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> From: "Bulletin Intelligence" <Biden@BulletinIntelligence.com>
> Date: April 16, 2018 at 7:55:19 AM EDT
> To: Biden@BulletinIntelligence.com
> Subject: Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing for Monday, April 16, 2018
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> Click to access mobile-optimized online version, including download options and an audio reader.
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> To: Vice President Joe Biden
> Monday, April 16, 2018 8:00 AM EDT
> Today's Table of Contents
> Leading the News
> • Comey Says Trump Is Morally Unfit To Be President.
> Foreign Policy
> • Haley: US To Announce New Russia Sanctions Today Over Syria Support.
> • Trump Accused Aides Of Misleading Him About Russian Diplomat Expulsions.
> • WPost: Pence’s Tone On Refugees’ Plight “Starkly Different” From Trump’s.
> • US Could Seek Farming, Car Manufacturing Concessions In TPP Talks.
> • AP: Iran Deal May Hinge On European Leaders’ Appeals To Trump.
> • Israel Detects, Destroys Tunnel From Gaza Strip.
> • Turkey To Try American Pastor On Terror, Spying Charges.
> Domestic Policy
> • Trump: “All Lawyers Are Deflated And Concerned” By Cohen Raid.
> • Kaine To Oppose Pompeo For Secretary Of State.
> • The Hill: Bolton To Make More Changes To National Security Team.
> • Ryan Says Trillion-Dollar Deficits Due To Boomers’ Retiring, Entitlements.
> • Supreme Court To Consider States’ Power To Tax Online Sales.
> • Politico: Abortion Foes Seize On Chance To Overturn Roe V. Wade.
> • Starbucks CEO Apologizes After Arrests Of Two Black Men.
> Cancer Research
> • Positive Phase 1 Study For Drug Targeting RET Gene Alteration.
> • Maryland Legislators Approve Bill Aimed At Preserving Cancer Patients’ Fertility.
> Editorials/Op-Eds
> • New York Times.
> • Washington Post.
> Biden in the News
> • Biden Has Not Ruled Out 2020 Presidential Bid.
> • BuzzFeed: Biden Bid Would Likely Be “Rooted In Old-School, Establishment Politics.”
> • Biden Backs Mucarsel-Powell’s Bid To Unseat Curbelo In FL26.
> • Louisville Courier-Journal Notes Biden’s Upcoming Stop On “American Promise Tour.”
> • Biden, Chernow, Gates Honored At Common Wealth Awards.
> • Visiting Oregon, Jill Biden Meets With Cancer Caregivers.
> Leading the News
> Comey Says Trump Is Morally Unfit To Be President.
> While former FBI Director James Comey’s much-anticipated interview with ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos covered a range of topics, media coverage focuses heavily on Comey’s claim that President Trump is “morally unfit” to be President. During the hour-long broadcast, Comey said it is possible that the Russians have something on the President and likened Trump, for whom he said “truth is not a high value,” to a mob boss who seeks to cultivate his supporters.
> The Washington Post (4/15, Zapotosky, Barrett) reports Comey said Trump is “morally unfit to be president” but “that he would not favor impeaching Trump to remove him from office,” because it “would let the American people off the hook and have something happen indirectly that I believe they’re duty-bound to do directly” via elections. Bloomberg News (4/15, Strohm) reports that Comey “said that he had concluded during the presidential campaign that Trump was dishonest.” Comey said Americans should be united in the idea that “our president must embody respect and adhere to the values that are at the core of this country. The most important being truth. ... This president is not able to do that. He is morally unfit to be president.” Reuters (4/15) also highlights Comey’s claim.
> The New York Times (4/15, Shear, Baker) says if there was any chance Trump and Comey “could have avoided all-out war, it ended Sunday night.” The interview and Comey’s book “amount to a remarkable public assault on a sitting president by someone who served at the highest levels in the government.” Politico (4/15, Cook) says the interview “marks the beginning of a weeks-long media tour for Comey’s new tell-all book called ‘A Higher Loyalty.’”
> Comey: It Is Possible Russia Has Something On Trump. The AP (4/15) reports that Comey said “he thinks it’s possible the Russians have compromising information on President Donald Trump.” Comey said, “It is stunning and I wish I wasn’t saying it, but it’s just – it’s the truth. I cannot say that. ... It always struck me and still strikes me as unlikely, and I would have been able to say with high confidence about any other president I dealt with, but I can’t. It’s possible.”
> Comey Likens Trump To “A Mob Boss” Cultivating Supporters. The Washington Examiner (4/15, Feldscher) reports that Comey said that in his first meeting with Trump at Trump Tower, he “seemed to be trying to integrate government officials into his circle in the same way a mob boss cultivates his supporters.” Comey said, “And I think the reason it was coming into my head was I felt this effort to make us all – and maybe this wasn’t their intention, but it’s the way it felt to me, to make us all ‘amica nostra.’ ... We’re all part of the messaging, we’re all part of the effort. The boss is at the head of the table and we’re going to figure out together how to do this. And I think that’s why it brought that strange memory back into my head.”
> Asked about his first impression of Trump when he met him, Comey said, “He had impressively coiffed hair. It looks to be all his. I confess, I stared at it pretty closely and my reaction was, it must take a lot of time in the morning. His tie was too long, as it always is. He looked slightly orange up close with small white half-moons under his eyes, which I assume are from tanning goggles.”
> Comey: “Truth Is Not A High Value” For Trump. Stephanopoulos said that after leaving his meeting with Trump, Comey “began to take notes about Trump’s startling behavior, fearing that the President-elect might later lie about what was said.” Comey: “I had, obviously, concerns about that earlier, having watched him on the campaign. That he is someone who for whom the truth is not a high value.”
> Comey Says He Did Not Make Decisions “Based On Political Fortunes.” Comey said that ahead of the 2016 election, “All of us were operating in a world where the polls were showing that Donald Trump had no chance.” Comey added that when Trump won the election, “A whole lot of me was thinking, ‘Oh, my God. Did we have some role in this? Did we have some impact on the election?’” Comey added, “I don’t know the answer. And in a way, I care about the answer. And in a way, it doesn’t matter at all. I really wasn’t making decisions based on political fortunes.”
> Comey: Trump Team Focused On Spinning Russian Election Meddling. Comey said that he was nervous about his first meeting with Trump after the election, saying, “I’m about to meet with a person who doesn’t know me, who’s just been elected President of the United States. From my watching him during the campaign, could be volatile. And I’m about to talk to him about allegations that he was involved with prostitutes in Moscow and that the Russians taped it and have leverage over him.” Comey added that Trump’s “first question was to confirm that [Russian meddling] had no impact on the election. Then the conversation, to my surprise, moved into a PR conversation about how the Trump team would position this and what they could say about this. That’s just not done.” According to Comey, “No one, to my recollection, asked, ‘So, what’s coming next from the Russians? How might we stop it? What’s the future look like?’ ... It was all, what can we say about what they did and how it affects the election that we just had.”
