Donald Trump reveals details of meeting with Kim Jong Un

12 March

Donald Trump backflips on raising age limit for guns

The White House vowed yesterday to help states to provide “rigorous firearms training” to some school teachers and formally endorsed a bill to tighten the federal background checks system.

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However, the policies made no mention of Donald Trump’s proposal to raise the minimum age limit for buying certain guns from 18 to 21.

Earlier in the day, White House spokesman Raj Shah confirmed “the president has been clear that he does support raising the age to 21.”

“Today we are announcing meaningful actions, steps that can be taken right away to help protect students,” DeVos said.

CNN says the White House also plans to support “the transition of military veterans and retired law enforcement into new careers in education.”

It was also announced that federal agencies are going to run a public awareness campaign modelled on the Department of Homeland Security’s “See something, say something” anti-terrorism campaign.

The Associated Press reports that the plan was “immediately panned by gun control advocates”, noting that the plan was “less ambitious” than the ideas Trump appeared to embrace during listening sessions in the wake of the Florida school shooting.

Democratic Senator Bob Casey described the plan as “weak on security and an insult to the victims of gun violence”, adding: “it’s clear that President Trump and Congressional Republicans are all talk and no action.”

The new White House plan comes just days after the National Rifle Association sued the state of Florida after lawmakers there voted in favour of raising the minimum age for purchasing certain guns to 21.

9 March

Donald Trump will meet Kim Jong Un for nuclear talks

Kim Jong Un has invited Donald Trump to negotiations about the North Korean nuclear programme - and Donald Trump has accepted.

If it goes ahead, the meeting will be “the first of its kind between a leader of North Korea and a sitting president of the United States”, says PBS.

The announcement was made by South Korean national security official Chung Eui-yong in Washington, who had passed on a letter from Kim to Trump.

The suspension of missile tests was a “condition that US officials have laid down for the start of any substantive talks”, says The Guardian.

Kim’s invitation follows high-level talks between North and South Korea in Pyongyang on Monday, during which the two nations also reached a “satisfactory agreement” on a summit between Kim and South Korean president Moon Jae-in.

Trump confirmed the meeting in a tweet in which he spoke of “great progress”.

News of the meeting has sparked debate within the White House over the need to appoint an “outside expert as a special envoy” to handle meeting negotiations, CNN reports.

The network says the State Department’s “roster of senior diplomats dealing with and experienced on North Korea is seriously depleted,” and the US has been without an ambassador in Seoul since Trump took office.

Outside the White House, it has led to hopes and doubts about what might be accomplished.

Trump “often claims that he can achieve what has eluded his predecessors”, says The New York Times, “but so far he has little to show for that”.

8 March

Trump ‘won arbitration case’ against Stormy Daniels

The White House yesterday claimed Donald Trump won an arbitration case against Stormy Daniels as it emerged the president's lawyer obtained a gag order to "silence" the porn star.

“The president has denied the allegations against him, and again, this case has already been won in arbitration,”press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said during a White House press briefing yesterday.

Sanders did not offer further details, reports CBS, and would not elaborate on the case further, referring reporters to Trump's outside conusel.

Daniels received a $130,000 (£93,000) payment from Cohen shortly before the 2016 election.

On Tuesday, Daniels filed a lawsuit, claiming the settlement she reached with Trump and Cohen to keep quiet about the alleged relationship was no longer valid, because Trump's signature was not on the document, USA Today reports. The lawsuit was the first time Daniels had openly admitted to having a “hush” agreement, the newspaper adds.

According to Reuters, Daniels' lawsuit claims that Trump and Cohen have made a “concerted effort to silence her for more than a year”.

The adult film actor’s relationship with Trump began in the summer of 2006, not long after his wife Melania gave birth to their son Barron, and lasted well into 2007, the lawsuit claims.