title: The Trump presidency on Feb 15 at 8:29 p.m. EST
text: (Reuters) - Highlights of the day for U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday: A crisis over the relationship between Trump’s aides and Russia deepens as a growing number of Trump’s fellow Republicans demand expanded congressional inquiries into the matter. The Trump administration offers the job of national security adviser to U.S. Vice Admiral Robert Harward, sources say, but it is not clear if he accepted. The Kremlin says U.S. media reports about Russian intelligence connections to Trump’s presidential campaign are groundless. Russia also says it will not return Crimea to Ukraine or discuss the matter with foreign partners after the White House says Trump expects the annexed Black Sea peninsula to be  returned. Trump’s nominee for labor secretary, Andrew Puzder, withdraws his name from consideration amid concerns that he could not garner enough Senate votes to be confirmed.     Trump’s choice of Representative Mick Mulvaney to become White House budget director on Wednesday appears to pick up enough Republican votes to vault him into the job. Trump drops U.S. insistence on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a long-standing bedrock of Middle East policy, even as he urges Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to curb settlement construction. Trump says tax code revisions are a critical way to boost the nation’s economy as he kicks off a White House meeting with chief executive officers of Target Corp, Best Buy Co Inc and six other major retailers. Trump’s defense secretary seeks to reassure NATO of steadfast U.S. support at talks in Brussels as nervous European allies try to look past the president’s rhetoric and the turmoil within his administration. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is heading to Bonn to interact with counterparts from the Group of 20 top economies at a time many are wondering how strongly Trump’s “America First” message will reshape U.S. foreign policy. Vice President Mike Pence also is bound for Europe this week to meet with allies seeking clarity on the administration’s foreign policy strategy and its stance toward Russia. Staff at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have been told that Trump is preparing a handful of executive orders to reshape the agency, to be signed once a new administrator is confirmed, two sources say. The Trump administration proposes changes to the Obamacare individual insurance market that insurers welcome as a good start but that others say could raise consumers’ out-of-pocket cost. 