Axios

North Korea sent a signal to the Trump administration last night in the form of a “tactical guided weapon,” according to state media. It remains unclear what exactly North Korea tested.

In one of his first tweets after the release of the redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller's report Thursday, President Trump said that he "had the right to end" the investigation, which he called a "whole Witch Hunt," but "chose not to."

"I had the right to end the whole Witch Hunt if I wanted. I could have fired everyone, including Mueller, if I wanted. I chose not to. I had the RIGHT to use Executive Privilege. I didn’t!"

The state of play: Mueller's report didn't state that Trump obstructed the investigations against him — though it laid out 10 potential episodes of obstruction of justice and explicitly did not exonerate him.

Go deeper: 7 takeaways from the Mueller report

Attorney General Bill Barr's March 24 letter summarizing the "principal conclusions" from special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation did not include a single full sentence from the Mueller report, but partially quoted 7.

Now that a redacted version of the Mueller report has been released, we have new insight into some of the context of the quotes Barr cited.

Special counsel Robert Mueller wrote in his report that over the course of his investigation, his team "periodically identified evidence of potential criminal activity that was outside the scope of the special counsel's jurisdiction established by the Acting Attorney General."

The big picture: Out of the 14 cases that were referred to "other components of the Department of Justice and the FBI," 12 are redacted. The 2 that aren't redacted relate to Michael Cohen's conviction for wire fraud and campaign finance violations, and former Obama White House counsel Gregory Craig's indictment for making false statements during a Foreign Agents Registration Act investigation.

The first part of special counsel Robert Mueller's redacted report addresses Russian interference in the 2016 election and any role the Trump campaign may have played in those efforts.

What to know: Mueller defines election interference as comprising of 2 sets of efforts: The social media disinformation campaign carried out by a Russian troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency, and the hacking and dissemination of Democratic emails by Russian intelligence officers. He narrowly defines "coordination" as an "agreement—tacit or express—between the Trump Campaign and the Russian government on election interference."

This post is breaking news and will be updated.

Chinese coffee shop chain Luckin Coffee raised $150 million in new funding led by Blackrock, which is Starbucks' second-largest outside shareholder, at a $2.9 billion valuation.

Why it's a big deal: Because this will help fuel Luckin's caffeinated sprint against Starbucks, during which it has employed the Silicon Valley hypergrowth strategy of using venture capital to support deep pricing discounts.

Researchers at Chronicle discovered that the source code for hacking tools used by the Iran-linked group APT34, also called Oil Rig, had been leaked on Telegram's group messaging platform.

Why it matters: While this isn't as grim as the ShadowBrokers leaks, where far more potent NSA tools were leaked and eventually used by North Korea and Russia in destructive attacks, the Oil Rig leaks still offer new attackers a successful toolkit to use in their own attacks.

Go deeper: Hacking guides are cheap, plentiful and out of date

Prohibitive risks may have deterred further nuclear and ballistic missile tests by North Korea, even as it has continued expanding its arsenal. While that freeze remains in place, the regime may opt to accelerate its use of cyber weapons.

The big picture: A nuke test would infuriate China, and launching an ICBM could precipitate a U.S. military strike. But cyberattacks offer a high-impact, low-cost and comparatively low-risk way to generate cash and intimidate other countries.

North Korea wants U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo removed from nuclear negotiations with the country, Pyongyang state media reported Thursday.

Details: "I am afraid that, if Pompeo engages in the talks again, the table will be lousy once again and the talks will become entangled," the official KCNA news agency quoted Kwon Jong Gun, director general of the Department of American Affairs at North Korea's Foreign Affairs Ministry, as saying.

North Korea's Kim Jong-un oversaw the test of a new tactical guided weapon on Wednesday, reports Reuters.

"The completion of the development of the weapon system serves as an event of very weighty significance in increasing the combat power..."

Prosecutors said in a court filing Wednesday that certain material in the Mueller report about Roger Stone's case will be redacted, as the longtime Trump adviser won't go to trial until November,

Details: Attorney General Bill Barr has said he will redact information that falls into 4 categories, one of which includes "material that could affect other ongoing matters." In the court filing, prosecutors also said that once the redacted version of the Mueller report is released to the public Thursday morning, the Justice Department will provide "a limited number" of members of Congress with a version of report that does not include "certain redactions."

China recently declined to issue a visa to Michael Pillsbury, an informal adviser to President Trump on China policy, in an unusual move that comes as the Trump administration steps up its scrutiny of Chinese experts attempting to travel to the U.S.

Why it matters: Trump has praised Pillsbury, a hawkish former Pentagon official and author, as "the leading authority on China." Pillsbury regularly discusses China with Trump, including during an Oval Office meeting about a month ago. Pillsbury told Axios he has visited China over 50 times since the 1970s and this is the first time his visa request hasn't been approved.

White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, who is leading President Trump's "peace team," said in a briefing to foreign ambassadors today that the White House will "start unveiling" its Israeli-Palestinian peace plan after the month of Ramadan and after the new Israeli government is formed, according to people who attended the meeting.

Why it matters: Ramadan ends on June 5, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new government is expected to be formed around then. It is unclear if the entire plan will be released at one time or in stages. A possible scenario is that the economic component will be published first, followed by the political plan at a later stage.

Go deeper: Arab leaders left in the dark on Trump's peace plan

The newly formed Brexit Party, founded in February by former U.K. Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage, is leading all other parties in the U.K.'s latest European Parliament election poll by YouGov.

Why it matters: Prime Minister Theresa May promised European leaders that the U.K. would participate in next month's elections in order to secure a Brexit extension, though the country can still avoid that fate if the House of Commons is able to pass a deal before May 23. If Brits who favor remaining in the European Union thought holding European elections might bolster their position and undermine a push toward Brexit, this latest poll suggests they could be very, very wrong.

Satellite images of North Korea’s main nuclear site show railcar activity that could be associated with the reprocessing of radioactive material into bomb fuel, the Center for Strategic and International Studies said Tuesday.

"In the past these specialized railcars appear to have been associated with the movement of radioactive material or reprocessing campaigns. The current activity, along with their configurations, does not rule out their possible involvement in such activity, either before or after a reprocessing campaign."