CLEANUP ON THE E-RING: About six hours after President Trump went on another rant about how Germany is taking advantage of the United States, Defense Secretary Mark Esper presented a robust defense of Trump’s punitive order to withdraw almost 12,000 U.S. troops from the stalwart U.S. ally.

Esper, speaking from the Pentagon to the virtual Aspen Security Forum, said he and Gen. Tod Wolters, head of the U.S. European Command based in Stuttgart, used the president’s June directive as a way to accelerate plans already under consideration to reposition U.S. forces to meet the challenge of Russia more directly.