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Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing


*From:* Bulletin Intelligence <Biden@BulletinIntelligence.com>
*Sent:* Tuesday, May 22, 2018 8:14 AM
*To:* Biden@BulletinIntelligence.com
*Subject:* Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing for
Tuesday, May 22, 2018


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[image: Image removed by sender. Office of Vice President Biden
Intelligence Briefing]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=001-ad7&t=c>

*To: Vice President Joe Biden*

*Tuesday, May 22, 2018 8:00 AM EDT*
Today's Table of Contents

*Leading the News <#SECTION_1>*

• DOJ To Expand Russia Probe To Include Alleged FBI Surveillance Of Trump
Campaign. <#S1>

*Foreign Policy <#SECTION_2>*

• Pompeo Lists Demands, Threatens Iran With “Strongest Sanctions In
History.” <#S2>

• Pence: Trump Willing To Walk Away From North Korea Summit. <#S3>

• Trump Touts Trade Concessions From China To Media Skepticism. <#S4>

• Russian Official: Putin Wants US, Turkish Troops Out Of Syria. <#S5>

• Pentagon IG: Taliban Holding Its Territory As It Launches “Devastating”
Attacks. <#S6>

• State Dept. Accuses Palestinian Protesters Of Intimidating US Diplomats.
<#S7>

• AP: New Documents Reveal Details Of Anti-Qatar Campaign In US. <#S8>

• US Imposes New Sanctions On Venezuela. <#S9>

*Domestic Policy <#SECTION_3>*

• Trump Hails Haspel’s Swearing-In As “Proud Milestone.” <#S10>

• Trump Signs Legislation Overturning CFPB Auto Lending Rule. <#S11>

• Politico: Trump To Increase Border Wall Funding Request By Half-Billion
Dollars. <#S12>

• SCOTUS: Employers Can Prevent Workers From Joining Together In Labor
Disputes. <#S13>

• Mnuchin Urges DOJ To Examine Google, Other Big Tech Companies. <#S14>

• Mulvaney Says He Has Spoken To McCarthy About Replacing Ryan. <#S15>

• Obamas Sign Multiyear Production Deal With Netflix. <#S16>

*Cancer Research <#SECTION_4>*

• NCI Awards Nearly $44M To USC For Cancer Monitoring In Los Angeles County.
<#S17>

• Study: Childhood Leukemia May Be Caused By Lack Of Infections. <#S18>

• May Outlines UK Plans To Use AI As Weapon In Fight Against Cancer. <#S19>

*Editorials/Op-Eds <#SECTION_5>*

• New York Times. <#S20>

• Washington Post. <#S21>

*Biden in the News <#SECTION_6>*

• Biden Foundation, YMCA Launch Initiative Aimed At Aiding LGBTQ Youth.
<#S22>

• Biden Announces Moderators For Remaining Dates On “American Promise Tour.”
<#S23>

• Columnist Highlights Dailey Lewis’ Remarks On Combating Child Sexual
Abuse. <#S24>

• Jill Biden Keynotes Event Benefiting “Philly Fights Cancer.” <#S25>
Leading the News
DOJ To Expand Russia Probe To Include Alleged FBI Surveillance Of Trump
Campaign.

Coverage of President Trump’s meeting with top law enforcement and
intelligence officials over whether the FBI had surveilled his 2016
campaign states that Trump managed to head off a collision with the DOJ by
reaching an agreement with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. However,
analyses offer an unfavorable assessment of Trump’s actions, stating that
he crossed a line he had previously recognized himself in forcing the DOJ’s
hand and accusing him of possibly interfering in the investigation.

On ABC World News Tonight[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=002-128&t=c>
(5/21, story 3, 2:40), for example, David Muir referred to “Trump’s growing
pressure on the Department of Justice. ... There was a meeting today at the
White House with the deputy attorney general in charge of the Mueller
investigation, and the President’s own recent pick now heading the FBI.”
ABC’s Jonathan Karl reported that Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher
Wray “arrived at the White House today for a meeting with a president
highly agitated about the Russia investigation” following a “New York Time
report that the FBI in late 2016 used an informant to question two Trump
campaign associates about their contacts with Russians. But there is no
evidence the FBI infiltrated the Trump campaign.”

On the CBS Evening News[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=003-bec&t=c>
(5/21, story 2, 2:00, Glor), Paula Reid reported that Rosenstein “arrived
at the White House this afternoon for a showdown with President Trump over
an FBI informant who had contacts with several Trump campaign aides during
the 2016 election. ... After today’s meeting, the President appeared
satisfied with that outcome.” On NBC Nightly News[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=004-111&t=c>
(5/21, story 3, 2:30, Holt), Hallie Jackson reported that Rosenstein is
“under orders to do something, finding a middle ground, expanding an
existing internal review but not starting a new one all together. The White
House now reiterating what the DOJ confirmed yesterday: It will ask the
Inspector General to look into any irregularities in tactics concerning the
Trump campaign.”

Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=005-c94&t=c>
(5/21) briefly reports that the DOJ “agreed to expand its investigation
into alleged Russia collusion in the 2016 election to include ‘any
irregularities’ involving FBI tactics on Trump’s presidential campaign, a
White House spokeswoman said.” The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=006-033&t=c>
(5/21, Kim, Zapotosky) reports that the meeting, which also included DNI
Coats, “lasted about an hour. Trump personally called to confer with the
officials, two people familiar with the request said,” though the White
House said it was scheduled last week.

USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=007-b96&t=c>
(5/21, Korte, Johnson) reports under the headline “In Extraordinary
Meeting, Trump Gets Involved In Congressional Oversight Of Russia Probe”
that Trump “met with top law enforcement and intelligence officials Monday
to pressure them to turn over to Congress information about the origins of
the FBI investigation into his own campaign.” The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=008-56b&t=c>
(5/21, Baker) also calls it an “extraordinary meeting” and reports that a
“frustrated and impatient” Trump “has embarked on what amounts to a
two-prong strategy to contain the threat and undercut the credibility of
the escalating investigations targeting him and his associates” – with both
a “blizzard of Twitter messages combined with a string of public
statements” by Rudy Giuliani and the “laying out [of] a series of red lines
to limit the reach and duration of the primary inquiry.”

