| | | | From Kim to Kim: A week in the life of Donald Trump | | Donald Trump is a product of two things: Reality TV and the New York City tabloid culture. Some weeks those roots show more than others. This was one of those weeks.
Consider the 48-hour run from Wednesday afternoon until Friday afternoon. It began with Trump meeting with celebrity famous person Kim Kardashian in the White House to talk about prison reform. And, yes, of course, there was a picture of that historic summit. (Pics or it didn't happen!)
The bookend for the Kim K. news came Friday afternoon when Trump, after huddling with a senior official from North Korea, announced that his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which he had called off last month, was actually back on! And on the same day (June 12) and in the same place (Singapore) as the one Trump pulled out of with a publicly released letter!
This is the Trump presidency. Kim Kardashian using her famousness for being famous to push a pet issue at the White House one day and a historic nuclear summit with Kim Jong Un on another day.
Highs and lows. Ups and downs. Roller coaster always. Below are the 30 major headlines from the week that was in Trumpworld.
-- Chris
Monday: Tuesday: Wednesday: Thursday: Friday: | | "This was a meeting where a letter was given to me by Kim Jong Un, and that letter was a very nice letter. Oh, would you like to see what was in that letter. How much? How much?"
-President Donald Trump on Kim Jong Un's letter, which he admitted he had not read yet. Trump also said Friday he will meet the North Korean leader on June 12 in Singapore after all. | | | SPEAKING OF NORTH KOREA... | | | Pictured above: White House Chief of Staff John Kelly escorts senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chol, a former spy chief and currently the country's top nuclear negotiator, to the Oval Office on June 1. | | CNN's Ryan Struyk put together a timeline of the series of events that led to today's announcement of the summit being back on.
March 8: Trump accepts offer to meet with Kim Jong Un.
May 10: Trump announces June 12 summit in Singapore.
May 22: A commemorative coin is made by members of the White House Communications Agency.
May 24: Trump cancels summit with a letter to Kim Jong Un.
June 1: Trump announces Kim Jong Un summit is back on after meeting with senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chol, a former spy chief and currently the country's top nuclear negotiator.
Also, earlier this year, Saba compiled an interactive timeline of all Trump's tough talk directed at North Korea. It dates back to a 1999 interview with the late Tim Russert on "Meet the Press," during which Trump said North Korea was "sort of wacko." | | IN OTHER WHITE HOUSE NEWS | | It may be Friday but there's always news coming from the White House. Here are a few things you may have missed today: - In the a.m., the President tweeted about comedian Samantha Bee, asking why she hasn't been fired for calling his daughter and White House senior adviser Ivanka Trump a "feckless c***" on her show earlier this week.
- Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen spoke at a US Coast Guard change-of-command ceremony. Per CNN's Betsy Klein, the President kicked off the speech by touting his administration's "historic" economic numbers. He also called the Coast Guard America's "first line of defense," saying, "America is safe because our Coast Guard is strong," and highlighted his administration's $700 billion military budget. "You're going to be very well taken care of," specifically noting new polar icebreaker equipment.
- There was no White House briefing Friday. Per Betsy and CNN's Allie Malloy: "We had one 16-minute on camera briefing this week. There were two Air Force One gaggles this week, lasting seven and eight minutes each. In the past 39 days, there have been 11 on-camera press briefings. That number does not include three AF1 gaggles and a briefing with Bolton the day of the Iran announcement. The average press briefing in the past 39 days was only 17.2 minutes long."
- As for this weekend? Betsy and Kate Bennett report: President Donald Trump is expected to depart the White House Friday afternoon for a weekend at Camp David, the rural presidential getaway deep in the mountains of Maryland. The first lady, meanwhile, is staying put at the White House this weekend. This marks the 22nd day since the first lady was last seen publicly. Read more in their story here.
| | CNN's Maeve Reston on how a surge of progressive energy could backfire on Democrats in California.
Read this excerpt in the Hill from Kate Andersen Brower's upcoming book "First in Line: Presidents, Vice Presidents and the Pursuit of Power."
HuffPost broke this very disturbing news: Congressional Candidate In Virginia Admits He's A Pedophile.
From Vanity Fair's Rebecca Keegan: Nikki Finke -- the once-feared Hollywood columnist -- is training her eye on politics. | | | Today's topic? Chris' question of the week -- answered! Special shoutout to reader JoAnne Gatti-Petito, who asked about Roseanne Barr's tweets, and why they matter. Watch the full answer on CNN Politics' Instagram story today. Keep the questions coming, Chris will answer another one next week! | | BANNON SITS DOWN WITH CNN | | Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon told CNN's Fareed Zakaria that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein should be ordered to turn over all documents associated with the FBI source, in an interview set to air Friday.
"You turn over every document, and if he doesn't turn it over, you give him 24 hours. If he doesn't turn it over, I would fire him, and that's not obstruction of justice," Bannon said of Rosenstein, who oversees the special counsel probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, which is being run by Robert Mueller. (Read more about that clip from the interview here).
Bannon was fired from the White House last year, after having worked on the campaign and in the administration. "A Fareed Zakaria Special: The Steve Bannon Interview," will air on CNN Friday at 9 p.m. ET, and again during "Fareed Zakaria GPS" on Sunday at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. ET. | | CNN's Gregory Wallace reports: "A close aide to Scott Pruitt last year ordered a set of 12 fountain pens that cost the Environmental Protection Agency $1,560, according to agency documents. Each $130 silver pen bore the agency's seal and Administrator Pruitt's signature, according to the documents, which were obtained by the Sierra Club through a Freedom of Information Act request.
"The order from the Washington shop Tiny Jewel Box also included a set of journals that cost $1,670. An agency spokesman did not respond to a request for comment from CNN. But spokesman Jahan Wilcox told The Washington Post, which first reported the pen purchase, they were similar to purchases made by Pruitt's predecessors 'for the purpose of serving as gifts to the administrator's foreign counterparts and dignitaries upon his meeting with them.'" Read more here. | | ABOUT THAT D'SOUZA PARDON... | | CNN's Lauren Fox reported Friday that Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz played a key role in convincing President Donald Trump to pardon Dinesh D'Souza, a well-known conservative filmmaker and writer, who pleaded guilty to making illegal campaign donations in 2014. According to D'Souza, it was Cruz who raised the issue with Trump and made D'Souza's pardoning a priority.
"Ted Cruz said he had a strong conviction that I had been treated badly and unfairly and was determined to raise the issue with President Trump about me getting a pardon," D'Souza told CNN.
Read more in CNN's story here. | | | From Brenna: "Go play a sport and have some fun this weekend. Let President Trump's golf skills inspire you. I don't actually know anything about golf, so I'm unclear on how good of a shot this actually is. But if you like this GIF, check out my roundup of this week's best GIFs." Also on your to do list this weekend: Tell people you know to subscribe to The Point. | | We'd love to share our other newsletters with you. Follow this link for daily coverage of the world's top stories, savvy market insights, an insider's look into the media, and more. Our authors for The Point are Chris Cillizza and Saba Hamedy. Send your tips and thoughts via email to Chris or Saba. Follow on Twitter: Chris and Saba. | | | | | | |
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