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> From: William Russo <wrusso@vpbiden.org>
> Date: April 6, 2018 at 8:35:35 AM EDT
> To: Bill Russo <wrusso@vpbiden.org>, "Blinken, Antony J" <ablinken@pbc.upenn.edu>, Carla Frank <carla@americanpossibilities.org>, Cecilia Arradaza <carradaza@bidencancer.org>, Danielle Carnival <dcarnival@bidencancer.org>, Greg Schultz <greg@americanpossibilities.org>, Gregory Simon <gsimon@bidencancer.org>, Kathy Chung <kchung@vpbiden.org>, Louisa Terrell <lterrell@bidenfoundation.org>, "McLaughlin,Catherine A" <cathymcl@udel.edu>, Melinda Medlin <mmedlin@vpbiden.org>, Michael Donilon <mdonilon@udel.edu>, "Ricchetti, Steven J" <sricch@pbc.upenn.edu>, Richard Ruffner <rruffner@vpbiden.org>, Sam Salk <ssalk@vpbiden.org>, Valerie Owens <hurricane5155@gmail.com>
> Subject: Fwd: Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing for Friday, April 6, 2018
>
>
>> Begin forwarded message:
>>
>> From: "Bulletin Intelligence" <Biden@BulletinIntelligence.com>
>> Subject: Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing for Friday, April 6, 2018
>> Date: April 6, 2018 at 8:00:46 AM EDT
>> To: Biden@BulletinIntelligence.com
>>
>>
>> Click to access mobile-optimized online version, including download options and an audio reader.
>>
>>
>>
>> To: Vice President Joe Biden
>> Friday, April 6, 2018 8:00 AM EDT
>> Today's Table of Contents
>> Leading the News
>> • In West Virginia, Trump Touts Tax Cuts, Slams Manchin, Claims Rampant Rape On “Caravan.”
>> Foreign Policy
>> • Trump Considering Additional $100 Billion In Chinese Tariffs.
>> • WPost: Trump, Generals Have Different Definitions Of “Victory” In Syria.
>> • US Approves $1.3 Billion Weapons Sale To Saudi Arabia.
>> • Israeli Report: Iran Continues Work On Ballistic Missiles.
>> • Despite US Sanctions, India Close To Buying Russian Missile System.
>> • At Security Council, Russia Denies Alleged Attack On Former Spy In UK.
>> • Turkish Deputy PM: Agents Have Seized 80 Coup Plot Suspects In 18 Countries.
>> Domestic Policy
>> • Trump Wants 2,000 To 4,000 Troops At Border Until Wall Is Built.
>> • Trump Offers Support For Pruitt, But Others In Administration Distance Themselves.
>> • Trump Says He Was Unaware Of Payment To Stormy Daniels.
>> • Trump: Dodd-Frank Re-Write “Should Be Done Fairly Quickly.”
>> • NYTimes: White House, California In “Multifront Legal War.”
>> • Nunes Threatens Suit To Force FBI To Disclose Origins Of Trump-Russia Probe.
>> • Surgeon General Issues National Advisory On Administering Naloxone.
>> Cancer Research
>> • CMS Sets Medicare Outpatient Reimbursement Rate For Cancer Therapy.
>> • Researchers Have Mapped Genetic Blueprints Of 33 Types Of Cancer.
>> Editorials/Op-Eds
>> • New York Times.
>> • Washington Post.
>> Biden in the News
>> • Fox Business: Biden Prepping 2020 Bid, But Only If Opponent Is Trump.
>> Leading the News
>> In West Virginia, Trump Touts Tax Cuts, Slams Manchin, Claims Rampant Rape On “Caravan.”
>> During a visit to West Virginia yesterday President Trump touted the recently enacted tax cuts and took aim at Sen. Joe Manchin (D), who is up for reelection this November. In mainstream media, coverage of Trump’s off-script comments on immigration – claiming that women on the recent migrant “caravan” in Mexico were “raped at levels that nobody’s ever seen before” – was sharply negative and largely overshadowed his remarks about the tax cuts, but local coverage was decidedly favorable and focused on the tax reform package. To WVNS-TV Bluefield, WV (4/5, 5:59 p.m. EDT), for example, the “afternoon was filled with a lot of hope and optimism and even some emotion as people shared their stories of how the tax bill positively affected their lives,” and WSAZ-TV Huntington, WV (4/5, 6:00 p.m. EDT) said, “The President did more listening himself, allowing a panel of about a dozen local business owners and other neighbors to explain how their lives have been made better since they’ve started seeing more money in their paychecks.” WTOV-TV Steubenville, OH (4/5, 6:10 p.m. EDT) referred to “a warm welcome for the President,” with “a lot of people supporting him...and excited to see him,” and WOWK-TV Charleston, WV (4/5, 7:02 p.m. EDT) said “it was a packed house” and Trump “was greeted by loud applause.”
>> WCHS-TV Charleston, WV (4/5, 6:01 p.m. EDT) reported that Trump “touted his tax reform bill and the impact it is having on West Virginians” and “took aim at...Manchin.” Trump said, “Democrats have a problem. ... I thought it would be helpful because he talks. He grabs me and I grab him and he says hello and I say hello. He votes against everything and he voted against our tax cuts. He voted against medical health and healthcare and that is bad. We can’t have it.” WOAY-TV Bluefield, WV (4/5, 6:03 p.m. EDT) also noted that “Trump referenced the fact that Manchin did not vote for his tax plan,” and “told the audience that they would get quote ‘a chance to get a senator that’s going to vote our program.’”
>> The Charleston (WV) Gazette-Mail (4/5, Zuckerman) reports Manchin “didn’t attend the event Thursday but emailed a statement later in the day,” saying, “Instead of the political posturing back and forth, West Virginians deserve answers and the only thing that matters today is did these questions get answered in White Sulphur Springs. ... The people of West Virginia badly want to know: What will the 200,000 West Virginians do when they lose healthcare coverage? How much will Republicans cut from Medicare and Social Security? What happens when our rural hospitals go bankrupt? Why is this plan causing insurance premiums to go up? Why are the middle-class tax changes not permanent? Why is Mitch McConnell blocking coal miners’ pensions?”
>> West Virginia MetroNews (4/5) reports “Trump said West Virginia’s economy is improving because of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,” telling the crowd, “Percentage wise, you’re among the greatest gainers in this country. I think it’s great.” Trump was joined by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R), Gov. Jim Justice (R), Rep. Evan Jenkins (R), state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey (R), “and West Virginia business owners.” Jenkins and Morrisey are seeking to take on Manchin in November’s election. MetroNews adds that “each person during the discussion thanked the President for his work on the legislation. Several business leaders told Trump they have been able to hand out raises and bonuses to their employees based on the new tax system.” Trump later tweeted, “Thanks to our historic TAX CUTS, America is open for business, and millions of American workers are seeing more take-home pay through higher wages, salaries and bonuses!”
