Politics

USA Today reports: President Donald Trump is hosting President Muhammadu Buhari of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on Monday. After a working lunch, the pair will take questions from reporters during a joint press conference at 1:30 p.m. ET in the White House Rose Garden. They are expected to discuss the economy and national security. Buhari is the first leader …

CBS News reports: U.S. officials will not restore federal protections for Yellowstone-area grizzly bears, despite a court ruling that called into question the government’s rationale for turning grizzly management over to states that are now planning public hunts for the animals, according to an announcement Friday in in the Federal Register. The disclosure from the Interior Department follows a months-long …

The Daily Beast reports: The former Green Party candidate in a congressional race has been exposed as a Republican plant with ties to the GOP congressman he supposedly sought to challenge. Michael Zak petitioned to run under the Green Party ticket in New York’s 27th congressional district, a seat currently held by Rep. Chris Collins. Zak’s candidacy petition listed as …

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports: A former Republican White House lawyer and prominent critic of President Donald Trump is running for former Sen. Al Franken’s seat. And he’s running as a Democrat. Richard Painter filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission late last week to run for the seat after exploring a bid for more than a month. Painter served as …

From the editorial board of the New York Times: Dear Justice Kennedy, As you have no doubt heard, rumors of your impending retirement are, for the second year in a row, echoing around Washington and across America. While you and your colleagues on the Supreme Court were listening to the final oral arguments of the term in recent days, those …

The Arizona Republic reports: Gov. Doug Ducey faced new criticism this weekend for photos he took with a controversial grassroots group. While appearing at the Mohave County Republican Party’s Patriot Dinner Saturday at the Mohave County Fairgrounds, Gov. Ducey posed with members of Patriot Movement AZ, a small but vocal activist group known for bringing guns and yelling at people …

“President Trump, if he can lead us to ending the Korean War after 70 years and getting North Korea to give up their nuclear program in a verifiable way, deserves the Nobel Peace Prize and then some. I want to be there. It may be the first time the Nobel Peace Prize was given and there was mass casualties because …

Buzzfeed reports: Since the fall, the US Department of Justice has been overhauling its manual for federal prosecutors. In: Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ tough-on-crime policies. Out: A section titled “Need for Free Press and Public Trial.” References to the department’s work on racial gerrymandering are gone. Language about limits on prosecutorial power has been edited down. The changes include new …

Politico reports: White House physician Ronny Jackson will not return to his role as the president’s personal physician, according to two senior administration officials, after a string of allegations caused the Navy rear admiral to withdraw his nomination last week to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs. Sean Conley, a Navy officer who took over Jackson’s role as the president’s …

The Washington Post reports: The 24-hour whirlwind of criticism or praise for Michelle Wolf’s controversial roast at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner ended late Sunday with President Trump calling the comedian “filthy” and the association’s president expressing regret that Wolf’s monologue did not live up to the “spirit” of the dinner’s mission, which is “not to divide people.” They …

The New York Times reports: Keeping diplomatic developments coming at a head-snapping pace, the South Korean government said on Sunday that North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, had told President Moon Jae-in that he would abandon his nuclear weapons if the United States agreed to formally end the Korean War and promise not to invade his country. In a confidence-building gesture …

Roll Call reports: Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks suggested in a radio interview  that Republicans are retiring en masse because of assassination fears. Brooks was speaking on “The Dale Jackson Show” about the first Republican practice the Congressional Baseball Game after last year’s shooting that left Majority Whip Steve Scalise severely injured. “We have multiple rings of security, plainclothes, uniform, Capitol …

The Hill reports: Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) said on Sunday that he would not refer to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as “honorable” as President Trump has, adding that Trump should just call Kim “rocket man.” “I would never use the word honorable to describe Kim Jong Un,” Lankford said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I think he’s …

The Wrap reports: President Donald Trump may have skipped Saturday night’s White House Correspondents Dinner — but that didn’t stop him from panning the annual gathering of journalists as a “big, boring bust.” POTUS, who led a campaign-style rally in Washington, Mich., on Saturday night, also slagged show host and “Daily Show” alum Michelle Wolf in a Sunday-morning tweet as …

The New York Times reports: President Trump is privately rejecting the growing consensus among Republican leaders that they may lose the House and possibly the Senate in November, leaving party officials and the president’s advisers nervous that he does not grasp the gravity of the threat they face in the midterm elections. Congressional and party leaders and even some Trump …

The Associated Press reports: Two proposed constitutional amendments, passed by lawmakers during this year’s legislative session, will appear as referendums on the general-election ballot. Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill threw his support behind them at a ceremonial bill-signing at the Alabama State Capitol on Friday. Republican Sen. Gerald Dial backed the amendment to authorize the display of the Ten …

And now the revenge: Donald Trump called for Democratic Sen. Jon Tester to resign after he alleged the president’s pick for secretary of Veterans Affairs had a dubious record of prescribing and drunk driving. In a Saturday morning tweets, the president took aim at Tester, after White House doctor Ronny Jackson withdrew his nomination for Secretary of Veterans Affairs over …

The Daily Beast reports: The influential conservative website RedState fired a handful of prominent writers on Friday in a move that appeared motivated, at least in part, by purging the outlet of anti-Trump voices. The Daily Beast confirmed that among those laid off by RedState and its parent company Townhall Media were top editors and writers Caleb Howe, Jay Caruso, …

The Daily Beast reports: Republican Rep. Pat Meehan (R-PA), who represents Pennsylvania’s 7th congressional district, announced Friday that he will resign his seat. The embattled lawmaker previously said he would not seek re-election following revelations that he used taxpayer funds to settle a sexual-harassment claim. Meehan’s district, previously drawn in moose antler fashion around Philadelphia was redrawn for November’s midterm …

NPR reports: President Trump welcomed German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the White House Friday, calling her “a very extraordinary woman.” At a photo op before a working lunch, Trump said the two leaders “will be working on a lot of different subjects,” including trade and NATO. Trump and Merkel will take questions from reporters after their discussions. Merkel’s visit does …