Charlie Savage of the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=009-def&t=c>
(5/21) writes that with his demand the DOJ “open an investigation into the
F.B.I.’s scrutiny of his campaign contacts with Russia, he inched further
toward breaching an established constraint on executive power: The White
House does not make decisions about individual law enforcement
investigations. ... Almost since he took office, Mr. Trump has battered the
Justice Department’s independence indirectly.” But he had also
“acknowledged that as president, ‘I am not supposed to be involved with the
Justice Department,’ as he told a radio interviewer with frustration last
fall.”

Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=00a-e14&t=c>
(5/21, Samuelsohn, Cheney) reports that “under pressure” from Trump, DOJ
officials “have agreed to share highly classified information with
congressional leaders connected to the FBI’s investigation of Russian
interference” in the 2016 campaign. The New York Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=00b-ae3&t=c>
(5/21, Moore, Schultz) reports that congressional Republicans “have been
seeking details from the DOJ” about the informant, “but FBI officials have
balked at the request because they say identifying the person could harm
the investigation and endanger the source.” The Washington Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=00c-e84&t=c>
(5/21, Nelson) reports White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Chief
of Staff Kelly “will immediately set up a meeting with the FBI, DOJ, and
DNI together with congressional leaders to review highly classified and
other information they have requested.” The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=00d-587&t=c>
(5/21, Shear, Fandos) reports that the disclosure is expected “to happen
quickly, most likely before the end of the week.” The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=00e-c1e&t=c>
(5/21, Miller) headlines its report “Trump Calls Rod Rosenstein, FBI’s Wray
To The Carpet At White House.” The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=00f-265&t=c>
(5/21, Williams) also has a brief report.

The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=010-8cf&t=c>
(5/21) editorializes, “As the old saying goes, if the facts are against
you, argue the law. If the law is against you, argue the facts. If both the
facts and the law are against you, pound the table and yell. ... As the
Russia investigation burrows closer to the Oval Office, the president, his
staff, his collaborators in Congress and his defenders in the right-wing
media are sparing no institution in their quest to undermine it.” The Times
concludes, “The members of our law enforcement and intelligence communities
are trying to protect the country. Donald Trump and his supporters are
simply trying to protect Donald Trump.”

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=011-df7&t=c>
(5/21) editorializes that since Watergate, “presidents have understood the
importance of keeping a respectful distance from the Justice Department.”
Trump “has chafed at this arrangement,” and has now taken steps that “would
erode the norm that presidents do not inject politics into federal law
enforcement. ... The nation should not let the president distract from the
questions that need answering: What did Trump campaign officials know about
foreign plots to help them win, and what did they do about it? What
measures is the Trump administration taking to protect future elections
from foreign interference?”

Eugene Robinson writes in his Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=012-bf0&t=c>
(5/21) column, “Stop waiting for the constitutional crisis that President
Trump is sure to provoke. It’s here.” Trump “is determined to use the
Justice Department and the FBI to punish those he sees as political
enemies. This is a crisis, and it will get worse.” However, James Robbins
writes in his USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=013-2e3&t=c>
(5/21) column that “it’s about time” that Trump took action, since “we
already know the Trump campaign was under FBI ‘surveillance.’ Only the
motive and who gave the orders remains a mystery.”

*Pence: Americans “Have A Right To Know” About Possible Campaign
Surveillance. *Fox News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=014-c2a&t=c>
(5/21, Chamberlain) reports on its website that in an interview with Fox
News’ Martha MacCallum, Vice President Pence said that “‘the American
people have a right to know’ whether the FBI infiltrated” Trump’s campaign.
Pence said on Fox News’ The Story[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=015-17f&t=c>,
“With the revelations that our campaign may have been the subject of
surveillance by the FBI, the President I think is grateful that the
Department of Justice is going to have the Inspector General look into it
and determine and ensure that there was no surveillance done for political
purposes against our campaign. I think it would be very troubling to
millions of Americans if that took place, but we are very confident that as
the Inspector General has been doing their work, looking at the conduct of
the FBI during that period, by adding their focus to this that we will get
to the bottom of it because the American people have a right to know.”

*WPost Profile: Halper “Well-Connected Veteran Of Past GOP
Administrations.” *The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=016-1aa&t=c>
(5/21, Costa, Leonnig, Harris) has a profile of Stefan A. Halper, “the FBI
source who assisted the Russia investigation and is at the center of a
standoff between congressional Republicans and the Justice Department.”
Halper “is a well-connected veteran of past GOP administrations who
convened senior intelligence officials for seminars at the University of
Cambridge in England.” Axios
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=017-08d&t=c>
(5/21, Swan, Treene) is reporting that White House trade adviser Peter
Navarro recommended appointing Halper “to a senior role in the Trump
administration” or to an ambassadorship in Asia. Breitbart
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=018-b3b&t=c>
(5/21, Caplan) reports that Halper was paid $282,295 for work done for the
Defense Department in 2016. The Daily Caller
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=019-188&t=c>
(5/21, Ross) reports that Halper made contact with Trump campaign adviser
George Papadopoulos in early September of that year. They met in London
later that month.

Carter Page said on Fox News’ Ingraham Angle[image: Image removed
by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=01a-aec&t=c>
(5/21), “I never knew anything about the person I was speaking with, who
was a university professor at Cambridge in the UK at the time. I was
invited to participate in a conference in July of 2016 and everything
seemed totally normal.” Asked if, in retrospect, anything about his
interactions with the informant seemed “out of the ordinary,” Page said,
“Maybe this individual who we are talking about might have been a little
bit nicer than I might otherwise have expected. ... I like to give people
the benefit of the doubt. People that know him in Washington and senior
circles that I have spoken with afterwards say he seemed like a pretty
decent guy.”

*Grassley Seeks DOJ Documents On Ohr’s Communications Regarding
Dossier. *Fox News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=01b-3e6&t=c>
(5/21, Chamberlain) reports on its website in a letter to Rosenstein,
Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley asked the DOJ “to turn over
communications between former Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr,
British spy Christopher Steele and others” about the anti-Trump dossier.
Grassley “requested Ohr’s emails, phone logs, written notes and text
messages,” and also asked to arrange for Ohr to be interviewed by staff of
his committee.

