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Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing


*From:* Bulletin Intelligence <Biden@BulletinIntelligence.com>
*Sent:* Tuesday, August 28, 2018 7:50 AM
*To:* Biden@BulletinIntelligence.com
*Subject:* Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing for
Tuesday, August 28, 2018


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[image: Image removed by sender. Office of Vice President Biden
Intelligence Briefing]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=001-0a5&t=c>

*To: Vice President Joe Biden*

*Tuesday, August 28, 2018 8:00 AM EDT*
Today's Table of Contents

*Biden in the News <#SECTION_1>*

• Biden To Eulogize McCain On Thursday At Arizona Funeral Service. <#S1>

*Leading the News <#SECTION_2>*

• Media Analyses: Under Pressure, Trump Orders White House Flags Back To
Half-Staff. <#S2>

*Foreign Policy <#SECTION_3>*

• Trump Announces US-Mexico Trade Deal, Warns Canada It Could Be Left Out.
<#S3>

• Macron Criticizes Trump’s “Aggressive” Isolationism. <#S4>

• Iran Seeks Suspension Of US Sanctions In International Court Filing. <#S5>

• Iran Says It Has Signed Deal To Help Rebuild Syria’s Military. <#S6>

• US Imposes New Sanctions On Russia Over Nerve Agent Attack In UK. <#S7>

• US, Japan, South Korea Recommit To North Korea’s Denuclearization. <#S8>

• Afghan President Says Peace Talks With Taliban Delayed. <#S9>

*Domestic Policy <#SECTION_4>*

• GSA IG Confirms Trump Role In FBI Headquarters Project Meetings. <#S10>

• Citing Opposition To White House Policies, Top CFPB Student Loan Official
Resigns. <#S11>

• Ivanka Tweet On Florida Shooting Spurs Criticism Of Trump’s Gun Control
Position. <#S12>

• Cohen’s Lawyer Walks Back Claim Trump Knew Of Russia Meeting. <#S13>

• Trump: Google Searches For “Trump News” Dominated By “National Left-Wing
Media.” <#S14>

• Sanders Backers Take Issue With Mercatus Study Of Medicare-For-All Plan.
<#S15>

• Federal Judges Rule North Carolina Congressional Map Unconstitutional.
<#S16>

*Cancer Research <#SECTION_5>*

• NIH Funds Trial Of Experimental Glioblastoma Treatment. <#S17>

• FDA Approves Combination Drug To Treat Rare Blood Cancer. <#S18>

*Editorials/Op-Eds <#SECTION_6>*

• New York Times. <#S19>

• Washington Post. <#S20>
Biden in the News
Biden To Eulogize McCain On Thursday At Arizona Funeral Service.

The Arizona Republic
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=002-cdd&t=c>
(8/27, Ryman) reports that former Vice President Joe Biden “will deliver a
eulogy to his long-time friend John McCain at the senator’s funeral in
Arizona on Thursday. Last year, when the National Constitution Center
awarded its Liberty Medal to McCain, a former prisoner of war during the
Vietnam War, Biden bestowed the medal on McCain. And McCain’s wife, Cindy,
tweeted that her husband enjoyed a enjoyed a visit from Biden in late
April.” Rick Davis, who served as McCain’s presidential campaign manager in
2000, is quoted as saying at a Monday news conference, “Joe Biden has been
an incredible comfort to the family.” On its website, KTAR-FM
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=003-91d&t=c>
Glendale, AZ (8/27) reported that Biden is slated “to speak at the Phoenix
memorial service for...McCain” on “Thursday at 10 a.m. at North Phoenix
Baptist Church.” McCain passed away “Aug. 25, after a yearlong battle with
brain cancer – glioblastoma – the same type that led to the death of
Biden’s son Beau in 2015.” The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=004-434&t=c>
(8/27, Samuels) offered a similar report.

*Arizona Republic Recalls 2013 Eulogy Biden Delivered At
Firefighters’ Memorial Service. *With Biden slated to deliver a eulogy at
McCain’s funeral service in Phoenix, the Arizona Republic
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=005-73d&t=c>
(8/27, McKinnon), under the headline “How Joe Biden’s Last Eulogy In
Arizona Helped 19 Families Grieve,” recounted the eulogy Biden delivered in
July of 2013 for the 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots who perished fighting the
Yarnell Hill fire.

*Biden Among Pallbearers For McCain’s DC Memorial Service. *The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=006-2b9&t=c>
(8/27, Birnbaum) reported, “The pallbearers, who will help carry” McCain’s
“coffin at the Washington National Cathedral memorial service on Saturday
afternoon, include actor Warren Beatty, former Vice President Biden, former
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former Secretary of Defense William
Cohen, former Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.), former Sen. Gary Hart
(D-Colo.), former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge (R), McCain’s former chief of
staff Mark Salter, founder and president of FedEx Fred Smith, Sen. Sheldon
Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Vice Chairman of Open Russia Vladimir Kara-Murza,
longtime fundraiser Carla Eudy, businessman Stephen Dart and former McCain
presidential campaign manager Richard Davis.”
Leading the News
Media Analyses: Under Pressure, Trump Orders White House Flags Back To
Half-Staff.

Media reports are casting President Trump’s decision to lower White House
flags at half-staff as a result of political pressure. The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=007-0b4&t=c>
(8/27, Wagner) reports White House officials “again lowered the American
flag atop the building to half-staff Monday afternoon after intense
criticism of the administration’s response to Sen. John McCain’s death, and
bipartisan calls from Congress to lower the flag.” While the White House
had lowered the flag on Sunday in tribute to McCain, it was returned to
full staff in the early hours of this morning. In a statement, Trump wrote,
“Despite our differences on policy and politics, I respect Senator John
McCain’s service to our country and, in his honor, have signed a
proclamation to fly the flag of the United States at half-staff until the
day of his interment.” The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=008-4d0&t=c>
(8/27, Sullivan, Rogers) says the “delay over the flag was the clearest
indication yet that Mr. Trump had little inclination to participate in a
national mourning period over Mr. McCain.”

