Hello, and welcome back to The Best & The Brightest as Kim Jong Un arrives in Russia for talks with Vladimir Putin. Of course, the talks won’t take place in Moscow but in the Russian Far East, because Kim only travels on his special, bullet-proof train, Stalin-style (and, increasingly, Putin-style).

Everyone is talking about the purpose of Kim’s visit—namely, an arms deal—but I was struck by the fact that one of the two officials greeting Kim on the train platform was Aleksandr Kozlov, Russia’s natural resources minister. The other Russian official, the local governor, said later that they spoke with Kim about joint projects, including tourism (?!), but I’m still wondering about the resources minister. He was Kim’s main interlocutor during the meeting later. What kinds of projects, exactly, are North Korea and Russia cooking up?

Anyway, as promised, we have a special guest today at TBTB. But first, here’s Abby Livingston with the latest drama on Capitol Hill…

• Impeachment Scramble: As late as yesterday afternoon, some of my Capitol Hill sources were still skeptical that Kevin McCarthy would actually pull the trigger on...