In the News

Former President Jimmy Carter could be an unexpected supplement in the denuclearization discussions with North Korea.

Carter has offered to travel to North Korea and get involved with denuclearization talks after the talks have come to a stalemate following the recent summit between President Trump and Kim Jong Un, Politico reported Thursday.

Carter met with Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna in Atlanta, Ga. on Thursday, during which he told the congressman that he would be willing to assist President Trump in the negotiations with North Korea if the president wanted it.

The idea of antitrust in the tech industry has been tossed around a lot lately. Most recently, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) published a proposal to break up big tech companies, notably Amazon, Facebook, and Google.

We cover antitrust policy often on The Vergecast, talking to lawmakers, policy experts, and academics about next steps that governments can take to regulate these big technology companies from becoming too powerful.

Former President Jimmy Carter is willing to travel to North Korea in order to meet with Kim Jong Un on behalf of President Donald Trump, a Democratic congressman told CNN on Thursday.

Carter expressed his willingness to travel in a meeting with Rep. Ro Khanna, Democrat of California, on Thursday. The two were meeting regarding the California Democrat's legislation to end the Korean war.

"I think President Carter can help (President Trump) for the sake of the country," Khanna told CNN.

WASHINGTON ― More than a dozen progressive House Democrats, including Rep. Ro Khanna (Calif.), and firebrand freshmen Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) and Ilhan Omar (Minn.), urge President Donald Trump to "change course" entirely on Venezuela in a letter sent Thursday.

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., told the Powerhouse Politics Podcast on Wednesday that President Donald Trump "violated probably 10 different laws in many ways."

The House Judiciary Committee this week requested information from 81 individuals and entities related to Trump and his affiliates. These requests came a week after Michael Cohen, the president's former personal lawyer, testified for hours in front of Khanna and his colleagues on the House Oversight Committee.

The information Cohen provided led some members of Congress to call for further scrutiny.

A key Democrat behind legislative efforts to end US support for Saudi Arabia in Yemen is working to convince Sen. Lindsey Graham to support the measure and said the Republican could be a "game-changer" in convincing President Donald Trump to get on board.

Since Jamal Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, in October, there's been a major shift in Congress when it comes to the US government's ties to Saudi Arabia.

A resolution introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives seeks to begin developing guidelines for "ethical development" of AI.

The co-sponsors of House Resolution 531 unveiled last week noted that software industry groups as well as Facebook and IBM have endorsed the proposal.

Unveiled by Reps. Brenda Lawrence, D-Mich., and Ro Khanna, whose district includes parts of Silicon Valley, the resolution among other things promotes the "transparency and explainability of AI systems, processes and implications."

Michael Cohen, President Trump's former fixer and personal lawyer, concluded a day of testimony on Capitol Hill on Wednesday in front of the House Oversight Committee. Some highlights of his testimony:

●Cohen alleged that Trump knew in advance that the anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks planned to publish hacked Democratic National Committee emails.

●He sparred aggressively with GOP lawmakers, who questioned his credibility and motives for coming forward.