All three major network newscasts led with the story. ABC World
News Tonight[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=009-43f&t=c>
(8/27, lead story, 5:15, Muir) referred to “shifting signals...from the
President and the White House when it comes to honoring an American
patriot,” and added (Karl) that Trump was “conspicuously absent among those
praising McCain’s legacy,” and that he “infamously suggested McCain was not
a war hero because he was captured.” Trump was shown saying, “I like people
that weren’t captured.” ABC also reported that “after McCain died, the
President nixed the idea of putting out a statement of praise, instead
issuing a short tweet.”

The CBS Evening News[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=00a-bc2&t=c>
(8/27, lead story, 3:35, Cordes) said that “as tributes poured in from
around the world, there was one person who appeared unmoved,” Trump, who
“ignored questions about McCain.” NBC Nightly News[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=00b-96d&t=c>
(8/27, lead story, 3:00, Guthrie) also described Trump as “ignoring
questions,” and “his actions” as “speaking volumes.” Later in its
broadcast, the CBS Evening News[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=00c-cdc&t=c>
(8/27, story 3, 2:15, O'Donnell) showed Bob Schieffer objecting to the
White House’s handling of McCain’s death, saying, “To me, this was making a
mockery of one of our most solemn tributes to our finest people. I have
never seen in all my years in Washington this kind of thing where the
American Legion has to write the President and demand they lower the flag
to half-staff.”

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=00d-95d&t=c>
(8/27, Kellman) reports the move to raise the flag to full staff “brought
complaints from both right and left,” and “aides to Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell and Democratic Leader Charles Schumer requested that the
Department of Defense keep flags at government buildings lowered until the
sunset after McCain is buried in Annapolis” on Sunday, which the AP calls
“standard procedure when a member of the Senate passes away.” Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=00e-f69&t=c>
(8/27, Epstein) says the White House faced “a barrage of criticism” and USA
Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=00f-df2&t=c>
(8/27, Estepa, Fritze) likewise notes the “outcry over the decision to
raise it just two days after” McCain’s death, Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=010-3ed&t=c>
(8/27, Ahmann) says Trump made the announcement “under political pressure.”

Asked on CNN’s The Lead[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=011-45d&t=c>
(8/27) what made Trump change his mind about lowering the White House flag
to half staff, CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash said, “Pressure.
Unrelenting pressure. ... It’s about time. It’s a pity this was even a
discussion, that this was, frankly, a distraction from what should have
been a united front from every single person who is an American citizen,
never mind the President of the United States.” CNN chief White House
correspondent Jim Acosta said on CNN’s Situation Room[image: Image removed
by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=012-bcd&t=c>
(8/27), “Make no mistake, the President and his team had every opportunity
to get this right. It took 48 hours for the White House to do what could
have been done Saturday. That is, issue a full, respectful statement
honoring McCain along with a proclamation that ordered flags to be flown at
half staff. It just felt all day long over here at the White House that
this was not what John McCain deserved. He deserved better than this.”

The Washington Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=013-e90&t=c>
(8/27, Kasperowicz) reports that “members of the press on Monday
criticized...Trump for raising the American flag over the White House to
full staff.” NBC’s Andrea Mitchell tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=014-0b3&t=c>,
“White House flag back at full staff today says it all. #NoRespect.”
Bloomberg News’ Jennifer Epstein said by raising the flag, Trump has “made
this about himself,” and New York Times reporter Mark Landler “noted the
White House flag in a tweet that included a link to a story about how Trump
is absent as the nation mourns McCain’s death.” The Arizona Republic
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=015-dfb&t=c>
(8/27, Murray), Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=016-6a1&t=c>
(8/27, Murray), Daily Caller
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=017-42e&t=c>
(8/27, Athey), The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=018-798&t=c>
(8/27, Samuels), Axios
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=019-779&t=c>
(8/27, Treene) and the New York Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=01a-2b6&t=c>
(8/27, Schwab, Brown), among other news outlets, run similar reports.

Breitbart
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=01b-be3&t=c>
(8/27, Spiering), meanwhile, notes that Trump “is no stranger to flag
lowering controversies. In 2015, Trump ordered flags lowered at his
properties after President Obama failed to do so in respect of five service
members killed at a shooting in Tennessee. Days later, Obama also ordered
the White House flags lowered.”

Under the headline “Republicans’ Anger At McCain Speaks Volumes
About America’s Tribal Politics,” the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=01c-d53&t=c>
(8/27, Johnson) reports that “over the past few decades, Americans have
fled to the political poles, leaving fewer in the once vibrant and decisive
middle.” The Post adds that “increasingly, those partisan voters are being
driven more by fear and loathing for the opposition party than admiration
for their own party’s leaders – a phenomenon that political consultants
call ‘negative partisanship.’”

Dana Milbank writes in the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=01d-e9e&t=c>
(8/27) that “Trump displayed his innate grace and decency Saturday by
spiking a White House statement honoring the late...McCain’s life,” and
“even for Trump, this seemed churlish.” Charles Lane, also in the Washington
Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=01e-a8c&t=c>
(8/27), says “history may remember McCain as one of the last Republican
leaders to believe that the party should stake its future on a humane and
realistic approach to immigration, rather than on the restrictionist
demagoguery peddled by...Trump.” Lane said on Fox News’ Special Report[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=01f-5bb&t=c>
(8/27), “Whatever the kerfuffle may be about the flag and so forth today,
it is nevertheless the fact that the bad blood between President Trump and
John McCain has outlived the latter and that is to say that the
relationship between the two of them was very chilly.” Lane added, “The
President is really trying to remake this Republican Party ideologically
away from many of the things that John McCain represented.”

Eugene Robinson writes in his Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=020-31c&t=c>
(8/27) column that “much of the nation will spend the coming days
honoring...McCain. The Republican Party, however, will only pretend to do
so,” because “Trump’s GOP could not care less about the ideals McCain stood
for, such as honor, service and community. The party is shamefully molded
in Trump’s image now, with his enormous corruption, monumental selfishness
and grasping little hands.”