> Comey Says He Was As Graphic As He Needed To Be In Detailing Steele Dossier Allegations. Asked how graphic he was in describing the allegations in the Steele dossier to Trump, Comey said, “I think as graphic as I needed to be. I did not go into the business about people peeing on each other. And he interrupted, started talking about it. You know, ‘Do I look like a guy who needs hookers?’ I didn’t answer that, and I just moved on and explained, ‘Sir, I’m not saying that we credit this. I’m not saying we believe it. We just thought it very important that you know.’” Comey added that Trump “was very defensive and started going into a list of people who had accused him of touching them improperly, sexual assault. How he hadn’t done this, he hadn’t done that, he hadn’t done that.”
> Comey: Trump Sought To Establish Dominance In First Post-Inauguration Meeting. Comey said that at a White House reception after the President was inaugurated, he “walked in the Blue Room and went to the far opposite end, as far away as physically possible.” Comey said that when he had to approach the President, he was “determined there’s not going to be a hug. Our arms are tense and he gets just far enough that I get something worse than a hug. Unfortunately, the cameras were on the left side of my face, and so the whole world saw him kiss me. And he didn’t kiss me, he said I really look forward to working with you.” Comey added, “I think it is about establishing dominance and making everyone part of the family.”
> Comey: Trump Sought To Extract Loyalty Pledge From Him. Comey said that when he was invited to have dinner with the President at the White House, “The purpose of the dinner was for him to extract from me a promise of loyalty. ... He said, ‘I expect loyalty, need loyalty,’ and I just stared at him and had this little narrative with myself inside, saying, ‘Don’t you move, don’t you dare move. Don’t even blink.’ ... He said, again, ‘I need loyalty.’ And I said, ‘You will always get honesty from me,’ and he paused and then he said, ‘honest loyalty,’ as if he was proposing some compromise or a deal. And I paused and said, ‘You’ll get that from me.’”
> Comey: Trump’s Flynn Request May Have Been Obstruction Of Justice. Comey said that after a February 14, 2017 meeting in the Oval Office with the Vice President and Attorney General, Trump asked them to leave the room so he and Comey were alone. Comey said, “I know the Attorney General didn’t wanna leave. ... And then the President said, ‘Thanks, Jeff. I just wanna talk to Jim. Thank you.’” Comey added that Trump asked about then-national security adviser Flynn saying, “he hopes I can let it go.” Comey said he thought, “I took it as a direction. His words were, though, ‘I hope you can let it go.’ I took the expression of hope as, ‘This is what I want you to do.’” Asked if Trump was obstructing justice, Comey said, “Possibly. I mean, it’s certainly some evidence of obstruction of justice.”
> Comey: Announcing Trump Was Not Under Investigation Was “Potentially Misleading.” Comey said that after the Flynn request from Trump. “There continued to be a lot of stuff in the news about the Russia investigation. So he was calling me to tell me how frustrating he found that and it was getting in the way of his ability to make deals for the country. And he wanted to lift the cloud, he called it a cloud. And so wanted me to get out that he wasn’t under investigation.” While Comey publicly “confirms the FBI is investigating potential contacts between associates of President Trump and Russians who interfered in the 2016 election,” he “still refuses to say publicly what he told the President privately, that Mr. Trump himself is not under investigation.” Comey said, “It was potentially misleading and also would create a duty to correct.”
> Comey Defends His Handling Of Clinton Email Investigation. Comey, asked about Trump’s criticism that he had reached a conclusion in the Hillary Clinton email investigation before he interviewed Clinton, said, “Anybody who’s actually done investigations knows that if you’ve been investigating something for almost a year and you don’t have a general sense of where it’s likely to end up, you should be fired because you’re incompetent.” Asked about those who say he should have brought Clinton before a grand jury, Comey said, “We would prefer with a subject of an investigation to do an informal interview. A lot more flexibility there. They’re still required to tell the truth.”
> Asked if then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch asked him to refer to the Clinton email probe as a “matter” rather than an “investigation,” Comey said, “I didn’t know. It worried me. It gave me an uncomfortable feeling because the Clinton campaign had been trying to come up with other words to describe it.” Comey added that after Lynch’s meeting on an airport tarmac with former President Bill Clinton, “I decided I have to step – as much as I like her, I have to step away from her and show the American people the FBI’s work separately.” Asked if he can “assure people that the Obama Justice Department was not protecting Hillary Clinton,” Comey said, “Yes. The FBI drove this investigation and we did it in a competent and independent way. I would bet my life on that.”
> Axios (4/15, Britzky) reports that Lynch released a statement Sunday saying Comey “had ample opportunities to raise” any concerns he had about the DOJ investigation of Clinton’s emails but “he never did.” Lynch’s statement came after CNN reported that Comey says in his book that he found evidence that “would undoubtedly have been used by political opponents to cast serious doubt on the attorney general’s independence in connection with the Clinton investigation.” In addition, Comey “takes issue with Lynch’s decision to refer to the Clinton email investigation as a ‘matter.’”
> Asked about FBI agents finding hundreds of thousands of Clinton emails on Anthony Weiner’s laptop in October 2016, Comey said, “And then the question for me now is, ‘so what do we do now?’ The norm is, if you can avoid it, you take no action that might have an impact on an election. And I can’t see a door that’s labeled, ‘no action here.’” Asked why he did not “try to find out...whether or not they were indeed relevant” before announcing that he was reopening the investigation, Comey said that “maybe another director might have done that. My view is that would be a potentially deeply irresponsible and dangerous thing to do. ... We know there are hundreds of thousands of Hillary Clinton’s e-mails there. That’s an affirmative act of concealment.”
> Comey Book: Obama, Lynch Jeopardized Clinton Email Probe. The Washington Examiner (4/15, Feldscher) reports that in his book, Comey “defends the FBI investigators who were charged with investigating Clinton’s private email server and her mishandling of classified information” and argues that “the people who complicated the investigation the most with their political statements were [former President] Obama and Lynch.” According to Comey, public statements by Obama “jeopardized” the credibility of the investigation and appeared to absolve Clinton before the investigation was complete. Comey wrote, “President Obama is a very smart man who understands the law very well. To this day, I don’t know why he spoke about the case publicly and seemed to absolve her before a final determination was made.”
