The Daily 202: Trump aides learn the perils of speaking for a president who changes his story
By James Hohmann July 10 at 7:18 AM
THE BIG IDEA: Trying to keep up with someone who routinely shifts his story often leaves White House surrogates holding the bag.
Aiming to satisfy a hard-to-please boss, many senior administration officials have sacrificed their personal reputations by making dubious or even false statements — only to be undercut by President Trump himself just hours later.
Sunday brought three fresh illustrations of how perilous it can be to speak for Trump.
-- Immediately after Friday’s meeting with Vladimir Putin, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that the president told his Russian counterpart that members of Congress are pushing for additional sanctions over Moscow’s interference in the 2016 election. “But the two presidents, I think, rightly focused on: How do we move forward?” Tillerson, who participated in the sit-down, told reporters in Hamburg.
In his first comments since the Putin meeting, Trump tweeted yesterday morning: “Sanctions were not discussed at my meeting with President Putin.”
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2017/07/10/daily-202-trump-aides-learn-the-perils-of-speaking-for-a-president-who-changes-his-story/5962e1e8e9b69b7071abcae9
