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Good morning.

Here’s what you need to know:

A clear message, muddied

• President Trump’s shifting narratives this week underscore the degree to which he picks and chooses intelligence to suit his political purposes.

Two weeks before his inauguration, he was shown highly classified intelligence showing that President Vladimir Putin of Russia had personally ordered efforts to disrupt the 2016 election. But since then, Mr. Trump has sought to spread the blame for the meddling.

This week alone, he accepted the Russian leader’s denial of election interference, backtracked on that point, said that he didn’t believe the problem was still continuing, and then said of his meeting with Mr. Putin: “I let him know we can’t have this. We’re not going to have it, and that’s the way it’s going to be.”