*Mark Penn Calls For End To Mueller Probe. *In a Sunday op-ed for The
Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=01c-d57&t=c>
(5/20), Harris Poll chairman Mark Penn wrote that Mueller’s investigation
must be stopped because “the less investigators found, the more determined
and expansive they became.” Penn suggested that Trump’s lawyers “need to
extend their new aggressiveness from words to action,” such as “filing
complaints with Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility
on the failure of Rosenstein and Mueller to recuse themselves.” Penn added,
“The final stopper may be the president himself, offering two hours of
testimony, perhaps even televised live from the White House.” Townhall
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=01d-455&t=c>
(5/21, Benson) reports on the op-ed by the “longtime Clinton confidante,”
while Peter Baker of the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=01e-9e5&t=c>
(5/21) covers it under the headline “Mark Penn, Ex-Clinton Aide, Dismisses
Mueller Inquiry, And The Clintons Along With It.”

*Manafort Attorney Asks Judge To Allow Investigation Into Possible
Leaks. *The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=01f-aaf&t=c>
(5/21, Scarborough) reports that Paul Manafort’s attorney Kevin Downing has
asked District Court Judge T.S. Ellis in Virginia “to allow an
investigation into whether special counsel prosecutor Andrew Weissmann
illegally leaked confidential grand jury testimony to the press.” Downing
wants the judge to compel Mueller “to disclose what Mr. Weissmann said to
the Associated Press before it wrote negative stories about the former
Trump campaign manager and his business ties to a Russian oligarch.”

*WPost: Flynn Has Become Popular Figure On Right. *The Washington
Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=020-1b6&t=c>
(5/21, Parker, Dawsey) reports that “since his West Wing departure and
guilty plea” for “lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian
Ambassador Sergey Kislyak,” ex-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn “has
become something of a cause celebre among the conservative right and a
symbol of what the president’s most ardent supporters contend is a
conspiracy to undermine his administration by law enforcement and
intelligence officials hostile to his presidency.” But the effort to
rehabilitate Flynn, “largely based on social media, has at times put
Flynn’s advocates, and occasionally Flynn, at odds with his own legal team,
which believes that any public attention to Flynn’s case is not helpful as
he awaits sentencing.”

*AP: DOJ IG Report Will Criticize FBI For Slow Action On Clinton
Emails. *The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=021-99c&t=c>
(5/21, Tucker) reports that according to people familiar with the findings,
an upcoming report from the DOJ IG “is expected to criticize senior FBI
leaders for not moving quickly enough to review a trove of Hillary Clinton
emails discovered late in the 2016 campaign.” Some FBI officials knew about
the emails on former Rep. Anthony Weiner’s laptop in September of that
year, “but the bureau did not obtain a warrant to review them until the
following month.” Fox News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=022-1ef&t=c>
(5/21, Chamberlain) reports on its website that a group of conservative
House Republicans including Reps. Jim Jordan (R) and Mark Meadows (R)
“plans to introduce a resolution Tuesday calling for the appointment of a
second special counsel to investigate alleged misconduct at the FBI and
Justice Department.” The Washington Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=023-a22&t=c>
(5/21, Quinn) reports that sources told the AP that the “high anticipated
report” will “criticize the FBI for not moving quickly enough and for its
delay in obtaining a warrant to examine the emails found on a laptop
belonging to former Rep. Anthony Weiner,” who was married to top Clinton
aide Huma Abedin, “who had forwarded some of the messages to Weiner to be
printed out.”

*Trump’s White House Cell Phone Isn’t Equipped With Security
Features. *Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=024-1e0&t=c>
(5/21, Johnson, Stephenson, Lippman) cites “two senior administration
officials” who said Trump “uses a White House cellphone that isn’t equipped
with sophisticated security features designed to shield his
communications,” a “departure from the practice of his predecessors that
potentially exposes him to hacking or surveillance.” Trump “has rebuffed
staff efforts to strengthen security around his phone use, according to the
administration officials.” According to one official, Trump “uses at least
two iPhones,” one of which is “capable only of making calls,” while the
other is “equipped only with the Twitter app and pre-loaded with a handful
of news sites.” Aides “have urged the president to swap out the Twitter
phone on a monthly basis,” but “Trump has resisted their entreaties,
telling them it was ‘too inconvenient.’”
Foreign Policy
Pompeo Lists Demands, Threatens Iran With “Strongest Sanctions In History.”

Media coverage of Secretary of Sate Pompeo’s speech Monday at the Heritage
Foundation casts a skeptical light on the list of demands he says must be
met by the Iranian government to avoid the imposition of strong US
sanctions. The CBS Evening News[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=025-83d&t=c>
(5/21, story 3, 0:30, Glor) – the only network to report on the speech –
said Pompeo “demanded that Iran make sweeping changes, including dropping
its nuclear program, or face what he called the strongest economic
sanctions in history.” Iran “called the ultimatum unacceptable.”

The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=026-c84&t=c>
(5/21, Boylan) reports Pompeo laid out the Administration’s “long-awaited
Plan B,” a list of 12 demands, including an end to all enrichment of
uranium; “unqualified access” for international inspectors to any suspect
site inside Iran, the release of American citizens held in Iranian jails;
and a halt to Iran’s destabilizing moves throughout the Middle East. But to
the Los Angeles Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=027-a0d&t=c>
(5/21, Wilkinson), the Administration’s “so-called Plan B...was less a
detailed new policy than a dozen harsh demands, with no clear way to
achieve them,” and Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=028-b56&t=c>
(5/21, Wadhams, Nasseri) says Pompeo “essentially demanded Iran’s total
submission without offering anything in return aside from the hazy prospect
of sanctions relief at some future date.”

