After hearing news reports in early December that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office was issuing subpoenas for information about his business dealings with Deutsche Bank, President Trump became so angry that he told advisers the investigation needed to be shut down, eight White House officials and people close to Trump told The New York Times.
Trump's advisers and lawyers scrambled to get more information from Mueller's office, and were told that the reports were inaccurate, which calmed Trump down. This was the second time he considered getting rid of Mueller; last June, White House Counsel Don McGahn threatened to quit unless Trump stopped pushing him to fire Mueller. At the time, Trump said Mueller should be let go for a variety of reasons, including that he once had a dispute with a Trump golf course near Washington, D.C. Trump told the Times last year that he had set a "red line" that Mueller's investigation should not cross.
One former adviser told the Times that people close to Trump have learned to wait for him to bring up an issue three times before they act on it, and most aides are used to hearing him complain about the special counsel, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. For more on the December incident and Trump's state of mind, visit The New York Times. Catherine Garcia
British Prime Minister Theresa May on Sunday pushed back on calls for a second referendum on Brexit, the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union.
May particularly condemned remarks from former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who said this week a new vote should be considered if "none of the other options work." May accused Blair of "seek[ing] to undermine our negotiations by advocating for a second referendum," arguing "Parliament has a democratic duty to deliver what the British people voted for."
May's proposed Brexit deal with the EU has stalled, lacking support to pass a House of Commons vote. Bonnie Kristian
The North Korean government on Sunday issued a typically dramatic statement condemning the United States' sanction regime and suggesting denuclearization plans are in jeopardy.
Pyongyang accused the U.S. State Department of being "bent on bringing [North Korea]-U.S. relations back to the status of last year which was marked by exchanges of fire," warning that additional U.S. sanctions would be America's "greatest miscalculation" and would "block the path to denuclearization on the Korean peninsula forever."
This comes as Pyongyang observes the seventh anniversary of the death of former leader Kim Jong Il and the rise to power of his son, current leader Kim Jong Un. Bonnie Kristian
Negotiators representing nearly 200 nations in Katowice, Poland, on Saturday agreed to universal greenhouse gas emissions limits intended to mitigate global climate change.
"It is not easy to find agreement on a deal so specific and technical," said Polish economist Michal Kurtyka, who is leading the United Nations negotiations. "Through this package you have made a thousand little steps forward together," he told the assembled delegates. "You can feel proud."
U.S. negotiators sought to label coal a possible source of clean energy but also pushed for transparency and rules which apply equally to all participant nations. "Overall, the U.S. role here has been somewhat schizophrenic — pushing coal and dissing science on the one hand, but also working hard in the room for strong transparency rules," Elliot Diringer of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions told The Associated Press. "[T]he U.S. pushed harder than nearly anyone else for transparency rules that put all countries under the same system, and it's largely succeeded." Bonnie Kristian
