First Draft on Politics: Kim-Trump Summit in Peril

The White House said planning remained on track for the meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong-un. View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Wednesday, May 16, 2018 [NYTimes.com/Politics »]( [South Korean soldiers near the Demilitarized Zone on Tuesday.]( South Korean soldiers near the Demilitarized Zone on Tuesday. Yonhap/EPA, via Shutterstock Good Wednesday morning. Here are some of the stories making news in Washington and politics today: - North Korea abruptly [postponed high-level talks]( with South Korea to protest a joint South Korean-United States Air Force drill, and warned that a planned summit meeting between Kim Jong-un and President Trump could be jeopardized. The news injected sudden tension and uncertainty into what had been months of warming relations on the Korean Peninsula. - Gina Haspel, Mr. Trump’s nominee to lead the C.I.A., [appeared to have secured the votes]( to be confirmed after she declared that the agency should not have undertaken its interrogation program in which Qaeda detainees were tortured after 9/11. Last week she refused to condemn the program at her confirmation hearing. - A former Trump campaign official [told the Senate]( that he thought he had received an email in the first half of 2016 alerting the campaign that Russia had damaging information about Hillary Clinton. The official, John K. Mashburn, said he remembered the email coming from George Papadopoulos, a foreign policy adviser. But investigators have not been able to find it. - A state representative, an Air Force veteran and a college professor — all women — won Democratic House primaries in Pennsylvania, where a record number of women [ran for House seats]( in a year of intense political enthusiasm among female Democrats. - The Justice Department and the F.B.I. are investigating Cambridge Analytica, the now-defunct political data firm, and have [sought to question]( former employees and banks that handled its business. The investigation compounds the woes of a firm that has come under intense scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators. - Mr. Trump’s plan to expand access to skimpy short-term health insurance policies, as an alternative to the Affordable Care Act, would [affect more people and cost the government more money]( than the administration estimated, an independent federal study says. — The First Draft Team HAVE A CONFIDENTIAL NEWS TIP? Do you have the next big story? Want to share it with The New York Times? We offer several ways to get in touch with and provide materials to our journalists. [Learn More »]( ADVERTISEMENT [Climate Fwd:]( What on Earth is going on? Sign up to get our latest stories and insights about climate change — along with answers to your questions and tips on how to help. [• Sign Up »]( [Which Poor People Shouldn’t Have to Work for Aid?]( By EMILY BADGER AND MARGOT SANGER-KATZ Exhorted [by President Trump]( federal administrators and many Republican state officials are drafting rules requiring people to work in exchange for Medicaid, housing aid and food assistance. But what happens when the poor live where work is hard to find? In Michigan, the state’s Senate has passed a proposal that would exempt Medicaid recipients from a work requirement partly on the basis of geography — if they live in a county where unemployment exceeds 8.5 percent. Geography may seem a simple way to identify who faces barriers to work, but it’s also a crude one. The lines that policymakers draw risk embedding regional and racial biases about who counts as “left behind.” [Read more »](  [Alex M. Azar II, the secretary of health and human services, and President Trump announced a “blueprint to lower drug prices” on Friday.]( [Health Secretary Defends Plan to Lower Prescription Drug Prices]( By ROBERT PEAR The secretary of health and human services, Alex M. Azar II, dismissed solutions that have long been supported by Democrats and that President Trump endorsed during the 2016 campaign. [Shaktoolik is one of 31 towns and cities in Alaska that may need to relocate because protective sea ice is vanishing, leaving shorelines exposed to erosion by fierce waves.]( [Why Alaska Is Forming a Plan to Fight Climate Change: It’s Impossible to Ignore]( By BRAD PLUMER Many solidly Republican states have resisted aggressive climate policies, but Alaska is already seeing the drastic effects of global warming. [Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin and Ivanka Trump, President Trump’s daughter and senior adviser, unveiled the seal for the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem on Monday.]