WTF Just Happened Today

Thursday, February 28, 2019

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1/ Trump and Kim Jong-Un abruptly ended their summit in Vietnam after negotiations over North Korea's nuclear disarmament collapsed. The two leaders were unable to agree on steps toward denuclearization or any measures to ease tensions between North and South Korea. Trump said the main issue was the sanctions, which Kim wanted Trump to remove entirely. "We had some options," Trump said, "but at this time we decided not to do any of the options." He added, "Sometimes you have to walk, and this was just one of those times." (Politico / New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post)

• Trump defended North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un over the death of Otto Warmbier because Kim told "me he didn't know about it, and I take him at his word." (CNN / Politico / Washington Post)

2/ Trump ordered John Kelly to grant Jared Kushner a top-secret security clearance last year and overrule concerns by intelligence officials and Donald McGahn, the White House's top lawyer. Both Kelly and McGahn wrote contemporaneous internal memos outlining Trump's "order" to give Kushner the clearance. In January, Trump said he had no role in Kushner receiving his clearance. (New York Times)

3/ The D.C. attorney general's office subpoenaed Trump's inaugural committee for documents related to how the fund raised $107 million and whether the fund's spending was "wasteful, mismanaged" or "improperly provided private benefit." The subpoena requested records of all payments from or on behalf of the committee to the Trump Organization, including any relating to the Trump International Hotel in Washington. The committee paid the hotel $1.5 million It's the third request to the committee for documents – the first two were made by federal prosecutors in Manhattan and by New Jersey's attorney general. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal)

4/ The House Intelligence Committee intends to call Allen Weisselberg to testify, the Trump Organization's chief financial officer. Michael Cohen repeatedly cited Weisselberg's firsthand knowledge of alleged financial irregularities during his public testimony before the House Oversight Committee yesterday. Weisselberg was granted limited immunity by New York prosecutors to provide information in their case involving Cohen's hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. Weisselberg does not have an ongoing cooperation agreement with prosecutors. (Daily Beast / NBC News /