President Donald Trump expressed optimism about the state of his administration on Wednesday, tweeting that the White House is "functioning perfectly" and focused on tackling several policy issues.
"The W.H. is functioning perfectly, focused on HealthCare, Tax Cuts/Reform & many other things," Trump wrote. "I have very little time for watching T.V."
The W.H. is functioning perfectly, focused on HealthCare, Tax Cuts/Reform & many other things. I have very little time for watching T.V.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2017
Trump also went after Democrats on Twitter for what he called the double standard against him and Republicans, telling readers to "look what Hillary Clinton may have gotten away with."
"Disgraceful!" he added.
It is unclear if Trump was arguing that Clinton would not have received the same level of scrutiny for similar actions if she was elected president or if he was referencing past controversies in which Clinton was involved, such as her email scandal.
Why aren't the same standards placed on the Democrats. Look what Hillary Clinton may have gotten away with. Disgraceful!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2017
Despite Trump's optimistic outlook for his White House, staffers there have been in damage control over the last 48 hours with a never-ending news cycle after two New York Times stories dropped involving Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.; his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner; and his former campaign manager, Paul Manafort.
The first Times article reported that Trump Jr. was informed in an email last June, prior to a meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, that she would be providing him with compromising information against Hillary Clinton as part of Russian government efforts to help his father's candidacy, according to three sources with knowledge of the correspondence.
The second Times article provided more context of the meeting between Trump Jr., Kushner, Manafort, and Veselnitskaya at Trump Tower, detailing the email correspondence between Trump Jr. and former British tabloid reporter Robert Goldstone. Goldstone brokered the meeting between the two parties on behalf of one of Trump's Russian business associates, the Times reported.
The documents "would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father," read the email, written by a trusted intermediary, who added, "This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump."
If the future president's elder son was surprised or disturbed by the provenance of the promised material—or the notion that it was part of an ongoing effort by the Russian government to aid his father's campaign—he gave no indication.
He replied within minutes: "If it's what you say I love it especially later in the summer."
Trump Jr. sent out two tweets, showing his email correspondence with Goldstone, on Tuesday as a pre-emptive move to appear transparent, overshadowing the Times story on the series of events, according to CNN.
Here's my statement and the full email chain pic.twitter.com/x050r5n5LQ
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 11, 2017
Here is page 4 (which did not post due to space constraints). pic.twitter.com/z1Xi4nr2gq
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 11, 2017
In regards to repealing and replacing Obamacare, which the president alluded to in his tweet, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) announced Tuesday that the Senate will delay the congressional August recess by two weeks to continue working on a health care bill and other vital legislative issues.