President 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,” Bloomberg reports. “The leaders’ call lasted for 1.5 hours.” “Trump told reporters at the White House that

“Meddling is what my — I do when I call my daughter on a Saturday night. This was actually an invasion of our democracy, OK? This isn’t asking your kid, oh, what are you doing tonight? This is an invasion of our democracy.” — Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), quoted by Politico, arguing that President

Russian gun rights activist Maria Butina was sentenced Friday to 18 months in federal court in Washington for failing to register as a foreign agent, the Washington Post reports. Butina had requested a sentence of time served and deportation after agreeing to cooperate with U.S. prosecutors.

“President Trump has ordered his administration to prepare a push for new arms-control agreements with Russia and China after bristling at the cost of a 21st-century nuclear arms race,” the Washington Post reports. “The aim of the nascent effort… is to bring Russian nuclear weapons unregulated by

Washington Post: “The special counsel investigation was often cast as a clash between President Trump and Robert Mueller. But there was always a third player, for whom victory seemed assured no matter the outcome.” “Russian President Vladi­mir Putin set this sequence of events in motion with a