Billionaire Miles Kwok poses at his NYC apartment in November 2017. Photo: Timothy A. Clary / AFP / Getty Images
Drudge tweeted Thursday "LIFE AFTER MERCER! BANNON FINDS NEW BILLIONAIRE, MILES KWOK..."
Background: Miles Kwok, aka Guo Wengui, is a controversial, self-proclaimed billionaire and member of Mar-a-Lago who fled China and has taken up refuge in a Manhattan penthouse while awaiting a decision on his U.S. asylum application.
Beijing has been trying for months to get him back, including, as the Wall Street Journal reported in October, using Steve Wynn as an intermediary to ask Trump to repatriate him.
"President Donald Trump received a letter from the Chinese government, hand-delivered by Steve Wynn, a Las Vegas casino magnate with interests in the Chinese gambling enclave of Macau. Mr. Trump initially expressed interest in helping the Chinese government by deporting Mr. Guo, but other senior officials worked to block any such move, according to people familiar with the matter," WSJ reported.
What's happening now: Kwok was very active on Twitter until suddenly going quiet in late November. Before his Twitter break, he tweeted about several meetings with Steve Bannon, and his pinned tweet shows him with Bannon.
My thought bubble: Drudge provides no further evidence beyond the tweet, but I have been hearing similar things. Given Bannon's apparent issues with donors, Kwok and Bannon's convergent views of the PRC, and their love of the spotlight, this could be an interesting partnership. That is, until it collapses in recrimination, as every partnership eventually seems to do for both men.
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.
