice president was under new scrutiny Thursday after reports that Flynn in January alerted the transition team about a Justice Department inquiry into whether he was secretly working as a foreign lobbyist for Turkish interests. An administration official said Thursday that Pence knew nothing about Flynn’s activities at the time and referred to the vice president’s comments in a Fox News interview in March in which Pence said, ‘Hearing that story today was the first I heard of it.’”

— Pence’s people inside the White House are apparently beginning to leak in an effort to protect the vice president. This could foreshadow a significant rupture. It appears that the ambitious Pence’s emerging strategy to save his own political future is to insist that he was out of the loop, but this is a risky play because it makes him look less powerful and it will backfire badly if a smoking gun emerges to show that he knew more than he’s let on.

An unnamed source close to Pence told NBC News last night that the Veep was kept totally in the dark about Flynn’s alleged wrongdoings. This person complained that it is part of a « pattern.” « That’s an egregious error — and it has to be intentional,” the source close to Pence told NBC. “It’s either malpractice or intentional, and either are unacceptable.” Vaughn Hillyard, who was NBC’s Pence embed during the fall campaign, reports on the fuller context: “This would be the second time that Pence claims he was kept in the dark about possible Flynn wrongdoings, despite the White House’s alleged knowledge of them. Earlier this year, Pence said he was not made aware of Flynn’s discussions with Russian officials until 15 days after Trump and the White House were notified. The source … is now saying that Pence and his team were not made aware of any investigation relating to Flynn’s work as a foreign agent for Turkey.” This Pence loyalist tried to place the blame on White House counsel McGahn for not alerting the V.P., who was head of the transition.

— The last few days have taken a physical toll on Pence and he’s kept a very low public profile, per CNN’s Elizabeth Landers. He even skipped the weekly Senate GOP lunch: “Though Pence will continue to be a ‘loyal soldier’ because he is a ‘relentlessly positive guy,’ he ‘looks tired,’ a senior administration adviser observed … ‘We certainly knew we needed to be prepared for the unconventional,’ but, the source adds, ‘not to this extent.’ »

— Are Pence’s loyalists telling the truth? Or are they just trying to save their boss? “There are two possible defenses for Pence here,” The Post’s Aaron Blake writes: “The first is that maybe McGahn didn’t pass this information along to Pence. This doesn’t make much sense, though, given that Pence was leading the transition effort. That would be gross negligence on McGahn’s behalf. The second is that, even if Pence knew about it, perhaps he was referring strictly to the reports about Flynn having just filed as a foreign agent when he said it was the first he’d heard of it. But that would be highly, highly misleading — at best.”

Dana Rohrabacher, actor Steven Seagal and Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) speak to the media at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow in 2013. Rohrabacher led a a congressional delegation to Russia. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP)

THE FBI WARNED ROHRABACHER:

— F.B.I. agents warned a Republican congressman in 2012 that Russian spies were trying to recruit him, the New York Times’ Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman and Mark Mazzetti report: “The congressman, Dana Rohrabacher of California, has been known for years as one of Moscow’s biggest defenders in Washington and as a vocal opponent of American economic sanctions against Russia. He claims to have lost a drunken arm-wrestling match with [Putin] … in the 1990s. … The warning to Mr. Rohrabacher shows that the F.B.I. has for years viewed Russian spies, sometimes posing as diplomats, as having a hand in Washington.” This story comes a day after a story revealed that House Majority Kevin McCarthy said during a private meeting with GOP leaders last summer that Trump and Rohrabacher are being paid by the Russians. (He now claims he was joking.)

THE SPECIAL COUNSEL GETS HIS OWN DUCKS IN A ROW:

— Bob Mueller will undergo a Justice Department ethics review that will examine possible conflicts of interest regarding his former law firm, which represents several figures who could be caught up in his probe. Matea Gold and Rosalind S. Helderman report: « DOJ spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said the agency will conduct a background investigation and detailed review of conflict-of-interest issues, a process outlined in the regulation governing special counsels under which he was appointed. For the past three years, Mueller has been a partner in the Washington office of WilmerHale, whose attorneys represent [Paul Manafort, as well as Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner]. Federal regulations prohibit officials from participating in matters involving their former employers for two years after joining the government unless they receive a waiver to do so. Ethics experts said they anticipate that the Justice Department will grant a waiver, noting that [Rosenstein] would have taken Mueller’s past employer into consideration when selecting him.” The firm insists there Mueller has no potential conflicts and didn’t work for the others.

Joe Lieberman walks out of the West Wing after a job interview with Trump on Wednesday. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

LIEBERMAN IS TRUMP’S FAVORITE FOR FBI DIRECTOR, BUT DEMOCRATS BALK:

— Trump said Joe Lieberman is his top choice to replace Comey as FBI director, telling a group of television anchors during a private lunch at the White House that he is nearing a final decision. “We’re very close,” Trump repeated later … Still, some senators on Capitol Hill Thursday continued to express skepticism about choosing a politician to lead the independent investigations bureau. (Ashley Parker)

— The president once again is misreading Democrats. Here are the three most significant problems:

1. There is deep antipathy toward the 2000 vice-presidential nominee, who endorsed John McCain and vouched for Sarah Palin in 2008, inside the Senate Democratic caucus. He was also a huge pain in 2009 and 2010 for Democratic leadership after he became an independent. 

2. Democrats have made very clear that they don’t want a politician running the FBI but someone who has law-enforcement experience.

3. There are additional suspicions about Lieberman because he works for a law firm that represents Trump. “The law firm he has worked for since 2013, Kasowitz, Benson, Torres, has represented Trump since at least Nov. of 2001, often on cases that had to do with his reputation,” Quartz reports. “The firm represented Trump in his lawsuit against journalist Tim O’Brien, for example, who claimed in his book ‘Trump Nation’ that the real estate developer’s net worth was at most $250 million, not the billions he claimed. Trump sued for $5 billion, but lost.”