Here's what's going on in the political world today, Sunday, Aug. 6.
VP Pence calls rumors of 2020 bid "disgraceful and offensive"
-- Vice President Mike Pence today condemned a New Yorks Times report that he is eyeing a 2020 presidential run as "laughable and absurd" and "just the latest attempt by the media to divide this Administration."
Read his statement in full:
Today’s article in the New York Times is disgraceful and offensive to me, my family, and our entire team. The allegations in this article are categorically false and represent just the latest attempt by the media to divide this Administration.
Thanks for the President’s leadership, we are rebuilding the military, ISIS is on the run, and we’re seen more than 1 million jobs created while the stock market hits all-time highs.
The American people know that I could not be more honored to be working side by side with a president who is making America great again.
Whatever fake news may come our way, my entire team will continue to focus all our efforts to advance the President’s agenda and see him re-elected in 2020. Any suggestion otherwise is both laughable and absurd.
Meanwhile, White House advisor Kellyanne Conway also denied the report to ABC's "This Week," calling it "complete fiction."
"It is absolutely true the vice president is getting ready for 2020 -- for reelection as vice president," Conway said.
Kellyanne Conway to @ThisWeekABC: Report that Vice Pres. Mike Pence is eyeing a 2020 run is a "complete fiction" https://t.co/TpkO68yMak pic.twitter.com/gWeTB8H0SW
— ABC News (@ABC) August 6, 2017
Putin's fishing vacation yields bare-chested photos
-- Both President Donald Trump and President Putin are vacationing on opposite sides of the world just days after Congress approved, and Trump signed, new sanctions against Russia because of the country's interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Putin was captured in photos fishing, hiking and kayaking. In one photo, Putin is seen bare-chested and smiling as he reels in his catch in Siberia. In another, Putin is seen taking a dip in the water while wearing a camouflage dive suit.
This isn't the first time the Kremlin has released photos of the Russian leader away from the office, nor is it the first time Putin has been photographed bare-chested.
Gov. Christie: Trump Jr.'s meeting with Russian lawyer was "bad idea"
--New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie told CNN's "State of the Union" that Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting last June with a Russian lawyer was a "bad idea."
"The meeting was ill-advised," Christie said. "This is not something that should have happened. Everybody in retrospect knew this was a bad idea."
Yet he still advised everyone to wait for special counsel Robert Mueller's findings.
The Republican governor and Trump supporter also said it was still unclear what role the President played in crafting Trump Jr.'s initial response to the New York Times report of the meeting. That response claimed the meeting was "primarily" about Russian adoptions, a statement that was later refuted by Trump Jr.'s own release of emails about the meeting.
