Good Thursday morning. Here are some of the stories making news in Washington and politics today.

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• During a contentious White House meeting, President Trump rejected Democratic leaders’ proposals for reopening the government while the two sides iron out their spending differences, saying he would look “foolish” if he compromised. The shutdown, which affects 800,000 government workers, has entered its 13th day.

• As Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont prepares for a 2020 presidential run, complaints of sexual harassment and pay disparity by staff members on his 2016 campaign have started to circulate. His failure to address these issues could hinder a second run at the White House.

• Representative Nancy Pelosi is about to become House speaker again. She will be the first lawmaker to hold the office twice in more than half a century.

• Issues like voting rights and partisan gerrymandering were traditionally the preoccupation of wonky party strategists and good-government groups. But now, they have become major points in the debate about the integrity of American elections.

• In an Indiana county, a rise in child cancer diagnoses has led families who voted for Mr. Trump to make demands that collide with one of his main agendas: the rolling back of health and environmental regulations.

• The nomination process for next year’s presidential election has begun. Democratic candidates like Senator Elizabeth Warren will move quickly to try to build grass-roots support and raise money — prerequisites for any candidate hoping to break out of a congested pack of contenders.

• We still don’t know if Joe Biden will be a candidate in 2020. But with a series of careful financial decisions and the creation of nonprofits and academic centers, the former vice president has paved the way for a possible run.

• Mr. Trump said he had “essentially” fired Defense Secretary Jim Mattis last month because he was dissatisfied with the retired Marine general’s performance.

• Senator-elect Mitt Romney’s biting critique that Mr. Trump “has not risen to the mantle of the office” set off a series of counterattacks from Mr. Trump’s allies and an early effort to insulate the president from a primary challenge next year.

• Mr. Trump has a new pen pal: the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. The president received another letter from Mr. Kim this week — one he’ll share with plenty of visitors, if history is any indication.

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Today’s On Politics briefing was compiled by Isabella Grullón Paz in New York.

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