Trump hits a bump in the road on his way to the Nobel Peace Prize, Republicans try their hardest to make 2018 about immigrant gang members, and 700 Trump investigation stories break in one day. Then Jason Kander joins Jon and Dan to talk about the midterms and the new season of Majority 54, and Inimai Chettiar of the Brennan Center for Justice talks about the prison reform bill moving through Congress.



Show Notes:

North Korea:

Washington Post – Trump says he will continue to insist on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula

Washington Post – John Bolton proposed the ‘Libya model’ for North Korea. Why is Pyongyang so angry about it?

Vox: North Korea threatens to cancel Trump summit, reminds world it really loves its nukes

The Atlantic – North Korea’s Dangerous Game of Telephone With the United States – By Uri Friedman

New Yorker – Just How Fragile Is Trump’s North Korea Diplomacy? – By Robin Wright

New York Times – North Korea Threatens to Call Off Summit Meeting With Trump

Trump is an asshole and the Media doesn’t know how to cover it:

New York Times: Trump Calls Some Unauthorized Immigrants ‘Animals’ in Rant

New York Magazine: The Democratic Party Has an ‘MSNBC Problem’ – By Eric Levitz

Axios: 1 big thing: The rise of the pro-Trump media machine

The Russia stuff:

New York Times: Documents Show Promise, and Letdown, Around Trump Tower Meeting

Washington Post: 7 big things we just learned from the Trump Tower meeting testimony

Vox: Read: Donald Trump Jr.’s congressional testimony about the Trump Tower meeting

CNBC – Anthony Scaramucci, days after Trump hired him at the White House, reached out to promoter who helped set up Trump Tower meeting with Russians

Washington Post: Russia favored Trump in 2016, Senate panel says, breaking with House GOP

Associated Press: Senate Panel Backs Intelligence Agencies on Russian Meddling

Vox: Republican-run Senate committee says Russia tried to help Trump win

New York Times: Code Name Crossfire Hurricane: The Secret Origins of the Trump Investigation

New York Times: Trump Discloses Cohen Payment, Raising Questions About Previous Omission

New Yorker – By Ronan Farrow – Missing Files Motivated the Leak of Michael Cohen’s Financial Records

CNN: Novartis top lawyer quits over Cohen payments

Washington Post: Trump’s personal attorney solicited $1 million from government of Qatar

Washington Post: FBI agents said to be probing Michael Cohen’s deal with Korean firm

Yahoo: Michael Cohen’s efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow went on longer than he has previously acknowledged

Vanity Fair – “I’M NOT GOING TO JUST ROLL OVER”: BEHIND THE SCENES, AFTER ANOTHER WEEK IN THE SPOTLIGHT, MICHAEL COHEN OSCILLATES BETWEEN FIGHTING BACK AND FRUSTRATION

New York Magazine – By Jonathan Chait – The Michael Cohen Bribery Scandal Is Now a Trump Bribery Scandal

Reuters – Mueller issues grand jury subpoenas to Trump adviser’s social media consultant

Bloomberg – Mueller Turns His Focus to Longtime Trump Adviser Roger Stone

Inimai Chettiar:

Rolling Stone – ‘We Don’t Have to Worry About Senator Sessions’

Roll Call – Trump Renews Call for Cop Killers to Get Death Penalty

NPR – White House Adviser Jared Kushner Pushes Prison Reform Bill Forward

The Hill – Trump-backed prison reforms face major obstacles in Senate

The Hill – Op-Ed – Sentencing reform is moving in the wrong direction – By Todd Cox, policy director at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.

Politico – Kushner-backed prison reform bill stumbles in House

Salon – Beyond “law and order”: Criminal justice reform looks like a winning issue in 2018

Daily Beast – The ‘Tough on Crime’ Wave Is Finally Cresting – By Inimai Chettiar

Marshall Project – Can Jared Kushner Save Criminal Justice Reform?

Washington Post: Jeff Sessions isn’t making America safer. He might be making it more dangerous – By Inimai Chettiar and Ames C. Grawert

The Atlantic – By Inimai Chettiar – The Many Causes of America’s Decline in Crime

Pod Save America is a no-bullshit conversation about politics hosted by Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, Dan Pfeiffer and Tommy Vietor that breaks down the week’s news and helps people figure out what matters and how to help. New episodes out every MONDAY and THURSDAY. Check out more Pod Save America episodes!