>> Under the headline “In West Virginia, Trump Shuns One Of The GOP’s Senate Candidates,” the Wall Street Journal (4/5, Ballhaus, Hughes) reports that while Trump invited Jenkins and Morrisey to Thursday’s event, the third GOP Senate candidate – ex-Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship (R) – did not receive an invitation. Blankenship recently served a year in prison after being convicted of conspiring to violate mine-safety laws ahead of the deadly Upper Big Branch Mine explosion in 2010.
>> The CBS Evening News (4/5, lead story, 1:20, Glor) said Trump “went to West Virginia to talk taxes, but threw away his prepared remarks to discuss illegal immigration,” while the New York Times (4/5, Davis), in a story that largely focuses on Trump’s immigration comments, reports that “the round table on taxes was a lovefest for the president, in which attendees took turns praising him and recounting the ways in which the tax measure and Mr. Trump’s agenda had helped them and their families.” Trump “grinned and nodded his approval.”
>> Bloomberg News (4/5, Epstein, Olorunnipa) reports that “Republicans hope the tax law, which cut taxes for most American families while adding about $1 trillion to the deficit over the next decade, will buoy their chances in November’s midterm elections.” Trump’s “trip to the West Virginia town was intended to promote the law in a state where his party believes it can win” Manchin’s seat, but “instead of spending much time on taxes, Trump belabored the many grievances against immigrants and US immigration law that he voiced during his campaign and into his presidency.”
>> The Washington Times (4/5, Miller) reports “Trump turned up the heat...on...Manchin, telling a West Virginia crowd that their Democratic senator not only opposed tax cuts but ‘votes against everything’ in the Trump agenda.” Said Trump, “He voted against everything. He voted against tax cuts. ... He does other things I don’t like, I’ll be honest with you.” The crowd “booed when he mentioned Mr. Manchin, a top target for Republicans in this year’s midterm elections.” CNN (4/5, Diamond) notes Trump also “pointed to Manchin’s opposition to the Republican efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare.”
>> Trump Claims High Incidence Of Rape In Migrant “Caravan” In Mexico. Trump’s remarks on immigration during his visit to West Virginia received extremely unfavorable mainstream media coverage, which casts doubt on his claims and mocks his deviation from prepared remarks on tax reform. The New York Times (4/5, Davis) says he “grew bored with his prepared remarks after a few moments” and “opted instead for a lengthy tirade against immigrants and the nation’s immigration laws,” and the CBS Evening News (4/5, story 2, 1:10, Garrett) that he “literally tossed aside his script at a tax-cut event,” saying it “would’ve been a little boring, a little boring.” Instead, added CBS, Trump “again lashed out at a caravan of migrants moving from Honduras through Mexico and seeking asylum either there or in the US.” Trump was shown saying, “And, yes, they came out where this journey coming up, women are raped at levels that nobody’s ever seen before. They don’t want to mention that.”
>> As did Trump, media reports linked his comments yesterday to other statements he made about rape and immigration early in the 2016 election cycle. NBC Nightly News (4/5, story 2, 2:25, Holt) said Trump “raised eyebrows” in West Virginia “with new controversial remarks about immigrants,” and showed him saying, “Remember my opening remarks at Trump Tower when I opened. They’re bringing crime, they’re rapists. Everybody said, ‘Oh, he was so tough,’ and I used the word rape. And yesterday it came out where this journey coming up, women are raped at levels that nobody’s ever seen before.” ABC World News Tonight (4/5, story 2, 2:15, Vega) showed footage of the same statement, said that “in front the cameras,” Trump “went off on illegal immigration, from reigniting his false claim of voter fraud...to revisiting one of his most controversial lines ever, those comments about Mexicans during his campaign kickoff.” To illustrate how Trump’s “frustration” is “growing and on full display,” ABC further showed him saying, “This is the kind of stuff and crap that we’re allowing into our country. And we can’t do it. We can’t do it anymore.”
>> Tucker Carlson said on Fox News Tucker Carlson Tonight (4/5) that Trump’s use of the word “rape” “is leading Nightly News across the country tonight. How dare he tie immigration to rape. ... Maybe Trump was reading ‘The Huffington Post,’ actually, because just a few years ago, before they started lying full time, the people in charge were slightly less anxious to change the subject. ... They don’t want to know the details. Facts are a threat to their fantasies.” Sean Hannity, in his monologue at the start of Fox News’ Hannity (4/5), said “liberal members of the mainstream corrupt media are losing their mind over the President’s comments...about sexual assault, rape and violence that are committed by some illegal immigrants against migrant women.” Hannity questions “how it is so outrageous for the President to actually speak about the violence that is being committed by some against migrant women.”
>> The CBS Evening News (4/5, story 2, 1:10, Garrett) reported last night that Trump’s comment “might have been prompted by this segment on Fox News Monday night.” Paul Babeu, former Pinal County Border Sheriff, was shown saying, “We’ve had countless cases, in my eight years as sheriff, where they’ve been raped, multiple times. These are juveniles.” At any rate, USA Today (4/5, Jackson) reports, “as in many public appearances, Trump also took aim at the news media, in this case decrying news reports in which aides discuss the president’s habit of watching cable television news.” Said Trump, “I do not watch much television. ... People that don’t know me, they like to say I watch television – people with fake sources. You know, fake reporters, fake sources.”
>> CNN’s The Lead (4/5) said Trump “reverted to one of the old standbys of his campaign – immigration, and bluntly, the word rape.” To the New York Times (4/5, Davis), Trump “boasted that he had described immigrants as rapists,” while Politico (4/5, Lima) likewise casts him as “boasting that he was right about the threat of Mexican rapists” and CNBC (4/5, Pramuk) as telling “horror stories that he tied to the US immigration system.” BuzzFeed (4/5, Flores), meanwhile, says one of its reporters “who has been traveling with the caravan for 12 days says there’s no evidence” Trump’s claim is “true.” Reporter Adolfo Flores tweeted, “I’ve been with the caravan for 12 days and haven’t seen or heard of anyone being ‘raped at levels that nobody has ever seen before.’”
>> Business Insider (4/5, Mark) reported that “there is no evidence to suggest that any of the caravan travelers have reported being raped on their journey,” Bloomberg News (4/5, Epstein, Olorunnipa) said that “it wasn’t immediately clear what he was talking about,” and the AP (4/5, Lucey, Lemire) reported that “it was not clear what Trump was referring to.” White House spokesman Hogan Gidley later “said Trump wasn’t talking about the caravan but rather about extreme victimization of those making the journey north with smugglers in general.” The AP also reports that “as he has done before, Trump conjured images of violence and suffering when he described the perils of illegal immigration, though statistics show that immigrants commit crimes at a lower rate than citizens.”
>> The Hill (4/5, Greenwood) reports “Trump’s off-script remarks touched on so-called sanctuary cities, as well.” He “said such jurisdictions, which do not fully cooperate with federal immigration officials, are intended to protect ‘bad people,’” and then “pointed to the case of a Kate Steinle, a 32-year-old woman who was shot and killed by an immigrant in the country illegally in California in 2015.”
