Bloomberg Praises New Background Check Gun Law in Nevada, Mum on 2020 Run (Associated Press)
“People with psychiatric problems, people with criminal records, and minors should not be allowed to buy guns,” Bloomberg said in remarks. Members of Every Town For Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action joined Bloomberg for a private luncheon in celebration of the new law.

Linda Cavazos, a volunteer with Moms Demand Action, said: “I am also a gun violence survivor, and I am so happy to be here to celebrate the passage of Senate Bill 143. Nevada is the 20th state including Washington D.C. to pass a comprehensive common sense gun bill.”

Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety organization heavily funded a 2016 ballot initiative to impose universal background checks on gun sales in Nevada. The measure stalled after the state’s former governor and attorney general, both Republicans, said the measure was flawed and could not be implemented. Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak signed a bill this month that lawmakers said would fix the problem.

Hot on the Bloomberg:
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Calls for Dialogue With India After Two Indian Fighter Jets Shot Down (Bloomberg)

Vietnam Summit: Trump and Kim Jong Un Hail Prospects for Success at Start of Hanoi Summit (Bloomberg)

Meanwhile, in Washington: Michael Cohen Testifies that Trump Knew of WikiLeaks Plot, Will Call Him ‘a Racist’ and ‘a Cheat.’ (Washington Post)

Excerpts from Cohen’s prepared testimony, provided to the media include:
–“I am ashamed that I chose to take part in concealing Mr. Trump’s illicit acts rather than listening to my own conscience. I am ashamed because I know what Mr. Trump is.”
–“He was a presidential candidate who knew that Roger Stone was talking with Julian Assange about a WikiLeaks drop of Democratic National Committee emails.”
–“Mr. Trump inflated his total assets when it served his purposes, such as trying to be listed among the wealthiest people in Forbes, and deflated his assets to reduce his real estate taxes.”
–“He asked me to pay off an adult film star with whom he had an affair, and to lie to his wife about it, which I did. Lying to the First Lady is one of my biggest regrets.”

Brexit Today: British Businesses Are Fed Up With Brexit Delays (Bloomberg)

Stat of the Day: Beijing had the most billionaires in 2018, at 103, followed by New York at 92 and Hong Kong with 69, according to wealth compiler Hurun Report, China’s version of the Forbes rich list. (Hat tip: Mike Allen/Axios)

Tax “Cut” = Tax Increase: State and Local Tax Limit Will Leave Nearly 11 Million Americans Feeling Tax Pain (New York Times/Bloomberg)

Wrong Side of History: United Methodists Tighten Ban on Same-Sex Marriage and Gay Clergy (New York Times)

Flashback to the Right Side of History: Mike Bloomberg States Case, Emphatically and Personally, for Same-Sex Marriage (New York Times)
“On matters of freedom and equality, history has not remembered obstructionists kindly,” Mike Bloomberg said in a 2011 speech advocating legalizing gay marriage in New York state. “Not on abolition. Not on women’s suffrage. Not on workers’ rights. Not on civil rights. And it will be no different on marriage rights.”

Climate Change Today: Britain’s Winter Heat Wave Means Wildfires and Chronic Pollution (Bloomberg)
London this week has been warmer than parts of the Middle East (with a high yesterday of 21.2 degrees Celsius (70 Fahrenheit)) as an influx of warm Saharan air caused record winter temperatures in Britain. Yesterday’s temperature was the highest in winter months since the country started recording weather systematically in the mid-nineteenth century.

Best of late night.

“Donald Trump is almost 8,000 miles away from us. [applause] He arrived in Vietnam this morning, reporting for duty only about 50 years late.”
— Jimmy Kimmel

“Facebook is celebrating it’s 15th anniversary. Do you remember what it was like before Facebook? You remembered your friends birthdays because you actually cared.”
–Jimmy Fallon

“I saw a story in USA Today about a Texas man who is spending his retirement living at a Holiday Inn. When friends told him that he was in USA Today, he was like, ‘I know — I live in a Holiday Inn.’”
— Jimmy Fallon