The CBS Evening News[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=021-579&t=c>
(8/27, story 2, 0:45, Dickerson) showed former President Jimmy Carter
saying, “John McCain’s service in the Navy made me proud. His personal
heroism has been proven. And I think his basic integrity, his commitment to
the truth no matter if it was politically unpopular was accepted by him as
something that had to be done. So I think that John McCain was admirable as
a naval officer, as a human being, and as a member of the US Senate.”

Sen. Jeff Flake said on CNN’s Situation Room[image: Image removed
by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=022-b28&t=c>
(8/27), “I’m just grateful that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle
and people across the country are speaking the way they are. I’ve had
issues, as you know, as everyone knows, with the President and his
statements with regard to John McCain for the past couple of years. One of
the things I addressed the first time I met the President during his
campaign was the comments with regard to John McCain. But, I’m glad the
flag is flying half staff now. I think that’s a great honor for the
Senator.”

In a piece titled “Death In The Age Of Narcissism,” Frank Bruni
writes in the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=023-a02&t=c>
(8/27), “But enough about...McCain. Here’s some more about me. ... The rest
of us have neither the megaphones nor megalomania of Trump and Madonna, but
we have some of the same impulses when weighing in on famous people’s
deaths. We find the one point where we intersected with them. We wedge in
our own biographies. We flaunt our own résumés.”

*McCain Family: Trump Won’t Attend Funeral, But Pence Will. *The New
York Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=024-4c1&t=c>
(8/27, Brown) reports “Trump won’t be attending...McCain’s funerals or
memorials – but Vice President Pence will, a spokesman for the McCain
family confirmed Monday.” Said Rick Davis, “The president will not be, as
far as we know, attending the funeral. That’s just a fact.” Under the
headline, “White House Returns Flag To Half-Staff For John McCain, As The
Senator Gets A Last Word,” the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=025-a5a&t=c>
(8/27, Sullivan, Rogers) notes that “in his final months, Mr. McCain had
requested that the president not attend his funeral,” and “Trump responded
by painting Mr. McCain, widely hailed by his colleagues as one of the last
giants of the Senate, as a political foe who voted against his own party’s
interests.”

Mollie Hemingway of The Federalist said on Fox News’ Special
Report[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=026-8d5&t=c>
(8/27), “I think it is worth noting that the McCain family had, or Sen.
McCain had, requested President Trump not be at the funeral. That is a very
reasonable request for him to make. I think that what you see from the
White House is an attempt partially to not be involved too much in the very
appropriate ceremonies that are going to be taking place here. For once, it
is very good to see President Trump not try to make this be about him. I
think he is trying to show some respect and distance from the family during
this time.”

The Los Angeles Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=027-723&t=c>
(8/27, Bierman) reports “McCain’s decision to exclude...Trump from his
funeral is an extraordinary moment on its own, a posthumous rebuke from an
American icon who regarded the presidency as sacred, and believed its
current occupant defiles that office.” However, “Trump’s exclusion from
such high-profile events of mourning and celebration...is emerging as a
pattern over his 19 months in office” after he “rode the politics of
grievance, resentment and insults to election, and into the Oval Office, is
becoming for many a pariah president.” The Times adds that “to be unwelcome
at funerals, cultural celebrations and victory parties is another
unprecedented aspect of his presidency.”

*Media Analyses: McCain Issues “Veiled Rebuke” Of Trump In Farewell
Letter. *The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=028-afd&t=c>
(8/27, Sonmez) reports that “in his final words to the nation before his
passing,” McCain “delivered a veiled rebuke of...Trump, calling on
Americans to rally behind the country’s founding ideals rather than hiding
behind walls and succumbing to political tribalism.” Rick Davis, a McCain
family spokesman and longtime adviser, read the letter
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=029-670&t=c>
“at an emotional news conference” today. Wrote McCain, “We weaken our
greatness when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries that have
sown resentment and hatred and violence in all the corners of the globe. We
weaken it when we hide behind walls, rather than tear them down, when we
doubt the power of our ideals, rather than trust them to be the great force
for change they have always been.”

The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=02a-644&t=c>
(8/27, Sullivan, Rogers) notes that “in his statement, Mr. McCain, one of a
few Republicans in Congress who pushed back against Mr. Trump and publicly
criticized his style of leadership, alluded to ‘blood and soil,’ a German
nationalist slogan dating to the 19th Century that has been resurrected by
the alt-right and white nationalist movement in the United States.” Wrote
McCain, “We are citizens of the world’s greatest republic, a nation of
ideals, not blood and soil.” The Washington Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=02b-5e2&t=c>
(8/27, Donachie) titles its report “John McCain Takes A Shot At Trump In
His Farewell Statement To The Nation,” and USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=02c-931&t=c>
(8/27, Gardiner, Polletta) says that ultimately, “McCain ended his letter
on an optimistic note, saying Americans will get through the challenges
facing the country by working together.”

*CBS, NBC Hail McCain’s Defense Of Obama In 2008. *The CBS Evening
News[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=02d-19e&t=c>
(8/27, story 8, 2:00, Cowan) reported that “it’s hard to imagine a
politician praising an opponent, but...McCain did it when the stakes were
at their highest.” CBS went on to show an unidentified supporter telling
McCain in 2008, “I’m concerned about, you know, someone that cohorts with
domestic terrorists.” McCain was shown responding, “I have to tell you, he
is a decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared of as
president of the United States.” Asked whether Obama is an “Arab,” he was
shown saying, “No man, no ma’am, he’s a decent, family man, citizen that I
just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues. And that is
what this campaign is all about.”

NBC Nightly News[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=02e-644&t=c>
(8/27, story 2, 2:40, Guthrie) showed McCain saying on Election Night 2008,
“I urge all Americans that supported me to join me in not just
congratulating him but offering our next President our goodwill and earnest
effort to find ways to come together.” NBC added that “last year in the
midst of his brain cancer treatment, he returned to the Senate,
upending...Trump’s attempt to repeal healthcare.”

