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Mueller Report, North Korea, Skinny Gene: Your Thursday Evening Briefing

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Here’s what you need to know at the end of the day.
(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up.)
Good evening. The Mueller report is long, but we’re going to be brief. We promise. Here’s the latest.
1. The Mueller report has arrived, complete with redactions. Our Washington bureau spent the day combing through its 448 pages.
A taste of what they found: a presidency consumed by a sprawling inquiry, and a president seized by paranoia.
The report lays bare how President Trump was elected with a foreign power’s help. It stops short of concluding that Mr. Trump or his aides conspired with Russians, but it leaves the door open to the possibility that the president could face charges of obstruction after he leaves office.
It also details dramatic inside clashes. When he learned of the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel, Mr. Trump exploded. “Oh, my God. This is terrible,” he said. “This is the end of my presidency.” He concluded with an expletive.
Here’s one story that covers the bases, our takeaways from the report, and the redacted report itself.
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2. Before the report was made public, the day began with Attorney General William Barr’s vigorous defense of Mr. Trump’s actions. Watch highlights of his news conference.
Mr. Trump claimed vindication to cheers from the audience at a White House event with wounded veterans, above. “This should never happen to another president again, this hoax,” he said.
Democratic lawmakers and presidential candidates assailed the attorney general for trying to frame the results of the report before Congress or the public had a chance to read it for themselves.
If one thing is clear, it’s that the release did little to quell partisan rancor — or remove the discussion of possible presidential obstruction.
Our journalists in Washington who covered the Mueller investigation are ready to answer your questions. Ask here.
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3. American-led sanctions against North Korea are hurting Kim Jong-un in a new way.
Previous international sanctions were aimed at preventing North Korea from acquiring weapons. Newer penalties target the party and military elite who support Mr. Kim’s totalitarian rule by hitting its lucrative exports — the country’s main source of income.
North Korea’s test of a “guided tactical weapon” on Thursday might be both a sign of Mr.

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