Only a small circle of people in the White House knew that President Trump ignored all-caps advice from his national security advisers for his phone call Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin — "DO NOT CONGRATULATE" him on his re-election — and one of them leaked it to The Washington Post, leaving Trump and his senior staff "furious and rattled," Axios reports. Each of the possible leakers "is trusted with sensitive national secrets," and "the speed and sensitivity of the leak prompted immediate finger-pointing within the administration."

Whatever the motive for the leak — concern over Trump's handling of Putin, anger that he ignored his aides, power games — one White House official told Jonathan Swan that Trump's congratulatory comment was just "the way Trump is. If he's doing business with you or working with you in some way, he's going to congratulate you." Plus, "the idea he's being soft on Russia is crap," the "furious" official added. Trump simply "doesn't want his personal relationship [with Putin] to be acrimonious," seeing that "leader-to-leader" congeniality as the key to rebuilding the U.S.-Russian relationship. Peter Weber

Former FBI Director James Comey took questions from students at Virginia's College of William & Mary, his alma mater, for an hour on Wednesday night, in a town hall event broadcast on CNN. One of the students asked if President Trump has a credible argument that Comey broke the law when he gave his friend Daniel Richman one of his contemporaneous memos of his encounters with Trump and asked him to disclose the substance of the memo to the media. Comey said no, "I think he's just making stuff up," and he explained why. "The bottom line is, I see no credible claim by any serious person that that violated the law," he said.

CNN's Chris Cuomo played that part of the town hall for White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, and it did not change her opinion of Comey's actions. "He gave memos to his friend Daniel Richman," she said, "with the intent that Richman would leak it to the media and hoping to trigger a special counsel." She had what she portrayed as a bombshell about Richman, but Cuomo did not see why it was relevant and told her so.

Comey also discussed the idea of a "deep state" with CNN's Anderson Cooper, arguing that "there's no deep state, but there is a deep culture and a commitment to the rule of law" in the military, law enforcement, and intelligence communities.

Comey also explained why he was a Republican in the 1980s but is now "embarrassed and ashamed" that the GOP has abandoned "the notion that character matters, and values matter most of all," and he also told a terrifying story of being held hostage as a high schooler by the "Ramsey rapist." Comey said he does not have a nickname for Trump. "I call him the president of the United States, because I respect the office," he explained, and "no matter my concerns about him, I want him to be successful." Watch below. Peter Weber

Conservatives from Sean Hannity to Alex Jones' InfoWars are proudly annoyed that Hillary Clinton is still speaking in public, and Jordan Klepper heartily agreed with them on Wednesday's The Opposition — for the first few minutes. Then, once "the liberals" had stopped watching, he laid it out for his fellow "Opposers." "We need Hillary Clinton," Klepper said. "She's basically the whole GOP strategy for winning the midterms. Without her to crap on, our candidates have nothing to stand for. Republicans have already given up on legislating this year, and it's only April!"

And it doesn't even matter if Clinton is still making news, Klepper said. "What do we do when Hillary isn't relevant anymore? Same thing I do when my therapist tells me to stop bringing up my ex-wife: Talk about her anyway." He showed examples of how Republicans are running against Clinton this year — even though Clinton isn't running for anything — including an NRSC ad campaign in several states attacking the same Clinton footage. "Oh man, and libs say we can't recycle," he deadpanned. "Hillary is literally the only renewable resource we care about." Klepper ended with an emotional, cinematic plea for Clinton to stick around. You can watch below, or read Paul Waldman's longer, straighter version of the same argument at The Week. Peter Weber

When Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas) abruptly resigned earlier this month, the chances he would ever repay taxpayers for the $84,000 sexual harassment settlement he reached with a staffer, as he'd promised to, shrank significantly. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has an idea for how he can fulfill his promise, kind of. On Tuesday, Abbott used emergency powers to call a special June 30 election for the House seat Farenthold vacated, citing Hurricane Harvey to skirt state and federal election laws, and on Wednesday, he asked Farenthold to pay for the election.

"While you have publicly offered to reimburse the $84,000 in taxpayer funds you wrongly used to settle a sexual harassment claim, there is no legal recourse requiring you to give that money back to Congress," Abbott wrote in a letter to Farenthold's office. "I am urging you to give those funds back to the counties in your district to cover the costs of the June 30, 2018, special election. This seat must be filled, and the counties and taxpayers in the 27th congressional district should not again pay the price for your actions."