*Politico: Ducey To Appoint Trump-Friendly McCain Replacement. *
Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=02f-10a&t=c>
(8/27, Cadelago, Strauss, Meyer) reported that Gov. Doug Ducey’s (R-AZ)
“decision to replace...McCain is as much about his own political future as
it is about filling the seat of the six-term senator and decorated war
hero,” and “Republicans with knowledge of the governor’s thinking say he’ll
have to remain deferential to Trump and the White House while also taking
care not to alienate a statewide electorate ahead of a tough reelection
fight in November.” Politico added that “not only does Ducey risk angering
the president’s base if he picks someone viewed as antagonistic to his
agenda, but he could throw into doubt a vote for Trump’s Supreme Court
nominee Brett Kavanaugh.”
Foreign Policy
Trump Announces US-Mexico Trade Deal, Warns Canada It Could Be Left Out.

President Trump’s announcement that the US and Mexico have reached a trade
agreement is being cast by media outlets as fulfilling a key Trump campaign
promise, but also as putting prospects for a new trilateral NAFTA deal in
some doubt. The Los Angeles Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=030-70d&t=c>
(8/27, Lee) reports “the preliminary agreement...includes a tightening of
auto rules to increase production in North America,” and Axios
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=031-25b&t=c>
(8/27, Basu) that it “requires 75% of an automobile’s value to be
manufactured in North America, up from NAFTA’s current level of 62.5%.” It
would also “require 40% to 45% of the car to be made by workers earning at
least $16 an hour.” Trump tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=032-6a1&t=c>
yesterday, “A big deal looking good with Mexico!”

All three major network newscasts covered the story, albeit
briefly. In a 15-second segment, ABC World News Tonight[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=033-e54&t=c>
(8/27, story 5, 0:15, Muir) reported on Trump’s announcement “revising key
parts of NAFTA, which he has long criticized.” Trump, added ABC, is
“calling the deal the United States-Mexico Trade Agreement, and says trade
talks with Canada are still ongoing.” In a slightly longer, 20-second
story, the CBS Evening News[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=034-1d3&t=c>
(8/27, story 4, 0:20, O'Donnell) reported “the new deal is aimed at
encouraging more auto production in the US and higher salaries for
autoworkers. Canada is not included and won’t be, according to Mr. Trump,
unless it makes new concessions.”

On NBC Nightly News[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=035-89b&t=c>
(8/27, story 4, 1:35, Jackson), which devoted a minute and a half to the
deal, Phil Lebeau of Auto And Airline Industry Reporter was shown saying,
“This trade deal could be good news for consumers in that it adds certainty
to the pricing of vehicles built in Mexico.” However, added NBC, Mexico is
“signaling it may not move forward unless Canada is on board,” and the
White House “hopes for that by the end of the week. The sooner it happens,
the better for this cheese company in Wisconsin, whose biggest foreign
customers are our neighbors to the north and south.” Jeff Schwager, Sartori
Cheese President, was shown saying, “Mexico, this is a big step forward. We
really appreciate it. You know, having the opportunity there. But Canada is
just as important to us. We don’t want to talk our foot off the
accelerator. Let’s get a deal done with Canada.”

National Economic Council Director Kudlow said on CNBC’s Closing
Bell[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=036-90a&t=c>
(8/27), “I think this is big victory. It’s a big victory for growth and
prosperity. It’s a big victory for cooperation. It’s a big victory for free
and fair trade. I think all these things work together. One of things he’s
argued for quite some time is bilateral negotiations are really more
efficient than all these multilateral negotiations whether it’s three
countries or 23 countries and I think that paid off with Mexico.” Kudlow
also told CNBC’s Closing Bell[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=037-1ab&t=c>
(8/27), “The message to Canada is look carefully. We would like to
coordinate with you. We would like to make a good deal with you. You’ve
seen a lot of the issues. We also know there are stumbling blocks with
regard to Canada. But for now we’re going to celebrate the Mexican deal,
which by the way most folks or many folks didn’t think we’d ever reach, and
we hope Canada is watching carefully at how successful negotiations can
go.”

Mollie Hemingway of The Federalist said on Fox News’ Special
Report[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=038-a02&t=c>
(8/27), “This is a profoundly vindicating day for the Trump Administration
which has put forth a strategy that a lot of people thought was risky and
they were very worried about it, putting the squeeze on tariffs, trying to
renegotiate a bunch of trade agreements. President Trump obviously prefers
bilateral trade agreements over these multinational things that were quite
popular for a few decades. But, this is a good agreement.” CNN contributor
Bianna Golodryga, however, said on CNN’s Situation Room[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=039-8af&t=c>
(8/27), “Once again, we see a norm that’s broken with the President
announcing a partial deal. Nothing is finished, nothing is written in
stone. Nothing has been signed. In fact, with regard to NAFTA, we need to
have Canada as a signatory. This could very well be the President’s attempt
to put more pressure on Canada to come to the table.”

Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=03a-184&t=c>
(8/27, Rodriguez, Behsudi, Cassella) reports that the announcement moves
Trump “one step closer to fulfilling a core campaign promise to revamp”
NAFTA, and Business Insider
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=03b-cb9&t=c>
(8/27, Bryan) that it was “a significant step toward reshaping” the treaty.
The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=03c-487&t=c>
(8/27, Miller) indicates, meanwhile, that the agreement “puts other
countries on notice that Mr. Trump isn’t backing down from his
America-first trade policies and his use of tariffs to force concessions
from major trading partners such as China and the European Union.” John
Roberts also said on Fox News’ Special Report[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=03d-6d5&t=c>
(8/27), “White House officials tell Fox News this is just the first shoe to
drop in a plan to revamp some of America’s biggest trade deals.” The
President also “wants to cut ones with Canada, with Japan, the European
Union and then take on China, the biggest of all.”