> “Clinton Insider” Davis: Comey Is A “Liar” And “Renegade Narcissist.” The Daily Caller (4/15, Ross) reports that on Fox News’ Fox & Friends, “Clinton insider” Lanny Davis called Comey a “liar” and “renegade narcissist.” Davis argued that Comey is lying when he claims he was “obligated” to write the Oct. 28, 2016 letter “re-opening the email probe because of promises he had made to Congress.” Davis said, “Mr. Comey is lying when he said he was, quote, ‘obligated’ to write that letter because he promised Congress. He now knows that that’s a false statement; a knowing false statement is a lie. ... He knows all he said to Congress is I will quote ‘look at new information.’ He never said I will turn over something to you.” Davis, who “blames Comey for Clinton’s loss to” Trump, said that Comey’s actions show he was a “renegade narcissist” who believed he was “above the law.” Davis writes in an op-ed for The Hill (4/15) that “it is time – accurately – to call Comey a liar for this crucial, self-serving rationalization for his action that made Donald Trump president.” Davis calls on Comey to “amid the truth” that he wrote the October letter not to “fulfill a promise to Congress” but to “protect [his] political rear end from anti-Clinton Republican partisans. Period.”
> Trump Slams “Slimeball” Comey Ahead Of ABC Interview. Ahead of Comey’s interview with ABC News, Trump launched what media reports describe as a “tirade” of tweets attacking Comey’s integrity and intelligence, calling him a “slimeball.” Coverage of Trump’s tweets – which are cast as an effort to discredit Comey in advance of the interview, and the interview itself – led two of the three network news broadcasts – which spent more than nine minutes on the story – and receive heavy print and online coverage.
> The AP (4/15, Lucey) says Trump “pushed back again against Comey’s claims that Trump sought his loyalty,” tweeting, “I hardly even knew this guy. Just another of his many lies.” Trump also “questioned Comey’s intelligence and place in history,” writing, “Slippery James Comey, a man who always ends up badly and out of whack (he is not smart!), will go down as the WORST FBI Director in history, by far!” In addition, Trump “suggested Comey should be imprisoned,” tweeting, “how come he gave up Classified Information (jail), why did he lie to Congress (jail).” The New York Post (4/15, Moore) reports that Trump wrote, “Unbelievably, James Comey states that Polls, where Crooked Hillary was leading, were a factor in the handling (stupidly) of the Clinton Email probe. In other words, he was making decisions based on the fact that he thought she was going to win, and he wanted a job. Slimeball!”
> The New York Times (4/15, Caron) reports that in the “tirade,” Trump also “questioned the integrity” of former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who said in a recent interview with NBC News that when she and former President Bill Clinton met on a plane on a tarmac in 2016, they did not discuss Hillary Clinton and the former President “told a ‘charming story’ about grandchildren and discussed issues of the day, such as Brexit.” Trump wrote, “Was she promised a Supreme Court seat, or AG, in order to lay off Hillary. No golf and grandkids talk (give us all a break)!”
> USA Today (4/15, Bacon) says Trump “stepped up his unrelenting Twitter rant” at Comey, while The Hill (4/15, Savransky) says Trump “tore into” Comey, the Los Angeles Times (4/15, King) describes “a new Twitter fusillade” from Trump, which “included a raft of unsubstantiated allegations against Comey, complete with suggestions that the former FBI director be jailed,” and the Washington Examiner (4/15, Feldscher) details Trump’s “morning tirade against Comey.” Similarly, NBC Nightly News (4/15, lead story, 2:50, Snow) said in its lead story that Trump launched a “tirade,” using “playground nicknames” in “a strong reaction to Comey’s upcoming book,” while the Daily Caller (4/15, Kruta) uses less dramatic language, saying Trump “targeted” Comey with “a series of criticism.”
> The Washington Post (4/15, Dawsey) says the tweets “are part of a wider effort by the White House and the Republican National Committee to discredit Comey.” The Post says that over the weekend, “an array of surrogates, including presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway and White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, blanketed the airwaves...to undermine Comey, as Trump unleashed a torrent of tweets that were often personal and fact-challenged.” Sanders told ABC’s This Week (4/15), “When the person that is supposed to lead the highest law enforcement agency in our country starts making decisions based on political environments...that’s a really dangerous position.”
> Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, asked on Fox News MediaBuzz (4/15) why Trump would characterize Comey as a “slimeball,” said, “Because Jim Comey is an untruthful slimeball, that’s why. And you have to call a spade a spade and you have to call it like it is. ... Jim Comey, we know unequivocally, has lied under oath to Congress. In the real world, we call that perjury. ... Comey has testified many times in front of Congress. He has had to issue multiple clarifications for his testimony. So, an undisputed fact is that he lied under oath. We also know that under oath, Jim Comey said he took information that he received as the director of the FBI, gave it to a law professor so that information would be put out and the American people can see it. That also is an undisputed fact and it’s against the rules of the FBI and there has been no prosecution for Jim Comey whatsoever.”
> The CBS Weekend News (4/15, story 4, 1:25, Quijano) called Trump’s tweets “a preemptive strike against Comey’s harsh assessment of the President in his new book.” In the lead story for ABC World News Tonight (4/15, lead story, 5:00, Llamas), Pierre Thomas described Trump as “furious” and said Trump and the White House are “now treating Comey like a political opponent.” Thomas added that Comey “fired back” in a tweet, writing, “Three presidents are in my book. Two help illustrate the values at the heart of ethical leadership, one serves as a counterpoint.”
> Lawmakers Weigh In On Comey’s Honesty. Sen. Susan Collins said on ABC’s This Week (4/15), “One of the questions I asked and [Comey] answered honestly was whether or not he had leaked to anybody outside of the FBI the reports and notes he took on his meetings with President Trump and he had.” Collins added, “What’s disturbing about that is his leak of those documents violated the FBI’s own guidelines, which he himself helped to write. So – that’s troubling to me.” She said that “Comey stopped making investigative judgments that – and instead was making political assessments.”
> Sen. Tim Kaine, asked on CBS’ Face The Nation (4/15, Brennan) about his criticism of Comey, said, “The FBI has two real clear rules: don’t talk about a pending investigation and don’t inject controversy right before an election. They followed those rules with respect to the ongoing investigation into Donald Trump at the time. They didn’t follow the rules with respect to Hillary Clinton. There was a clear double standard.”
> Bloomberg News (4/15, Krasny) reports that House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte told Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures that Comey is “out for revenge” against Trump.
> House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy said on Fox News Sunday (4/15, Wallace), “I’m disappointed. ... I hold prosecutors and law enforcement officials to a higher standard. ... I think the book is sad.” Gowdy added, “The reason he wrote his book is because he got fired, not because he thinks President Trump is untethered from the truth or that his ties are too long or not because he thinks he wears tanning bed goggles.”
> Rep. John Ratcliffe said on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures (4/15, Bartiromo), “The funny thing about every James Comey story is that the starring role and the hero in the end is always the same: It’s always James Comey.” Ratcliffe continued, “He’s always in some sort of tortured matrix to save us all” and the “problem is he’s not in the justice league” but in the “justice system.”