>> Politico (4/5, Nelson) reports that earlier yesterday, Trump “celebrated the move by Mexican authorities...to break up” the “large group of migrants making their way north toward the US, claiming credit for a reduction in illegal border crossings while insisting that such crossings remain too frequent.” Trump tweeted, “The Caravan is largely broken up thanks to the strong immigration laws of Mexico and their willingness to use them so as not to cause a giant scene at our Border,” the president wrote online. “Because of the Trump Administrations actions, Border crossings are at a still UNACCEPTABLE 46 year low. Stop drugs!”
>> Reuters (4/5, Schrank) notes that members of the group of “impoverished Central American migrants...that angered...Trump said they would stick together for safety even though the group will ends its journey in Mexico City rather than the US border.” Townhall (4/5, Reeves), meanwhile, says “Mexican immigration officials are working to issue transit visas to hundreds of marchers...to ease their travel through the country.” The Wall Street Journal (4/5, Montes) runs a similar story under the headline “Caravan Trump Put In Spotlight Is Splitting Up In Mexico.”
>> Trump Claims “Millions And Millions Of People” Voting Illegally. Media reports on Trump’s visit to West Virginia referred to his comments about voter fraud and dismissed them as false before moving on covering other parts of his remarks. ABC World News Tonight (4/5, story 2, 2:15, Vega) accused Trump of “reigniting his false claim of voter fraud” during his remarks, and showed him saying, “In many places, like California, the same person votes many times. You probably heard about that. They always like to say, that’s a conspiracy theory. Not a conspiracy theory, folks. Millions and millions of people.” ABC described Trump as “making false claims about voter fraud,” and the AP (4/5, Lucey, Lemire) accuses him of “repeating his unsubstantiated claim,” adding that “there have been isolated cases of voter fraud in the US,” but “past studies have found it to be exceptionally rare.” The Hill (4/5, Manchester) reports that the ACLU “responded to the President’s revival” of the “unfounded claim...in a tweet,” saying Trump is “peddling lies” to “delegitimize” democracy.
>> Foreign Policy
>> Trump Considering Additional $100 Billion In Chinese Tariffs.
>> The New York Times (4/5, Swanson, Bradsher) reports President Trump said Thursday the US “would consider slapping an additional $100 billion in tariffs on the Chinese, on top of the $50 billion the White House has already authorized, escalating a potentially damaging trade dispute with China.” In a statement, Trump said he was responding to “unfair retaliation” by China, which released a list on Wednesday of $50 billion in American products that would be hit by tariffs. Said Trump, “Rather than remedy its misconduct, China has chosen to harm our farmers and manufacturers,” adding that he has instructed the USTR to determine if another $100 billion in tariffs were warranted. The Washington Times (4/5, Boyer) says the move is “escalating his trade feud with China,” and to Politico (4/5, Cassella), Trump “once again ratcheted up the tension in his ongoing trade dispute with China.” Bloomberg News (4/5) says the move “threatens to unravel efforts by top US and Chinese trade officials to lower the heat and reach an agreement that could stave off an escalating conflict.” USA Today (4/5, Korte), however, says Trump’s directive “merely begins the process of instituting sanctions, which begins with a 30-day review period in which the White House will seek public comments on the proposal.”
>> Bloomberg News (4/5, Mayeda, Cirilli) reports that during a visit to West Virginia on Thursday, Trump called Chinese President Xi Jinping a “friend,” but said it’s time to stop China from “taking advantage” of America over trade. Said Trump, “You have to go after the people who aren’t treating you right. I think we’re going to have a fantastic relationship long term with China but we have to get this straightened out, we have to have some balance.” The Wall Street Journal(4/5, A1, Davis) reports Trump also said he would instruct the Agriculture Secretary to develop a plan “to protect our farmers and agricultural interests” from Chinese tariffs, but provided no details. The Washington Examiner (4/5, Kasperowicz) reports the Administration this week “held out the idea that negotiations with China could be a way to avoid a trade war...but so far, it hasn’t offered any indication of when those talks might happen or how successful they might be.” When asked if there are any meetings planned with China, the USTR’s office told the Examiner there are “no updates to announce.”
>> NYTimes, Reuters: China Defiant In Response US Trade Moves. A New York Times (4/5, Myers) analysis says Chinese officials “sound supremely confident that they can win a trade war with President Trump.” State-run media has depicted Trump “as a reckless bully intent on undermining the global trading system,” while Vice Minister of Finance Zhu Guangyao declared at a press conference, “China is not afraid of a trade war.” Reuters (4/5) similarly says Chinese state-run media declared Thursday that Beijing “would win any trade war with the United States,” said it would “never surrendered to external pressure.”
>> Dimon: “Not Unreasonable” For US To Seek Fair Trade With China. USA Today (4/5, Shell) reports JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon says it is “not unreasonable” for the US to push for fairer trade terms with China. Weighing in on the recent trade fight between China and the US in his annual letter to shareholders released Thursday, Dimon said the US has “entered a time of uncertainty over global trade,” but stressed that the “proper resolution of serious trade issues is good for the US and for the rest of the world.” President Trump’s complaints about China, Dimon argues, are “legitimate,” and while it’s “not unreasonable” for the US to push for more equal trade terms with China, he warns that there “is always a chance that miscalculations on the part of the various actors could lead to negative outcomes.”
>> Zakaria: Trump Is Right That China Is “A Trade Cheat.” Fareed Zakaria writes in his Washington Post (4/5) column that “on one big, fundamental point, President Trump is right: China is a trade cheat.” He adds that “previous administrations exerted pressure privately, worked within the system and tried to get allies on board, with limited results. Getting tough on China is a case where I am willing to give Trump’s unconventional methods a try. Nothing else has worked.”
>> WPost: Soybean Farmers “Increasingly Alarmed” By Trump’s Trade Policy. The Washington Post (4/5, Dewey) reports that “soybean-producing counties went for Trump by a margin of more than 12 percent, according to a Washington Post analysis. And yet on Wednesday...thousands of...farmers woke to the news that China had proposed retaliatory tariffs on soybeans, corn and other row crops as part of a trade war the president started. Farmers say they haven’t given up on Trump. But they’re increasingly alarmed by his approach.”
>> In Tweet, Trump Criticizes WPost Reporting On Chinese Tariffs. Politico (4/5, Morin) reports Trump on Thursday “continued his war against The Washington Post – this time taking issue” with its reporting on the new tariffs he imposed on China. Trump tweeted, “The Fake News Washington Post, Amazon’s ‘chief lobbyist,’ has another (of many) phony headlines, ‘Trump Defiant As China Adds Trade Penalties.’ WRONG! Should read, ‘Trump Defiant as U.S. Adds Trade Penalties, Will End Barriers And Massive I.P. Theft.’ Typically bad reporting!”
>> Despite New Tariffs, US Aluminum Prices Falling. The Wall Street Journal (4/5, B1, Tita) reports that US aluminum prices are falling despite new tariffs imposed by the Administration last month. According to the Journal, some analysts believe aluminum prices will fall further as US manufacturers follow through on plans to boost production.