To the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=03e-35f&t=c>
(8/27, Swanson, Rogers), however, Trump “suggest[ed] he was ready to
jettison Canada from the trilateral trade pact if the country did not get
on board quickly,” and “touted the preliminary agreement with Mexico as a
new trade pact that could replace NAFTA.” The New York Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=03f-631&t=c>
(8/27, Schwab, Fredericks) quotes Trump as saying, “They used to call it
NAFTA. We’re going to call it the United States-Mexico trade agreement.
We’ll get rid of the name NAFTA. ... I think its an elegant name.” The Wall
Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=040-9b2&t=c>
(8/27, Zumbrun, Pérez), however, says its unclear if Mexico – and Canada –
would agree to renaming the trade pact. Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=041-607&t=c>
(8/27, Rampton, Mason) says, moreover, that “Trump threatened he could put
tariffs on Canadian-made cars if a three-way deal could not be reached.”
Said Trump, “I think with Canada, frankly, the easiest we can do is to
tariff their cars coming in. It’s a tremendous amount of money and it’s a
very simple negotiation. It could end in one day and we take in a lot of
money the following day.” Fox News’ Special Report[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=042-651&t=c>
(8/27) described Trump as “really putting the squeeze” on Canada.

The next phase of negotiations, says the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=043-763&t=c>
(8/27, Werner), “will pose a major test for Trump’s unique style of
diplomacy” as “top White House officials appeared split on whether they
would proceed at all if Canada didn’t sign on to the deal with Mexico.”
While Trump “left open the possibility of cutting Canada out of the final
deal,” USTR Lighthizer “told reporters later that every effort would be
made to include Canada as part of the deal, even if it took weeks or longer
for them to sign on to changes.” The Daily Caller
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=044-e33&t=c>
(8/27, Enjeti) notes Lighthizer “explained Trump’s comments that NAFTA as
it is currently known is being ‘terminated’ saying that the US cannot be a
party to two agreements at one time.” Lighthizer also said “the national
security 232 tariffs currently leveled on Mexico will not be lifted under
the new agreement.”

Lighthizer said on Fox News’ Special Report[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=045-567&t=c>
(8/27) that the “agreement in principle” with Mexico is “thousands of pages
long – this is not just some idea,” and “the way it works, you have to
announce and wait 90 days and then Congress has a chance to review.” When
asked if NAFTA is “technically” still in place, Lighthizer replied, “Yes,
NAFTA is in place, but what we have renegotiated is the Mexico part of it.
A lot of the provisions are the same.” He added that “it is our hope” that
the negotiations with Mexico open the door with Canada.

CQ Roll Call
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=046-931&t=c>
(8/27, Bennett) likewise reports that while Trump “indicated his
administration and Mexican officials will try to sell their Canadian
counterparts on the details,” he “left open the door to one-on-one deals
with both countries.” The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=047-991&t=c>
(8/27, Fabian, Needham), however, says that “if Canada is excluded, it
would mark a major shift in US trade policy,” and Trump “would need
Congress to approve the break-up of the three-nation agreement, a move that
most on Capitol Hill would likely oppose.” The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=048-b86&t=c>
(8/27, Wiseman, Lugo, Gillies) similarly says that while the US and Mexico
have reached “a preliminary accord...any new agreement is far from final.
The administration still needs to negotiate with the third partner in
NAFTA, Canada, to become part of any new trade accord. Without Canada,
America’s No. 2 trading partner, it’s unclear whether any new US trade
agreement with Mexico would be possible.” Trump told reporters that he will
be calling Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

CNBC
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=049-4a9&t=c>
(8/27, Tausche, Imbert) reports Trump “said negotiations with Canada had
not started, adding that if Canada wanted to negotiate fairly, the US would
do that,” and Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=04a-392&t=c>
(8/27, Martin, Jacobs, Wingrove, Mayeda) reports that according to a
Canadian government spokesman, Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland “is
leaving a trip in Europe early to travel to Washington for NAFTA talks on
Tuesday.” Canada, the Washington Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=04b-a41&t=c>
(8/27, Higgins) says, “sought to downplay any impression that it had been
left out,” and Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=04c-7b6&t=c>
(8/27, Hopkins) quotes a Freeland spokesman as saying, “Given the
encouraging announcement today of further bilateral progress between the US
and Mexico,” Freeland “will travel to Washington, DC, tomorrow to continue
negotiations. We will only sign a new NAFTA that is good for Canada and
good for the middle class. Canada’s signature is required.”

Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=04d-0bf&t=c>
(8/27, Martin, Jacobs, Wingrove, Mayeda) also says Mexican President
Enrique Peña Nieto, who joined the press conference by phone, said he is
“quite hopeful” Canada would soon be incorporated in the deal. Breitbart
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=04e-afb&t=c>
(8/27, Moons) reports that through a translator, Peña Nieto “thanked” Trump
and remarked that this is “very positive for the United States and Mexico.”
Townhall
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=04f-5fa&t=c>
(8/27, Pavlich) reports that joining Trump and US officials in the Oval
Office for the announcement were Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray
and Mexican Economic Minister Ildefonso Guajardo.

Catherine Rampell asks in her Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=050-134&t=c>
(8/27, Rampell) column whether “the recent round of discussions between
Mexico and the United States” produced “any results,” and responded, “Sort
of. But it’s hard to call it progress,” because “nothing announced thus far
suggests that the stuff we got Mexico to agree to would help the United
States increase car exports to Mexico at all.”

*Cornyn, Brown Both Call Deal A Positive Step. *USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=051-1ac&t=c>
(8/27, Collins), meanwhile, reports that “in Congress, which must approve
any new deal, some lawmakers took a wait-and-see attitude toward the
agreement.” Sen. John Cornyn called the deal “a positive step,” but
“stressed that the final deal should include Canada and have bipartisan
support.” Sen. Sherrod Brown, “one of the most ardent critics of NAFTA,
said that although he needed to review the text of the agreement, ‘this is
an important step forward.’”

*Washington Examiner: Kushner Was Key To Deal With Mexico. *Under
the headline “NAFTA Another Win For Jared Kushner,” the Washington Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=052-4d6&t=c>
(8/27, Bedard) reports that “Trump’s secret weapon and son-in-law has
struck again,” as “insiders say that Jared Kushner was key to nailing down
the revision to the North American Free Trade Agreement announced Monday,
working with...Lighthizer, the Canadians and especially
Mexico’s...Videgaray.”