> Rep. Adam Schiff was asked on ABC’s This Week (4/15) whether Comey’s book may hurt the Mueller investigation. Schiff said, “I’m not concerned about it” as “I think his statements, as far as I have seen the clips, are very consistent with his testimony, with his memoranda.” He added, “I do think that he made a very serious mistake in discussing the Clinton investigation two weeks out and then a few days out.”
> House Speaker Ryan took a different view. Reuters (4/15) reports that on NBC’s Meet the Press, Ryan “expressed qualified support for Comey.” Asked if Comey is a man of integrity, Ryan said, “As far as I know,” but added that he does not know Comey well. Asked about Trump’s description of Comey as a “slimeball,” Ryan said, “I don’t use words like that.” The Washington Post (4/15, Debonis) says Ryan “declined to wade into the nasty feud” between Trump and Comey.
> Christie: “Hubris” Comey Showed In ABC Interview Is “Extraordinary.” Townhall (4/15, Meads) reports that former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who worked under Comey at the Justice Department, “admonished Comey for his newfound ego,” telling ABC’s This Week that as “somebody who worked with Jim Comey and then for Jim Comey, it’s a really sad day, because to hear Jim sit in your interview and say that he considered the polling when deciding. ... When I worked for Jim, if I had said to him 11 days before an election that I was going to release information that could potentially effect the election, and one of the things that influenced me was polling, he would have fired me. He would have fired me on the spot.” Christie added that “hubris that he shows in that interview is extraordinary to me. Not the guy that I worked with or worked for. And it’s sad.”
> Foreign Policy
> Haley: US To Announce New Russia Sanctions Today Over Syria Support.
> Ambassador Haley’s remarks Sunday indicating the Administration is set to announce Monday new sanctions targeting Russia for its support of Syria are garnering significant media attention, including reports on all three networks. ABC World News Tonight (4/15, story 4, 1:40, Llamas) showed Haley saying the new sanctions “will go directly to any sort of companies that were dealing with equipment related to Assad and chemical weapons used.” The CBS Weekend News (4/15, story 2, 2:15, Quijano) reported Haley told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that Friday’s airstrikes “sent their chemical weapons program back years.” NBC Nightly News (4/15, story 3, 2:05, Snow) reported Haley said Treasury Secretary Mnuchin will be announcing the new sanctions Monday. According to Bloomberg News (4/15, Hutton, Niquette), the goal of the new sanctions “is to discourage any future use and stop Russia from ‘covering’ for its ally, [Haley] said.” Said Haley, “Everyone is going to feel it at this point. Everyone knows that we sent a strong message, and our hope is that they listen to it.” A Treasury Department spokesman declined to comment further on the sanctions.
> AFP (4/15) also reports her comments to CBS, as does the Washington Post (4/15, Morello), which says “Haley has been one of the strongest voices accusing Russia of enabling the Syrian government in its use of chemical weapons.” On the Fox News Sunday, Haley “again slammed Russia, accusing it of enabling the Syrian government to use chemical weapons without worrying about blowback at the United Nations.” Said Haley, “Assad knew that Russia had its back, Assad knew that Russia would cover for them at the United Nations, and Assad got reckless, and he used it in a way that was far more aggressive. We have to be conscious of the fact that we can’t allow even the smallest use of chemical weapons.”
> The New York Times (4/15, Baker) says the sanctions, “coming shortly after American-led airstrikes against facilities linked to Syria’s chemical weapons, are meant to signal that the United States holds responsible not just the Damascus government of President Bashar al-Assad but also his patrons in Russia and Iran.” Politico (4/15, Matishak) reports that “both Moscow and Damascus have brushed off the reports” of the new attack and “accused Washington of making up the event as an excuse for the strikes.” The Hill (4/15, Manchester) has a similar report, while the Washington Times (4/15, Richardson) reports that when asked whether there will be further strikes, Haley said that’s “totally up to” Assad. Haley said President Trump “has made it very clear that, when it comes to weapons of mass destruction, we have no tolerance for it.”
> The AP (4/15, Yen, Burns) reports Haley also “made clear the United States won’t be pulling troops out of Syria right away,” saying US involvement there “is not done.” Reuters (4/15) quotes Haley as saying that it is the US’ goal “to see American troops come home, but we are not going to leave until we know we have accomplished those things.”
> The Washington Post (4/13, Sonne) reports that “last week, President Trump promised to withdraw from Syria. This week, he opened a new front against Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad that risks drawing the United States into a broader conflict there.” The Post says that by attacking Assad late Friday, the Administration “calculated that the need to send a signal to Assad over chemical weapons outweighed the possibility of provoking a response from his allies, Russia or Iran, on the battlefield in Syria, elsewhere in the Middle East or even in cyberspace.”
> Putin Warns Of Global “Chaos” If West Hits Syria Again. Reuters (4/15) reports Russian President Vladimir Putin “warned on Sunday that further Western attacks on Syria would bring chaos to world affairs.” In a telephone conversation with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani, Putin and Rouhani “agreed that the Western strikes had damaged the chances of achieving a political resolution in the seven-year Syria conflict, according to a Kremlin statement.” The statement said “Putin, in particular, stressed that if such actions committed in violation of the UN Charter continue, then it will inevitably lead to chaos in international relations.”
> Assad Thanks Russia For Support. The CBS Weekend News (4/15, story 3, 1:55, Quijano) reported Syrian President Bashar al-Assad appeared on state TV Sunday “as confident as ever, holding meetings with Russian lawmakers.” He also “called the coalition missile strikes an act of aggression.” ABC World News Tonight (4/15, story 4, 1:40, Llamas) said Assad “express[ed] gratitude for Russia’s military help, which Syria claims helped them shoot down 71 coalition rockets. The Pentagon denies any of them were stopped.” The Washington Post (4/15, Sly) similarly reports Assad “praised Russian weaponry” on Sunday. Russian lawmaker Dmitry Sablin quoted the Syrian leader as saying, “Yesterday we saw the American aggression, and we were able to counter it with Soviet missiles manufactured in the 1970s.”
> Also on Sunday, the Wall Street Journal (4/15, Rasmussen, Abdulrahim) reports Syrian armed forces launched airstrikes against rebels and shelled what rescue workers said were civilian homes in Homs and Hama. The New York Times (4/15, Hubbard), meanwhile, reports that the day after the US-led strikes, “very little had changed for most Syrians who have spent years suffering through their country’s civil war.”
