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Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing


*From:* Bulletin Intelligence <Biden@BulletinIntelligence.com>
*Sent:* Thursday, August 23, 2018 7:54 AM
*To:* Biden@BulletinIntelligence.com
*Subject:* Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing for
Thursday, August 23, 2018


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[image: Image removed by sender. Office of Vice President Biden
Intelligence Briefing]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=001-0d1&t=c>

*To: Vice President Joe Biden*

*Thursday, August 23, 2018 8:00 AM EDT*
Today's Table of Contents

*Biden in the News <#SECTION_1>*

• Axios’ Allen: Biden Lauded Former JSOC Chief Who Rebuked Trump. <#S1>

• Rasmussen Poll: Biden Remains Democrats’ Top Pick To Take On Trump In
2020. <#S2>

• Ex-Rep. Israel Touts Biden As Democrats’ Best Option To Face Trump. <#S3>

• Gambling Website Pegs Trump As Heavy Favorite In 2020; Biden In Fourth.
<#S4>

• Biden To Be Honored At National Civil Rights Museum Freedom Awards Oct.
17. <#S5>

• Biden To Kick Off University At Buffalo’s Distinguished Speaker Series
Oct. 25. <#S6>

*Leading the News <#SECTION_2>*

• Trump Mocks Cohen, Says Charges To Which He Pleaded Guilty “Not A Crime.”
<#S7>

• Trump Praises Manafort For Refusing To “Make Up Stories In Order To Get A
‘Deal.’” <#S8>

• Media Analyses: Midterms May Decide Trump’s Fate As Impeachment
Speculation Grows. <#S9>

*Foreign Policy <#SECTION_3>*

• Putin Calls Helsinki Summit “Positive And Useful” Ahead of Bolton Visit.
<#S10>

• Bolton: Putin Would Be “Content” If All Iranian Forces Exit Syria. <#S11>

• Bolton: Sanctions Working, US Not Seeking Regime Change In Iran. <#S12>

• Trump Awards Medal Of Honor To USAF Sergeant Killed In Afghanistan. <#S13>

• USA Today: Declining Arab Enthusiasm For Trump Middle East Peace Deal.
<#S14>

• Saudi Arabia Planning To Execute Female Human Rights Activist. <#S15>

• Satellite Imagery Indicates North Korea Halted Dismantling Of Launch Site.
<#S16>

• US, Mexico Reportedly Getting Close To NAFTA Deal. <#S17>

*Domestic Policy <#SECTION_4>*

• Democrats Want To Delay Kavanaugh Hearings In Wake Of Cohen Guilty Plea.
<#S18>

• Media Analyses: Tibbetts’ Murder Could Become Campaign Issue. <#S19>

• NYTimes: New EPA Rule Will Barely Slow Decline Of US Coal Industry. <#S20>

• Fed Signals Openness To Further Rate Increases If Economy Remains Strong.
<#S21>

• DeVos Mulls Letting Schools Use Federal Funds To Buy Guns. <#S22>

• Trump: 80% Of Media Is “Fake News,” Singles Out NYTimes “Lunatics.” <#S23>

*Cancer Research <#SECTION_5>*

• Mast Wants HHS To Examine Possible Glioblastoma Cluster In Florida. <#S24>

• Pfizer, Astellas Revise Two Cancer Drug Trial Protocols To Expedite
Results. <#S25>

*Editorials/Op-Eds <#SECTION_6>*

• New York Times. <#S26>

• Washington Post. <#S27>
Biden in the News
Axios’ Allen: Biden Lauded Former JSOC Chief Who Rebuked Trump.

Writing for Axios
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=002-0bb&t=c>
(8/23), Mike Allen reports this morning that former Vice President Joe
Biden on Sunday “reached out to William McRaven – former commander of the
US Joint Special Operations Command, who oversaw the SEAL raid that killed
Osama bin Laden – after McRaven dared President Trump to revoke his
clearance, too.” Allen says, “Biden’s rough message to McRaven: ‘It is
presumptuous of me to say, but I’m so incredibly proud of you. I saw up
close your physical courage, including your incredible calm during planning
for the Bin Laden raid. As RFK said: ‘Moral courage is the rarer commodity
than bravery in battle.’” Biden is further quoted as saying, “I have never
met anybody whose moral courage equaled their physical courage in your
category. I’m proud to know you and be associated with you.”
Rasmussen Poll: Biden Remains Democrats’ Top Pick To Take On Trump In 2020.

Rasmussen Reports
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=003-d22&t=c>
(8/22) says that former Vice President Joe Biden “remains the clear
favorite among Democrats to be their presidential nominee in 2020,” with
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) “a fading second,” according to a Rasmussen
Reports nationwide poll of 1,000 US likely Democratic voters, taken Aug.
20-21. In the poll, 37% of those surveyed selected “Biden first out of a
field of six early contenders for the nomination when asked which of them
best represents the party and would make the best candidate against
President Trump if he runs for reelection in 2020.” The brief article
provides no further information about the results of the poll.
Ex-Rep. Israel Touts Biden As Democrats’ Best Option To Face Trump.