Under the headline “US Demands Wholesale Changes In Iran Policies
Post-Nuke Deal,” the AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=029-0f2&t=c>
(5/21, Lederman, Lee) says Pompeo “issued a steep list of demands to be
included in a nuclear treaty with Iran to replace the deal scuttled by”
President Trump, and threatened “the strongest sanctions in history” if
Iran doesn’t change course. Said Pompeo, “This list may seem long to some,
but it is simply a reflection of the massive scope of Iranian malign
behavior.” The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=02a-6a0&t=c>
(5/21, Harris) reports that while Pompeo “did not directly threaten the use
of military force,” he did say that if Iran restarts its nuclear program,
“we will respond.”

To the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=02b-dc6&t=c>
(5/21, Morello), Pompeo “gave short shrift to what the administration has
been calling ‘fixes’ to the nuclear deal,” and, instead, “demanded Iran’s
complete capitulation on 12 points.” Iran, it adds, is “unlikely to go
along with any of Pompeo’s demands.” The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=02c-83a&t=c>
(5/21, Gordon) quotes Pompeo as saying, “Relief from sanctions will come
only when we see tangible, demonstrated, and sustained shifts in Tehran’s
policies.”

Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=02d-964&t=c>
(5/21, Wroughton) says Pompeo “warned that the United States would ‘crush’
Iranian operatives and allies abroad and told Tehran to pull out forces
under its command from the Syrian civil war where they back President
Bashar al-Assad.” A “senior Iranian official” said Pompeo’s remarks showed
that the US was pushing for “regime change,” but Reuters says Pompeo “did
not explicitly call for regime change.” He did, however, “repeatedly urge
the Iranian people not to put up with their leaders, specifically naming
President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.”

Asked on Fox News’ Special Report[image: Image removed by sender.
Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=02e-d5c&t=c>
(5/21) to respond to claims that the Administration is seeking regime
change, Brian Hook, a senior policy adviser to Secretary Pompeo, replied,
“The only thing we would like to see is a change in the behavior of the
Iranian regime.” He said the Iranian people have “had protests where
they’ve expressed this.”

Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=02f-0fb&t=c>
(5/21, Wadhams, Nasseri) says Pompeo’s speech also “gave European leaders
little reason to hope Washington will show flexibility in dealing with
their companies that want to continue investing in the Islamic Republic.”
Pompeo, The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=030-84d&t=c>
(5/21, Kheel) reports, “acknowledged the concerns European allies have with
the United States reimposing sanctions, but said businesses from all
countries must make sacrifices to change Iran’s behavior.” In a second
article titled “UK Slams New US Iran Plan Even Before Pompeo Presents
It,” Bloomberg
News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=031-fc4&t=c>
(5/21, Ross, Penny) reports earlier Monday, British Foreign Secretary Boris
Johnson “predicted that in the end the US will come back to discussing an
enhanced version of the original deal...but it may take a long time.”

On its editorial page, the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=032-73e&t=c>
(5/21) says the plan laid out by Pompeo “seems sure to heighten tensions in
the Middle East and between the United States and its European allies – and
it may make its unstated aim less rather than more likely.”

New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=033-a10&t=c>
(5/21) editorial board member Carol Giacomo writes that Pompeo, in what she
called “a belligerent speech,” made it clear that what the Administration
expects is “Iranian capitulation.” The demands, she argues, “are so
extensive that it is unlikely Iran could comply any time soon, even if it
wanted to. And any benefits it would achieve in exchange – sanctions
relief, the re-establishment of diplomatic and commercial relations – would
be at some unspecified point in the future.” Giacomo adds that “there’s
also the irony of, as Mr. Pompeo is making these demands, his boss is
offering North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un...security guarantees to abandon
his arsenal,” while Iran “has no nuclear weapons.”
Pence: Trump Willing To Walk Away From North Korea Summit.

Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=034-15a&t=c>
(5/21, Brunnstrom) reports Vice President Pence said Monday that “there’s
no question” President Trump is willing to walk away from his planned
summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, scheduled to take place in
Singapore on June 12. Pence said North Korea should not seek concessions
from the US if it does not intend to honor its promises, and that it “would
be a great mistake” for Kim “to think he could play” Trump. Pence told [image:
Image removed by sender. Video]Fox News’ The Story
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=035-9a3&t=c>
(5/21), “As the President often says, we will see. ... We really hope that
Kim Jong-un will seize the opportunity to dismantle his nuclear weapons
program and do so by peaceable means. There was some talk about the Libya
model last week, and as the President made clear, this will only end like
the Libya model ended if Kim Jong-un doesn’t make a deal.” Asked if that
was a threat, Pence said, “I think it’s more of a fact. President Trump
made it clear the United States of America under his leadership is not
going to tolerate the regime in North Korea possessing nuclear weapons and
ballistic missiles that threaten the United States and our allies.”

*Media Analyses: Moon To Meet With Trump As Diplomatic Momentum
Slows. *The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=036-935&t=c>
(5/21, Tong-Hyung) reports South Korean President Moon Jae-in heads to his
Tuesday meeting with Trump at the White House “with his status in the
diplomatic driver’s seat in doubt.” The AP says Moon previously enjoyed a
string of diplomatic successes before the North last week made a “surprise
move...to break off a high-level meeting with Seoul over US-South Korean
military drills while threatening to cancel next month’s summit between
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.”

Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=037-c20&t=c>
(5/21) says Trump’s meeting with Moon “was originally arranged as a meeting
to fine-tune a joint strategy for dealing with North Korean leader Kim Jong
Un but has instead become more of a crisis session after Pyongyang last
week” caught the White House “off-guard” with its “dramatic change of
tone.” Trump’s “aides are looking to Moon to help determine whether Kim is
taking a harder line against denuclearization than South Korea had
previously communicated to them, a US official said, speaking on condition
of anonymity.” Some US officials “have privately expressed concern that
Moon, eager to make progress with the North,” not only “may have overstated
Kim’s willingness to negotiate in good faith,” but also could “be prepared
to accept a less-stringent version of North Korean denuclearization than
Washington wants and could be open to faster sanctions relief for
Pyongyang.”

A Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=038-92c&t=c>
(5/21, Nakamura) analysis says the Tuesday meeting, which “coincides with
renewed tensions on the Korean Peninsula that have cast doubt on the fate”
of the upcoming summit, represents for Moon “a crucial opportunity to
soothe Trump’s concerns and, perhaps, readjust his expectations about the
potential outcome.” The question looming over Tuesday’s meeting, “analysts
said, is how much responsibility Moon bears for feeding Trump’s unrealistic
expectations – or whether Trump has failed to be properly skeptical amid
talk from his supporters that he could win a Nobel Peace Prize if he
strikes a deal in Singapore.”

*South Korean Officials Critical Of Bolton’s Remarks About “Libya
Model.” *The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=039-09a&t=c>
(5/21, Fifield) reports that “in South Korea, many say the blame for the
sudden problems in the diplomatic process lie squarely at the feet of”
National Security Adviser Bolton. Woo Sang-ho, a lawmaker from the ruling
Democratic Party, said “Bolton’s preposterous ‘Libya solution’ is a red
light in North Korea’s summit talks with the U.S. and South Korea.” Lee
Jong-Seok, who served as South Korea’s Unification Minister in the later
years of the Roh administration, said Bolton “created a mess” and “things
would have gotten out of hand had it not been for the immediate follow-up
from Trump himself.” The Post says President Trump “contradicted Bolton”
last week, “saying he was not thinking of a Libya model...but an outcome
where Kim remained in power and his economy flourished under a
denuclearization deal.”

*Trump Notes Reports China Is Easing Economic Blockade Of North
Korea. *The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=03a-0b0&t=c>
(5/21, Wagner, Rucker) reports Trump yesterday “pushed...for China to
continue ‘strong & tight’ trade sanctions against Kim Jong Un’s regime
until a possible accord over the North’s nuclear program.” Trump tweeted,
“The word is that recently the Border has become much more porous and more
has been filtering in.” The Post says that, “inside the White House, there
are mounting concerns that North Korea may back away from striking a deal
on denuclearization and growing suspicions about the role the Chinese may
be playing in complicating preparations for the Singapore summit.”

Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=03b-f87&t=c>
(5/21) reports that “China’s enforcement of United Nations sanctions helped
bring Kim to the negotiating table,” but “now that Trump and Kim are
meeting,” Chinese President Xi Jinping “can support any deal that is good
for China and undermine anything that goes against its interests.”
Bloomberg says the Chinese government “has repeatedly called for talks
between the US and North Korea to avoid a war or regime collapse, which
could devastate its economy and lead to a refugee crisis or potentially US
troops on its border.”

*South Korean Ambassador: Summit An Unprecedented Chance At Peace. *In
a Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=03c-1a8&t=c>
(5/21, Je) op-ed, South Korea’s Ambassador to the US, Cho Yoon Je, urges
Seoul and Washington to “seize this opportunity” of “peace on the Korean
Peninsula,” no matter how “bright or dim the prospects might seem.” Cho
compares the current situation to the Cold War and says former President
Reagan, despite a similar climate of pessimism and “intense opposition,
chose to steadily move forward to make accommodations through several
summit meetings with [Soviet leader Mikhail] Gorbachev, concluding in a
major arms-control agreement.”
Trump Touts Trade Concessions From China To Media Skepticism.

While President Trump on Monday touted trade concessions from China, a
number of media reports portray China as the negotiations’ winner. Reports
say that China was able to avoid threatened US tariffs without giving up
much in the way of concrete concessions on issues thought to be the focus
of the talks, including the forced transfer of US companies’ intellectual
property.

Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=03d-c4b&t=c>
(5/21, Nelson) reports that Trump predicted Monday “that his administration
will be able to strike a ‘fair trade’ deal with China,” and announced that
China has agreed to but “massive amounts of ADDITIONAL Farm/Agricultural
Products,” which he said “would be one of the best things to happen to our
farmers in many years!” The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=03e-e3e&t=c>
(5/21, Miller) reported Trump said “his hard-nosed trade negotiations won
some concessions from China and not the trade war his critics had
predicted, scoring what he crowed was another victory for his ‘American
First’ agenda.” Trump “rubbed Democrats’ faces in the promising
developments, singling out his nemesis Senate Minority Leader Charles E.
Schumer of New York.” The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=03f-115&t=c>
(5/21, Shelbourne) says Trump “knocked Democrats over trade with China,
asking why they didn’t ‘do something’ during the Obama administration.”
Trump tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=040-40a&t=c>,
“I ask Senator Chuck Schumer, why didn’t President Obama & the Democrats do
something about Trade with China, including Theft of Intellectual Property
etc.? They did NOTHING! With that being said, Chuck & I have long agreed on
this issue! Fair Trade, plus, with China will happen!”

Meanwhile, the AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=041-365&t=c>
(5/21, Crutsinger, Wiseman) says that while Trump “hailed his
administration’s temporary truce with China on trade, even as his Treasury
secretary and China struck a note of caution on the latest agreement.” The
AP notes that China “hasn’t said how much it’s willing to reduce the US
trade gap,” and “also left unclear is the issue of intellectual property.”
In an interview with CNBC
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=042-92c&t=c>,
Treasury Security Mnuchin said, “These things cannot be fixed overnight.”
According to the AP, Mnuchin “told CNBC...that Trump is reserving the right
to reimpose tariffs against Chinese goods if the two countries can’t agree
on specifics to bring down the massive trade deficit with Beijing.” USA
Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=043-4e8&t=c>
(5/21, Fritze) describes “mixed signals” from the Administration “about a
potential trade deal with China as senior economic officials defended a
decision to lift sanctions in exchange for promises from Beijing to ease
trade barriers.” While a series of tweets from Trump touted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=044-397&t=c>
the “potential deal” and said
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=045-1fb&t=c>
that Chinese tariffs and barriers would “come down for first time,” details
of the agreement “were unclear.”

Offering a similar assessment, the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=046-084&t=c>
(5/21, Sullivan, Rappeport) says Trump is “touting his administration’s
ability to get the Chinese to make concessions” even though “negotiations
with the Chinese...ended with little clarity.” According to the Times,
“much remains unresolved, including how much – and what – the Chinese will
actually agree to purchase and whether the country will make other changes
that the administration has been pushing for, such as relaxing restrictions
on American companies operating in China.” The Times says Administration
officials “fanned out on TV to talk up the state of trade negotiations”
today, “but acknowledged much remains up in the air and undecided.”
Commerce Secretary Ross is quoted as saying, “This is not a definitive
agreement. This what we hope will be a path forward. If it doesn’t work,
the tariffs will go into effect.”