> Trump Slams Media For Criticizing “Mission Accomplished” Tweet. The CBS Weekend News (4/15, story 2, 2:15, Quijano) reported, “President Trump is defending his use of the famous phrase ‘mission accomplished’ to applaud Friday night’s missile strikes on Syria.” CBS (Martin) added, “The President tweeted ‘mission accomplished,’ echoing an infamous slogan from 2003 which prematurely declared success in the Iraq war. In fact, the Friday night strike did nothing to accomplish the President’s other goals in Syria, as defined by White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders.” Sanders, appearing on ABC’s This Week, said, “He has talked about this relentlessly. We are almost there. We have made extraordinary gains against ISIS.” Martin noted that while “it’s true there are only small pockets of ISIS still holding out in Syria...that is in the Euphrates River Valley, far removed from where the cruise missiles fell.”
> NBC Nightly News (4/15, story 3, 2:05, Snow) briefly reported Trump “repeated today the raid was perfect,” and the AP (4/15, Yen, Burns) too says Trump “defended his use of the phrase ‘Mission Accomplished’” in an early-morning tweet, saying Friday’s strike was “perfectly carried out” and that “the only way the Fake News Media could demean was by my use of the term ‘Mission Accomplished.’” He added that he knew the media would “seize” on the phrase, but said “it is such a great Military term, it should be brought back.” USA Today (4/15, Korte) similarly says Trump wants to bring back the phrase and “strip that historical baggage.” Responding to Trump on Twitter, former President Bush’s press secretary at the time, Ari Fleischer, said, “I would have recommended ending this tweet with not those two words.”
> WSJournal: Trump Deferred To Mattis On Scope For Attack. Meanwhile, according to the Wall Street Journal (4/15, Lubold, Nissenbaum), Trump deferred to Defense Secretary Mattis’ caution and tempered his desire for a more robust attack on Syria. Source familiar with the talks said that after days of White House talks, Trump and his aides agreed to what the Journal described as a more restrained plan.
> Lawmakers Split On Strikes. The Wall Street Journal (4/15, Gordon) reports some lawmakers criticized Trump over the weekend for conducting one-day airstrikes, arguing it showed the Administration didn’t have a strategy to end the war in Syria. Sen. Angus King told CNN’s State Of The Union, “It’s very difficult to say ‘mission accomplished’ if the mission is to deter the use of chemical weapons. We hope that will be the case, but we did a strike a year ago for that same purpose and it was deemed a success, but chemical weapons have continued to be used.” The Washington Times (4/15, Richardson) also reports King’s comments.
> Sen. Susan Collins, however, said on ABC’s This Week (4/15) that the strikes “were proportional and justifiable.” She added, “The Assad regime has used chemical weapons 50 times, they violate treaties,” and “we acted with our allies, the French and the British.” Collins did though conceded that the strikes don’t “solve the problem that we do not have an overall, comprehensive strategy for dealing with Syria.”
> Sen. Tim Kaine told CBS’ Face The Nation (4/15, Brennan), “It’s very, very clear, Congress has power to declare war and only Congress. If you are initiating war against a sovereign nation like Syria that hadn’t declared war on United States, it’s only Congress that can do it.” He added, “President Trump is not a king, he’s a president” and “he’s supposed to come to Congress to seek permission to initiate a war.”
> Sen. Joni Ernst similarly told NBC’s Meet the Press (4/15, Todd), “I am glad that the President has joined with France and Great Britain and took these strikes,” and “I think it was important that we destroyed that infrastructure that Bashar Al-Assad had used to deliver chemical weapons against his own people.” However, she added, “If [Trump] wishes to go any further, he does need to work with Congress.”
> Rep. Ed Royce (R) said on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures (4/15, Bartiromo), “It certainly was the right move, and not only was it the right move, but the inclusion of Britain and France...gave us, perhaps...a way forward. ... If we can have a strong diplomatic effort now, backed up with serious financial pressure against those who are transferring these arms so that Assad can continue this bloody conflict, we may have a way forward for a political solution.”
> White House Denies Macron Convinced Trump To Remain In Syria “Long Term.” Axios (4/15, Britzky) reports that despite French President Emmanuel Macron’s claim that France convinced Trump to stay in Syria “long-term,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders “pushed back on that assertion,” saying Sunday night that Trump “has been clear that he wants US forces to come home as quickly as possible.” In a statement, Sanders said, “The US mission has not changed — the President has been clear that he wants US forces to come home as quickly as possible.”
> Inspectors Begin Work At Site Of Latest Suspected Chemical Attack. Seth Doane reported on the CBS Weekend News (4/15, story 3, 1:55, Quijano) reported that the site of the latest suspected chemical weapons attack, Douma, “had been in rebel hands, [but] is now controlled by Syrian forces. That could make it easier for chemical weapons inspectors, who arrived in Damascus Saturday, to get to the site of the purported April 7 chemical attack. Those inspectors were set to begin work today. Syria’s deputy foreign minister told us they were eager to help get inspectors to the site, though the government still claims the attack never happened.”
> ABC World News Tonight (4/15, story 4, 1:40, Llamas), however, reported that international inspectors met with Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad as the site of the suspected chemical attack remains “a no-go zone, even though Russian troops had almost immediate access, and said they found no signs of toxic gas.”
> Arab Leaders Call For International Probe Into Syria Chemical Attacks. Reuters (4/15) reports Arab League leaders on Sunday “called for an international probe into the ‘criminal’ use of chemical weapons in Syria” and “condemned what they see as Iran’s interference in the affairs of other countries.” In a statement, the League said, “We stress our absolute condemnation of the use of chemical weapons against the sisterly Syrian people and we demand an independent international investigation to guarantee the application of international law to everyone proven to use chemical weapons.”
> Trump Accused Aides Of Misleading Him About Russian Diplomat Expulsions.
> The Washington Post (4/15, Jaffe, Hudson, Rucker) reports President Trump was briefed last month by his aides at his Mar-a-Lago resort on the Administration’s plan to expel 60 Russian diplomats. The US, “they explained, would be ousting roughly the same number of Russians as its European allies.” The next day, when the expulsions were announced, Trump “erupted, officials said. To his shock and dismay, France and Germany were each expelling only four Russian officials – far fewer than the 60 his administration had decided on.” According to officials, Trump, “growing angrier...insisted that his aides had misled him about the magnitude of the expulsions.” The Post says the incident “reflects a tension at the core of the Trump administration’s increasingly hard-nosed stance on Russia: The president instinctually opposes many of the punitive measures pushed by his Cabinet that have crippled his ability to forge a close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.”
> WPost: Pence’s Tone On Refugees’ Plight “Starkly Different” From Trump’s.
> The Washington Post (4/15, Johnson) reports from Peru that “as Vice President Pence addressed fellow world leaders at the Summit of the Americas this weekend, he told the story of a grandmother he met in Colombia who fled her home in Venezuela with her five grandchildren,” and closed by telling his audience, “Remember to pray for people that are struggling under the weight of tyranny.” Pence, adds the Post, “repeatedly struck a compassionate tone as he described the suffering of people around the world, especially in Venezuela and Syria, and he talked about the United States’ moral obligation to help others.” That tone was “starkly different from that of President Trump, who rarely expresses sympathy for people fleeing violence, poverty or oppression in their homelands,” and whose “policies in this area have been tougher than many of his predecessors as well.”