In an op-ed that appears on the website of The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=004-98d&t=c>
(8/22), ex-Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY), a former Democratic Congressional
Campaign Committee chief, says that former Vice President Joe Biden “may be
the best” Democrat to face off against President Trump in 2020. Israel says
that Biden has strong appeal in states such as “Pennsylvania, Ohio,
Michigan, Florida, [and] Wisconsin,” where there are “pools of once-blue,
middle-class districts” that have been shifting “towards the Republicans.”
Israel says Biden has the ability to connect “with these communities,”
reversing “the Trump tide.” For a Democrat to defeat Trump, adds Israel,
“the path is in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. It’s in Michigan, Ohio,
Wisconsin, Florida. It’s uphill, uneven – and well travelled by Joe Biden.”
Gambling Website Pegs Trump As Heavy Favorite In 2020; Biden In Fourth.

The Washington Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=005-43f&t=c>
(8/22, Bedard) reported, “Despite a wave of troubling headlines, President
Trump’s odds of winning re-election have surged and are far higher than any
challenger, according to a leading online gambling site.” According to
“BetOnline.ag, more gamblers are betting on a Trump victory than on every
single other competitor of either party, of which the site lists 45. Trump
currently stands as a 3/2 bet to win re-election. His closest challenger is
California Sen. Kamala Harris, listed at 10-1,” followed by “Sen. Bernie
Sanders, 14-1, former Vice President Joe Biden, 16-1,” and Sen. Elizabeth
Warren, 20-1.
Biden To Be Honored At National Civil Rights Museum Freedom Awards Oct. 17.

The Memphis (TN) Commercial Appeal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=006-fba&t=c>
(8/22, Moore) reports, “Former Vice President Joe Biden, civil rights icon
the Rev. Jesse Jackson and entrepreneur and philanthropist Pitt Hyde are
the honorees for the 2018 National Civil Rights Museum’s Freedom Awards.
... The ceremony is Oct. 17. As this year the museum remembered the 50th
anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination in Memphis, 1968 was
also an important year for each of the honorees,” according to NCRM
President Terri Lee Freeman, who said, “Joe Biden was a law clerk in 1968
when Robert Kennedy was assassinated. He actually identified Kennedy as his
personal hero.”

In a brief, online article, WREG-TV
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=007-028&t=c>
Memphis, TN (8/22) reported, “This year’s 27th annual award ceremony...will
also feature a special tribute to Aretha Franklin. The theme is ‘1968.’
Writer, commentator and activist Michaela Angela Davis will host the
ceremony. Biden will be recognized for his work in criminal justice and
international affairs, Jackson as founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition and
for his work as a civil rights activist and political leader and Hyde for
his local philanthropy work as trustee of the Hyde Family Foundation.” On
its website, WMC-TV
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=008-0d1&t=c>
Memphis, TN (8/22, Nunley, Poindexter) reported that Biden “was selected
because of his tireless work on criminal justice reform and his impact on
US foreign policy.”
Biden To Kick Off University At Buffalo’s Distinguished Speaker Series Oct.
25.

The Buffalo (NY) News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=009-ba2&t=c>
(8/22, Watson) reports, “Former Vice President Joe Biden, former Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice and Ronan Farrow, the New Yorker writer who
shared a Pulitzer Prize for his investigation into claims against Harvey
Weinstein, headline” the University at Buffalo’s “2018-19 Distinguished
Speaker Series.” The “series kicks off with likely its biggest draw, Biden,
who will speak on Oct. 25.” Buffalo (NY) Business First
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=00a-31d&t=c>
(8/22), WIVB-TV
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=00b-9b8&t=c>
Buffalo, NY (8/22, Anstey), WKBW-TV
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=00c-b8a&t=c>
Buffalo, NY (8/22), and WGRZ-TV
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=00d-d3a&t=c>
Buffalo, NY (8/22) offer similar reports.
Leading the News
Trump Mocks Cohen, Says Charges To Which He Pleaded Guilty “Not A Crime.”

President Trump tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=00e-d5d&t=c>
yesterday, “If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly
suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!” Trump also
wrote
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=00f-98d&t=c>
that Cohen “plead guilty to two counts of campaign finance violations that
are not a crime. President Obama had a big campaign finance violation and
it was easily settled!” Moreover, in a tweet
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=010-265&t=c>
addressing Paul Manafort’s conviction, Trump praised his former campaign
chairman for refusing to “make up stories in order to get a ‘deal’” – an
apparent reference to his former lawyer. In addition, the Washington
Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=011-00e&t=c>
(8/22, Morrongiello) notes that in an interview which aired this morning on
Fox News’ “Fox & Friends,” Trump “denied that campaign funds were ever used
to arrange hush money payments to two women who claimed to have had affairs
with him prior to the 2016 presidential election.” Trump said “he knew of
the payments...’later on,’ but claimed they were not funded by his
campaign.”

In an online story this morning which includes video of the
interview, Fox News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=012-999&t=c>
(8/23) reports that “Trump blasted his former attorney, Michael Cohen, for
‘flipping’ on him and praised another ex-lieutenant with legal trouble,
Paul Manafort, in an exclusive ‘Fox & Friends’ interview with Ainsely
Earhardt.” Trump is shown saying,”[Cohen] makes a better deal when he uses
me, like everybody else. And one of the reasons I respect Paul Manafort so
much is he went through that trial—you know they make up stories. People
make up stories. This whole thing about flipping, they call it,” and “it
almost ought to be outlawed. It’s not fair.” Fox adds that Trump “went on
to criticize Attorney General Jeff Sessions, saying he ‘never took control
of the Justice Department.’ When asked whether he would fire Sessions or
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, he maintained that he wants to
‘stay uninvolved’ with the DOJ.” Trump also said, “If you look at Hillary
Clinton’s person, you take a look at the people that work for Hillary
Clinton, and look at the crimes that Clinton did with the emails and she
deletes 33,000 emails after she gets a subpoena from Congress, and this
Justice Department does nothing about it and all of the other crimes that
they’ve done.”

Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=013-e46&t=c>
(8/22, Ahmann) quotes Trump as saying during the Fox interview that the
funds “weren’t taken out of campaign finance. ... They didn’t come out of
the campaign; they came from me.” Also yesterday, Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=014-acf&t=c>
(8/22, Heavey, Oliphant) reports in a separate story, “the White House
pushed back forcefully...against suggestions that a plea deal struck
by...Cohen implicated Trump in a crime.” Said White House Press Secretary
Sarah Sanders, “As the President has said, we’ve stated many times, he did
nothing wrong. There are no charges against him.”

Most mainstream media reports sounded a decidedly unfavorable note
on Trump’s comments. Wolf Blitzer, for example, said on CNN’s
Situation Room[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=015-a66&t=c>
(8/22), “The President clearly lied...in that latest interview of Fox News
when he said he didn’t know about the payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen
McDougal until, quote, later on after the fact. But here he is on this
audio tape with...Cohen talking about the payment in advance before the
payment was made.” ABC World News Tonight[image: Image removed by sender.
Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=016-11f&t=c>
(8/22, lead story, 3:20, Vega) described the White House as “embattled and
under fire,” with Trump “now blasting his one-time right-hand man,” while
the AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=017-dcd&t=c>
(8/22, Miller, Lemire, Superville) casts Trump as “facing a growing threat
to his presidency” and adds that “regardless of how Cohen was reimbursed,
corporations are not permitted to contribute to campaigns and money
intended to influence an election must be reported to federal authorities.”

Under the headline “Not Just Misleading. Not Merely False. A Lie,”
Glenn Kessler says in the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=018-119&t=c>
(8/23, Kessler) that “every answer” Trump has given on this matter “was
false. Trump knew about the payment, he knew Cohen made the payment as part
of an effort to kill damaging stories, and he knew Cohen was reimbursed.” The
Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=019-206&t=c>
(8/22, Fabian) reports Trump “falsely claimed that hush-money payments
arranged by” Cohen “did not break the law,” and Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=01a-247&t=c>
(8/22, Morin) that “the crimes” to which Cohen pleaded guilty “carry a
maximum sentence of 65 years.” USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=01b-bcb&t=c>
(8/22, Jackson) says, meanwhile, that Trump criticized Cohen despite having
“praised” him “profusely in the past,” arguing that his “reputed ‘fixer’”
is “now making up stories to protect himself.”

The CBS Evening News[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=01c-d60&t=c>
(8/22, lead story, 3:00, Jiang) reported that Trump’s remarks to Fox News
amount to his “third version of the story. First, he denied knowing about
the hush money. ... Then he admitted to reimbursing his former personal
attorney,” and “now he says that since the cash came from his own pocket,
he did not violate any campaign finance laws.” The CBS Evening News[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=01d-d7c&t=c>
(8/22, story 2, 0:45, Reid) also said “prosecutors have, of course, noticed
that the President’s story on this has evolved,” and “if they get the
chance to sit down with him or ask him questions, this is going to be
something they’ll want to nail down with him.” Along similar lines, NBC
Nightly News[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=01e-1e7&t=c>
(8/22, lead story, 3:10, Holt) told its viewers that Trump “may have dug
himself in a little deeper by contradicting his original story of what he
knew and when he knew it, as Cohen signals he has plenty more to say.”

To USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=01f-21b&t=c>
(8/22, Page), “the sense of accelerating peril around Trump rivals the most
disruptive days of the scandals of his predecessors – of the turning points
in the Watergate scandal that forced Richard Nixon’s resignation, and in
the Monica Lewinsky affair that led to Bill Clinton’s impeachment.” Along
similar lines, Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=020-c4d&t=c>
(8/22, Lauter) refers to the Cohen saga as “the clearest sign yet of the
political and legal peril that is increasingly threatening Trump’s
presidency,” and the Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=021-b6e&t=c>
(8/22, Ballhaus), among other news outlets, runs a similar analysis this
morning.

Renato Mariotti, in a Politico Magazine
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=022-9b5&t=c>
(8/22) piece titled “Trump Was Winning. Until Tuesday,” writes that “Cohen
upended a months-long strategy by Trump to undermine the investigation by
special counsel Robert Mueller, and for the first time presented a path to
the end of the Trump presidency.” The conservative Daily Caller
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=023-630&t=c>
(8/22, Enjeti) reports, meanwhile, that “Cohen’s guilty plea places Trump
in the position of being an un-indicted co-conspirator in the campaign
finance violation.” The “violation could prove politically precarious for
the president with critics already advocating for his impeachment in
Congress.”

