His Lardship phoned Putin

[P]ainstaking preparation usually goes into each presidential call, and the subsequent call readout. The national security team wants to make sure the president uses every second of phone time to advance US interests. Call sheets often include proactive issues for the president to raise, a summary of topics a foreign counterpart will likely mention that the president should watch out for, and a clear sense of what the ultimate goal of the contact is.

Undermining US national security is not typically on the president's to-do list for such calls.

And yet, on Friday, President Trump spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin about special counsel Robert Mueller's report, and failed to warn Putin about meddling in the upcoming 2020 elections -- all before he publicly summarized the conversation with false and divisive language.

Contradicting the US intelligence community on Russian election interference by calling the Mueller investigation a "Russian hoax" was just the tip of the iceberg. Trump also said Russia isn't "looking at all to get involved" in Venezuela, just two days after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the Russian foreign minister to warn that Putin's interference there was "destabilizing."

[...]

It would be easy to confuse the President's call readout for one that the Kremlin drafted -- it hits all the right notes, for Putin. Under normal circumstances, a call readout is vetted by the President's experts so it accurately captures what was discussed while ensuring the official summary doesn't unintentionally undermine US national security interests.

In this case, it appears Trump bypassed his own team and anointed himself national security adviser, White House press secretary, Russia expert and more.

[...]

By referring to the special counsel's investigation as a "hoax," Trump signaled that he's more concerned with his own insecurities about the Mueller investigation than he is with holding Putin accountable for the attack that was the basis for launching the investigation in the first place.

Trump also shared that Putin, in describing the Mueller investigation, "said something to the effect that it started up as a mountain and ended up as a mouse. But he knew that because he knew that there was no collusion. Pretty much that's what it was."

  CNN

Trump initiated a lengthy call with his Russian counterpart on Friday, in which Vladimir Putin urged sanctions relief for North Korea and warned against interference in Venezuela, the Russian embassy in Washington said.

The leaders’ call lasted for 1.5 hours, according to a post on the embassy’s Facebook page, and the pair discussed a “shared commitment to step up dialogue in various areas, including on issues of strategic stability.”

[...]

“He is not looking at all to get involved in Venezuela other than he’d like to see something positive happen for Venezuela,” Trump said of Putin. “And I feel the same way.”

[...]

The White House national security adviser, John Bolton, and U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo both said earlier this week that the Kremlin talked Maduro out of leaving Venezuela after U.S.-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido attempted to end his regime on May 30 by calling for a military uprising.

[...]

The conversation, which Trump went on to describe as “very positive,” appeared to be another example of Trump taking Putin’s claims at face value despite contrary evidence from his own government.

[...]

On North Korea, the Russian embassy said Putin and Trump “noted the importance of consistent progress towards denuclearization and achieving long-term normalization on the Korean Peninsula.” Putin briefed Trump about his April 25 meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vladivostok.

Hours after their talk, North Korea fired numerous short-range projectiles off its eastern coast.

  Bloomberg

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.