Politics

Canada’s CBC reports: Robert De Niro, fresh off the Tony Awards stage where he verbally attacked the U.S. president, is now apologizing for Donald Trump’s behaviour following the G7 summit. De Niro, speaking Monday in downtown Toronto where he’s launching a major development alongside celebrity chef Nobu Matsuhisa, called Trump’s behaviour “a disgrace.” “I just want to make a note …

Jeffrey Goldberg writes for The Atlantic: The best distillation of the Trump Doctrine I heard, though, came from a senior White House official with direct access to the president and his thinking. I was talking to this person several weeks ago, and I said, by way of introduction, that I thought it might perhaps be too early to discern a …

NBC News reports: In a 5-4 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court gave Ohio a victory Monday in a fight over the state’s method for removing people from the voter rolls, a practice that civil rights groups said discourages minority turnout. At least a dozen other politically conservative states said they would adopt a similar practice if Ohio prevailed, as a …

ABC News reports: The Trump administration on Monday slapped sanctions on several Russian companies and businessmen for engaging in cyberattacks and assisting Russia’s military and intelligence services with other malicious activities. The Treasury Department said it was imposing sanctions on five Russian firms and three of their executives under legislation passed last year and an executive order aimed at punishing …

“Have you ever had a fight with your spouse? And in that fight, you just make the decision, OK things were said that we wish were not but there’s an underlying issue that has to be addressed. Now you put this aside and hope it never happens again but you begin to address the issue. I think we as a …

The Hill reports: Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) came to the defense of Canada following attacks on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau by President Trump and some of his top advisers. Trump and some of his top economic aides targeted Trudeau over the weekend after the Canadian leader criticized steep tariffs imposed by the U.S. on Canadian steel and aluminum imports. …

South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo reports: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s flight to Singapore was a tightly planned maneuver using a decoy to throw attackers off the scent. Three planes took off in North Korea at about an hour’s interval on Sunday — an IL-76, an Air China Boeing 747 and an ancient Ilyushin IL62 – leaving watchers in the dark …

Well, this is fascinating: Barack Obama has in recent months met with at least nine prospective 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, including Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden and Deval Patrick, pulling them in for one-on-one sessions at his Washington office. All the meetings were arranged quietly, without even some close advisers to the people involved being told of the conversations, …

Politico reports: At the end of a long weekend of rhetorical salvos over the G7 summit’s chaotic ending, German Chancellor Angela Merkel added her voice to the chorus, saying she found Donald Trump’s actions “sobering and a bit depressing,” while calling for more civility in international exchanges. “The situation isn’t very nice,” Merkel told German public television in a lengthy …

Variety reports: Robert De Niro had a few choice words for President Donald Trump while the legendary actor was on stage at Sunday’s Tony Awards to introduce Bruce Springsteen’s musical performance. “I’m going to say one thing, Fuck Trump,” De Niro said while pumping his fists in the air. “It’s no longer down with Trump. It’s fuck Trump.” The political …

Politico reports: Under the Presidential Records Act, the White House must preserve all memos, letters, emails and papers that the president touches, sending them to the National Archives for safekeeping as historical records. But White House aides realized early on that they were unable to stop Trump from ripping up paper after he was done with it and throwing it …

Talking Points Memo reports: Fellow G7 members responded harshly to President Donald Trump’s refusal to sign a previously agreed-upon joint statement authored by all seven nations at a summit this weekend, with Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland on Sunday pointedly condemning Trump and his advisers’ “ad hominem attacks.” “We spent two days to obtain a text and commitments. We will …

The North Jersey Record reports: Chris Christie has opened a law firm and Rudy Giuliani, a long-time mentor and attorney for President Donald Trump, says he’s sent New Jersey’s former governor clients. Christie, nearing the end of his formal transition out of state government, established a new practice based in his Morris County hometown. Giuliani said in an interview that …

The New York Times reports: President Trump has gone overseas to embark on some of the most consequential diplomatic negotiations of his tenure, threatening an all-out trade war with allies and seizing a chance to make peace with a nuclear-armed menace. But back home, he left behind a West Wing where burned-out aides are eyeing the exits, as the mood …

The Associated Press reports: Russian President Vladimir Putin said Sunday that he’s happy to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump once Washington is ready to hold the summit and welcomed Trump’s call to bring Moscow back into the G7 group of leading industrialized nations. “It wasn’t us who left,” he said. “Colleagues refused to come to Russia on well-known grounds. …

As you surely know, earlier this week Rudy Giuliani declared, “I don’t respect a porn star the way I respect a career women or a women of substance or a woman who has great respect for herself as a women and as a person and isn’t going to sell her body for sexual exploitation.” Media outlets leapt on Giuliani’s attack, …

Reuters reports: If a picture is worth 1,000 words, Angela Merkel has some thoughts. The German chancellor uploaded a photograph on Instagram of her and French President Emmanuel Macron seeming to stare down President Trump. The U.S. president is staring back, arms crossed, as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe looks on with his arms also crossed. National Security Adviser John …

The Birmingham Herald reports: Alabama State Rep. Ed Henry has been indicted in an ongoing federal pill mill case in Montgomery. The indictment, announced on Thursday by Middle District U.S. Attorney Louis V. Franklin Sr., charges the 47-year-old lawmaker from Hartselle with one count of conspiring to pay kickbacks and to defraud the U.S., one count of conspiring to commit …

The Hill reports: An influential conservative Evangelical group is ramping up its spending on efforts to defend Republican majorities in the November midterms. The Faith and Freedom Coalition, which invested heavily during the 2016 elections, plans to spend nearly $20 million on a voter turnout effort to protect GOP majorities in the fall. “We are going to make a bigger …

Courthouse News reports: The Kansas Court of Appeals ruled Friday that a citizen-initiated grand jury petition can investigate Secretary of State Kris Kobach on allegations that he intentionally failed to register qualified voters. Petitioner Steven Davis gathered enough signatures to file a petition in Douglas County Court in August 2017. The petition sought a grand jury investigation of Kobach for …