On Fox News’ Hannity[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=024-d9d&t=c>
(8/22), Sean Hannity previewed excerpts from this morning’s Fox and Friends
interview with Trump. Trump is asked about his relationship with Cohen, and
he said, “He was a lawyer for me for – one of many. They would say the
lawyer and then they like to add the fixer. I don’t know if he was a fixer.
I don’t know where that term came from. But, he has been a lawyer for me.
Didn’t do big deals, did small deals. Not somebody that was with me that
much. They make it sound like I didn’t live without him. I understood
Michael Cohen very well. It turned out he wasn’t a very good lawyer,
frankly. But he was somebody that was probably with me for about 10 years
and I would see him sometimes.” Ainsley Earhardt, who interviewed Trump for
Fox, said on Fox News’ Hannity[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=025-636&t=c>
(8/22) that she asked him how Cohen was able to “get a plea bargain. He was
facing 65 years behind bars in prison. How did he go from 65 years possibly
max to three to five years? If it wasn’t illegal, why are they using that?
He said because if there something negative that they can say about me they
will use that and they will lessen their sentence. That extreme number just
because they hate me.”

Asked on CBS This Morning[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=026-e95&t=c>
(8/22) whether Cohen has evidence that Trump violated campaign finance
laws, Cohen attorney Lanny Davis said, “This is one thing I’d like to do
this morning above all, which is, it’s not about ‘evidence.’ It is
definitive, indisputable, that Donald Trump’s lawyers said in a letter to
the special counsel that President Trump ‘directed’ – the same word that
Michael Cohen used in court yesterday under oath – ‘directed’ Michael Cohen
to make illegal payments. It’s not a dispute; it’s not about credibility.
His own lawyers used the word ‘directed. ... His lawyers are the witnesses
against him that he directed Michael Cohen. There’s no dispute on that.”
Davis added, “Yes, [Trump] committed a crime. He should be indicted.”

Davis said on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=027-214&t=c>
(8/22), “It took me a while to talk and get to know Michael and his
decision to change his life and as he said to me, hit the reset button and
recognize you can’t get a redo in life when you make mistakes and some of
the things that he did for Mr. Trump he talked to me about not being
particularly proud of or things that he said that weren’t true on camera he
is not particularly proud of.” Asked if Cohen’s change of heart came only
after he realized he is facing jail time, Davis said, “Sure. But when we
talked, it was mostly about his feelings about Mr. Trump, his positions on
issues, his conduct of the presidency and what I found after quite a long
period of time talking to him, a sincere conviction that Mr. Trump
represented a danger to the country.”

*Dershowitz, ACU Chairman, Ex-FEC Head: Violations To Which Cohen
Pleaded Guilty Not Crimes. *The Washington Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=028-d6a&t=c>
(8/22, Nelson) reports “many legal experts say Cohen didn’t actually commit
a campaign finance crime, leading to speculation about why he pleaded
guilty, and what his confession may mean for Trump.” The Examiner adds that
“skeptics say silencing the women may have helped Trump during the 2016
campaign, but also protected Trump’s family and company from embarrassment,
meaning it wasn’t an election contribution.” The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=029-09c&t=c>
(8/22, Boyer) reports American Conservative Union Chairman Matt Schlapp
“said on CNN Wednesday that the campaign finance violations to which Cohen
pleaded guilty are not crimes.” Alan Dershowitz also “said Cohen’s guilty
plea to the campaign-finance violations doesn’t put Mr. Trump in legal
jeopardy, because candidates can contribute any amount to their own
campaigns.”

Dershowitz said on Fox News’ Special Report[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=02a-1a8&t=c>
(8/22), “I challenge any of those who are saying it’s a crime to find me
anything in criminal law that would make it a crime for a President
personally or a candidate personally to pay in order to save his own
election. It’s just not against the law.” The Washington Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=02b-053&t=c>
(8/22, Kasperowicz) reports Dershowitz also “said Wednesday he sees no
threat of impeachment against...Trump based on claims from his former
lawyer that Trump directed the payoff to porn star Stormy Daniels.” Said
Dershowitz, “We’re far away from impeachable offense or criminal offense on
the part of the President.”

Bradley Smith, a former chairman of the Federal Election
Commission, now chairman of the Institute for Free Speech and a visiting
fellow in the James Madison Program at Princeton, asks in a Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=02c-9c1&t=c>
(8/22) op-ed, “If a candidate for public office decided to settle a private
lawsuit to get it out of the news before Election Day, would that be a
campaign expenditure? If a business owner ran for political office and
decided to pay bonuses to his employees, in the hope that he would get good
press and boost his stock as a candidate, would that be a campaign
expenditure, payable from campaign funds?” To Smith, “regardless of what
Cohen agreed to in a plea bargain, hush-money payments to mistresses are
not really campaign expenditures. ... Laws, once stretched from their
limited language and proper purpose, are difficult to pound back into
shape. We should proceed with caution here.”

*Penn: Cohen Plea Deal Is Part Of Plot To Oust Trump. *Mark Penn,
longtime strategist for President Clinton and Hillary Clinton, writes in The
Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=02d-3a1&t=c>
(8/22, Penn), “The plot to get...Trump out of office thickens, as Cohen
obviously was his own mini crime syndicate and decided that his betrayals
meant he would be better served turning on his old boss to cut the best
deal with prosecutors he could.” That “was clear the minute he
hired...Davis, who does not try cases.” Penn goes on to “contrast what is
going on here with the treatment of the millions of dollars paid to a
Democratic law firm which, in turn, paid out money to political research
firm Fusion GPS and British spy Christopher Steele without listing them on
any campaign expenditure form, despite crystal clear laws and regulations.”
To Penn, “There is no question that hiring spies to do opposition research
in Russia is a campaign expenditure, yet no prosecutorial raids have been
sprung on the law firm, Fusion GPS or Steele. The reason? It does not ‘get’
Trump.” Breitbart
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=02e-39e&t=c>
(8/22, Pollak) notes Penn’s op-ed on its site.