>> Trump: NAFTA Deal Could Come “Fairly Soon.” Bloomberg News (4/5, Mayeda, Wingrove) reports that in remarks made during yesterday’s visit to West Virginia, Trump “said the US may reach a deal soon on a revamped Nafta while playing down expectations the announcement will come next week at a regional summit in Peru.” Said Trump, “We’re working very hard on Nafta with Mexico and Canada. We’ll have something, I think, fairly soon.” Trump, however, also said, “There’s no rush. We’ll get it done right or we’ll terminate it.” The New York Times (4/5, Swanson), meanwhile, reports the Administration “is aiming to announce a preliminary deal...this month, moving to resolve one trading conflict as a separate clash with China looms.” While “a final agreement is far from guaranteed...the White House is revising some of its more aggressive demands, particularly related to automobiles, which had been a source of tension with Canada and Mexico.”
>> Trudeau: Talks Have Advanced In “Significant Way.” The Washington Times (4/5, Miller) notes, meanwhile, that “Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday that NAFTA talks had advanced ‘in a significant way,’ signaling a deal was in the works as the negotiations entered a final stage with high-level officials meeting in Washington.”
>> In Latin America Next Week, Trump To Urge Nations To Choose US Over China. The Washington Times (4/5, Boyer) reports Trump’s goal at next week’s Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru “will be to promote the US over ‘external economic aggression’ by China.” A “senior Administration official” told reporters Thursday, “We want to be the partner of choice for Latin American partners to work with. We share similar Democratic values.” The President also will focus on US national security at the summit, encouraging leaders “to take stronger action to disrupt transnational criminal organizations that traffic in drugs and illegal immigration smuggling, officials said.” CQ Roll Call (4/5, Bennett) reports “senior Administration officials made clear” that Trump “intends to discuss a number of potentially prickly issues” with leaders, saying he “will press them on ‘economic aggression’ in the Western Hemisphere by some of their governments and investors like China.”
>> WPost: Trump, Generals Have Different Definitions Of “Victory” In Syria.
>> The Washington Post (4/5, Jaffe) reports President Trump’s recent pronouncement that he would be pulling troops out of Syria “very soon” has “laid bare a major source of tension between the president and his generals.” While Trump has “made winning on the battlefields of Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan a central tenet of his foreign policy and tough-guy identity,” the President and the military “hold frequently opposing ideas about exactly what winning means.” According to the Post, “those differences have played out in heated Situation Room debates over virtually every spot on the globe where US troops are engaged in combat, said senior administration officials. And they contributed to the dismissal last month of Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster” as national security adviser.
>> As Trump Calls For Pullout, ISIS Attempts To Re-Group In Syria. The AP (4/5, El Deeb, Issa) reports that as Trump calls for a withdraw of US troops from Syria, insisting that ISIS is “almost completely defeated,” the group “is showing signs of a revival.” Despite being expelled from the towns they once occupied, the militants have “regrouped elsewhere and revised their tactics, recently mounting a brazen attack on a border city in eastern Syria and expanding their footprint inside” Damascus.
>> More Marines Sent To Syria As Trump Mulls Withdrawal. CNN’s Situation Room (4/5, 6:56 p.m. EDT) reports Trump “may be talking about bringing troops out of Syria,” but “several dozen additional Marines have arrived in northern Syria, according to two US officials.” Trump “says he is willing to keep forces there in the short term, but he wants US troops out of Syria soon.” The New York Times (4/5, Gibbons-Neff) reports that “amid all the mixed messaging, images of newly built American bases in the Syrian city Manbij had already started appearing online.”
>> Commentary Divided On Whether US Should Withdraw. The Washington Post (4/5) editorializes that Trump’s “national security team appears to have barely persuaded him not to make the mistake of abruptly withdrawing US forces from Syria,” but he “still seems determined to abandon the arena soon and at the expense of American friends, such as Israel and Jordan, and to the advantage of Russia and Iran.” The Post says Trump’s “intended retreat is a gift to Vladimir Putin.”
>> The New York Times (4/5) editorializes that “the problem is that, once again, Mr. Trump has an impulse — in this case, he even has the right one — but no strategy, an emotion but little insight into reality on the ground. His call to withdraw troops immediately is at odds with warnings from American commanders who believe that it could lead to a resurgence by ISIS.” The Times argues that it is “a familiar pattern for Mr. Trump: He skips past the hard work of commander in chief, seeking a quick political gain while foisting responsibility for difficult military decisions onto the generals. Fortunately, in this case, the generals have persuaded him to sidestep a quick withdrawal in favor of a more studied approach.”
>> A USA Today (4/5) editorial says ISIS “is on the brink of defeat,” and a withdrawal of US troops at this time “would be premature, as Trump’s military and diplomatic advisers are cautioning him. A crucial lesson of America’s involvement in the region is that a conflict isn’t over the moment the shooting subsides.”
>> Former Rep. Ron Paul, however, writes for USA Today (4/5) that he “was disappointed to hear President Trump so quickly reverse his position on removing US troops from Syria.” Paul argues that “the facts are clear: ISIS is on the ropes. It controls no significant town or population center. It is holed up in the desert and is being eliminated by the Syrian government and its allies.”
>> Details Of National Security Council Meeting On Syria Leaked To Media. The Daily Caller (4/5, Pickrell) reports that “as much of the national security establishment pushes back” against Trump’s calls for a swift withdrawal from Syria, “officials are again leaking details of the president’s classified meetings to the media.” During a National Security Council meeting on Tuesday, Trump became “testy” and signaled “his patience is running out,” according to accounts leaked to CNN and The Associated Press.
>> Pentagon Spending Roughly $1 Million On Detainee Operations In Syria. The New York Times(4/5, Schmitt) reports the US military is spending “about $1 million to help detain thousands of Islamic State fighters and their family members in makeshift camps run by Kurdish militias in northern Syria, pulling the Pentagon deeper into the war zone detention operations it has sought to avoid.” According to Pentagon and Kurdish officials, “several thousand detainees — including at least 400 fighters from more than three dozen countries and their families, as well as other Syrian militants — were being held in several camps.” US officials, however, “insist American personnel are not strengthening the buildings or guarding the detainees themselves, just paying for it.”
>> Trove Of ISIS Documents Show How Group Ran Government. In a nearly 6,000-word piece, the New York Times (4/4, A1, Callimachi) reports on the contents of a trove of more than 15,000 pages of documents discovered in Mosul after the defeat of ISIS. The Times “worked with outside experts to verify their authenticity, and a team of journalists spent 15 months translating and analyzing them page by page.” Taken together, the documents “reveal the inner workings of a complex system of government” that showed how ISIS “realized its dream: to establish its own state, a theocracy they considered a caliphate, run according to their strict interpretation of Islam.”
>> US Approves $1.3 Billion Weapons Sale To Saudi Arabia.