> AP: Spreading Local Government Opposition To California Sanctuary Law. The AP (4/15, Taxin) reports “more local governments in California are resisting the state’s efforts to resist the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, and political experts see politics at play as Republicans try to fire up voters in a state where the GOP has grown weak.” So far, “at least a dozen local governments have voted to either join or support the lawsuit or for resolutions opposing the state’s position,” and “more action is coming this week, with leaders in the Orange County city of Los Alamitos scheduled to vote Monday on a proposal for a local law to exempt the community of 12,000 from the state law. On Tuesday, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors is meeting to consider joining the Trump administration lawsuit.”
> US Could Seek Farming, Car Manufacturing Concessions In TPP Talks.
> The Wall Street Journal (4/15, Davis) reports that if the US were to follow up on the President’s reported desire to re-enter the deal, both sides would seek concessions. In contrast to the pre-2016 period, the US would now negotiate with the TPP-11 bloc, where countries such as Japan, Malaysia and Vietnam are expected to view a US re-entry favorably. In negotiations, the US could push for Japan to improve access to US farm products, particularly a reduction in rice tariffs. To the Journal, Japan may view that as a reasonable price to pay to get the US back in the agreement. The Journal also reports that the NAFTA talks may provide a roadmap for US demands. In talks with Canada and Mexico, US negotiators have sought a guarantee of a set percentage of car and car-component manufacturing. That, says the Journal, could be more difficult for Japan to accept.
> Navarro: Trump Standing Up To Chinese Economic Aggression. White House National Trade Council Director Peter Navarro, in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal (4/15), writes that China has come to dominate manufacturing and is threatening to dominate the industries of the future, with important strategic implications, due to distorting free trade through state-directed investments, a nonmarket economy, and its disregard for the rule of law. Navarro argues that the base of these issues is Chinese intellectual-property theft and the forced transfer of foreign technology. He concludes that the world should support President Trump standing up to China, as such market-distorting behavior threatens the global trading system.
> Royce: Ending Transshipment Key To NAFTA Renegotiations. Asked about talks to renegotiation NAFTA, Rep. Ed Royce told Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures (4/15, Bartiromo), “One of the important elements potentially of solving this NAFTA problem is transshipment that goes from China into Mexico and then up into the border in the United States.” He added, “We want to end that transshipment,” and “if we can get that ended, along with these other changes that we’re trying to get in agreement, then I think we’ve got something here that’s going to be very beneficial.”
> WPost A1 Analysis: Europe, Not Congress, Reining In Tech Firms. A front-page analysis in the Washington Post (4/14, A1, Birnbaum, Romm) says that while lawmakers “demonstrated an increased appetite for regulating technology giants when they grilled Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg about privacy this past week,” the “future of Facebook’s relationship with its 2 billion users is less likely to be determined from the halls of Congress than it is from” Europe. Europe, says the Post, “has been moving aggressively to impose order on the tech space,” and “sweeping new privacy rules” go into effect next month across the EU. Whether Congress “follows the European model, as some lawmakers floated this past week, or whether big tech companies determine it’s too cumbersome to treat the 500 million people of the EU differently from the rest of the world, Europe is likely to keep setting the global pace for aggressive regulation.”
> AP: Iran Deal May Hinge On European Leaders’ Appeals To Trump.
> In an analysis, the AP (4/15, Lee) writes that the fate of the Iran nuclear deal “may depend on the unlikely success of last-minute European interventions with President Donald Trump,” with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel visiting Washington separately later this month. Negotiations on strengthening the deal had “some progress” last week but didn’t produce an agreement, according to US officials and outside advisers to the Administration familiar with the status of the talks. “Two officials and two outside advisers said” that Iran’s missile testing “and inspections issues are essentially settled, but would not detail exactly what had been agreed or predict whether it would pass muster with Trump, let alone his new national security adviser John Bolton and” Secretary of State-Designate Pompeo.
> Israel Detects, Destroys Tunnel From Gaza Strip.
> Reuters (4/15) reports that, in “the fifth such detection in as many months,” Israel said it destroyed a guerrilla tunnel from the Gaza Strip. Since Palestinian gunmen used tunnels during the 2014 Gaza war, “Israel has since been developing detection technologies and laying down an underground frontier wall.” The country views publicity about dealing with such tunnels “as a double-edged sword”: it may discourage new tunnels but also could push militants into using existent tunnels before such are discovered. Israel also “went public with a military laboratory it set up in 2016 to pool anti-tunnel expertise.”
> Turkey To Try American Pastor On Terror, Spying Charges.
> The Washington Times (4/15, Bilginsoy, Guzel) reports, “In a case that has increased tensions between Washington and Ankara,” on Monday Turkey will begin the trial of American pastor Andrew Craig Brunson “for alleged terror ties and spying.” Turkey accuses Brunson of having links to an outlawed Kurdish insurgent group and US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Turkey alleges was behind a failed coup. “The Turkish government has clearly linked Brunson’s case with its determination to force the US to extradite Gulen.” While “American officials have repeatedly requested that Brunson be released,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan demanded that first Gulen be handed over to Turkey. Reuters (4/15, Erkoyun) reports Brunson’s attorney, Ismail Cem Halavurt, said, “There is evidence that shows Brunson was arrested due to his faith.”
> Domestic Policy
> Trump: “All Lawyers Are Deflated And Concerned” By Cohen Raid.
> The AP (4/15) reports President Trump wrote in a tweet on Sunday that all lawyers are “deflated and concerned” by the raid on the home and office of his attorney Michael Cohen. Trump tweeted, “Attorney Client privilege is now a thing of the past. ... I have many (too many!) lawyers and they are probably wondering when their offices, and even homes, are going to be raided with everything, including their phones and computers, taken. All lawyers are deflated and concerned!” The CBS Weekend News (4/15, story 5, 0:50, Lenghi) reported that Trump “is still fuming about evidence” seized from Cohen, but “the White House insists President Trump remains cool.” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders: “The President is very confident in the fact that he has done nothing wrong, and he can’t speak on behalf of anyone else, but he is very confident in what he has and hasn’t done.”
> Jeff Zeleny said on CNN Inside Politics (4/15), “There is no one closer to the President, really anyone that I can think of. Maybe Ivanka that would be the only person that is this close to the President. But he knows absolutely everything. We saw how incensed [Trump] was earlier in the week when he first learned about that. That grew throughout the week. The fact that he is under a criminal investigation is something that is more worrisome, the President’s aides will say, than about the Mueller investigation because he doesn’t know where this is going and Michael Cohen apparently recorded a lot of things, took notes on a lot of things. ... Michael Cohen is probably not the best lawyer in the city as we are finding out. This is going to be a huge problem mentally for the President but also substantively with the Department of Justice.”