*WPost: Peña Nieto Call Exemplifies Trump Effort To Run Presidency
Like “Reality Show.” *The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=053-af8&t=c>
(8/27, Nakamura) reports that “amid breaking news of a US-Mexico trade
deal...Trump invited reporters into the Oval Office on Monday to punctuate
the moment in an unusual way: allowing them to sit in on a celebratory
phone chat with...Peña Nieto,” but “when he punched a button on a phone on
the Resolute Desk, the line was dead.” With cameras rolling, Trump asked,
“Enrique?” When there was no response, Trump called out to aides, “You can
hook him up. ... You tell me when. This is a big deal. A lot of people are
waiting.” The Post adds that “the awkward, real-time sequence in the Oval
Office offered another example of Trump’s willingness to discard protocol
and conduct his presidency like a reality show playing out in real time,
conscripting those around him in service of the spectacle.”

*US To Pay Farmers $4.7 Billion To Offset Tariff Losses. *USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=054-7fc&t=c>
(8/27, Collins) reports the Agriculture Department said Monday it will
begin “paying $4.7 billion to farmers whose harvests have been hurt by
‘unjustified retaliation’ from foreign governments in trade wars with the
United States.” The compensation, USA Today says, is “the initial payment
of some $12 billion in aid” that President Trump promised in July to
farmers slammed by tariffs. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said, “Our
farmers work hard and are the most productive in the world, and we aim to
protect them.” The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=055-c37&t=c>
(8/27, Newman, Haddon) quotes Perdue as saying, “Problems caused by
unjustified tariffs could not have come at a worse time.” He added the aid
will give the Administration time to strike trade deals that benefit the US
economy, including agriculture.

Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=056-3e8&t=c>
(8/27, Evich, Crampton) reports that “the vast majority of the direct
payments” will go to soybean growers. Soybeans “now fetch $2 less per
bushel than they did in March,” when Trump “began to slap new tariffs on
Chinese exports, setting off a tit-for-tat trade battle that has resulted
in billions of dollars of lost value for a crop that earlier this year
surpassed corn as America’s most widely grown commodity.” However, growers
of corn and wheat, and dairy producers, expressed frustration with the
preference given to soybean producers.

Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH) tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=057-a80&t=c>,
“More proof that #TrumpTariffs are disastrous for American farmers:
@realDonaldTrump giving $4,700,000,000 to offset trade losses.” Rep.
Gregory Meeks (D-NY) tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=058-c6d&t=c>,
“Nursing self-inflicted wounds to our economy doesn’t negate that those
wounds are self-inflicted, & unnecessary.”

*Trump: China Wants Trade Talks, But It’s “Not The Right Time.” *The
Washington Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=059-97d&t=c>
(8/27, Nelson) reports Trump said Monday that it was “not the right time”
for a trade deal with China after striking a new deal with Mexico. Speaking
to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said, “We’re working very much with
other countries. China is one. They want to talk. It’s just not the right
time to talk right now, to be honest, with China.” He added, “It’s too
one-sided for too many years for too many decades, and so it’s not the
right time to talk. But eventually, I’m sure that we will be able to work
out a deal with China. In the meantime we’re doing very well with China.” USA
Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=05a-ffe&t=c>
(8/27, Davidson) has a brief explainer on “Trump’s Trade War” and “how
tariffs work.”

*Lighthizer: US Trade Relationship With China “Very, Very
Unbalanced Situation.” *USTR Lighthizer said on Fox News’ Special Report[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=05b-c10&t=c>
(8/27) that in regards to trade, “the fundamental problem for the United
States is China. We have a very, very unbalanced situation. We have $375
billion worth of trade that we have lost. We lost millions of jobs because
of Chinese practices which I believe are unfair, uneconomic. So, we have to
figure out a way to change the relationship with China. ... The President
is very, very focused on that.”

*China Disputes Latest US Tariffs At WTO. *The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=05c-8d5&t=c>
(8/27) reports that China on Monday challenged the latest round of US
tariffs against Chinese goods at the WTO. The Chinese government formally
requested “dispute consultations” with the US over the Administration’s
imposition of $16 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods last week.

*Private-Equity Firm Sought Canadian Import Tariffs On Behalf Of
Paper Firm. *The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=05d-c1a&t=c>
(8/27, Mauldin) reports that according to government records, the Commerce
Department set tariffs on Canadian imports after private-equity firm One
Rock Capital Partners pressed for them on behalf of North Pacific Paper, in
which it has an investment. Commerce Secretary Ross defended the tariffs,
saying earlier this month, “This was a complicated and unique case. The
department worked hard to address the arguments raised, and I am satisfied
that the final determination appropriately targets bad actors.”
Macron Criticizes Trump’s “Aggressive” Isolationism.

Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=05e-29b&t=c>
(8/27, Rose, Lough) reports French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday
“said preserving European Union unity was more important than forging a
close relationship with post-Brexit Britain, and hit out” at what he called
President Trump’s “aggressive” isolationism. Macron “did not announce any
major shifts in foreign policy” in an annual address to his ambassadors,
“but spoke forcefully about what he labeled the ‘crisis of multilateralism’
and the need to make Europe more ‘sovereign.’” Said the French president,
“Multilateralism is going through a major crisis which collides with all
our diplomatic activity, above all because of US policy.” Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=05f-427&t=c>
(8/27, Fouquet) reports Macron also “called on Europe to build its
financial and defense autonomy in response to the shifting balance of power
as partners like the US ‘turn their back’ on the current world order.” Said
Macron, “Europe can no longer rely solely on the United States for its
security. We must guarantee our own security and sovereignty.”
Iran Seeks Suspension Of US Sanctions In International Court Filing.

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=060-310&t=c>
(8/27, Corder) reports that in a written statement to the International
Court of Justice, Iran warned “that re-imposed US sanctions would cripple
its economy and plunge the volatile Middle East deeper into crisis as it
urged the United Nations’ highest court to suspend the Trump
administration’s economic pressure on Tehran.” In the US response,
Secretary of State Pompeo called Iran’s “claims ‘meritless’ and defended
the sanctions as a way of keeping Americans safe.” Iran filed the case in
July alleging the snap-back of US sanctions violated the 1955 Treaty of
Amity between the US and Iran.