Local election officials estimate that the special election will cost the 13 counties in the district more than $200,000, the Houston Chronicle reports. Farenthold, worth $2.4 million according to 2016 financial disclosure statements, is under no obligation to pay anything for the election or even respond to Abbott, and few analysts expect that he will. Southern Methodist University political scientist Cal Jillson called Abbott's request "strange" and "unprecedented," adding, "The governor does not expect that Farenthold is going to pay the cost."

Abbott sought and quickly received a waiver from state Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) to hold the emergency election for Farenthold's seat because his district was hit by Harvey and, Abbott argued, "hurricane relief efforts depend heavily on action at the federal level, which can only occur if Texans residing in disaster zones have full and effective representation in Congress." Peter Weber

If you live in the United States or Canada and have been eyeing a new Ford Fusion, get one while you can.

The company announced Wednesday that by 2020, "almost 90 percent of the Ford portfolio in North America will be trucks, utilities, and commercial vehicles." Hatchbacks and sedans don't sell as well as those vehicles, and only two models will remain on the market: the Mustang and Focus Active, a new crossover-like hatchback that will debut next year.

While the Taurus and Fiesta will soon be gone, Ford said it's "exploring new 'white space' vehicle silhouettes that combine the best attributes of cars and utilities, such as higher ride height, space, and versatility." A "white space" vehicle is one that doesn't quite fit into already established categories. Catherine Garcia

When Dr. Ronny Jackson proclaimed President Trump fit as a horse, we didn't know much about the White House physician "and we didn't need to," Trevor Noah pointed out on Wednesday's Daily Show. "But once Trump nominated Jackson for a Cabinet position, people started digging into his past like he was dating Taylor Swift." He ran through the new list of allegations, starting with Jackson's "candy man" nickname, due to his alleged passing out of prescription opioids and other drugs like they were candy. Noah could see some sense in passing out Ambien on Air Force One (though not to Ben Carson).

But the accusations that Jackson drank on the job, harassed female employees, and wrecked a government car after drinking heavily with the Secret Service? "This is just shocking," Noah said. "I can't believe that between Trump's two doctors, Ronny Jackson is the one who might have a drinking problem." Lawmakers from both parties are urging Trump to reconsider Jackson's nomination, "although it is funny," he said, that "they don't care if he stays on as the president's physician."

"Even if he didn't drink, even if he didn't drive drunk, and even if he didn't overprescribe drugs, Ronny Jackson would still be far from qualified to run the VA," Noah said. "And in a way, all those senators who oppose him are lucky that these drug and alcohol allegations are coming out, because if there's one thing we know, it's that on its own, being completely unqualified for a position doesn't keep you out of Donald Trump's Cabinet." Look, we all know where this is headed, he added. "The president will have to find a new VA nominee, and knowing Trump, he's not going to search for a qualified person. He's just gonna pick another guy who says nice things about him. So I guess what I'm saying is, congratulations VA Secretary Kanye West." Peter Weber

The newest member of President Trump's legal team, Rudy Giuliani, met with Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Tuesday in Washington, reopening stalled negotiations for an interview with Trump, three people with knowledge of the matter told The Washington Post.

Giuliani told Mueller that Trump and his advisers are wary about an interview but there's a chance Trump could agree to it, the Post reports. He also asked Mueller when he thinks the inquiry will be finished. Mueller reportedly responded by telling Giuliani that in order to complete the part of the investigation focusing on potential obstruction of justice, he needs to interview Trump to gather more information on the transition and first few months of his presidency. Last month, John Dowd, Trump's lead outside attorney on the case, resigned. Catherine Garcia

Embattled White House physician Ronny Jackson, President Trump's nominee to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, had a meeting Wednesday night with White House officials amid new allegations against Jackson, including that he crashed a government vehicle while drunk and handed out drugs "like candy," a person with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

NBC News reports that Jackson, who has denied the allegations, has grown annoyed by the process and is talking with officials about pulling his name from consideration for the position; an announcement could be made as early as Thursday. Jackson's confirmation hearing was originally set for Wednesday, but was postponed indefinitely on Monday as allegations of improper conduct started to come out. Catherine Garcia