> Julie Pace of the AP said on CNN Inside Politics (4/15), “Michael Cohen probably isn’t the legal representation most people would choose but it is who Donald Trump chose because it has worked. He is willing to do things that other lawyers may not be willing to do. Now, if you are off running a private enterprise maybe that works for you. When you are suddenly President of the United States thinking about all the things Michael Cohen did, that my be why Trump is worried. I think the other piece of it, as we all know, is there is one thing Donald Trump is particularly sensitive about it is his business and his money. Michael Cohen, in addition to all these potential side payments that are going on and personal matters he was involved in, had great insight into the finances of the Trump Organization and that has the President particularly on edge.”
> Townhall’s Guy Benson said on Fox News MediaBuzz (4/15), “I have never believed the collusion thing against Trump. There might be something to the Cohen story if there are tapes in existence, conversations between Trump and his lawyer. There might be a can of worms we haven’t seen yet that Trump is starting to get quite nervous about.”
> Cohen Seeks To Block FBI From Reviewing Evidenced Seized In Raid. ABC World News Tonight (4/15, story 3, 2:15, Wright) reported that Cohen on Monday “will likely come face to face” with Stormy Daniels in federal court Monday. Cohen, “citing attorney-client privilege,” is “seeking to block FBI investigators from reviewing recordings and other evidence they seized.” In a tweet Sunday, Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti referred to a scene from “The Godfather Part II” where “the mere presence of a familiar face in the back of the hearing room prompts the star witness to recant.” Avenatti “confirmed his client will be in court” Monday. The New York Times (4/15, Weiser, Protess) says the material seized from Cohen “could open a window into the president’s relationship with a loyal aide who guided Mr. Trump through not only business dilemmas but personal and political ones as well” including “Cohen’s role in helping to arrange payments during the campaign to women who claimed to have had affairs with Mr. Trump.” The AP (4/15) reports that Cohen’s attorney Johanna Hendon “has told a federal judge that prosecutors should not get to study evidence seized from” from Cohen until Cohen and the President “have reviewed those materials to see what is subject to attorney-client privilege.”
> Avenatti: Cohen Will Be Indicted In Next 90 Days. The Washington Times (4/15, Richardson) reports that Avenatti predicted on CNN’s State Of The Union that Cohen will be indicted in the next 90 days. Avenatti said, “I strongly believe that within the next 90 days we’re going to see the unsealing of an indictment against Mr. Cohen for a host of very serious offenses. ... And I believe, Jake, that it’s going to be a significant domino that’s going to fall in connection with this.” According to Avenatti, there is a “whole host of criminal conduct” including bank fraud, wire fraud and campaign-finance violations, for which Cohen could be charged.
> Dershowitz Says He Is Defender Of Due Process, Not Trump. The Washington Examiner (4/15, Lim) reports that in an appearance on CNN Sunday, attorney Alan Dershowitz “wouldn’t say whether he had been asked to join President Trump’s legal team, adding as a Democrat his only concern was whether Trump’s civil liberties and due process rights were being infringed by special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe.” Dershowitz told CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” “I do not want to be his lawyer, I don’t want to give him legal advice. ... I am not a supporter, I am not a defender of Donald Trump the person, I’m a defender of civil liberties and basic due process.”
> Gowdy: Trump Shouldn’t Fire Rosenstein Over Mueller Probe. Politico (4/15, Matishak) reports House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy told Fox News Sunday that Trump should not fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein because of the special counsel investigation. Gowdy said, “I don’t see a basis for firing him in the handling of this probe.” Asked about the Rosenstein’s authorization of the raid on Trump attorney Michael Cohen, Gowdy “noted the decision to conduct the raid had to be made a the ‘highest level’ of the Justice Department and that a ‘neutral, detached’ federal judge ‘who has nothing to do with politics’ had to sign off on the warrant, which was, in part, made on a referral by special counsel Robert Mueller.” Gowdy said, “I don’t know what Mueller was supposed to do other than what he did. ... How this is Mueller’s fault just defies logic to me.” On the issue of firing Rosenstein, the Daily Caller (4/15, Givas) reports, Gowdy said, “The president is the head of the executive branch. He doesn’t have to run his hiring and firing decisions by us. ... If he’s upset with Rod Rosenstein because Rod Rosenstein is not producing documents to Congress – that’s a legitimate thing to be upset about. ... If he’s upset with Rod Rosenstein because he wants to get at Bob Mueller and that’s the way he’s going to do it – taking the advice of Steve Bannon, which I would strongly recommend against, then no, I don’t think that’s appropriate.”
> NYTimes Editorial: Congress May Be Called Upon To Maintain Constitutional Order. In an editorial, the New York Times (4/15) says that if the “possibility that President Trump may act to cripple or shut down an investigation by the nation’s top law-enforcement agencies into his campaign and administration,” comes to pass lawmakers “will suddenly find themselves on the edge of an abyss, with the Constitution in their hands.” If Trump makes such a move, the Times argues, he “will be striking at the foundation of the American government, attempting to set a precedent that a president, alone among American citizens, is above the law” and “it will be up to Congress to affirm the rule of law, the separation of powers and the American constitutional order.”
> Ernst Says She Would Like To See Text Of Legislation To Protect Mueller. Sen. Joni Ernst, asked on NBC’s Meet the Press (4/15, Todd) about legislation to protect Mueller’s investigation, said, “I would like to see the final text of that before I state whether I would support it or not. ... We’ll see where this goes. I don’t believe that the President will fire Mueller, we’ll see, but I certainly want to see that text, and I’m glad that they will have the discussion.”
> Supreme Court To Hear Case On President’s Power To Fire Executive Officials. The Los Angeles Times (4/15, Savage) reports that the Supreme Court will hear “a seemingly minor case later this month on the status of administrative judges at the Securities and Exchange Commission,” but the case, which “turns on the president’s power to hire and fire officials throughout the government,” comes “as the White House is saying President Trump believes he has the power to fire” Mueller. Solicitor Gen. Noel Francisco, who” could be in line to oversee the Mueller inquiry” if Rosenstein is fired, wrote in Lucia vs. SEC, “The Constitution gives the president what the framers saw as the traditional means of ensuring accountability: the power to oversee executive officers through removal. ... The president is accordingly authorized under our constitutional system to remove all principal officers, as well as all ‘inferior officers’ he has appointed.”
> Kaine To Oppose Pompeo For Secretary Of State.