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=061-013&t=c>
(8/27, Corder) reports that Iran for its part warned “that re-imposed US
sanctions would cripple its economy and plunge the volatile Middle East
deeper into crisis” as Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=062-c2e&t=c>
(8/27, Berg) reports Iranian lawyers are asking the court “to order the
United States to lift sanctions ordered by the Trump administration against
Tehran.” US lawyers, however, are “expected to argue that the United
Nations court should not have jurisdiction in the dispute, that the
friendship treaty is no longer valid and that the sanctions Washington has
levied against Tehran do not violate it anyway.”

Benjamin Hall reported on [image: Image removed by sender. Video]Fox
News’ Special Report
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=063-32a&t=c>
(8/27) that as Iran was quoting the friendship treaty, “the head of its
Navy was issuing military threats, saying it now has full control of the
Persian Gulf and Straits of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the oil
goes.” According to Hall, the Navy leader added that Iran “could take
military action to block oil exports.” Meanwhile, “inside Iran, cracks are
showing.” On Sunday, Iranian Finance Minister Masoud Karbasian, a “key
ally” of President Hassan Rouhani, was voted out “due to the country’s
economic woes, which he also blamed on the US.”

*Rouhani Calls On Other Signatories To Preserve Nuclear Deal. *
Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=064-b4c&t=c>
(8/27, Dehghanpisheh, Lough) reports Iranian President Hassan Rouhani
“urged the remaining signatories to its 2015 nuclear agreement to act to
save the pact, though France’s leader called again for broader talks on
Tehran’s missile program and its role in the Middle East region.” In a
phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, Rouhani said Iran “wanted
the Europeans to give guarantees on banking channels and oil sales as well
as in the field of insurance and transportation, according to the state-run
Iranian news agency IRNA.” In response, Macron “reiterated France’s
commitment to maintaining the accord,” but he “repeated his earlier calls
for broader discussions with all relevant parties.”

The Washington Free Beacon
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=065-ee0&t=c>
(8/27, Kredo) says during the phone call, “Rouhani issued a veiled warning”
that if European nations “fail to uphold the nuclear agreement, Iran will
adopt other measures, though it remains unclear what options Iran has.” The
Free Beacon says Rouhani’s efforts “to convince European nations to uphold
the agreement and continue working with Tehran” have “paid off as countries
such as France and Germany continue efforts to skirt the new U.S. sanctions
and keep the Iranian regime financially buoyant.” US lawmakers are “keeping
a close eye on the latest developments with senior officials telling the
Free Beacon that continued European outreach to Iran is ‘poisoning’ ties
with the United States.”
Iran Says It Has Signed Deal To Help Rebuild Syria’s Military.

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=066-2d5&t=c>
(8/27) reports Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami said Monday that Tehran
has signed a deal with Syria to rebuild the nation’s armed forces after
years of war. Hatami, “who is on a two-day visit to Syria, told the
Beirut-based al-Mayadeen TV station in an interview aired Monday that the
agreement is to also develop Syria’s military industry.” The Wall Street
Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=067-1a5&t=c>
(8/27, Fitch, Rasmussen) says the deal indicates Iran intends to remain in
Syria despite the efforts by the US and its allies to contain Tehran. On
Monday, “Hatami said Iran was in Syria at the invitation of the
government,” reports the AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=068-928&t=c>
(8/27, Press), which adds that the deals comes as the US “shifts is
toughening its stance on Iran’s support for Syrian President Bashar Assad’s
government, which has weathered a calamitous civil war.”

*Russia Warns US Preparing For Possible Strike On Syria. *Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082801biden&r=email-8e7d&l=069-d0e&t=c>
(8/27, Ivanova) reports the Russian Ministry of Defense said Monday that
“it had noticed Washington was building up its military forces in the
Middle East in preparation for what Moscow feared was a possible strike on
Syrian government forces.” Major-General Igor Konashenkov was quoted by
Russian news agencies “as saying that the USS Ross, a guided-missile
destroyer, had entered the Mediterranean on Aug. 25 armed with 28 Tomahawk
cruise missiles capable of hitting any target in Syria.”
US Imposes New Sanctions On Russia Over Nerve Agent Attack In UK.

The CBS Evening News[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
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(8/27, story 7, 2:10, O'Donnell) reported, “New US sanctions against Russia
kicked in today in retaliation for the nerve agent attack on a former
Russian spy and his daughter in England. That attack raise alarms there and
here.” CBS (D’Agata) added, “The use of the Russian nerve agent Novichok in
the assassination attempt of double agent Sergei Skripal was a violation of
international law banning the use of chemical weapons. Chemical weapons
specialist Hamish DeBreton Gordon calls it a turning point.” Gordon: “The
hundred year taboo on the use of chemical weapons has broken. ... If it can
happen in Salisbury, it can happen Baltimore or Philadelphia.” D’Agata:
“Amin Dean, a former Al Qaeda member turned British spy, says the Salisbury
attack will inspire terrorists.” Dean: “The Novichok attack was a big neon
sign advertisement, basically for al Qaeda and ISIS who already tried
three, four times in the last several years, and they will try again.”

*Putin Opponent Jailed Over Unsanctioned Protest. *Fox News’
Special Report[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
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(8/27) reported Russia has sentenced opposition leader Alexei Navalny,
“Vladimir Putin’s most prominent rival,” to a month in jail for an
unsanctioned rally in Moscow “to protest government plans to raise the
retirement age.”

*Ukrainian Bid To Free From Russian Orthodox Church’s Authority
Rankles Moscow. *“Anticipation is building” in Ukraine over the prospect
that “Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, seen by many as the first among
equals of Eastern Orthodox leaders,” will “grant Ukrainian clerics full
ecclesiastical independence from the Russian Orthodox Church to which they
have been tied for hundreds of years,” the AP
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(8/27, Satter) reports. Earlier this year, Ukrainian President Petro
Poroshenko “launched a campaign to persuade” Bartholomew to issue “such a
declaration, known as a ‘Tomos of Autocephaly.’” Ukrainian politicians view
the declaration “as a key step in consolidating their country’s national
identity,” but “Russian religious leaders see it as an attack on Christian
Orthodox unity and are fighting to stop it.” The AP even “discovered a
Russian digital espionage campaign targeting Bartholomew’s top aides.”
While it is “not clear whether the AP’s spying revelations will have any
impact on the debate over autocephaly,” independent researcher Katja
Richters “said it could heighten emotions that are already running high on
both sides.”
US, Japan, South Korea Recommit To North Korea’s Denuclearization.

