June 1, 2018

Trump Gloats About Kim Jong Un’s “Very Nice” Letter, Then Says He Hasn’t Read It

Oh, and the historic summit is apparently back on.

Update: The White House says Trump has *now* read the letter. Right on.

After abruptly canceling the planned summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un last month, President Donald Trump announced Friday that the high-stakes summit on June 12 in Singapore is back on. The reversal came shortly after a meeting with an envoy for the North Korean leader in the White House, who came bearing a mysterious letter from Kim.

Trump spoke coyly to reporters about the letter. He claimed in a boasting tone that its contents were  “very nice” and “very interesting.”

“Oh would you like to see what was in that letter!” Trump gloated. “How much? How much?”

Minutes later, the president was again asked about Kim’s correspondence. Trump’s response is the perfect distillation of the head-spinning, on-again, off-again negotiations.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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