OTHER DEVELOPMENTS

President Donald Trump predicted Wednesday that U.S. automakers and auto workers would be “very happy” with the outcome of talks over the North American Free Trade Agreement, which have stalled amid a dispute over rules for car production. Trump noted that both Mexico and Canada have been “very difficult to deal with” during the talks.

Trump has branded his latest attempt to discredit the special counsel’s Russia probe as “spygate,” part of a newly invigorated strategy embraced by his Republican colleagues to raise suspicions about the probe that has dogged his presidency. Trump is zeroing in on – and at times embellishing – reports that a longtime U.S. government informant approached members of his 2016 campaign during the presidential election in a possible bid to glean intelligence on Russian efforts to sway the election. He tweeted Wednesday that the FBI has been caught in a “major SPY scandal.” Trump’s latest broadsides set the stage for an unusual decision by the White House to arrange a briefing about classified documents for two Republican House members, both Trump allies, in a meeting expected today.

Divisions over whether to provide a conduit to citizenship for young “Dreamer” immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally loomed as the pivotal sticking point Wednesday as House Republicans searched for a solution to their campaign-season standoff over an issue that has split them for years. In bargaining Wednesday, moderates said any deal would have to include steps that could ultimately lead to citizenship for hundreds of thousands of Dreamers. The issue was unresolved.

Source: Associated Press