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08/16/2017 07:51 AM EDT


By Elana Schor (eschor@politico.com or @eschor)

With an assist from Daniel Lippman

TRUMP DEFENDS WHITE SUPREMACISTS - President Donald Trump used a freewheeling Tuesday press conference in New York to undo the goodwill he had built up after a belated public condemnation of the white supremacists whose rally in Charlottesville turned fatal last weekend. Trump blamed "both sides" for the violent skirmishes, incorrectly stating that marchers wielding torches and performing Nazi salutes were "protesting very quietly" the night before the violent skirmishes in Virginia. And white supremacists like former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke were heartened by the remarks, Matthew Nussbaum reports.

Read the full transcript of Trump's incredible press conference right here.

REPUBLICANS OUTRAGED BY THEIR PRESIDENT - Senior Republicans didn't wait long to air their alarm at Trump's suggestion that white supremacists and counter-protesters were equally to blame for the death of one woman and injuries to more than a dozen others. Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) spoke out on Twitter, while Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) offered no new comment. Austin Wright had the run-down: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=efacc845ac7cf10ce6e649c1ffbeedba8fe786899eb40c4e2e34eb36dd6f82ec4d99ea42939232bc614181db0903e3ff5ccd95c96028f96b

@NBCNews -- "Pathetic, just pathetic ... What are we doing to our children to not condemn these people?" Ohio GOP Gov. John Kasich said of Trump on the network's "Today" show Wednesday. He's the subject of speculation about a 2020 primary challenge to the president.

@GMA - "In Charlottesville, the blame lays squarely on the KKK and white supremacists," Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel said on ABC Wednesday, taking direct issue with the president who selected her for her job.

But GOP chairmen are staying silent on the potential for hearings or other congressional action aimed at rooting out causes and possible remedies for domestic terrorism, Kyle and Rachael report. House Democrats, however, are ramping up the pressure for more formal moves to highlight the seriousness of the problem.

CAPITOL'S CONFEDERATE STATUES STAYING PUT POST-CHARLOTTESVILLE - The white supremacist march that has exposed the nation's racial fault lines was inspired by Charlottesville's potential removal of a Robert E. Lee statue. But even as multiple other cities vow to preserve their plans for eliminating controversial relics of the Confederacy, there's no momentum for ridding the U.S. Capitol of the 10 Confederate statues that still have pride of place under the dome. Your fill-in Huddle host had the full story: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=efacc845ac7cf10cbba574bb615fd150232a89d8210c6ef74af401f4754a2e19173ae2e9aada5bbca18d213ee2bf7824ff2cd895825e1c80

MOORE AND STRANGE MOVE ON TO AL-SEN RUNOFF - As if Trump needed any more problems, his preferred candidate in the race for Attorney General Jeff Sessions' former Alabama Senate seat is in trouble. Sen. Luther Strange (R-Ala.) came in second in Tuesday's GOP primary, besting anti-establishment Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), but Strange will need a big boost over the next six weeks in order to defeat first-place finisher Roy Moore. Check out Alex Isenstadt and Seung Min's report on the path ahead for Trump and McConnell's top pick.

The final standings from Alabama - Moore, a former state Supreme Court justice, took 39.5 percent of the vote, while Strange claimed 32 pecent and Brooks 20 percent. The Democratic nod went to former federal prosecutor Doug Jones, who bested seven other candidates with 64 percent of the vote.

WELCOME TO WEDNESDAY. (Yes, it's barely halfway through the week!) You're reading POLITICO's Huddle, the in-depth guide to all things Capitol Hill, on Aug. 16 and we thank you for being here. I'm passing the baton to Kyle Cheney starting tomorrow in your recess-month guest host roundup.

MONDAY'S MOST CLICKED: Eliana Johnson's in-depth look at Trump playing both sides after the Charlottesville violence took the top spot.

GARDNER SHAMED BACK HOME FOR HEALTH CARE VOTE - Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) has to lead his party's candidates to victory next year as chief of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, but that didn't spare him from a tough reception in his home state Tuesday. Gardner was met with cries of "shame" and called a liar for supporting his party's efforts to repeal Obamacare, although voters praised him for excoriating the white supremacists who rallied in Charlottesville. Rachana Pradhan had the story from Lakewood, Colo.

PROVO MAYOR TAKES UTAH HOUSE PRIMARY - The Alabama Senate contest wasn't the only big primary on Tuesday, as Provo mayor John Curtis claimed the GOP nod in the race to replace former House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah). Curtis advances to a general election in November where he's considered overwhelmingly likely to defeat Democratic and third-party rivals. The Washington Post: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=efacc845ac7cf10c1eeb7cd0f7b399b5fbebae0e8e16b4fab78bf84c43c899744f70f1e7352b2f58680788db66a48802a8c21d74325b254e

REMEMBER, IT'S INFRASTRUCTURE WEEK - And the press conference that Trump turned into an unscripted argument for white supremacist marchers was designed to spotlight the White House's newest executive order on infrastructure. The order would roll back an Obama-era rule that mandated the construction of all federally funded construction work to keep up with flooding caused by the rising sea levels projected under climate change, but it put no new meat on the bones of Trump's promised $1 trillion infrastructure plan, Lauren Gardner reports.

CBO: PREMIUMS, DEFICIT UP IF OBAMACARE SUBSIDIES AXED - In the wake of the GOP's failure to repeal Obamacare, Trump has repeatedly flirted with eliminating the cost-sharing subsidies the federal government pays under the law to help low-income individuals get coverage - the next round of which are due next week. The Congressional Budget Office projected Tuesday that that move would drive premiums up by 20 percent and increase the deficit by $194 billion over 10 years, Paul Demko reports.

TRUMP MOVES ON TO TAXES - The president sought to change the subject after his incendiary Tuesday remarks by jabbing Amazon for hurting "tax paying retailers" and causing job losses, repeating a previous criticism against the owner of the Washington Post. Amazon has collected standard state sales taxes from customers in every state that has one since April of this year, as Louis Nelson notes.

TRANSITIONS -- Caitlin Girouard started on Tuesday as communications director for Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). She previously was deputy chief of staff and communications director for Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.).

TODAY IN CONGRESS - The House and Senate are out until September.

AROUND THE HILL - Recess, all we ever wanted.

TUESDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Allen Wiseley was first to guess two of the Cabinet departments whose leaders have only ever hailed from the same party as the president who appointed them: Agriculture and Housing and Urban Development.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - Zachary Israel, who made the same guess Monday before we sweetened the pot, has today's question: In May 1868, the U.S. Senate was one vote short of the two-thirds majority necessary to remove President Andrew Johnson from office after the House voted to impeach him in March of that year. Had one additional senator voted to convict Johnson, who would have become the 18th president of the United States?

The first person to correctly answer gets a shout out in tomorrow's Huddle. Send Kyle your guesses: kcheney@politico.com

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