In a separate story, the AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=047-092&t=c>
(5/21, Wiseman) says that while the “truce in the trade conflict” has
“lightened tensions, halted the immediate threat of US tariffs on China’s
goods and cheered stock markets,” the “outcome of last weekend’s talks
upset supporters of Donald Trump’s American First policies, left key
differences untouched and kept alive the risk of a destructive trade war
between the world’s two biggest economies.”

Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=048-173&t=c>
(5/21) reports that “the biggest immediate beneficiary” of the talks
“appeared to be China, which won a reprieve from threatened tariffs on $50
billion of its exports to the United States as well as a lifeline for ZTE
Corp , a major company whose existence had been threatened by US
sanctions.” Reuters says the Administration “stands accused by critics of
selling out on plans to stop the theft of US companies’ trade secrets in
exchange for a quick deal to reduce the US trade deficit.” James Zimmerman,
the former chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, “said the
Trump administration’s move to walk back its threatened trade actions was
premature, and a ‘lost opportunity’ for American companies, workers and
consumers,” according to Reuters.

The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=049-1e2&t=c>
(5/21, Landler, Swanson) says “infighting and jockeying for influence on
the White House’s trade team helped deprive Mr. Trump of a quick victory on
his most cherished policy agenda, several people involved in the talks
said.” The “chaotic process...revealed an American team riven by conflicts
over tactics and policy, working for a president eager for a victory but
torn by his desire to have a smooth summit meeting next month with North
Korea, over which China wields enormous influence.” Those “internal
divisions carried over into how officials characterized the agreement and
muddied the outlook for the next phase of the negotiations between
Washington and Beijing.”

Breitbart
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=04a-78c&t=c>
(5/21, Carney) reports that in an interview with CNBC
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=04b-b37&t=c>
yesterday, NEC director Larry Kudlow “defended the administration’s use of
tariffs in trade negotiations and as an enforcement tool, while also
stressing that the US would protect US technology from forced transfers to
Chinese companies.” Breitbart says “some China trade hawks have privately
been voicing concerns that the US had lost sight of an issue they regard as
just as important as China’s trade barriers,” and “Kudlow’s remarks...were
aimed at assuaging those fears.” Breitbart notes that Kudlow “brought up
forced technology transfers without prompting from the CNBC anchors,” which
Breitbart says is “an indication that the Trump administration wants to
make it clear that it remains focused on the issue.”

Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=04c-add&t=c>
(5/21) notes Kudlow said, “I’ve heard privately in the discussions and the
engagements between meetings that the Chinese are in fact very willing to
open the door to a lot more financial services.” According to Bloomberg,
“The array of options being discussed includes China allowing in American
financial companies to set up asset management companies and help deal with
bad debt.” Kudlow is quoted as saying, “One of the things we’ve been
talking about is to let American financial companies go in there and
actually try to help them out to work through these non-performing loans
and to set up asset managing companies without the state interfering or
creating levels of bureaucracy.”

In an analysis representative of much of today’s coverage, Keith
Bradsher of the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=04d-3e3&t=c>
(5/21) says China “called President Trump’s bluff,” and “Chinese
negotiators left Washington...with a significant win: a willingness by the
Trump administration to hold off for now on imposing tariffs on up to $150
billion in Chinese imports.” Bradsher goes on to says that China “gave up
little in return.” According to Bradsher, “the latest round of negotiations
showed that a confident China could be more than a match for divided
American officials who have made often discordant demands.”

*Bannon Accuses Mnuchin Of Failing To Capitalize On Trump’s
Strength. *Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=04e-852&t=c>
(5/21, Cirilli) reports Steve Bannon “condemned” the “truce in the US trade
dispute with China as a capitulation,” and “targeted” Mnuchin specifically,
saying Trump “changed the dynamic regarding China but in one weekend
Secretary Mnuchin has given it away.” In regards to China, Bannon said,
“They’re in a trade war with us and it hasn’t stopped. Mnuchin has
completely misread the geopolitical, military, and historical precedence
and what President Trump had done was finally put the Chinese on their back
heels.” Bloomberg reports that former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, who,
like Mnuchin, is a former Goldman Sachs executive, “encouraged Mnuchin to
travel to Beijing for a first round to trade negotiations and Mnuchin in
turn lobbied Trump to authorize the trip.” Bannon said, “You might as well
have Hank Paulson doing this.”

*Fox News’ Kilmeade: Mnuchin “Has Been A Disaster” In Trade Talks
With China. *On Fox News’ Fox & Friends[image: Image removed by sender.
Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=04f-1d7&t=c>
(5/21), Brian Kilmeade said Treasury Secretary Mnuchin is “a disaster on
trade.” Kilmeade said Mnuchin “should not be leading” the US delegation
involved in trade talks with China after he “left his trade team
and...America out to dry.” According to Kilmeade, President Trump would be
better served if USTR Lighthizer and White House aide Peter Navarro were to
take the lead in the negotiations because Mnuchin “doesn’t know what he is
doing” because he has “no international trade experience.” Kilmeade added,
“This is a chance to take [China] on, and the President is being led down a
path. ... This the President’s hallmark event, and Mnuchin is blowing it.”
Addressing President Trump, Kilmeade said, “Listen to Robert Lighthizer,
not Mnuchin.”

*Commerce Department Imposes Import Duties On Chinese Steel Shipped
From Vietnam. *In what Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=050-42b&t=c>
(5/21) describes as “a victory for US steelmakers,” the Commerce Department
on Monday imposed “steep import duties on steel products from Vietnam that
originated in China after a final finding they evaded US anti-dumping and
anti-subsidy orders.” The duties are on top of “a 25 percent tariff on most
steel imported into the United States that resulted from the Trump
administration’s ‘Section 232’ national security investigation into steel
and aluminum imports.”

