Taxpayers Paid $77,000 So Trump Jr. Could Murder Mongolian Sheep

“Donald Trump Jr.’s eight-day trip to Mongolia last August was controversial, not least because he was awarded a permit to hunt an endangered argali sheep after he had already killed one. He also had a private meeting with Mongolian President Khaltmaagiin Battulga, a month after Battulga met with President Trump in the White House, and he was traveling with a major Republican donor, ProPublica reported. Also, taxpayers spent nearly $77,000 on Secret Service protection during the trophy hunting expedition, the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington reports, citing updated Freedom of Information Act requests.

— “Taxpayers spent $77,000 on Donald Trump Jr. Mongolia sheep hunting trip, Secret Service receipts show,” Peter Weber, The Week [emphasis added]

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Trump Jr. Murders Mongolian Sheep, Gets Pardoned

Donald J. Trump Jr. bought an exotic hunting expedition to Mongolia at an NRA charity auction and traveled there last summer with five of his closest friends Secret Service agents. Trump Junior, ever the sportsman, went hunting at night with a laser-sight-equipped rifle and shot an argali sheep.

The argali sheep is a rare endangered species. Mongolia allows a few argali to be shot every year, but hunters need special permits. When he murdered that Mongolian mutton, Donald Trump Jr. did not have a permit. If Hunter Biden had done that, he’d be in Gants Khudag Police Detention Center in Ulaanbaatar. For some reason, Junior got a permit retroactively after he met with Mongolia’s president, His Excellency Khaltmaagiin Battulga.

More:

“Donald Trump Jr. Went to Mongolia, Got Special Treatment From the Government and Killed an Endangered Sheep,” Jake Pearson and Anand Tumurtogoo, Pro Publica

“Donald Trump Jr. Benefits From Nepotism in Foreign Country by Shooting Endangered Animal,” Matt Stieb, New York Magazine

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Trump-Kim Summit, a Triumph for Something-or-Other.

Singapore: They came, they gripped-and-grinned, they ate lunch, they went home. Supreme Leaders Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un held a photo-op and everybody came. The two dictators had a jolly time talking science fiction, hotels, and real estate. They watched videos, and Mr. Kim taught Mr. Trump to call joint military exercises “provocative war games” so they were easier for him to unilaterally cancel. The White House called Dennis Rodman to thank him.

President Trump went home early so he could talk to Fox News and play golf.

More:

“The North Korea summit was a triumph of Trumpian stagecraft, and the media fell for it,” Margaret Sullivan, Washington Post

“Trump just struck a shockingly weak deal with North Korea,” Zeeshan Aleem, Vox

“Trump really has achieved a historic breakthrough – for the Kim dynasty,” Jonathan Freedland, The Guardian

“Trump Was Outfoxed in Singapore,” Nicholas Kristof, New York Times

“North Koreans ‘Love’ Kim Jong Un, President Tells ABC,” Daily Beast

“Trump’s summit military concession to Kim surprises everyone,” Alexander Smith, NBC News

“Trump-Kim summit: South Koreans wary of losing US defense assurance,” Fabian Kretschmer, Deutsche Welle

“‘What the hell?’ Trump-Kim lovefest ignores human rights nightmare,” Nahal Toosi, Politico

“Bush Center highlights North Korean human rights abuses after summit,” Jacqueline Thomsen, The Hill

“Kim Has Accepted Trump’s Invite To Visit Washington,” Kate Riga, TPM Livewire

Yes. Repeat, No:

“Pence: ‘regular readiness training’ to continue in South Korea,” Alayna Treene, Axios

Updates:

“North Korea’s Media Tout Trump Concessions You Won’t Find In The Joint Statement,” Anthony Kuhn, NPR News

“All The Times North Korea Promised To Denuclearize,”Brian Barrett, Wired

“Trump and Kim Stir Confusion About What They Actually Agreed To,” Margaret Hartmann, New York Magazine

“Reporters thought this video was North Korea propaganda. It came from the White House.”  Avi Selk, Washington Post

