Good Wednesday morning, I'm Jake Sherman and welcome to your Politico Playbook Audio Briefing, sponsored by Delta Airlines.

And I'm Anna Palmer. President Donald Trump mostly dispensed with the niceties this morning in Brussels,

and threw verbal bombs at Germany, NATO, and sought to shake up America's traditional alliance with Europe.

At a morning breakfast with the NATO Secretary General,

Trump said that Germany is, quote, totally controlled by Russia because it made a massive oil

and gas deal with Vladimir Putin's country, and apparent reference to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

He essentially said the U.S. is paying to defend Germany as Germany makes Russia richer.

Trump also mentioned that a former German chancellor is an executive with the company, hinting that the deal was not totally on the level.

Trump also brought up what he sees as Germany skimping out on NATO dues, saying that they could increase their contribution to the alliance tomorrow if they

wanted to. He said the whole situation is patently unfair to U.S. taxpayers. Here's who was in the room,

staunch NATO defenders like Chief of Staff John Kelly and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who formerly

held the NATO post. Kate Bailey Hutchinson, Trump's ambassador to NATO and a former senator from Texas,

and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

were also in the room.

We've got a playbook exclusive, Kevin McCarthy, raised an astounding $12 million in the second

quarter into his four fundraising committees, a sum that insiders believe is the highest

quarterly take by a majority leader.

The California Republican has raised $40 million this cycle and has

raised and contributed $20 million for other House Republicans in events in D.C. and around the

country. Let's take a step back. Here's what this means. Since 2009, McCarthy has been traveling

the country, helping raise money and recruit candidates for the

GOP. But now McCarthy is putting together an impressive fundraising resume that will at some point

...