The Gun Beat: In a surprising attempt at gun control, President Trump yesterday said he ordered the Justice Department to ban all “bump stocks” and devices that allow a legal semi-automatic rifle to fire on full auto like a machine gun.

A bump stock is a spring-loaded shoulder stock that slides front and rear. When a shooter holds his finger on the trigger, the slide action of the stock and handle creates a constant rate of fire, just like a machine gun. Twelve of the rifles found in the hotel room of the Las Vegas concert shooter were fitted with bump stocks.

“We cannot merely take actions that make us feel like we are making a difference,” Trump said at a ceremony as he awarded the medal of valor to public safety officials. “We must actually make a difference.”

Expect the NRA to put up a fight.

Amidst all this, students from Stoneman Douglas High School hopped on a bus yesterday to go to Tallahassee to press the state legislature for gun control. The Florida House opened its session yesterday with a prayer for the 17 people killed in the Stoneman Douglas, then voted overwhelmingly to reject a law that would ban the sale of assault rifles in the state. Sheryl Acquaroli, a 16-year-old junior from Stoneman Douglas, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper, “It seemed almost heartless how they immediately pushed the button to say no.”

The Russia Thing: A lawyer who worked for an international law firm has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about communications he had with Rick Gates, a business and political associate of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. Both Gates and Manafort are under indictment themselves on charges of money laundering and violations of tax and lobbying laws.

The lawyer who pleaded guilty, Alex van der Zwaan, is a Dutch national who worked in London for the prominent New York law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. He is the son-in-law of a wealthy Russian oligarch with ties to President Vladimir Putin.

The firm van der Zwaan worked for has been accused of being employed by Manafort to whitewash the human rights record of the corrupt former Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych, a former client of Manafort’s political consulting business.

Van der Zwaan was fired last year and his former law firm says they are cooperating with the Special Counsel’s investigation. His plea and resulting cooperation ratchets up the pressure on Gates and Manafort as Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicts his way up the ladder in the Russia investigation.

Top Secret: Unable to get a top security clearance, Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner is pushing back against being denied access to the most secret information, pitting him against Chief of Staff John Kelly, The NY Times reports. Kushner has only an interim security clearance. It has not been said why he can’t get permanent status.

Tweeter-in-Chief: President Trump has been letting it all out on Twitter over the past several days, revealing all the things that are getting under his skin. Yesterday he posted, “I have been much tougher on Russia than Obama, just look at the facts. Total Fake News!” Well, the facts say he hasn’t, but Trump is obsessed with erasing Obama’s legacy. Former CIA Director John Brennan replied to Trump, “It never ceases to amaze me how successful you have been making yourself so small, petty, and banal with your tweets. Your insecurity is well deserved, as is your concern over Russia investigation. Thomas Paine was right when he said, “These are the times that try men’s souls.”

Trump tweeted rants about Obama, Republicans rising in the polls, the Pennsylvania congressional map, and a woman who accused him of kissing her in an elevator 12 years ago. “A woman I don’t know and, to the best of my knowledge, never met, is on the FRONT PAGE of the Fake News Washington Post saying I kissed her (for two minutes yet) in the lobby of Trump Tower 12 years ago. Never happened!”

Permawar: As many as 200 people have been killed, many of them children, as the Syrian military with backing from Russian forces press on offensive against a rebel-held suburb of Damascus. Pictures sent from the suburb known as Ghouta showed dead families pulled from rubble and rows of dead children wrapped in white shrouds. Syrian authorities threatened to wipe out tall the opposition in their path.  “I promise, I will teach them a lesson, in combat and in fire,” Syrian Brig. Gen. Suheil al-Hassan said in a video posted on social media. “You won’t find a rescuer. And if you do, you will be rescued with water like boiling oil. You’ll be rescued with blood.”

Won and Done: The NCAA has stripped Louisville of its 2013 college basketball championship for sexual improprieties including “arranging striptease dances and sex acts for prospects, student-athletes and others.” The NCAA report specifically blames Andre McGee, the school’s former director of basketball operations, for acting “unethically when he committed serious violations.” It also names former coach Rick Pitino, who was fired last fall after a federal fraud investigation.

Five Rings: America’s great skier Lindsey Vonn was running second in the women’s downhill before she was bumped to third for a bronze medal. Italian Sofia Goggia won the gold. It’s Vonn’s third Olympic medal; one gold and two bronze. For the first time, three American skiers finished in the top 10 in the women’s downhill. Alice McKennis finished fifth and Breezy Johnson — love that name — was seventh.

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