*Obama Campaign Paid Large Fine For Campaign Finance Violations. *In
one of his tweets
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=02f-02d&t=c>
yesterday, Trump noted that Barack Obama’s campaign was accused of a “big
campaign violation,” but that in his case, the issue was “easily settled.”
The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=030-000&t=c>
(8/22, Sonmez) notes “Trump in his tweet did not spell out what he was
referring to regarding...Obama, but he elaborated a bit more on Fox,
saying, ‘If you look at President Obama, he had a massive campaign
violation, but he had a different attorney general, and they viewed it a
lot differently.’” Axios
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=031-6d6&t=c>
(8/22, Kight) confirmed that “Obama’s 2008 campaign did have to pay one of
the largest fines of any presidential campaign for failing to give adequate
notice of around 1,300 campaign contributions totaling more than $1.8
million, Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=032-43f&t=c>
reported at the time.” However, says Axios, “that’s a very different kind
of violation than using campaign funds as hush money for women accusing the
candidate of having an affair.” Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=033-d5f&t=c>
(8/22, Morin) noted yesterday “Obama’s campaign paid $230,000, with the
Democratic National Committee paying the rest of the amount.”

Breitbart
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=034-141&t=c>
(8/22, Spiering) also reports the story under the headline “‘Not A Crime’ –
Donald Trump Points To Massive Barack Obama FEC Settlement.” Phillip Bump
of the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=035-76b&t=c>
(8/22) asks, however, “So what did Obama do? Well, Obama didn’t do
anything, really. His campaign...failed to report 1,300 contributions
within 48 hours as required by law,” and it also “received some campaign
contributions that exceeded allowable limits from a donor for a campaign
cycle and others that had incorrect dates.”

*Davis: Given Questions About Trump’s “Loyalty” To US, Cohen Would
Not Accept Pardon. *Asked, on CNN’s New Day[image: Image removed by sender.
Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=036-7c9&t=c>
(8/22), if Cohen is hoping for a pardon from President Trump, Davis said,
“The answer is definitively ‘no, Under no circumstances, since he came to
the judgment after Mr. Trump’s election to the presidency of the United
States that his suitability is a serious risk to our country. And certainly
after Helsinki created serious questions about his loyalty to our country,
his answer would be, ‘no, I do not want a pardon from this man.’” The
Washington
Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=037-9e0&t=c>
(8/22, Stanley-Becker) reports that Davis told NPR in a separate interview,
“I know that Mr. Cohen would never accept a pardon from a man that he
considers to be both corrupt and a dangerous person in the Oval Office. ...
Mr. Cohen is not interested in being dirtied by a pardon from such a man.” USA
Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=038-fb0&t=c>
(8/22, Hayes) also notes Davis’ comments to NPR, and the New York Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=039-2ec&t=c>
(8/22, Jaeger) says “the lawyer for convicted hush-money hustler...Cohen
says his client will never accept a pardon from ‘dangerous’ and
‘corrupt’...Trump.” Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=03a-c09&t=c>
(8/22, Heavey, Lambert) reports, meanwhile, that “representatives for the
White House did not immediately response to a request for comment on
whether Trump would consider pardoning Cohen.”

*Davis: Helsinki “A Turning Point” For Cohen. *In an
appearance on NBC’s
Today[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=03b-787&t=c>
(8/22), Davis also said Cohen believes Trump is “unsuitable to hold the
office.” Davis added, “After Helsinki, he worried about the future of our
country with somebody who was aligning himself with Mr. Putin in denying
what his entire intelligence community, his own appointees, have said is an
indisputable fact – that Putin interfered with our presidential election on
behalf of Donald Trump – and he still denies that. That’s the kind of thing
that caused...Cohen to change his mind and decide to dedicate himself to
telling the truth to the American people.” Likewise, on MSNBC’s
Morning Joe[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=03c-1f8&t=c>
(8/22), Davis said, “I can tell you that Helsinki was a significant turning
point as [Cohen] worried about the future of our country with the President
of the United States aligning with somebody who everybody in his
intelligence community, who he appointed, including Dan Coats, said that
Putin interfered and tried to help Trump get elected – and Trump is the
only one left denying that. And that shook up Mr. Cohen.”

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=03d-3ef&t=c>
(8/22, Stanley-Becker) also reports that “in multiple interviews, Davis, a
Democrat who formerly served as special counsel to President Bill Clinton,
relayed that Cohen grew disillusioned with Trump after watching his
friendly demeanor toward...Putin at their July summit in Helsinki.”

*New York State Investigators Subpoena Cohen About Trump
Foundation. *The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=03e-2c7&t=c>
(8/22, Wang) reports that New York state investigators have subpoenaed
Cohen for documents related to the Donald J. Trump Foundation, “an
escalation” of the investigation “into whether the president’s charity
violated tax laws. After receiving the subpoena, Mr. Cohen called the
investigators in the state Tax Department to ask when they could talk,
according to a person with knowledge of the investigation.”

