• Separately, Mr. Trump offered gratitude rather than outrage for Russia’s decision to shrink U.S. Embassy staffing. “We’ll save a lot of money,” he said with a light tone, but it was unclear whether he was joking.

On the domestic front, the president escalated his criticism of Mitch McConnell, the top Republican in Congress, over failed efforts so far to pass a health care repeal bill.

And Mr. Trump said that he was doing the military a “great favor” by barring transgender people from serving in its ranks.

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