>> The AP (4/5, Lederman) reports the Administration “signed off Thursday on selling more than $1.3 billion in artillery to Saudi Arabia, giving a vote of confidence to the Saudi military as young Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman concludes a marathon tour of the United States.” Since Crown Prince Mohammed arrived in the US two weeks ago, the Administration “has green-lighted more than $2.3 billion in arms sales to the kingdom,” and the latest deal includes “about 180 Paladin howitzer systems, artillery-firing vehicles on tracks.”
>> Trump To Host Emir Of Qatar At White House Next Week. The AP (4/5) reports that the emir of Qatar will be meet with President Trump at the White House next week. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Thursday that Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani will meet with Trump on April 10 to discuss ways to strengthen ties between the two countries and “advance our common security and economic priorities.”
>> Israeli Report: Iran Continues Work On Ballistic Missiles.
>> The Washington Free Beacon (4/5, Kredo) reports Iran “continues to hide key work it undertook on nuclear weapons development while perfecting ballistic missile technology that could carry such a weapon, according to a new report from a senior Israeli military official that has fueled calls from Trump administration insiders and Congress” to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal. According to Jacob Nagel, the former head of Israel’s National Security Council, “significant flaws” in the nuclear deal has “enabled Iran’s ballistic missile program and permitted the Islamic Republic to obfuscate ongoing work on nuclear enrichment and possible weaponization technologies.”
>> Despite US Sanctions, India Close To Buying Russian Missile System.
>> The New York Times (4/5, Abi-Habib) reports India’s defense minister is visiting Moscow this week to “finalize the purchase of a Russian missile defense system, Indian officials say, in a weapons deal that would violate American sanctions against Russia.” The potential $6 billion deal comes as the Administration is “both weighing more extensive sanctions against Russia and trying to forge a military alliance with India.” The Times says that if the purchase is completed, the Administration “would have to choose between punishing India for violating the sanctions or granting an exemption to avoid souring the relationship.”
>> At Security Council, Russia Denies Alleged Attack On Former Spy In UK.
>> The CBS Evening News (4/5, story 7, 1:40, Glor) reported that during a UN Security Council meeting Thursday, Russia’s ambassador “pushed back hard at British allegations that Moscow poisoned a former spy and his daughter in England.” Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia warned the British were “playing with fire and will be sorry.” Reuters (4/5) quotes Nebenzia as telling the Council, “Novichok is not copyrighted by Russia in spite of the obviously Russian name,” adding that the US and Britain had both developed the nerve agent. On NBC Nightly News (4/5, story 8, 1:30, Holt), Bill Neely said Russia “denied again today poisoning” former Russian spy Sergei Skripla and his daughter, Yulia. Foreign Minister Lavrov claimed Thursday that “the poisoning was staged to justify expelling Russian diplomats.”
>> Russian State TV Airs Audio Said To Be Of Skripal’s Daughter. On the CBS Evening News(4/5, story 7, 1:40, Glor), Charlie D’Agata reported that Russian state TV “says it has a new recording” of former Russian spy Sergei Skripla’s daughter, Yulia. According to D’Agata, “Even for state television, it was a remarkable coup. Yulia Skripal had recovered enough from being poisoned to call her cousin. ‘Everything is fine,’ Yulia is alleged to have said. The unverified called was presented to a studio audience in Moscow. She also said that her father, who is still in critical condition in a UK hospital, was sleeping.” On NBC Nightly News (4/5, story 8, 1:30, Holt), Bill Neely, calling it “an extraordinary recovery,” reported that Yulia, “poisoned with nerve agent, today thanking her doctors in a statement, and on Russian television an extraordinary broadcast of what it claimed was a phone conversation between Yulia and her cousin, discussing her father’s Sergei. ‘Everyone’s health is fine. No irreparable harm was done,’ she says, but there is no proof the voice is Yulia’s.”
>> The New York Times (4/5, Barry) says the audio “contradicted public statements by the British authorities, who have described Mr. Skripal’s condition as ‘critical but stable,’ and said that only Ms. Skripal was conscious.” Within hours of the program’s broadcast, British police released a statement on Ms. Skripal’s behalf, in which she said she “woke up over a week ago now” and that her “strength is growing daily.”
>> Turkish Deputy PM: Agents Have Seized 80 Coup Plot Suspects In 18 Countries.
>> The New York Times (4/5, Gladstone) reports Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said Thursday that “secret agents in 18 countries have seized 80 Turks suspected of having links to a group accused of plotting a coup in 2016 and returned them to Turkey.” Speaking in a Turkish television interview, Bozdag “did not specify how precisely such arrests had been carried out. Nor did he disclose where the suspects had been detained.” The Times says the scope of the arrests “conjured up analogies to the Central Intelligence Agency’s covert seizures and imprisonments of suspects after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.”
>> Domestic Policy
>> Trump Wants 2,000 To 4,000 Troops At Border Until Wall Is Built.
>> ABC World News Tonight (4/5, story 2, 2:15, Vega) reported President Trump told reporters on Air Force One during his flight back to DC from West Virginia that “he wants to send between 2,000 and 4,000 troops to the border,” and that “they could be stationed there until his border wall is built.” The CBS Evening News (4/5, story 2, 1:10, Garrett) reported, “Still, no details on when those troops will arrive or how long they will stay, though the President implied the deployments might last until the border wall is built.” The AP (4/5, Snow, Lucey) notes, meanwhile, that “Trump said he plans to keep the guard members there until a ‘large portion of the wall is built.’” NBC Nightly News (4/5, story 2, 2:25, Holt) said in its broadcast that “some are skeptical that the President’s troop surge is the answer, with or without a wall.” The AP (4/5, Snow, Lucey) indicates Trump’s “first estimate on guard levels he believes needed...would be a lower number of troops than the 6,400 National Guard members that former President George Bush sent to the border between 2006 and 2008.” The AP adds that earlier yesterday, US Customs and Border Protection’s acting deputy commissioner Ronald Vitiello “cautioned against a rushed deployment,” telling Fox News, “We are going to do it as quickly as we can do it safely.”
>> Also yesterday, the Washington Times (4/5, Persons) reports, DHS Secretary Nielsen “said...National Guard agents would act in a support role if they are sent to the southern border.” Nielsen told Fox News, “They help provide medical care for those that we do interdict. They’d help us to fleet maintain. There’s a lot of mechanics to use in that terrain. ... So it’s a lot of support functions that free up the Border Patrol to do what they do best, which is enforce border laws.” The Washington Post (4/5, Miroff) reports “federal agents arrested or denied entry to 50,308 unauthorized migrants in March, the highest one-month total since...Trump took office and a 200 percent increase over the same period last year, when crossings fell to historic lows.” The Times adds that “in a statement, DHS spokesman Tyler Q. Houlton said Thursday that the sudden increase was evidence ‘the crisis at our Southwest border is real.’” The New York Times (4/5, Fernandez) runs a similar report.
