North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has offered to denuclearize his nation in exchange for a formal end to the Korean War and a promise that the United States will not invade, a representative of the South Korean government said Sunday. South Korea also reported Kim pledged to shut down his nuclear test site in May. "I know the Americans are inherently disposed against us, but when they talk with us, they will see that I am not the kind of person who would shoot nuclear weapons to the south, over the Pacific, or at the United States," Kim reportedly told South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
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Steny Hoyer (D-MD) urged a Democratic candidate for Colorado’s Sixth Congressional District to “get out of the race” to make way for a more moderate and centrist candidate. Candidate Levi Tillemann, formerly an Obama Energy Department official, secretly recorded the meeting with Hoyer, who told him to drop out because the decision for candidate Jason Crow to be the Democratic favorite was “made early on by the Colorado delegation.” The conversation came after months of pressure from Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which allegedly denied Tillemann and other Democratic candidates in the Sixth District primary resources such as polling data and email lists for fundraising. A spokesman for Hoyer said “we do not comment on private meetings. Mr. Hoyer supports Crow and donated to him last year, but he hasn’t engaged in the race since then.” This is not the first time the DCCC has been accused of stifling progressive candidates.
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With tensions rising quickly on the Korean peninsula, China is calling for calm and urging all parties to avoid "provocative actions." President Trump spent part of yesterday on the phone with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, with North Korea dominating the conversation. Trump has long called on China to rein in its unruly neighbor. According to Chinese state media, Xi told Trump China is strongly against any action that would violate UN Security Council resolutions and added that the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue can only be solved if all parties take responsibility and work together.
President Trump will tell North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during their upcoming summit that economic sanctions relief will not happen unless the country dismantles its nuclear arsenal. “When the president says that he will not make the mistakes of the past, that means the U.S. will not be making substantial concessions, such as lifting sanctions, until North Korea has substantially dismantled its nuclear programs,” a senior administration official told the newspaper. Kim announced Friday that the country would cease conducting nuclear and missile tests, and Trump tweeted on Sunday that the U.S. was “a long way from conclusion on North Korea.” CIA Director Mike Pompeo also visited Pyongyang in March to meet with the North Korean leader, who pushed a “phased agreement” with concessions on both sides, according to the Journal.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein reportedly told President Donald Trump last week that he is not a “target of any part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation,” sources told Bloomberg. Rosenstein said this at a White House meeting last Thursday, which helped temper “the president’s desire to remove Rosenstein or Mueller,” according to the report. After the meeting, Trump reportedly told his aides that it was not “the right time” to fire either Mueller or Rosenstein. A source also told Bloomberg that Trump is not a target of the investigation right now, but still could be “at some point in the future.” Trump told reporters that he wanted “to get the investigation over with, done with, put it behind us. And we have to get back to business.”
Syrian state TV reported last night that the Bashar al-Assad regime shot down missiles that were fired over Homs. The government called the strikes an “aggression,” but it was unclear who was behind them. A Pentagon spokeswoman told AFP that there were “no U.S. or coalition operations in that area,” while an Israeli military spokesman said he wasn’t “aware of such an incident.” One of the Syrian bases that was reportedly targeted, al-Shayrat, was the site of a U.S. tomahawk missile attack last year in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack on the part of the Assad regime.
In his new memoir, "A Higher Loyalty," James Comey calls President Trump "unethical, and untethered to truth," and says Trump gave him "flashbacks to my earlier career as a prosecutor against the mob." The big question now is how Trump will respond. With Comey about to start a book tour, the Republican National Committee launched a website -- called, we kid you not, "Lyin' Comey" -- that hopes to refute some of the book's claims. CNN's Stephen Collinson calls Comey's book, which goes on sale Tuesday, "the most devastating, contemporaneous takedown of a sitting president in modern history." Chris Cillizza says it's a declaration of war.
Missouri Governor Eric Greitens became physically aggressive during a non-consensual sexual encounter with his hairdresser, the woman told lawmakers, according to a report released late yesterday by a state House committee. The woman alleges that Greitens threatened to release a partially nude photo he had taken of her if she ever discussed what had happened publicly. The report, which deemed her testimony to be credible, says Greteins “spanked, slapped, grabbed, shoved and called her derogatory names” during multiple encounters in 2015, according to the Associated Press. During a March 2015 encounter, the woman said she was coerced into giving Greteins oral sex while she cried “uncontrollably,” The Kansas City Star reports. She also accused him of hitting her three times, according to the report. Greteins, 44, has previously denied blackmailing the woman and insisted it was nothing more than a consensual affair. The Republican governor was indicted last month, and the House committee opened an investigation into allegations he had taken a nude photograph of the hairdresser without her consent.
At a meeting of military leadership last night, President Donald Trump addressed the FBI raid of Michael Cohen’s home and office, telling reporters it was a “disgraceful situation.” He also called special counsel Robert Mueller’s team “the most conflicted group of people I have ever seen,” adding that “many people have said you should fire him.” “We’ll see what happens,” he continued. Trump also claimed that he has “this witch hunt constantly going on,” calling the raid “an attack on our country... what we all stand for.” He went on to criticize Attorney General Jeff Sessions in his remarks, saying that no one “is looking at the other side”—referring to Hillary Clinton’s email scandal and other issues. This comes as the feds reportedly confiscated materials related to Cohen’s $130,000 payout to porn actress Stormy Daniels, including communications between Trump and Cohen.
The U.S. has confirmed that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is willing to discuss dismantling his nuclear program at a proposed meeting with President Trump. An administration official cited by Bloomberg gave few details on the matter but said U.S. authorities had confirmed for themselves what South Korean officials had initially conveyed to the White House last month: Pyongyang is prepared to meet one of Washington’s main demands at the planned summit. The news is widely seen as a sign behind-the-scenes deliberations are ongoing in preparation for the historic meeting, which is reportedly expected to take place in May or June. The issue of Kim’s willingness to discuss getting rid of its nuclear weapons was a lingering question since Trump last month accepted an offer to meet with Kim after several tense months of nuclear threats and missile tests.
After the Democratic-backed candidate won a seat on Wisconsin's Supreme Court, the state's Governor, Republican Scott Walker, fired off a tweet storm warning that the GOP is "at risk of a #BlueWave" in November. Tuesday's victory was the first time a liberal candidate who wasn't an incumbent had won a seat on Wisconsin's seven-member court in 23 years. That, and a major swing in Democrats' favor in a Wisconsin Senate race this year, may be indications of changing political leanings..And it's not just Wisconsin. In Virginia, Oklahoma, Alabama and New Hampshire, seats long held by the GOP have recently flipped to Democrats.
Austin’s police chief said late last week that a “domestic terrorist” set off a series of explosions that killed two people and severely wounded four others in Texas’ capital, offering a stronger characterization of the suspected bomber after drawing criticism for being unwilling to do so previously. Brian Manley in recent weeks had hesitated to label the bombings terrorism, citing an investigation that still isn’t complete. But at a meeting Thursday on police and community response to the bombings, Manley answered audience questions with other panelists and said, “I actually agree now that he was a domestic terrorist for what he did to us.' Anger had grown in Austin over the notion that the actions of bomber Mark Anthony Conditt, which led to the deaths of two African-Americans, weren't being called terrorism because he was white, so the chief's new view is significant.