“The call was initially disclosed by the Kremlin and subsequently confirmed by Trump in remarks at the White House. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said he congratulated Putin on ‘his electoral victory,’ adding that he and Putin would get together ‘in the not-too-distant future.'” WaPo: Trump congratulates Putin on his reelection, discusses U.S.-Russian arms race.

+ WaPo: Trump just hired a deep-state conspiracy theorist as his lawyer. Here’s what Joe diGenova has said. When it comes to the Trump Russia-related legal team, the bigger news is who he didn’t hire. Theodore Olson declined an offer to join the effort. Along with everything else, this is a really big part of the story. Mueller has America’s best investigators. Trump is having a hard time getting a respectable lawyer to consider working with the President of the United States.

+ NYT: A former Playboy model who claimed she had an affair with Donald J. Trump sued on Tuesday to be released from a 2016 legal agreement requiring her silence.

+ You’re sick of reading about the White House. But you want to read Olivia Nuzzi’s look at Hope Hicks and the related cast of characters. It’s not that these folks can’t govern. It’s that they couldn’t possibly have any time left over from the drama to even try. What Hope Hicks Knows.