Trump speaks with members of Congress after Putin meeting

President Trump is sitting down with members of Congress at the White House Tuesday, on the heels of his widely criticized meeting and press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mr. Trump is expected to address his time with Putin in Helsinki, Finland, at the top of Tuesday’s meeting.

Even many Republicans have criticized Mr. Trump’s performance Monday, when he appeared to side with Putin over his own intelligence agencies on the subject of Russian election meddling. Only a small handful of Republicans, like Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, have defended Mr. Trump.

But the meeting is officially slated as a discussion on “tax reform 2.0,” as Mr. Trump pushes another GOP attempt to further lower tax burdens.

The White House meeting was originally closed to the press, but White House press secretary Sarah Sanders later said the first portion of the meeting would be open. Those expected to attend are Rep. Kevin Brady, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee; Rep. Mike Bishop, R-Michigan; Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn.; Rep. George Holding, R-North Carolina; Rep. Jim Renacci, R-Ohio; and Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Illinois.

Mr. Trump, rather than backing down from his comments with Putin, doubled down on them Tuesday. Mr. Trump tweeted that he has “an even better meeting with Vladimir Putin of Russia” than he did with NATO.

“While I had a great meeting with NATO, raising vast amounts of money, I had an even better meeting with Vladimir Putin of Russia. Sadly, it is not being reported that way – the Fake News is going Crazy!” the president tweeted Tuesday morning.