*Davis: Dossier Makes 13 False Claims About Cohen, Including That
He Met With Russians In Prague. *The Daily Caller
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=03f-353&t=c>
(8/22, Ross) reports that in an interview with Bloomberg TV[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=040-9ba&t=c>
(8/22), Lanny Davis “dropped a bombshell” when he said Michael Cohen has
never been to Prague, despite the fact that the so-called “dossier”
prepared for the Clinton Campaign by former British spy Christopher Steele
claimed Cohen went there at Trump’s behest. Steele wrote that “Cohen and
three associates visited Prague in order to meet with Kremlin officials as
part of a conspiracy to pay hackers to obtain dirt on former Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton.” Davis is quoted as saying, “Thirteen references to
Mr. Cohen are false in the dossier, but he has never been to Prague in his
life.” According to the Daily Caller, “The statement is a significant
denial given that, according to Davis, Cohen has turned over a new leaf by
deciding to discuss his work on behalf of” Trump.

*Davis Appears To Walk Back Claim Trump Knew About Trump Tower
Meeting In Advance, Approved It. *Chuck Ross of the Daily Caller
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=041-102&t=c>
(8/22, Ross) points out that Davis said yesterday morning that “there is a
‘complication’ to the bombshell story...that...Cohen claims...Trump had
prior knowledge of the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting.” In “two separate
interviews with CNN,” Davis “said there is ‘some truth’ to reports that
Cohen is willing to tell special counsel Robert Mueller that Trump knew
about the meeting,” but “there was a ‘complication’ in the reporting that
Cohen’s legal team was ‘never able to correct.’”

ABC World News Tonight[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=042-d69&t=c>
(8/22, story 3, 2:50, Llamas) reported that Cohen’s attorney is “now
suggesting his client has information about whether Donald Trump knew in
advance about the Russian hacking – when Democrats e-mails were later
distributed by Wikileaks.” On ABC’s Good Morning America[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=043-01b&t=c>
(8/22), Davis was asked if Cohen is “prepared to tell everything he knows
about...Trump to...Mueller and other prosecutors.” Davis responded, “Yes,
100 percent. That’s the decision he made and that led to what happened
yesterday. ... President Trump committed a criminal act that corrupted our
democracy. That’s what the campaign finance laws are about. The same way
that the Russians [did], complicit with Wikileaks” – and there is “evidence
that members of the campaign at least facilitated that conspiracy.”

Phillip Bump of the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=044-385&t=c>
(8/22) says that during his “media blitz,” over the past 24 hours, Davis
has “made one consistent claim,” which is that Cohen has “knowledge about
the computer crime of hacking and whether or not Mr. Trump knew ahead of
time about that crime and even cheered it on.” Bump adds, “To The
Washington Post, Davis elaborated somewhat,” saying, “If there is a
conversation and a plan for there to be dirt on Hillary Clinton, and then
someone knows the way you’re willing to get the dirt is a Russian agent
called WikiLeaks...and then WikiLeaks hacks into an email account, which is
a crime, then you have committed a crime of conspiracy.”

On MSNBC’s Morning Joe[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=045-72c&t=c>
(8/22), Donny Deutsch, who said he spoke with Cohen “at length” on Tuesday,
predicted that Cohen will be “a pivotal, not ‘the’ pivotal figure that will
bring down the presidency.” Deutsch added that Cohen “really is looking
forward to talking with Mueller,” and “will be able to tie Trump to those
meetings and to collusion.” Emily Jane Fox of Vanity Fair, who also spoke
with Cohen on Tuesday, said, “No one forced him to implicate the President.
... Implicating the President in counts seven and eight was a deliberate
choice.” Fox said Cohen decided to “throw his boss...under the bus.”

*WSJournal A1: Talk With Father, Concerns About Wife Helped
Convince Cohen To Plead Guilty. *The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=046-bee&t=c>
(8/22, O'Brien, Hong, Palazzolo) runs an 1,800-word front-page piece
headlined “Why Michael Cohen Agreed To Plead Guilty – And Implicate The
President” that says that while Cohen originally seemed unlikely to turn
against Trump, a June conversation with his father, a Holocaust survivor,
about protecting the family name began to change his mind. Cohen’s sense
over the following weeks that Trump would not defend him, as well as
concerns that his wife might also be implicated, are among the reasons
Cohen decided to cooperate with prosecutors, the Journal says.
Trump Praises Manafort For Refusing To “Make Up Stories In Order To Get A
‘Deal.’”

President Trump tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=047-c2d&t=c>
yesterday, “I feel very badly for Paul Manafort and his wonderful family.
‘Justice’ took a 12 year old tax case, among other things, applied
tremendous pressure on him and, unlike Michael Cohen, he refused to ‘break’
– make up stories in order to get a ‘deal.’ Such respect for a brave man!”
Added
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=048-178&t=c>
Trump, “A large number of counts, ten, could not even be decided in the
Paul Manafort case. Witch Hunt!” The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=049-784&t=c>
(8/22, Mazzetti) reports, “That the charges against Mr. Manafort had
nothing to do with Russian interference in the election opened Mr.
Mueller’s team to a barrage of attacks by Mr. Trump and his allies that the
special counsel had embarked on a crusade to discredit the administration.”
However, “the fact that a jury returned a guilty verdict on eight counts
bolsters the credibility of the special counsel’s pursuit of Mr. Manafort’s
financial crimes.”

