Blackwater founder Erik Prince, ex-CIA officer John R. Maguire, and Iran-Contra linchpin Oliver North have been shopping a proposal to President Trump's White House and CIA Director Mike Pompeo to create a private global network of expendable spies that would report directly to Trump and Pompeo, and Pompeo wants Trump to approve the contract, The Intercept reports, citing "several current and former U.S. intelligence officials and others familiar with the proposals." The Intercept confirms and expands on BuzzFeed's report that intelligence contractor Amyntor Group, Maguire's employer, is a potential organizer of the new private spy network.

"Pompeo can't trust the CIA bureaucracy, so we need to create this thing that reports just directly to him," a former senior U.S. intelligence official tells The Intercept, paraphrasing White House discussions. "The whole point is this is supposed to report to the president and Pompeo directly." Maguire was on Trump's transition team and used to work for Prince, and North, a Fox News regular, was reportedly brought in to help enlist Trump's support. The apparent pitch to Trump was creating an intelligence apparatus that will counter the "deep state" trying to undermine his presidency.

"John [Maguire] was certain that the deep state was going to kick the president out of office within a year," a person who discussed it with Maguire told The Intercept. Maguire also told at least two people that H.R. McMaster, Trump's national security adviser, had approved surveillance on Stephen Bannon, Donald Trump Jr., and Eric Trump, The Intercept reports, and "used a burner phone to send information gathered through the surveillance to a facility in Cyprus owned by George Soros." The National Security Council, CIA, and Prince all denied the global spy network; NSC spokesman Michael Anton said "the White House does not and would not support such a proposal." Current and former intelligence officials say that's not true. You can read more at The Intercept. Peter Weber

On Monday night, The New Yorker published allegations from four women that New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman had physically abused them. "Schneiderman denied the allegations, saying, 'I have not assaulted anyone,' but then immediately resigned," Stephen Colbert said on Tuesday's Late Show. "The women have accused Schneiderman of heinous acts of physical violence, but Schneiderman saw things differently," saying he just "engaged in role-playing and other consensual activity." Colbert wasn't buying it: "Oh, okay, role-playing: 'You be the damsel in distress, and I'll be the angry piece of garbage that causes you distress.'"

But it was the hypocrisy that poured fuel on the Scheiderman fire, given his lawsuit against Harvey Weinstein and advocacy for abused women. "Mr. Schneiderman, I think you misinterpreted the phrase #MeToo," Colbert said.

The push to hold powerful men accountable for abusing women "shows no signs of stopping," Trevor Noah said The Daily Show. "Who knows, they might even get R. Kelly this year. You realize, he's been uncatchable for years — he's like the #MeToo's bin Laden." But the Scheiderman story is also getting so much attention because "he's one of the biggest opponents of President Trump's agenda," Noah said, "making it rain lawsuits all over Trump."

Still, the hypocrisy is galling. "So it seems this guy was trying to put Harvey Weinstein in jail while he was abusing women himself," Noah said. "This is like finding out Robert Mueller has been taking secret vacations with Putin." He brought out Dulcé Sloan for her thoughts on "this insane issue," and she explained that Schneiderman "sounds like a monster, but in a way, he's still a champion for women," because "he pushed for tougher laws that are going to make it easier for us to throw his ass in jail. I wish every abuser would build a Wile E. Coyote trap for themselves." Watch below. Peter Weber

"After years of saying he will do it, he did it," Stephen Colbert said on Tuesday's Late Show. President Trump announced he's withdrawing the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal, claiming he always keeps his promises. "What are you talking about?" Colbert asked. "You literally just backed out of an American promise!"

"Nobody wants Iran to have nuclear weapons — that's what the treaty was supposed to stop," Colbert said, but Trump is apparently upset the deal sunsets. "So with these restrictions, Iran could possibly, eventually develop a nuke, and the solution is to lift the restrictions so they can start immediately? ... It's like saying, 'Well, Billy, this hamster is eventually going to die in a couple years, so we might as well flush Mr. Fluffers don't the toilet now.'"

In explaining why he's scrapping the Iran deal, Trump "raises some good points, except for the fact that they're all bulls--t," Trevor Noah said on The Daily Show. "Yeah it is true that the deal didn't address every single problem with Iran, but it did address the main problem, nuclear weapons. You can't get rid of the entire thing because it didn't fix everything. It's like saying, 'This detergent got the stains out of my shirt but it didn't save my crumbling marriage!'"

"This could lead to a horrible, destabilizing war, and even worse, we'll pay slightly more for gas," Noah deadpanned. "So that means when you're trying to flee the nuclear apocalypse, you'll have to look at your gas tank the whole time." And to hit home why this is so terrible for "America's credibility," he had a certain famous deal artist explain what happens to your reputation when you blow off deals.

Iran's president had a similar take, in The Late Show's imagined response: "In the past, we have called America 'The Great Satan,' but even Satan keeps his deals. Just ask Charlie Daniels." Watch below. Peter Weber

President Trump's high-stakes decision to withdraw the U.S. from the multilateral Iran nuclear deal has winners and losers, and leaves serious questions about what happens next, but one clear loser is Boeing. After the U.S. and Iran signed the deal with China, Russia, and European allies in 2015, Boeing signed a $17 billion deal with Iran Air to deliver 80 aircraft and another $3 billion deal with Iran's Aseman Airlines. Airbus also inked a deal to sell Iran Air 100 planes for $19 billion, only three of which have been delivered. "The Boeing and Airbus licenses will be revoked," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Tuesday. "The existing licenses will be revoked."