> Politico (4/15, Matishak) reports Sen. Tim Kaine announced Sunday he would oppose Mike Pompeo’s nomination to be secretary of State, “further complicating the CIA director’s confirmation prospects on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.” On CBS’ Face The Nation, Kaine said, “We have a president who is anti-diplomacy. And I worry that Mike Pompeo has shown the same tendency to oppose diplomacy. I don’t want a secretary of state who is going to exacerbate [Trump’s] tendencies.” Politico notes that Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Rand Paul have also signaled they would also vote against Pompeo’s nomination.
> Breitbart: Booker Opposing Pompeo Over His Religious Beliefs. Breitbart (4/15, Klukowski) reports Sen. Cory Booker also announced Friday that he will vote against Pompeo’s nomination, citing Pompeo’s “beliefs on marriage and sexuality.” Booker wrote in a Facebook posting Friday, “I believe you can’t lead the people if you don’t love the people.” According to Breitbart, “conservative and Christian leaders are appalled at Booker’s announcement, saying the Constitution forbids Booker’s voting against Pompeo because of the nominee’s religious beliefs.”
> The Hill: Bolton To Make More Changes To National Security Team.
> The Hill (4/15, Fabian, Williams) reports National Security Adviser Bolton “has taken a paring knife to President Trump’s national security team in his first week on the job advising the president – and he’s not finished yet.” Current and former Administration officials “say most of the big changes on the NSC staff under Bolton have already been announced and mid-level aides are expected to be the next to go.” The Hill says the moves “are a sign Trump has emboldened the hawkish Bolton to reshape the NSC.”
> Axios: Trump Tried To Block Pence National Security Appointment. Axios (4/15, Swan) reports that the White House “kept it quiet until now, but on Friday the President nearly blocked the Vice President from getting his chosen national security adviser.” According to three sources, Trump was reportedly “furious when he learned Pence was bringing on Nikki Haley’s deputy Jon Lerner,” who he believed “was a card-carrying member of the ‘Never Trump’ movement.” Axios says the move is “highly unusual” as Trump “typically gives Pence a long leash on personnel appointments,” and it marks “the first time the President has tried to block Pence from filling a senior staff position.”
> Ryan Says Trillion-Dollar Deficits Due To Boomers’ Retiring, Entitlements.
> The Hill (4/15, Bolton) reports House Speaker Ryan told NBC’s Meet the Press yesterday that “trillion-dollar deficits could not have been avoided by the GOP-controlled Congress, responding to critics within his party who say that leaders have behaved irresponsibly.” Said Ryan, “That was going to happen. The baby boomers retiring was going to do that. ... These deficit trillion-dollar projections have been out there for a long, long time. Why? Because of mandatory spending which we call entitlements.”
> WPost: GOP “Reforms” For “Benefits For The Poor” Won’t Help Deficit. The Washington Post (4/15) asks in an editorial, “Have you noticed how spending on welfare and other benefits for the poor is bankrupting the federal government? Neither have we,” as a recent CBO report put the onus for growing deficit on recently-passed tax cuts and on entitlements. However, adds the Post, “President Trump and the Republican leadership in Congress are on an election-year campaign to ‘reform’ means-tested safety-net programs.,” and “the day after the CBO released its figures, in fact, Mr. Trump ordered federal agencies to review all such programs – with an eye toward toughening work requirements for their recipients.” The Post goes on to bemoan work requirements for SNAP, included in the House Farm Bill, arguing that “many non- working adults who rely on SNAP aren’t refusing to work but face multiple and stubborn logistical and educational barriers to employment,” and the provisions may force them to “go hungry.”
> Supreme Court To Consider States’ Power To Tax Online Sales.
> The Washington Post (4/15, Barnes, Bhattarai) reports that “an already-diminished perk of online shopping – avoiding the payment of sales tax – is in danger of extinction at the Supreme Court this week.” The justices “will consider deleting a 26-year-old precedent and uploading a new operating system for states and local governments, who say they have been improperly barred from requiring online retailers to send them billions of dollars in sales-tax revenue.” According to the Post, the states, “led by South Dakota,” are asking the court “to overturn its 1992 decision in Quill v. North Dakota, which said retailers can be forced to collect taxes only in states where the company has a ‘physical presence.’” The Post adds that the case “requires the court to consider whether a decision made in the era of mail-order catalogs still makes sense in a time of one-click shopping, when a website can be more appealing and convenient.”
> Politico: Abortion Foes Seize On Chance To Overturn Roe V. Wade.
> Politico (4/15, Haberkorn) reports that “the anti-abortion movement believes it’s one Donald Trump-appointed Supreme Court justice away from a shot at overturning Roe v. Wade, and advocates are teeing up what they hope will be the winning challenge.” According to Politico, “from Iowa to South Carolina, lawmakers are proposing some of the most far-reaching abortion restrictions in a generation, hoping their legislation triggers the lawsuit that eventually makes it to the high court.” Mississippi “just approved the earliest abortion ban in the country – at 15 weeks of pregnancy – and Kentucky last week banned the procedure used in most abortions after 11 weeks,” and legislatures in Ohio and South Carolina “are weighing total prohibitions of the procedure, while Iowa is considering a ban as soon as a heartbeat is detected – all bills that if signed into law would violate Roe and prompt lawsuits.”
> Starbucks CEO Apologizes After Arrests Of Two Black Men.
> The New York Times (4/15, Stevens) reports that “two black men walked into a Starbucks in downtown Philadelphia on Thursday afternoon and sat down.” According to the Times, “officials said they had asked to use the restroom but because they had not bought anything, an employee refused the request,” and that “they were eventually asked to leave, and when they declined, an employee called the police.” The Times adds that details of the incident, “which the authorities provided on Saturday, ignited widespread criticism on social media, incited anger among public officials and prompted investigations.” The men, who have not been identified, “were arrested on suspicion of trespassing,” but Starbucks “did not want to press charges and the men were later released, Commissioner Richard Ross Jr. of the Philadelphia Police Department said in a recorded statement on Saturday.”
> Cancer Research
> Positive Phase 1 Study For Drug Targeting RET Gene Alteration.
> Forbes (4/15, Herper) reports researchers presented data on the experimental cancer drug BLU-667 at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research on Sunday, showing the drug “reduced tumors significantly in 45% of patients studied.” The treatment, designed by Blueprint Medicines to target a gene alteration called RET, in a phase I study showed that 41 “of 51 RET-altered patients remain on treatment.” The article adds that Blueprint Medicines aims “to make use of the Food and Drug Administration’s accelerated approval pathway” for its targeted treatments.
> Maryland Legislators Approve Bill Aimed At Preserving Cancer Patients’ Fertility.
> The Baltimore Sun (4/12, McDaniels) reported Maryland legislators recently passed a bill to “make it easier for cancer patients to preserve their fertility” by requiring insurers to pay for standard fertility preservation procedures for people who seek medical treatment which would result in infertility. The bill awaits the signature of Gov