Beyond the arguments contained in the NYTimes report, media
analyses highlighted Trump’s praise for Manafort’s refusal to “break,” and
saw his tweets as suggesting he may pardon him. In fact, Ainsley Earhardt,
who interviewed Trump for Fox, said on Fox News’ Hannity[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=04a-0dc&t=c>
(8/22) that Trump “mentioned pardoning Manafort” and “said that he would
consider that. I think he feels bad for Manafort. They were friends. He
didn’t work for him for very long. Worked for him for basically 100 days.
The President didn’t know about all of this tax stuff. Of course, he
wouldn’t know about that. And he did say, he said keep in mind who worked
for Reagan for a long time.”

To Axios
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=04b-a33&t=c>
(8/22, Kight), Trump yesterday “seemed to open the possibility of a pardon
for...Manafort – which would likely only increase suspicion of wrongdoing
by the president.” On NBC Nightly News[image: Image removed by sender.
Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=04c-8bd&t=c>
(8/22, lead story, 3:10, Holt), Hallie Jackson reported “the White House is
not ruling out a pardon for...Manafort,” while ABC World News Tonight[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=04d-0cb&t=c>
(8/22, story 2, 1:10, Vega) indicated that “so far,” Trump “says he is not
thinking about a pardon for...Manafort, but in a matter of weeks, Manafort
faces a second set of charges, potentially even more time behind bars. So,
the pressure right now is on. Does he plead guilty as part of a deal for
leniency...or does he hold out hope for a presidential pardon? We’ll soon
find out.”

To Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=04e-40c&t=c>
(8/22, Oprysko), meanwhile, Trump “has long put a high price on loyalty,”
and “after two of his closest associates got slammed with bank and tax
fraud violations” he “is staying true to form.” The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=04f-d76&t=c>
(8/22, Sonmez) says “Trump sought to contrast Manafort’s posture with that
of Michael Cohen, the president’s former attorney and fixer, who on Tuesday
entered a guilty plea in a Manhattan federal court on eight counts.”
Likewise, the Washington Free Beacon
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=050-e66&t=c>
(8/22, Cawthorne) reports Trump “defended his former campaign chairman,”
and the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=051-219&t=c>
(8/22, Sullivan) points out that “in the president’s view, Mr. Manafort is
‘brave,’ and Mr. Cohen is a bad lawyer who, Mr. Trump incorrectly asserted,
pleaded guilty to ‘violations’ that ‘are not a crime.’”

On Fox News’ Hannity[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=052-bcb&t=c>
(8/22), Sean Hannity previewed excerpts from this morning’s Fox and Friends
interview with Trump. Trump is asked whether he is considering pardoning
Manafort, and Trump said, “I have great respect for what he’s done in terms
of what he’s gone through. He worked for Ronald Reagan for years. He worked
for Bob Dole. I guess his firm worked for McCain. He worked for many, many
people. Many, many years, and I would say what he did, some of the charges
they threw against them, every consultant, every lobbyist in Washington
probably does. If you look at Hillary Clinton’s person, you take a look at
the people that work for Hillary Clinton. Look at the crimes that Clinton
did with the emails and she deletes 33,000 emails after she gets a subpoena
from Congress and this Justice Department does nothing about it? And all of
the other crimes that they’ve done.”

Justice reporter Laura Jarrett said on CNN’s Situation Room[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=053-689&t=c>
(8/22), “It certainly seems like he’s at least giving him a little bit of
credit for staying loyal. ... But to take a step back, it is somewhat
ironic to see the President praising someone who has now been convicted by
a jury when this is supposed to be the law and order Administration.”

The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=054-93d&t=c>
(8/22, Bolton, Carney) reports “Senate Republicans are warning President
Trump that it would be a serious mistake to pardon...Manafort.” Said Sen.
Susan Collins (R-ME), “It would be an enormous mistake and misuse of his
power to pardon.” Sen. John Thune (R-SD) “said he is not aware of any
mitigating circumstances related to Manafort’s case that would warrant a
pardon,” and Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker “warned that
pardoning Manafort ‘would be very damaging to the presidency and to his
position as president.’” Senate Majority Whip Cornyn “said that pardoning
Manafort ‘would be a mistake.’” The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=055-487&t=c>
(8/22, Pace) points out, however, that “the political calculus for
Republicans is clear.” GOP lawmakers “see little incentive to distance
themselves from Trump when even his most egregious statements do little to
shake his support from Republican voters.” In an interview with McClatchy
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=056-0d9&t=c>
(8/22, Dumain), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said “it’s ‘too early to tell’
if the public was starting to turn against...Trump in such a way as to make
impeachment politically tenable,” a “view at odds with most Republicans’
insistence that such a step shouldn’t even be a talking point.”

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=057-4e2&t=c>
(8/22, Zapotosky), meanwhile, reports “legal analysts said Manafort’s
eight-count conviction amounts to a win for Mueller, even while it raises
additional questions. Why, for example, did jurors convict Manafort of
defrauding two banks...but not of conspiring to commit those crimes?” That
“could mean at least some jurors felt Manafort acted alone, the analysts
said, though such an interpretation is difficult to resolve with the
testimony of Manafort’s former right-hand man, Rick Gates, who admitted to
being part of a conspiracy.” Jurors also “did not convict Manafort on three
of the four charges of failing to report a foreign bank account.”
Media Analyses: Midterms May Decide Trump’s Fate As Impeachment Speculation
Grows.