Fox News’ Special Report[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
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(8/27) reported Secretary Pompeo spoke with his counterparts form Japan and
South Korea on Friday, and they are all “recommitting to the
denuclearization process with North Korea.” The development comes after
President Trump canceled Pompeo’s trip to Pyongyang “over what he called
insufficient progress” on denuclearization. Reuters
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(8/27, Lee) reports South Korea said Monday that the “abrupt cancellation”
of Secretary of State Pompeo’s trip to North Korea is “having an ‘effect’
on a controversial inter-Korean liaison office it planned to open by this
month.” Presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said “that the canceled visit
‘cannot be said to have zero effect’ on the plan for the liaison office.”
Said Kim, “We were thinking of the opening of the liaison office as part of
a smooth series of schedules including Secretary of State Pompeo’s North
Korea visit then the inter-Korean summit. Now that a new situation has
arisen, there is a need to inspect it again accordingly.”

Meanwhile, Wolf Blitzer reported on CNN’s Situation Room[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
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(8/27) that North Korea is “reverting to hostile rhetoric against the Trump
Administration.” According to CNN’s Barbara Starr, the North’s state
newspaper is accusing the US of “secretly cranking up a criminal plot...to
launch an invasion of North Korea.” However, Starr said that the “official
word from the US military” is that an invasion “is not happening.” Starr
said the North is “reverting back to this rhetoric” at a time when “the US
feels the North Koreans are not making the commitments to denuclearization.
In fact, there’s no evidence they’re doing it.”

In an editorial, the Washington Post
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(8/27) attributes the stalled US-North Korea negotiations to “President
Trump’s hasty and slipshod diplomacy with dictator Kim Jong Un this year.”
The Post says the President attempted “to regain some leverage” by
canceling Pompeo’s trip by blaming the impasse on China’s refusal to make
trade concessions, but the entanglement of the two issues is “a senseless
and dangerous mix-up of unrelated objectives.” The Post argues that that
the Administration’s “best hope of rescuing the situation is to return to
talking with North Korea about an equitable tradeoff,” because it does not
make sense for “Trump to suppose that he can disarm North Korea through
trade talks with China – or by canceling meetings on Twitter.”
Afghan President Says Peace Talks With Taliban Delayed.

Reuters
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(8/27, Sediqi, Jain) reports Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s office said
Monday that Russia “has agreed to postpone multilateral peace talks with
the Taliban, a week after the insurgents accepted an invitation to go to
Moscow for a Sept. 4 summit.” Russia invited 12 countries and the Taliban
to Moscow for peace talks next month, but “though the Taliban had accepted
the invitation, Kabul turned it down on the grounds that peace talks...must
be led by Afghanistan.” A senior Afghan official told Reuters that Ghani
spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov “to iron out the
differences and ensure talks with the Taliban happen in presence of the
Afghan government.” Lavrov assured Ghani that the summit dates “will be
changed to ensure Afghanistan’s participation,” the official said. Bloomberg
News
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(8/27, Najafizada) reports Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed “said they
would attend the meeting but would not hold face-to-face talks with Afghan
government officials if they attended.”

*WPost: Afghan Government In Turmoil. *The Washington Post
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(8/27, Constable) reports on “reports of turmoil” in the Afghan government
following “the abrupt resignation” of Ghani’s national security adviser, as
the government seeks to “protect the country and deal with an insurgency
that might be seeking to end the 17-year conflict.” Meanwhile, “the Russian
government had agreed to postpone a Sept. 4 meeting in Moscow on the Afghan
conflict,” planned “to include China, Pakistan, Iran and India.” The Post
says that “two recent attacks deeply embarrassed the Ghani government,”
first, “a deadly four-day siege of Ghazni,” and second “a barrage of
mortars” interrupting a television address by the president, and one result
was increasing divisions in the government.
Domestic Policy
GSA IG Confirms Trump Role In FBI Headquarters Project Meetings.

CQ Roll Call (DC)
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(8/27, Lesniewski) said that a new report from the General Services
Administration IG found that President Trump “was more intimately involved
in the debate over relocating the FBI headquarters than Congress was told.”
Rep. Gerald Connolly (D-VA), who requested the report, said it confirmed
his suspicion that Trump was involved in the decision to abandon plans to
move the agency from the J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building on Pennsylvania
Avenue to a campus location in the Maryland or Virginia suburbs. The IG
report “criticized as incomplete and potentially misleading congressional
testimony to a House Appropriations subcommittee by GSA Administrator Emily
Murphy regarding the change of direction.” While the IG said Murphy’s
responses were true, she failed to mention conversations with
Administration officials, including Trump.

The Wall Street Journal
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(8/27, Tau, Gurman) reports that in her testimony, Murphy twice said that
the FBI made the decision to cancel the move to the suburbs, and the IG
report backed that up. The AP
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(8/27) reports that the first meeting “in which Trump’s participation was
documented, according to the IG report, came in January 2018. That was
before the GSA proposed a plan to raze the Hoover building and build a new
headquarters in its place, but after the GSA announced in 2017 that it was
scrapping its plans for a move to the suburbs.” The Washington Business
Journal
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(8/27, Sernovitz) reports that Trump, Chief of Staff John Kelly and Deputy
Attorney General Rod Rosenstein were among those “in on an Oval Office
meeting Jan. 24 when” Murphy and FBI Director Christopher Wray “briefed the
president on plans for a new FBI headquarters.”

The Washington Post
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(8/27, O'Connell) reports that GSA officials “also misrepresented the costs
of their replacement plan – to build a new downtown headquarters – making
it seem as though it would cost less than the original plan when it would
actually cost more,” the report found. The AP
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