>> California Officials Not Yet On Board With Plan For Guard Deployment. The AP (4/5, Snow) reports, “The Republican governors of the border states of” Texas, Arizona and New Mexico “welcomed deployment of the guard along the southwest border as a matter of public safety, but it was unclear how Democratic California Gov. Jerry Brown would respond to Trump’s call.” The Washington Examiner (4/5, Morrongiello) says DHS “officials spent Thursday morning making calls to California lawmakers, the state’s National Guard unit, and Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown about the need for increased manpower at the US-Mexico border, where immigration officials faced a 37 percent surge in attempted illegal crossings last month.” A “White House official told the Washington Examiner that...Nielsen has already had multiple calls with Brown.” Interviewed on Fox News, notes the New York Post (4/5, Moore), Nielsen “declined to comment on what would happen if Brown declined.”
>> Guatemala Defends US Move To Deploy Guard To Border. Breitbart (4/5, Ortiz, Darby) reports that “top government officials in Guatemala voiced support for...Trump’s recent order to mobilize National Guard troops to the US-Mexico Border – citing the nation’s sovereign right to do so.” Guatemalan Chancellor Sandra Jovel, “the country’s top diplomat,” said yesterday, “Obviously the United States has their sovereignty and the right to make a decision that corresponds to their country. ... We also have an obligation to protect our people.” Breitbart adds that “the presidential spokesman for Guatemala, Heinz Heimann, considered the move normal” and said, “We ourselves are doing the same in redeploying the military from the streets to the border.”
>> Peña Nieto Rebukes Trump. USA Today (4/5, Stanglin) reports Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, in a statement “personally directed to President Trump,” called on the President Thursday to “negotiate with Mexico in a constructive spirit,” saying the challenges between the two nations “never justify threatening or disrespectful attitudes between our countries.” In a five-minute, video statement on Twitter, Peña Nieto said, “If your recent statements are the result of frustration due to domestic policy issues, to your laws or to your Congress, it is to them that you should turn to, not to Mexicans. We’re not going to permit that negative rhetoric to define our actions. We’re only going to work in the best interest of the Mexicans.” The Washington Post (4/5, Partlow) calls the statement Peña Nieto’s “most direct public rebuke” of Trump, and says it was “remarkable because Peña Nieto has endured, with diplomatic courtesy and sometimes stony silence, about two years of insults and threats from Trump about Mexican immigrants, the trade relationship, border security, and the fight against drug traffickers.”
>> Another Orange County City Files Suit Over California Sanctuary Laws. The Los Angeles Times(4/5, Vega) reports that the city of Huntington Beach, California has “filed suit Wednesday in Orange County Superior Court against the state, governor and attorney general,” challenging the state’s sanctuary laws “that provide expanded protection for immigrants in the US illegally. ... The city joins a wave of opposition in Orange County to laws such as Senate Bill 54, which in many cases prohibits state and local police agencies from notifying federal officials when immigrants in their custody who may be subject to deportation are about to be released.”
>> Reuters Poll: Support For Trump Immigration Policies Down Slightly Since Feb. 2017. Reuters(4/5) reports that a Reuters/Ipsos poll found that “while people who voted for President Donald Trump are still largely supportive of his immigration policies, their approval has eroded somewhat since he took office.” Overall, “41 percent said in March they approve of Trump’s immigration policies, down from 48 percent in February 2017.” Meanwhile, “about nine in 10 Trump voters still approve of the president’s immigration policies,” but “they are somewhat less enthusiastic about his performance now on one of the key issues he campaigned on.” Moreover, “27 percent of Hispanics said in March they approve of Trump’s handling of immigration, down from 38 percent who said so in February 2017.”
>> LATimes: Immigration Debate Could Solidify Supporters Of Both Parties. The Los Angeles Times(4/5, Decker) writes that while President Trump and many Republicans believe Democrats’ stance on immigration will boost the GOP among swing voters, “many Democratic strategists believe just the opposite – that Trump’s actions give their candidates an advantage by reminding voters of the president’s unpopular attacks on immigrants and members of minority communities.” The Times says “both may be right – at least in part” – because while “Trump’s actions may not lead to any huge swing of voters toward or against him,” they could solidify viewpoints and increase voter enthusiasm on both sides.
>> WTimes: Few Border Patrol Agents Actually Patrolling Border. The Washington Times (4/5, Dinan) reports that according to its review of data, “on one Sunday last month in a key stretch of the border in Texas, just 12.5 percent” of the Border Patrol agents on duty “were patrolling along the border. ... At one point during the day shift, that worked out to 16 agents patrolling more than 55 miles – and five of them were on the waters of the Rio Grande, leaving just 11 agents – one for every 5 miles – to watch the land.”
>> NYTimes A1: Refugee Office Head Has Focused On Migrant Abortion Requests. The New York Times (4/5, A1, Peters) reports under the headline “Under Trump, An Office Meant To Help Refugees Enters The Abortion Wars” that HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement Director Scott Lloyd, who “oversees the assistance program for the tens of thousands of refugees” who seek shelter in the US and “who is also responsible for the care of young, undocumented refugees,” spends “much of his time trying to stop those who want an abortion.” Lloyd’s staff is required to provide him with a “spreadsheet each week that tells him about any unaccompanied minors who have asked for” an abortion, and “in at least one case he directed staff to read to one girl a description of what happens during an abortion.”
>> WPost Profiles US Citizen Child Of Deported Parents, Now Living In Mexico. The Washington Post (4/5) runs a 2,800-word feature on a 16-year-old US citizen who lives in Mexico along with her family. She is considering returning to Michigan in the hope of eventually entering medical school. The Post writes, “There are thousands of kids like her in Mexico – US citizen children of undocumented parents who have been deported, who are struggling to adapt to a country they don’t quite know, a language they don’t quite speak and people who often regard them as oddities.”
>> Minnesota Governor Urges ICE Not To Deport Professor To Kenya. The Minneapolis Star Tribune (4/5, Koumpilova) reports MInnesota Gov. Mark Dayton has called on ICE not to deport Mzenga Wanyama, a professor at Minnesota’s Augsburg University, to Kenya. Wanyama said on Thursday that immigration officials have given him “90 days to show he has a path to regain his legal status – or leave the country. ... Wanyama lost an asylum bid and appeals years ago, and his immigration attorney said an application to reopen his case faces uncertain prospects.”
>> Trump Offers Support For Pruitt, But Others In Administration Distance Themselves.
>> All three broadcast networks ran reports on the continuing controversy surrounding EPA Administrator Pruitt. On ABC World News Tonight (4/5, story 5, 2:40, Llamas), Mary Bruce reported, “Boarding Air Force One today, President Trump said he has Scott Pruitt’s back. ... Later, he gave this ringing endorsement.” Trump: “Scott has done a fantastic job. I think he’s a fantastic person.” Bruce: “But privately tonight, a senior White House official says there is growing frustration with the embattled EPA head. ... Pruitt defend[ed] himself in a contentious one-on-one with Fox News, even though one official says the White House told him not to do the interview.” On the CBS Evening News (4/5, story 3, 2:00, Glor), Julianna Goldman reported that Trump “praised his embattled EPA administrator, but asked if he’s bothered by a torrent of negative headlines about Scott Pruitt, Mr. Trump left the door open saying, ‘I have to look a them. I have to make that determination. But he’s a good man. He’s done a terrific job, but I’ll take a look at it.’”