*Some Officials Seeking More Protections For US Tech Industry.
*The Washington
Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=051-9f0&t=c>
(5/21, Lynch) reports that “one day before he was due to recommend to the
White House new limits on Chinese investments in US high-tech industries,”
Mnuchin “announced instead that the trade war with China was ‘on hold.’”
Other Administration officials, however, “continue to push for constraints
on China’s ability to buy into US technology companies.” The House and
Senate are also “moving forward with legislation that would intensify
scrutiny of investments from countries like China.” The Post, however, says
the “stakes are huge for American technology companies, which are
increasingly reliant on Chinese manufacturers, customers and money to
grow.”

*Miller: Trump Delivering On “America First” Campaign Pledges. *In
an interview with Paul Bedard of the Washington Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=052-b98&t=c>
(5/21, Bedard), White House senior aide Stephen Miller said, “Everything
that the American people hoped for when they cast that ballot for change
for a new kind of leadership in Washington, everything that they hoped they
would get, I am telling you that they not only received it, but they’ve
gotten it times 10.” Miller, described by Bedard as “eager to counter some
bad press to describe Trump’s hands-on style,” said President Trump is “the
lobbyist for every had working American.” Miller added, “The president has
been office now for a little more than a year and America First, which the
president campaigned on, is delivering even more than anybody could have
possibly hoped for.”
Russian Official: Putin Wants US, Turkish Troops Out Of Syria.

Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=053-d91&t=c>
(5/21) reports that Russian official Vitaly Naumkin said today that the
Syrian government “won’t accept a Russian plan for a new constitution that
would dilute the powers of President Bashar al-Assad, in a setback for
Kremlin efforts to negotiate an end to the seven-year civil war.” Bloomberg
notes that “after a surprise visit by Assad to Russia Thursday, President
Vladimir Putin announced that Damascus had agreed to send a delegation to
United Nations-chaired constitutional talks in Geneva,” which Bloomberg
says “could breathe new life into the Russian-led peace effort.” Bloomberg
also notes that Naumkin clarified that when Putin said he and Assad “agreed
on the need for foreign troops to leave the country,” it was “a reference
to Turkish and US forces, since Russian and Iranian troops have been
invited by the Syrian government.”

*Syrian Military Drives ISIS Forces Out Of Damascus Region. *The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=054-d16&t=c>
(5/21, Karam) reports that earlier today, “Syria’s military...captured an
enclave in southern Damascus from Islamic State militants following a
ruinous monthlong battle, bringing the entire capital and its far-flung
suburbs under full government control for the first time since the civil
war began in 2011.” According to the AP, “The gains freed...Assad’s forces
to move with allied militiamen on remaining rebel-held territory in the
south near the border with Israel.” Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=055-fd4&t=c>
(5/21) says Assad “is now in by far its strongest position since the early
days of the war” as “anti-Assad rebels now mainly control just two large
areas in the northwest and southwest near borders with Turkey and Jordan.”

*NATO Increasing Its Focus On Southern Members. *The Wall Street
Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=056-955&t=c>
(5/21, Barnes) reports that NATO is increasing its focus on southern
members such as Greece, Italy, Spain, and Turkey, which are wary of North
African trouble spots and of Russian assertiveness in Ukraine. NATO is
considering new units specializing in these matters, as well as in more
efforts to stabilize countries like Libya and Tunisia.
Pentagon IG: Taliban Holding Its Territory As It Launches “Devastating”
Attacks.

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=057-812&t=c>
(5/21, Burns) reports that the Pentagon’s inspector general has
contradicted “US military assertions that momentum in the fight against the
Taliban has shifted to Afghan government forces,” and cited “a series of
Taliban attacks across Afghanistan.” An IG report “said there are few signs
of significant progress by Afghan forces,” according to the AP. Glenn Fine,
the deputy Pentagon inspector general, wrote, “The Taliban continued to
hold territory and launched devastating terrorist attacks in Kabul and
across the country.” According to the report, “Afghan security forces are
improving...but they have made minimal progress toward securing the
population,” and “the number of Afghan fighting forces has continued to
decline.”

*Residents Criticize Government Response To Taliban Attack. *The Wall
Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=058-067&t=c>
(5/21, Nelson) reports residents and leaders of the western Afghan
provincial capital of Farah, which was attacked last week by Taliban
insurgents, delivered an unusual outpouring of anger toward visiting
members of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s cabinet and US Army Gen. John
Nicholson on Saturday, broadly criticizing the Afghan security forces’ lack
of preparedness and handling of the insurgents’ assault. Nicholson and
Afghan Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Tariq Shah Brahimi acknowledged that
reinforcements’ response time must be improved, but they added that the
duration of the delay was markedly better than in previous crises.
State Dept. Accuses Palestinian Protesters Of Intimidating US Diplomats.

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=059-5ce&t=c>
(5/21, Creighton) reports a “small crowd of Palestinian protesters in the
West Bank on Monday pelted an American diplomatic vehicle with eggs to
protest the recent move of the US Embassy to Jerusalem,” drawing “an angry
American response and deepened a crisis in relations that has followed the
US Embassy decision.” In a statement, the State Department “said the
diplomats were on a visit to ‘promote educational and cultural exchange’ in
the West Bank when they were accosted.” The State Department added, “The
objective was clearly intimidation. The United States absolutely opposes
the use of violence and intimidation to express political views.”

*Paraguay Opens Embassy In Jerusalem. *“On Monday, the entrance to
Jerusalem was lined with Paraguay’s flags as Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu joined Paraguayan President Horacio Carters in opening
the doors to the country’s new embassy,” says Townhall
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=05a-0f6&t=c>
(5/21, Haas), which suggests President Trump’s decision to relocate the US
Embassy to Jerusalem has “emboldened other world leaders” to follow suit.
The move “caused some strife within Paraguay,” according to The Times of
Israel. “As anticipated, Palestinians were also angered by the move,” with
Palestine Liberation Organization official Hanan Ashrawi calling it
“provocative,” “irresponsible,” and part of a broader conspiracy that
Paraguay entered “with Israel, the United States and Guatemala to entrench
the military occupation and to seal the fate of occupied Jerusalem.”
Townhall says several “other nations are reportedly considering making the
move, including Honduras, the Czech Republic and Romania,” and they “likely
won’t be the last.”
AP: New Documents Reveal Details Of Anti-Qatar Campaign In US.

