The Note: A new name wrapped up in Russia probe

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June 29, 2017

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A new name wrapped up in Russia probe

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

1. ABC News SCOOP: The attention of the House Intelligence Committee's Russia probe has turned to a longtime Trump bodyguard turned White House aide, Keith Schiller. 2. It's travel ban day – for real, this time. Part of President Trump's travel ban will go into effect at 8 p.m. ET, and the administration is defining a "bona fide" connection, The Associated Press reports. Grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles and fiancees won't count, and expect another round of court challenges. 3. Too much, too soon? The president is promising a "big surprise" on health care, and this may qualify: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wants a revised health care bill by Friday, so the CBO can give a new estimate before the Fourth of July recess. 4. Who will see the Comey memos? Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr said he made the request to the FBI and is "confident that we will have access to it." 5. Two leaders, one big threat. Trump today will welcome the South Korean president to the White House where the two will talk North Korea, a day after National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said Trump has directed preparation of "a range of options, including a military option" to deal with the situation.

THE TAKE with ABC News' Rick Klein

President Trump is promising a "great surprise." What could be more surprising than the president's tweeting charts, based on Congressional Budget Office data, to make his health care pitch? So he didn't use the CBO's actual charts, and his point about Medicaid "cuts" is dubious, at best, and downright misleading, at worst. Still, there's something else surprising here: The selling of Trumpcare is making one critical mistake reminiscent of the selling of Obamacare. The focus on what won't happen if the GOP health bill becomes law is subsuming arguments for what will. "No one loses coverage" is the new "if you have your doctor, you can keep it" – an unkeepable promise that seeks to answer critics, not make a new argument. If voters and their representatives are scared of major changes to health care – and polls are showing, at least, that they're not sold on the proposed replacement – they need to be convinced of what will get better, not just what won't get worse. For now, it's hard to be convinced that the president knows what's now in the Senate plan, much less that he can describe why it's vital for the nation to pass it.

CONSULTING THE POLLS

While President Trump may be teasing a "great great surprise" when it comes to the GOP's efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare, one obstacle became even more glaring Wednesday: public opinion. Three different polls Wednesday all pointed to a single fact, that the plan unveiled by Senate Republicans last week is deeply unpopular with the U.S. public. An NPR/PBS/Marist poll put the plan's approval at just 17 percent, a Quinnipiac poll, 16 percent, and a Fox News poll garnered just 27 percent support for the Senate's plan. The Quinnipiac poll also found that 46 percent of respondents said they would be less likely to support a congressional candidate who supported the GOP plan. Perhaps that's why GOP senators in states up for election in 2018, like Nevada's Dean Heller, have yet to come around to supporting the bill, ABC News' John Verhovek notes.

WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH BERNIE

Bernie Sanders' team is punching back, telling reporters this week that the Trump administration itself could be stirring up dust about the senator and his wife, or at least eyeing the possibility of doing so. "We used to have a president who did not interfere in investigations for political purposes, and now we have one that does," Jeff Weaver, Sanders' former campaign manager, told ABC News. "Do you really want to wait until Jeff Sessions knocks on your front door before you hire a lawyer?" Jane Sanders, the Vermont senator's wife, hired a lawyer lately after reports that FBI agents were talking to people in their hometown about a loan she received while head of a now-defunct local college. Weaver implied on the phone that you just never know where things could lead, given the news. He talked about the president's firing former FBI director James Comey and said, point-blank, he thought the president got involved in investigations for political reasons. Weaver said there was "no evidence ... zero, nada, zilch" that either Sanders or his his wife was under investigation by the FBI, but added that President Trump and his team were "politically afraid" of them, ABC News' MaryAlice reports.

House Russia probe eyes longtime Trump bodyguard Keith Schiller

Congressional investigators now want to interview Keith Schiller, President Donald Trump's longtime bodyguard-turned-White House aide, as part of their investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign, sources familiar with the investigation told ABC News. http://abcn.ws/2spnBwo