In other news, former Trump campaign advisers George Papadopoulos reported to prison this morning. Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russians.
Meanwhile, Turkish media reported that the CIA has a recording of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) ordering his agents "silence Jamal Khashoggi." The CIA was reportedly listening to a phone call between MBS and his brother when he said it. This hasn't been confirmed by any western outlets, but Turkish media reports have been mostly right so far.
Finally, the annual National Climate Assessment was released on Friday in an apparent attempt to bury it. The report says the climate will warm by at least 3 degrees by the end of the century, cost Americans $500 billion per year in damage, and shave up to 10 percent off GDP. The report also attributed recent wildfires to a long trend of worsening fires.
In a chapter on the Southwest’s climate, the report includes an analysis of forest area burned between 1984 and 2015, concluding that roughly 24 million acres burned during that period, twice the amount that would have been torched without climate change’s impact.
Of the report released by his own government, Trump said this afternoon that he 'doesn't believe it.' Of course.