President Trumptomorrow will hold a listening session on prison reform, after six months of quiet exploration of the issue by senior adviser Jared Kushner (who turns 37 today).
Why it matters: The White House sees this as a conservative issue (save money, cut crime) that could get bipartisan support (spending for workforce development), heading into a midterm election year when it'll be even harder to get congressional accomplishments than it was last year.
Under the auspices of Kushner's Office of American Innovation, administration officials have met with faith-based leaders, former inmates who have been rehabilitated, conservative leaders, and experts on the issue.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions will join Thursday's session.
Jared and his wife, Ivanka Trump, held a dinner discussion at their home, including Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.)
The administration is exploring possible legislative proposals and administrative actions. An early step could include a push for public awareness involving churches.
The issue came up during this weekend's Camp David meeting with GOP congressional leaders.
Koch Industries general counsel Mark Holden, a longtime champion of the issue, told me he has been impressed with Kushner's passion, and that the approach the administration is exploring "has been showed to markedly reduce recidivism."
Be smart: The issue is personal for Kushner, given the former imprisonment of his father, developer Charles Kushner.
North Korea says it is stopping nuclear and missile testing
Kim Jong-un. Photo: STR/AFP/Getty Images
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has announced the country will stop conducting nuclear tests and launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles starting April 21, and shut down a nuclear test site in the north side of the country, through a broadcast on the state news agency KCNA reports, and President Trump announced in a tweet, later adding quotes from the message.
The details: Kim Jong-un explained, “[t]he nuclear test site has done its job,” via a statement broadcasted by North Korea’s state media, per the New York Times. The statement added the country plans to “shut down a nuclear test site in the country’s northern side to guarantee transparency in suspending nuclear tests.”
What it means: This confirms North Korea is not only open to freezing nuclear weapons tests, as it has said before, but that it is planning on doing it. It leaves denuclearization on the table and will, in theory, prevent escalation and proliferation.
