The president's closest advisers, stunned after the debacle in the Oval Office, huddled on Saturday morning were still uncertain how to salvage a mining deal with Ukraine.

In the film "The Maltese Falcon," Sydney Greenstreet's villainous character Kaspar Gutman says to Humphrey Bogart's anti-hero, "Here's to plain speaking and clear understanding." This is the foundation for all meaningful and productive discussions.