Trump Suspends ‘Provocative’ War Games with South Korea

Trump said at a Tuesday news conference in Singapore that for the duration of talks, he was stopping U.S. “war games,” which he said were “tremendously expensive” and provocative to North Korea. The president went on to suggest, both at the press conference, and in an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that he sees the suspension of those exercises as a favorable development for the United States in its own right. 

“You know, I wanted to stop the war games, I thought they were very provocative. But I also think they’re very expensive. We’re running the country properly; I think they’re very, very expensive. To do it, we have to fly planes in from Guam — that’s six and a half hours away. Big bombers and everything else. I said, ‘Who’s paying for this?’ I mean, who pays, in order to practice.”

North Korea’s Human Rights Abuses Downplayed at Summit

Trump on Tuesday took pains to remind his audience that while life is “rough” in North Korea, “it’s rough in a lot of places, by the way, not just there.”  

The president’s muted tone on human rights came as he suggested that, by engaging in a dialogue, Kim had put his country on a path toward peace and prosperity, as well as a measure of political normalization in its relationship with the United States. The outcome of Trump’s summit drew backlash Tuesday from some of his political opponents. 

Before the summit, White House officials say the plight of the North Korean people, who live under one of the world’s most repressive governments, is not currently a priority for the summit. 

George Stephanopoulos: Michael Cohen Likely About to Flip, Cooperate with Feds

A new report indicates that Michael Cohen’s lawyers will no longer represent him, and he’s likely going to cooperate with federal prosecutors.

President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, who is under criminal investigation for alleged bank fraud and shady business dealings, is set to meet with U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood to discuss the FBI’s raid on his offices back in April.  

ABC’s George Stephanopoulos reports, citing an unnamed source, that Cohen’s attorneys are about to leave the case. The lawyers will work with Cohen to establish a privilege review deadline on this matter, but they won’t work with him any further after that. Cohen is not believed to have a replacement counsel lined up, and without any representation, sources say he is likely to cooperate with the feds. 

Without legal representation Cohen is likely to cooperate with federal prosecutors in New York, sources said. This development, which is believed to be imminent, will likely hit the White House, family members, staffers and counsels hard.

IG Report Preview

On Thursday, June 14, Inspector General Michael Horowitz will release his report on the FBI’s handling of the Clinton email investigation. The officials that are expected to be scrutinized by the report, are James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, Andrew Weiner. 

The report is expected to criticize former FBI director James Comey and other senior law enforcement officials for their handling of decisions they made that affected the course of the email probe, as well as how they conducted themselves during the investigation.

The IG also investigated an exchanged of pro-Clinton, anti-Trump texts between the former top FBI counterintelligence official Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page. Both Peter Strzok and Lisa Page were on Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation team but either left or were relieved of those duties. 

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is expected to brief President Trump on Thursday about the IG report, before it is released to the public. Capitol Hill staffers were told on Tuesday that scheduling and logistical conflicts would make it necessary for the Justice Department to shift its planned Thursday morning briefing to the afternoon.

Rosenstein to Ask House to Investigate Committee Staff

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will ask the House to probe it's committee staff, according to a report from CNN. 

A Justice Department official told CNN that Rosenstein plans to "request that the House general counsel conduct an internal investigation of these congressional staffers' conduct" this week.  

The development comes as Fox News reported on Tuesday that Rosenstein threatened to subpoena emails, phone records and other documents from lawmakers and staff on the House Intelligence Committee. The network obtained emails describing the January meeting, in which aides said they felt threatened by Rosenstein. 

“The [Deputy Attorney General] criticized the Committee for sending our requests in writing and was further critical of the Committee’s request to have DOJ/FBI do the same when responding,” the committee's former senior counsel for counterterrorism, Kash Patel, said in a note to the House Office of General Counsel. 

However, a Justice Department official pushed back against the accounts of the meeting from aides. 

"The Deputy Attorney General never threatened anyone in the room with a criminal investigation," a Justice Department official told CNN. "The FBI Director, the senior career ethics adviser for the Department, and the Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs who were all present at this meeting are all quite clear that the characterization of events laid out here is false." 

Attorney General Jeff Sessions defended Rosenstein on Tuesday during an interview with Fox News, telling the network he was "confident that Deputy Rosenstein, after 28 years in the Department of Justice, did not improperly threaten anyone on that occasion." 

Rosenstein and the committee's chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), have battled for months over Nunes' document requests, but Nunes reportedly never raised concerns about Rosenstein's behavior during the January meeting. 

Radical plan to split California into three states earns spot on November ballot

Timothy Draper, the proponent of division of California into three states has filed more than 402,468 valid signatures with the counties. Therefore, pursuant to Elections Code section 9033, the initiative measure is eligible for the November 6, 2018, General Election ballot and all further signature verification can be terminated.

On June 28, 2018, the Secretary of State will certify the initiative as qualified for the November 6, 2018, General Election ballot, unless withdrawn by the proponent. 

If the proposed measure was to be passed, the division of California would be subject to approval by Congress.

Draper is a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, his reasoning to split up the state of California is that, “Three states will get us better infrastructure, better education and lower taxes. States will be more accountable to us and can cooperate and compete for citizens.”

The state would be split up into Northern California, California and Southern California.

Northern California would have approximately 13.3 million people and consist of 40 counties stretching from Southern Oregon south to Santa Cruz County, then east to Merced and Mariposa counties. 

Southern California would have 13.9 million people and would begin with Madera County in the Central Valley and then wind its way along the existing state’s eastern and southern spine, comprising 12 counties and ultimately curving up the Pacific coast to grab San Diego and Orange counties. 

California would have approximately 12.3 million residents and would be centered around Los Angeles County. Five other counties extending northward along the coast to Monterey County would be included. 

Charitable Giving in U.S. Tops $400 Billion For First Time

According to the latest comprehensive report on Americans’ giving pattern, charitable giving in the United States in 2017 topped the $400 billion mark for the first time. 

The Giving USA report was released on Tuesday, June 12. The report said giving from individuals, estates, foundations and corporations reached an estimated $410 billion in 2017. The total was up 5.2 percent in current dollars from the estimated of $389 billion for 2016. 

The increase in charitable giving has been credited to a surging stock market and huge gifts from billionaires. Other economic factors, such as personal income and personal consumption are associated with households’ long-term financial stability and have historically been correlated with giving by individuals.

Mail Time!

• Wow! So, let me get this straight Bill. If President Trump had an acceptable euro- personality Canada, Germany, etc. would all of a sudden drop the tariffs and pay their fair share to NATO! Talk about a dream world, give me a break.

• Do you think his approval rating will rise above 50% after this summit and the release of the IG report? 

• Why can’t the left give Trump credit for trying with North Korea? Isn’t this -regardless of the outcome- a good step for the country as a whole?

Word of the Day: Chicanery