Good Monday morning and welcome to your playbook audio briefing for July 1st, 2019.

Blake Hounschel here filling in for Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer.

All right, now that President Donald Trump is back on U.S. soil, the reviews of his four-day

blitz through Asia are coming in, and they are harsh, including the possibility that the Trump

administration may plan to recognize North Korea as a de facto deal. Asia are coming in, and they are harsh, including the possibility that the Trump administration

may plan to recognize North Korea as a de facto nuclear power.

According to the New York Times, Michael Crowley and David Sanger, for weeks before the meeting

with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, a real idea had been taking shape inside the Trump

administration, that officials hope might create a foundation for a new round of negotiations.

The concept would amount to a nuclear freeze, one that essentially enshrines the status quo

and tacitly accepts the North as a nuclear power, something administration officials have

often said they would never stand for.

And here's the AP's Zeke Miller and Jonathan Lemire.

Afterward, it was unclear whether the meeting was more show than substance.

Trump's only accomplishment appeared to be securing an agreement to restart nuclear talks

that he himself had walked out on in February during his last summit with Kim in Vietnam.

By the way, if you're a Democrat hoping Joe Biden would seize this moment to capitalize on his

foreign policy experience, you might be out of luck. Per his public schedule, he's meeting with

advisors for the next two days. Airing tonight, the president's full interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson,

conducted in Asia before the whole North Korea business.

And here's the latest from Hong Kong.

Protesters tried to storm the Hong Kong legislature as China marked the 22nd anniversary

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