>> Lester Holt said on NBC Nightly News (4/5, story 3, 1:35) that with Pruitt “under fire over ethics questions, President Trump gave Pruitt a strong new endorsement late today. It came despite growing speculation that Pruitt could be the next administration official to be out of a job.” The AP (4/5) reports, “White House officials sounded increasingly doubtful” about Pruitt’s future, even as Trump “appeared to throw him a public lifeline. Trump, asked if he still has confidence in Pruitt while boarding Air Force One, responded: ‘I do.’ That was contrasted by more tepid remarks” from White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley, who told Fox News, “I can’t speak to the future of Scott Pruitt.” The Washington Post (4/5, A1, Eilperin, Dennis, Dawsey) reports that even as Trump “repeatedly expressed his support for Pruitt in public, top White House aides began to escalate their disapproval, suggesting the administrator has mischaracterized his role in boosting the salaries of two employees.” Pruitt’s “decision to ignore” Chief of Staff Kelly’s “warnings to be more cautious about giving public interviews only complicated his standing with many of Trump’s key aides.”
>> The New York Times (4/5, Lipton, Vogel, Friedman) reports that at least five EPA officials, “four of them high-ranking, were reassigned or demoted, or requested new jobs in the past year after they raised concerns about the spending and management” by Pruitt, including “unusually large spending on office furniture and first-class travel, as well as certain demands by Mr. Pruitt for security coverage, such as requests for a bulletproof vehicle and an expanded 20-person protective detail.” The New York Times (4/5, Friedman) reports separately that Pruitt, who “until recently ranked among the stars” of the Trump Administration, is now “mired in a series of ethical questions about his housing arrangements, staffing decisions and costly travel at taxpayer expense.” One of his top advisers resigned Wednesday, and his chief of staff “has grown frustrated enough that he has also considered resigning.” Politico (4/5, Guillén, Holden, Nelson) headlines its report “Pruitt’s Troubles Deepen,” and Reuters (4/5) also has a report.
>> Meanwhile, Breitbart (4/5, Moran) reports that Sen. Rand Paul “backed” Pruitt “in a tweet on Thursday, calling Pruitt ‘likely the bravest and most conservative member of Trump’s cabinet.’”
>> CNN: Trump Mulled Naming Pruitt To Replace Sessions As Recently As This Week. CNN (4/5, Brown, Collins) reports on its website that Trump floated replacing Attorney General Sessions with Pruitt “as recently as this week, even as the scandal-ridden [Pruitt] has faced a growing list of negative headlines, according to people close to the President.” According to “one source familiar with Trump’s thinking,” Trump “was 100% still trying to protect Pruitt because Pruitt is his fill-in for Sessions.”
>> Mulvaney Hired Two CFPB Senior Staff Members At High Salaries. The New York Times (4/5, Cowley) reports that though Acting CFPB Director Mulvaney, who “has complained that the regulator engages in ‘wasteful spending’” and requested a budget of zero dollars for the next fiscal year, he “appointed two senior staff members who are paid salaries of more than $230,000, amounts that are far above what they had been earning in their previous government jobs.” Of the CFPB’s 1,600 employees, “219 make more than $200,000, according to the records reviewed by The Times.”
>> Trump Says He Was Unaware Of Payment To Stormy Daniels.
>> President Trump’s comments about the Stormy Daniels story during a Q&A with reporters on Air Force One generated extensive media attention, including the three lead reports on the major network newscasts. The network stories featured both Trump’s comments yesterday and footage from the porn star’s 60 Minutes interview where, says the Washington Post (4/5, Johnson), Daniels claimed “she was threatened for attempting to tell her story publicly” and she “accepted the money from [Trump attorney Michael] Cohen because she was scared for her family.”
>> ABC World News Tonight (4/5, lead story, 2:05, Llamas) said Trump offered “a short but forceful denial about knowing anything about that $130,000 hush payment his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, paid...just days before the 2016 election.” Footage was then showed of a reporter asking Trump whether he knew about the payment, and of the President replying, “No. No, what else?” Further pressed, Trump said, “You have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael’s my attorney. And you’ll have to ask Michael.” The CBS Evening News (4/5, lead story, 1:20, Glor) ran the same exchange, and noted that “in a statement” via Twitter, Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti, said, “We very much look forward to testing the truthfulness of Mr. Trump’s feigned lack of knowledge. It is one thing to deceive the press and quite another to do so under oath.’” In a similar story, NBC Nightly News (4/5, lead story, 2:10, Alexander) said Cohen’s “payment less than two weeks before the 2016 election,” and a “watchdog group” is “filing a claim” that “this is an illegal campaign contribution.” Joyce Vance, NBC News contributor, was shown saying, “This absolute could be an illegal campaign contribution. It looks like an in-kind donation made to the Trump campaign that wasn’t reported by the campaign on FEC filings.”
>> The New York Times (4/5, Davis) reports Trump “said he did not know where the money had come from,” and USA Today (4/5, Korte) that his “comments could have legal ramifications for Cohen” and his “denial could bolster Daniels’ claim that the non-disclosure agreement is unenforceable because Trump didn’t sign it.” Along those lines, Daniels’ attorney Avenatti also tweeted, “Good (actually GREAT) things come to those who wait!!! The strength of our case just went up exponentially. You can’t have an agreement when one party claims to know nothing about it.” Bloomberg News (4/5, Epstein) notes “Cohen has said he paid Daniels $130,000 out of his own pocket weeks before the 2016 election, and that neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was directly or indirectly a party to the transaction.” The Washington Examiner (4/5, Westwood) similarly reports that “Trump did not sign the agreement, and the White House has maintained that the president denies ever having a sexual relationship with Daniels,” and Politico(4/5, Lima), the Wall Street Journal (4/5, Ballhaus, Palazzolo), Reuters (4/5) and the AP (4/5), among other news outlets, run similar reports this morning.
>> CNN (4/5, Liptak) describes Trump as “agitated,” and reports that his “response broke a months-long public silence...on the matter, though he’s fumed about the issue in private and adamantly denied to his associates Daniels’ claim he had an affair with her in 2006.” The Hill (4/5, Fabian) similarly indicates that though “never shy about sharing his opinions, “Trump “had remained conspicuously silent about Daniels.”
>> Daniels Attorney Says His Client “Will Never Accept Any Settlement.” Avenatti also tweeted last night, “Be clear: We will NEVER accept any settlement, regardless of the amount of money, that does not include Mr. Cohen and Mr. Trump coming 100% (meaning 100%) clean with the American people. People that say this is about money haven’t been paying attention.”
>> Trump: Dodd-Frank Re-Write “Should Be Done Fairly Quickly.”