( [Amid Debate and Violence, Trump Delivers Embassy Victory to Christian Base]( By ELIZABETH DIAS The president’s evangelical supporters are celebrating the new American Embassy in Jerusalem as another policy promise he has made good on. [Valiollah Seif, the governor of Iran’s central bank, at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C. in 2016.]( [U.S. Imposes New Sanctions on Iran, Designating Head of Central Bank a Terrorist]( By EILEEN SULLIVAN The new designation is separate from the nuclear sanctions that were reinstated last week against Iran. [John R. Bolton, the national security adviser. He has talked about ‘streamlining’ the National Security Council.]( [White House Eliminates Cybersecurity Coordinator Role]( By NICOLE PERLROTH AND DAVID E. SANGER The coordinator organized the defense of government computer networks and critical infrastructure. [President Trump with Senator John Barrasso, Republican of Wyoming, on Tuesday at the Capitol. “The president and Republican members of the Senate had a positive and productive lunch” on Tuesday, said Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary.]( [Talking to Senators, Trump Stays on (His Own) Message]( By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS AND NICHOLAS FANDOS During a lunch on Tuesday, Mr. Trump avoided controversial topics and instead talked about his own accomplishments and his optimism for the Republican Party in the fall midterm elections. [“I’m angry, I’m frustrated, and honestly, I’m scared,” Mary Buchzeiger, who runs an automotive supply business in Michigan, said of the Trump administration’s proposed tariffs.]( [Businesses Race to Washington to Sway Trump on China Tariffs]( By ANA SWANSON Some of those testifying about the president’s tariff plan commended them; others criticized them. But all agreed on the potential for irrevocable change for their businesses. [President Trump at the National Peace Officers Memorial Service at the Capitol on Tuesday.]( Fact Check of the Day [Trump Falsely Asserts Transfers of Military Gear to Police Are ‘at a Record Clip’]( By LINDA QIU Transfers of surplus equipment have declined — not increased — under Mr. Trump. [Last year, WikiLeaks released a stolen trove of C.I.A. hacking documents, representing the largest loss of classified information in the agency’s history.]( [Suspect Identified in C.I.A. Leak Was Charged, but Not for the Breach]( By SCOTT SHANE AND ADAM GOLDMAN After the release of C.I.A. hacking tools last year, The Times has learned the suspect’s identity. He’s been charged, but in a separate child pornography case. [Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has made clear that he intends to improve morale and restore the effectiveness of the department.]( [Pompeo Lifts Hiring Freeze in Effort to Return ‘Swagger’ to State Dept.]( By GARDINER HARRIS Secretary of State Mike Pompeo lifted the department’s hiring freeze in one of many efforts to restore the department’s effectiveness and morale. [A road is being built in Indonesia from Jakarta to Lido, the planned location for a theme park linked to companies with business interests tied to President Trump.]( [Trump Indonesia Real Estate Project Gets Chinese Government Ally]( By ALEXANDRA STEVENSON AND RICHARD C. PADDOCK Mr. Trump’s partner in Bali, Hary Tanoesoedibjo, has signed a deal with a Chinese state-owned company. [Federica Mogherini, the European Union foreign policy chief, answering journalists’ questions in Brussels on Tuesday.]( [Allies at Cross-Purposes: Trump Puts Europe Into Damage-Control Mode]( By STEVEN ERLANGER The United States’ allies met with Iran to try to preserve the nuclear deal, while criticizing the bloodshed that came as the American Embassy moved to Jerusalem. LIKE THIS EMAIL? Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up [here](. ADVERTISEMENT HOW ARE WE DOING? We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [washington-newsletter@nytimes.com](mailto:washington-newsletter@nytimes.com?subject=Newsletter%20Feedback). FOLLOW NYTimes [Facebook] [FACEBOOK]( [Twitter] [@NYTPolitics]( Get more [NYTimes.com newsletters »](  | Get unlimited access to NYTimes.com and our NYTimes apps for just $9.99. [Subscribe »]( ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's First Draft newsletter. 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