“The Sensational Idiocy of Donald Trump’s Propaganda Video for Kim Jong,” Troy Patterson, The New Yorker

“Trump’s North Korean Propaganda Reveals His Contempt for Democracy,” Eric Levitz, New York Magazine

Related:

“James Clapper tells CNN’s Chris Cuomo that Dennis Rodman is ‘our best resource’ for understanding Trump, Kim Jong Un,” Catherine Garcia, The Week

“When Hitler met Hoover and eight other instances dictators scored presidential face time,”  Erick Trickey, WaPo via National Post

“Trump’s ‘Great Chemistry’ With Murderous Strongmen,” Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic

“Trump has officially been nominated for the Nobel Prize for his summit with Kim Jong Un,” Jeva Lange, The Week

“Can the US, China and North and South Korea find peace on the peninsula? War veterans hope so,” Minnie Chan, Robert Delaney, Lee Jeong-ho, China Morning Post

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Jared Kushner Is In Mexico for Spring Break

Jared Kushner, Senior White House Advisor, is in Mexico today to meet with President Enrique Peña Nieto and Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray about security, immigration and trade. Mr. Kushner knows all about security, having just had his Top Secret security clearance revoked, and knows about immigration from selling U.S. EB-5 visas to wealthy foreign investors. Jared Kushner learned about foreign trade by marrying Chinese shmata importer Ivanka Trump.

Presidents Trump and Peña Nieto were scheduled to meet in Washington, but Mr. Peña Nieto canceled his DC trip after a phone call with Mr. Trump, who continues to demand Mexican money for a border wall and menace the NAFTA agreement. The U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, career diplomat Roberta S. Jacobson, who has announced her May 1 resignation, was not invited to Kushner’s Mexican meetings.

More:

“Kushner to visit Mexico after Trump tirades, testy phone call,” Ana Isabel Martinez, Reuters

“Jared Kushner to Meet Mexico President Despite Losing Top-Secret Security Clearance,” Jessica Kwong, Newsweek

Updates:

“Kushner Meets With Mexican President, Underscoring Shift in U.S. Diplomacy,” Azam Ahmed and Nicholas Casey, New York Times

“Kushner meets with top officials in Mexico amid strained relations,” By Joshua Partlow, Washington Post

Related:

“Uneasy US-Mexico relationship will survive ambassador’s resignation — but just barely,” Pamela K. Starr, The Conversation

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USA: See You In C-U-B-A

President Obama flew into Havana on Sunday on Air Force One. In 1928 the last U.S. president to visit Cuba, Calvin Coolidge, sailed into Havana Harbor aboard a battleship. “Silent Cal” liked a good cigar, but he didn’t drink any rum, watch baseball, or dance the rumba. He addressed the Pan American Conference, promising the hemisphere “peace and goodwill,” but the Platt Amendment was in effect, and Cubans knew American forces could invade their nation at the drop of Mr. Coolidge’s homburg. The president promised Cubans the U.S. would lower the sugar tariff that crippled their economy, but it never happened — and the tariff was later raised.

Today’s Cubans hope this visit turns out better, but they remember the last one, even if we don’t.

US: ‘See U in C-U-B-A!’

On Friday, the United States raised the flag at its embassy in Havana.

“The US has reopened its embassy in Cuba more than 54 years after it was closed, in a symbolic step signalling the warming of ties between both countries.

John Kerry, the first US Secretary of State to visit Cuba in 70 years, presided over the ceremony in Havana.

The US flag was presented by the same US marines who brought it down in 1961.”

— “Cuba US: John Kerry reopens Havana embassy on historic trip,” BBC News [links added]

See You in C-U-B-A!

“The United States and Cuba agreed on Wednesday to restore diplomatic ties that Washington severed more than 50 years ago, and President Barack Obama called for an end to the long economic embargo against its old Cold War enemy.”

— “U.S., Cuba restore ties after 50 years,” Daniel Trotta and Steve Holland, Reuters