In a more than 4,400-word analysis, the AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018052201biden&r=email-56e6&l=05b-146&t=c>
(5/21, Butler, Lobianco) outlines a “new cache of emails” revealing “an
ambitious, secretive lobbying effort to isolate Qatar and undermine the
Pentagon’s longstanding relationship with the Gulf country.” Elliott
Broidy, a California businessman and “top fundraiser for President Donald
Trump,” and George Nader, his Lebanese-American business partner, pushed
“an anti-Qatar bill through Congress while obscuring the source of the
money behind their influence campaign.” Summaries “of two meetings he had
with Trump – one of which has not been disclosed before – report that he
was passing messages to the president from the two princes and that he told
Trump he was seeking business with them.” By December 2017, “the partners
were riding a wave of success in their campaign to create an anti-Qatar
drumbeat in Washington.” But for “the appointment of Robert Mueller as
special counsel” on the Russia probe, the AP says, the scheme may “have
proceeded smoothly.”
US Imposes New Sanctions On Venezuela.

On Monday, the day after Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro “claimed
victory in what the United States government called a ‘sham’ election in
his crisis-ridden country,” President Trump “signed an executive order
imposing the new penalties, which would bar United States companies or
citizens from buying debt or accounts receivable from the Venezuelan
government, including Petróleos de Venezuela, the government-owned oil
company that is the parent of Citgo Petroleum Corporation,” the New York
Times
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(5/21, Davis) reports. The new sanctions “were devised to close off an
‘avenue for corruption’ that senior administration officials said they had
observed Mr. Maduro and members of his government using to enrich
themselves.” The Times says the move falls “short of direct penalties on
the oil sector, which the Trump administration has said would harm the
Venezuelan people and American companies,” and “do not bar United States
companies or citizens from selling oil products to or importing them from
Venezuela.”

During a conference call with reporters, “senior administration
officials” declined to comment on “whether they intend to impose more
sanctions against Venezuela,” even as “Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
assured Venezuelans that the United States ‘will take swift economic and
diplomatic actions to support the restoration of their democracy,” the
Washington
Post
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(5/21, Morello, Faiola) reports. Separately, the officials “struggled to
explain why they consider Maduro’s election fraudulent while Trump has
offered congratulations to other elected authoritarian presidents,
including Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan.”
Analysts, meanwhile, called the latest round of sanctions “mostly symbolic”
because they “fell short of more drastic steps – for instance, travel bans
on significant figures within the Venezuelan government and their families,
some of whom live part time in countries across the region, including
Mexico,”

The Washington Free Beacon
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(5/21, Crabtree) explains that “Trump and top administration officials are
wary of taking any action that would further hurt the Venezuelan people,
who are already suffering from widespread food shortages brought on by the
economic crisis.” In addition, they “don’t want to do anything that could
increase domestic gasoline prices, which are already experiencing their
annual spike ahead of the summer months of heavy vacation driving.” Still,
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) “applauded” the new measures “and predicted that
Maduro would be forced out of power as his country’s economic crisis
continues to spiral.” He also “called on leaders of the governing party to
remove Maduro and the other criminals from power and create a process for
national reconciliation and restoration of the ‘constitutional democratic
order’ before ‘time runs out on them as well.’”

A New York Times
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(5/21) editorial says now that Maduro secured a second term as expected,
the question before the international community is how he can be removed
“before he completes the destruction of his country.” To the Times, “It is
clear that Mr. Maduro must go,” but “that emphatically does not mean
American military action, as hinted by President Trump” last August. The
Times argues, “The best means of eventually ousting Mr. Maduro is in
collective action by the Western Hemisphere, led by Latin America, to
further choke off funds to his government while supporting the National
Assembly, which has been sidelined by Mr. Maduro since the opposition won a
majority in 2015.”

*Maduro Regime Exchanged Food For Votes. *An online New York Times
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(5/21) video examined how Maduro’s regime used widespread food shortages in
Venezuela to compel voters to cast their ballots in his favor. In one
“neighborhood that voted heavily for Maduro in the last election,” for
example, there were “no stump speeches, no candidates, no flags for any
party” – but “eggs and frozen chickens subsidized by the government” were
“dangled in front of the poor in exchange for votes.” Maduro also exchanged
medicines and other benefits in exchange for impoverished residents’ votes,
resulting in his resounding victory.
Domestic Policy
Trump Hails Haspel’s Swearing-In As “Proud Milestone.”

The Washington Times
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(5/21, Miller) reports President Trump presided Monday over the swearing-in
ceremony for Gina Haspel, the first female director of the CIA, and called
it a “proud milestone.” At a ceremony at CIA headquarters, Trump said, “I
know that you will thrive as the agency’s director and help keep our nation
safe and strong and proud and free.” ABC World News Tonight[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
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(5/21, story 6, 0:25, Muir) – the only network to report on the ceremony –
briefly reported Trump said of Haspel, “No one in this country is better
qualified.” The Los Angeles Times
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(5/21, Bierman) reports Trump called it “a ceremony like few will ever have
again,” while the AP
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(5/21, Thomas, Lucey) reports he also “hailed the agency staffers, calling
them the ‘most elite intelligence professionals on the planet,” striking “a
different tone than in his previous visit.” The New York Times
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(5/21, Shear) also says Trump’s “brief remarks were strikingly different
from those he delivered on his first visit to the agency the day after his
inauguration.” According to the Times, Trump’s “decision to praise the
nation’s premiere intelligence agency served as a contradictory note amid
what has been a relentless assault on what he perceives as the intelligence
community’s improper actions as part of the investigations into his
presidential campaign and his administration.”

USA Today
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(5/21, Korte) reports that just hours earlier, Trump “lamented what he said
was the destruction of faith in the intelligence community,” and called the
CIA “the most elite intelligence professionals on the planet Earth.” USA
Today says “that juxtaposition highlights Trump’s uneasy relationship with
intelligence agencies.” The Washington Post
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