>> The Hill (4/5, Lane) reports that in remarks during his visit yesterday to West Virginia, President Trump said that “bipartisan efforts to loosen strict banking rules enacted after the 2008 financial crisis ‘should be done fairly quickly.’” Trump “said during a West Virginia event on tax policy that his administration is pushing to ease lending restrictions imposed by the Dodd-Frank Act.” Said Trump, “It should be done fairly quickly. ... We’re actually getting – you won’t believe this – bipartisan support.”
>> Mulvaney Says Dodd-Frank Rules Allow Him Not To Respond To Warren’s Questions. The Washington Examiner (4/5, Lawler) reports “acting Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Mick Mulvaney has told Sen. Elizabeth Warren...that he doesn’t plan on responding to her questions about the agency, and said it’s her fault that he is not required to answer.” Mulvaney, “a conservative who was an outspoken critic of the bureau during his time as a congressman, told Warren in a letter sent Wednesday that the structure of the agency, which she helped design, shields him from accountability.” Wrote Mulvaney, “I encourage you to consider the possibility that the frustration you are experiencing now, and that which I had a few years back, are both inevitable consequences of the fact that...Dodd-Frank...insulates the Bureau from virtually any accountability to the American people through their elected representatives.” Mulvaney “told Warren that he wouldn’t be answering any of the 105 unanswered questions she submitted to him,” but said he would “discuss them during congressional testimony.”
>> NYTimes: White House, California In “Multifront Legal War.”
>> The New York Times (4/5, Liptak) reports on the “furious multifront legal war” between the Trump Administration and California. The state “has filed 29 lawsuits against the federal government since President Trump took office, on issues including immigration, the environment and voting rights,” and the Justice Department is suing California over immigrant protections and alleged interference with the sale of federal lands. The Times looks at some of the “biggest legal clashes.”
>> White House Presses For EPA-California Compromise On Emissions. The New York Times (4/5) reports that the White House is pressing the EPA to find a compromise with California over auto emissions. Automakers “favor a more moderate approach to a regulatory rollback than the one favored” by EPA Administrator Pruitt, and officials are concerned that a battle “could throw the entire auto market into disarray.”
>> San Francisco Sues Sessions Over Civil Rights Guidance. Reuters (4/5, Lynch) reports that the city of San Francisco has filed suit against Attorney General Sessions, “asking a federal court to overturn his December decision to revoke legal guidance designed to protect minorities, the indigent and disabled.” Last December, Sessions “announced he was doing away with legal guidance that he deemed to be ‘unnecessary, inconsistent with existing law, or otherwise improper.’”
>> Nunes Threatens Suit To Force FBI To Disclose Origins Of Trump-Russia Probe.
>> The Washington Times (4/5, Scarborough) reports, “The FBI is refusing to disclose additional information about its decision to begin investigating then-candidate Donald Trump in July 2016, prompting Rep. Devin Nunes to threaten a showdown in federal court.” Nunes, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on intelligence, “sent a letter to the Justice Department saying the FBI will not un-redact internal electronic communications provided the panel on how the investigation got started.” Nunes “says the FBI has blacked out large portions of FBI electronic messages.” The FBI also “is resisting Mr. Nunes’ demand to make documents available to lawmakers on the application for a court-approved wiretap on former Trump volunteer Carter Page.” Politico (4/5, Cheney) says Nunes’ “inquiry is the latest sign of a stark partisan divide on the committee, where Democrats charge that Republicans have been more interested in covering for the president than in getting to the bottom of Kremlin meddling.”
>> DOJ Misses Subpoena Deadline. The Washington Examiner (4/5, Correll) reports DOJ “missed a deadline to submit documents ordered in a subpoena by the House Judiciary Committee, aggravating Republicans who were eager to see documents on a variety of issues, including the agency’s investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server.” Chairman Bob Goodlatte “sent the subpoena to the DOJ two weeks ago, after the agency failed to respond to a request for the documents from Goodlatte and House Oversight Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., that was issued four months prior.”
>> Former CIA Station Chief: Brennan “Doing Putin’s Bidding.” The Daily Caller (4/5, Ross) reports “former CIA station chief” Daniel Hoffman “says that former CIA Director John Brennan ‘is doing Putin’s bidding’ by publicly attacking and speculating about...Trump.” Writing for Cipher Brief(4/5), a national security website, Hoffman “says that Brennan’s recent remarks play right into Putin’s hands.” Hoffman “asserts that Brennan’s ‘cringe worthy’ tweets and recent speculation that Putin is blackmailing Trump has added to the political polarization that Putin seeks.” Hoffman also “argues that Brennan is fueling speculation that the Obama administration’s intelligence team unfairly targeted the Trump campaign and the Trump presidential transition team.”
>> Facebook Promises To Do Better On Privacy. ABC World News Tonight (4/5, story 6, 0:35, Llamas) reported Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg told “Bloomberg the social media company was slow to react” to the privacy scandal and promised it “will do a better job handling security in the future.” Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg was shown saying, “There are real mistakes that we made and that I made. There’s a lot of concern about what happened in this election. We are certainly concerned about the foreign interference on our platform.” NBC Nightly News (4/5, story 5, 1:45, Holt) reported Facebook “officials are trying to contain the damage from that big data breach.” NBC (Kent) added, “As Facebook tries to reassure users about privacy concerns, CNBC reporting the company is pausing a secret hospital data collection project, in which it asks several major US hospitals to share patient information with the idea to match it up with user data Facebook had collected.”
>> Surgeon General Issues National Advisory On Administering Naloxone.
>> The New York Times (4/5, Goodnough) reports Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams “issued a national advisory Thursday urging more Americans to keep on hand and learn how to use the drug, naloxone, which can save the lives of people overdosing on opioids.” Adams said in a statement, “Each day we lose 115 Americans to an opioid overdose – that’s one person every 12.5 minutes.” The Times says the advisory “underscored the urgency of addressing” the deadly opioid epidemic, and discusses the effectiveness of naloxone. The AP (4/5, Rico) reports that the announcement was the Surgeon General’s office’s “first national public health advisory in 13 years,” and quotes Adams as saying, “You don’t have to be a policeman or a firefighter or a paramedic to save a life.” ABC World News Tonight (4/5, story 10, 0:20, Llamas) said Adams “wants families to have more access to the drug, especially if someone is at a high risk of overdose.” NBC Nightly News (4/5, story 4, 2:40, Holt) showed Adams saying, “The alternative is letting someone die. I don’t think it’s the individual’s fault. I think it’s the system’s fault.” The report discussed details of the costs for cities and the federal government of acquiring naloxone.
>> Philadelphia Considering Supervised Injection Sites. The CBS Evening News (4/5, story 8, 3:55, Glor) reported that Philadelphia “is now considering opening supervised injection sites.” Yet members of the community opposed injection sites at a public hearing yesterday, and the report quoted people on both sides of the issue as well as the city’s Health Commissioner, who explained the usefulness of the sites. CBS’ Jericka Duncan said, “A spokesperson for the mayor’s office says tax dollars will not be used,” adding, “City leaders are basically hoping a private company will step up to actually run this.”
>> Cance