Week In The News: Singapore Summit, Giuliani's PR Ploy, Roseanne Barred

With Kimberly Atkins

Reviving the Singapore summit. Giuliani’s PR ploy. Roseanne gets the boot. Starbucks closes the doors. The roundtable dives in.

Anita Kumar, White House correspondent for McClatchy. (@anitakumar01)

Philip Rucker, White House bureau chief at the Washington Post. (@PhilipRucker )

Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst. (@JackBeattyNPR)

USA Today: "Here's what's at stake as officials try and save summit between President Trump and Kim Jong Un" — "Trump abruptly canceled the summit last Thursday before quickly reversing course and announcing the meeting could happen. His decision came amid widespread doubt in the United States that North Korea would be willing to actually scrap a nuclear program it has struggled for decades to build.

Meanwhile, South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who met Kim Jong Un last Saturday, said the North Korean leader is uncertain whether he can trust Trump’s promise to provide a security guarantee if North Korea abandons its nuclear weapons.

Given these basic concerns, Kim Yong Chol’s talks with Pompeo are likely to focus on a possible compromise between Washington’s push for a speedy nuclear disarmament and North Korea’s preference for more gradual steps matched by corresponding benefits from the U.S."

The Guardian: "Rudy Giuliani admits 'Spygate' is Trump PR tactic against Robert Mueller" — "Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani said on Sunday that his repeated imputations of a supposed scandal at the heart of the Robert Mueller investigation – which Donald Trump calls 'Spygate' – amounted to a tactic to sway public opinion and limit the risk of the president being impeached.

'Of course we have to do it to defend the president,' Trump’s lawyer told CNN State of the Union host Dana Bash, who accused him of being part of a campaign to undermine the Mueller investigation. Trump has repeatedly called the special counsel’s work a 'witch hunt', despite its producing five guilty pleas, including by three former Trump aides, and evidence of Russian tampering in US elections."

Celebrity presidential pardons. Roseanne gets the boot – and the president chimes in. Pressure on Sessions to un-recuse. Tariffs on China, the EU, Canada and Mexico. Border arrests fill child detention centers. Starbucks closes to reflect on race And North Korea Talks off — and then maybe on again?

This hour, On Point: our panel breaks down what happened this week.

- Kimberly Atkins