"We will consult with the U.S. government on next steps," Boeing vice president Gordon Johndroe said in a statement. "As we have throughout this process, we'll continue to follow the U.S. government's lead." Boeing stock fell a modest 0.6 percent on the sanctions news, in part because Boeing already has a long backlog of orders pending, The Washington Post reports.

Trump's decision immediately snaps back sanctions on Iran, prohibiting new deals with Iran and giving companies 90 days to wind down contracts involving airplanes and airplane parts, gold and other metals, U.S. dollar transactions, or auto deals, and 180 days to stop buying Iranian oil or conduct business with Iran's insurance and shipping sectors. "These sanctions do impact all of the major industries," Mnuchin said. "These are very, very strong sanctions; they worked last time. That's why Iran came to the table." He didn't explain why Iran would return to the table after the U.S. broke its word. Peter Weber

Michael Cohen set up Essential Consulting LLC in October 2016, apparently as a way to covertly transfer $130,000 in hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels, but since then at least $4.4 million has passed through the company, The New York Times reports, confirming a report from Daniels attorney Michael Avenatti. Those transactions include $200,000 from AT&T, nearly $400,000 from a U.S. subsidiary of Swiss drugmaker Novartis, $150,000 from Korea Aerospace Industries — all companies with business contingent on President Trump's administration — and most intriguingly, $500,000 from Columbus Nova, a New York investment firm with deep ties to Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg.

Avenatti suggested Cohen's use of the LLC violated banking laws. It's unclear whether any of the transactions were "improper," the Times said, but "the financial records indicate that at least some of the money that passed through Essential Consultants was from sources and in amounts that were inconsistent with the company's stated purpose."

Vekselberg, one of the richest men in Russia, has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is under U.S. sanctions (as is his company, Renova Group), has reportedly been interviewed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigators, reportedly met with Cohen at Trump's inauguration, and attended the December 2015 dinner in Moscow where Putin was seated next to Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

Columbus Nova, run by Andrew Intrater — Vekselberg's American cousin and "a former director and current member of the executive board of Renova Group," according to Columba Nova's website — said Cohen's payments were business consulting fees, the company was never owned or controlled by Vekselberg, Vekselberg had no role in hiring Cohen, and "reports today that Viktor Vekselberg used Columbus Nova as a conduit for payments to Michael Cohen are false." Until last November, the Renova Group's website listed Columbus Nova as one of its "companies," NBC News reports.

NBC News also "reviewed financial documents that appear to support Avenatti's account of the transactions," and a source told The Daily Beast that Avenatti's assertions about Columbus Nova were accurate, adding: "How the f--k did Avenatti find out?" Avenatti hinted at the answer on CNN Tuesday night, telling Anderson Cooper that "because we're so out front on this, people send us information."

You can read more details about Cohen's LLC at The New York Times, and The Washington Post has an incomplete chart of its money flow. Peter Weber

Air Force Col. Bruce Hollywood always knew he was adopted, but it wasn't until he had a heart attack in 2005, collapsing on his way into work at the Pentagon, that it became urgent he meet his birth mother.

Hollywood told The Washington Post he wanted to thank her for placing him with an American family in 1960. Before his adoptive mother died, she told Hollywood he should try to find his birth mom in Japan, even offering to pay for his flight, but he always said no. Now that he wanted to meet her, Hollywood kept running into roadblocks — the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo couldn't track her down, and neither could the Japanese Embassy in Washington or a private investigator.

On his way to a conference, Hollywood met Adm. Harry Harris, and during their conversations, Hollywood mentioned his search. Harris said he'd help him, and 10 days later, the Japanese Embassy called and said they found his birth mother, Nobue Ouchi, and she was going to call him in 10 minutes. He rushed to find an interpreter and soon learned it was the day before Ouchi's 65th birthday, and she had long dreamed of seeing her son again so she could show him her restaurant and bar, named Bruce. She knew his name because before Hollywood and his adoptive family left Japan, the mothers met, and Ouchi was given a photo of baby Bruce.

Ten days later, Hollywood was in Shizuoka, Japan, learning about his roots. The mother-son relationship blossomed, with Hollywood visiting Japan several times and Ouchi taking English lessons before her death in 2009. "I've got to tell you," Hollywood told the Post. "If I didn't live it, I almost wouldn't believe it." Catherine Garcia

During her Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday, President Trump's pick to lead the CIA, Gina Haspel, plans on testifying that she will not reinstate waterboarding as a means of gathering intelligence.

Haspel has spent more than 30 years with the CIA, and she's under scrutiny for her work in 2002 at a "black site" in Thailand where terrorism suspects were waterboarded, as well as a 2005 cable where she wrote that videos showing waterboarding should be destroyed. The CIA has not released any details regarding her role at the prison.

In her prepared remarks, Haspel plans on calling the post-9/11 era "a tumultuous time," NPR reports, and she will offer her "personal commitment, clearly and without reservation that under my leadership CIA will not restart such a detention and interrogation program." Catherine Garcia

The stars aligned for Ping Kuen Shum on April 28, when the Vancouver man, celebrating his birthday and retirement, purchased a winning lottery ticket that netted him $1.5 million.

Now that he's a millionaire, the first thing on his agenda is to take a trip to China. "It's unbelievable that all three events happened on the same day," he said in a statement. "I have worked hard for so many years and I'm looking forward to sharing this fortune with my family." The British Columbia Lottery Corporation did not disclose his age or occupation, but did say the odds of picking all six numbers is 1 in 13, 983,816 Catherine Garcia