A day after Michael Cohen promised to incriminate President Trump, media
coverage of the fallout of Cohen’s plea deal, and, to a lesser extent, Paul
Manafort’s guilty verdict, portrays Trump as reliant on continued
Republican control of Congress in order to stave off a wave of
investigations that are likely to culminate in his impeachment. The New
York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=058-3a5&t=c>
(8/22, Sullivan) states outright that Trump’s “fate rests with Congress,”
and adds, “if Democrats win back the majority in the House, impeachment
proceedings against the president could begin next year.” The CBS Evening
News[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=059-fd4&t=c>
(8/22, lead story, 3:00, Jiang) also reported “some Democrats have already
brought up impeachment hearings if they take control of the House after the
midterms.”

James Hohmann of the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=05a-67e&t=c>
(8/22, Hohmann) writes, “Democrats look increasingly well positioned to
pick up the 23 seats they need to win control of the House. If they do,
putting the possibility of impeachment aside, they will have subpoena power
and can schedule hearings to investigate potential misdeeds of the
president.” Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=05b-ab0&t=c>
(8/22, Holland, Oliphant) cites “one source close to the president” as
saying that Trump’s “legal woes could depress voter turnout and increase
Republicans’ risk of losing their 23-seat majority in the House of
Representatives in November’s congressional elections.” Said the “source,”
“This hurts our midterm prospects.” Reuters adds “a Democratic victory in
November would limit Trump’s ability to push through legislation and
increase the risk of calls for his impeachment.”

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=05c-a2c&t=c>
(8/22, Costa, Dawsey) that “inside Trump’s orbit, there is a debate: Some
confidants see this week as an unsettling inflection point,” but “others
see yet another round of problems that are vexing but not a danger to break
Trump.” Says one “White House official,” “We’ve been through everything;
the ‘Access Hollywood’ tape when almost everyone walked away. ... This is
nothing. He’s fine.” The Post adds “at a morning meeting with top advisers,
Trump gathered Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, press secretary Sarah Huckabee
Sanders, counselor Kellyanne Conway, and Deputy Chief of Staff Bill Shine
and sought out their candid take on the fallout, according to two people
briefed on the discussion.” Trump “was mostly calm, frequently distracted
by the Cohen and Manafort cases but insisting that Democrats could overplay
their hand if they seize on those issues ahead of this year’s midterm
elections, the people said.” Jared Kushner “told others Wednesday that
Trump had withstood bigger crises.”

According to the AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=05d-70e&t=c>
(8/22, Miller, Lemire, Superville), “Trump allies such as former strategist
Steve Bannon seek to frame the election as a referendum on the potential
impeachment of the president.” The AP says “Trump confidants have long
argued that the president’s fate in such a scenario would ultimately be
more a matter of politics than law.”

Under the headline “With Cohen Implicating Trump, A Presidency’s
Fate Rests With Congress,” the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=05e-01c&t=c>
(8/22, Fandos, Martin) says Trump’s fate “rests, in all likelihood, in the
political arena centered in the halls of Congress” because, “with only
weeks until the midterm elections, the question will soon be put before
voters, who will decide whether to hand Congress – and the power of
investigation, subpoenas and, possibly, impeachment – to the Democrats.”

*Trump Tweeted “NO COLLUSION” Early Today. *At 1:10 a.m. today,
Trump tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=05f-97b&t=c>,
“NO COLLUSION – RIGGED WITCH HUNT!”

*Media Analyses: Republicans Largely Standing By Trump. *The CBS
Evening News[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=060-dd4&t=c>
(8/22, story 3, 0:55, Garrett) reported that “the message from the White
House to Republicans, so far largely successful,” is “hold the line, there
is no crime. But we’ve been told by sources that this week’s headlines have
upset major party donors, which could jeopardize midterm fund-raising.”
Under the headline “As Bad News Piles Up, Senate Republicans Hardly
Flinch,” the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=061-e54&t=c>
(8/22, Hulse) reports that “for those wondering if the latest disclosures
from the Trump legal file are finally weighty enough to cause top
congressional Republicans to break from the president, the answer is no.”
The Times adds “in addition to crediting Mr. Trump’s presidential
performance, other top Republicans suggested that Mr. Cohen was not to be
believed and that this was a matter for the courts – not Congress – to
explore.” Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=062-698&t=c>
(8/22, Everett, McCaskill) similarly reports that “twenty-four hours after
one of the most damaging days for Donald Trump’s presidency, the Republican
wall of support around him shows no signs of crumbling.”

NBC Nightly News[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=063-8be&t=c>
(8/22, story 3, 1:45, Holt) said, however, that “a number of Republicans”
are “seeking to distance themselves from the President and from his former
associates turned felons.” The story featured criticism of Trump from Sen.
Bob Corker (R-TN), and showed Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) saying, “There is no
good news in what is happening, obviously. This is very, very unfortunate
and very serious. I want to see this go through our judicial system.”
The Washington
Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=064-637&t=c>
(8/22, Scherer) reports, meanwhile, “Republicans are bracing for it. Donald
Trump’s lawyer is warning about it. But Democrats running in the most
crucial midterm races have refused to threaten impeachment for the
president after his former lawyer implicated him Tuesday in directing the
commission of a crime.” The Post adds Republicans “have been happy to warn
about the danger of impeachment to drive up fear, and thus turnout, among
Trump’s most loyal voters.”

The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=065-383&t=c>
(8/22, Mordock) reports “Mueller has now won or assisted in guilty pleas or
convictions against a number of figures in the president’s inner circle
during the 2016 campaign – but has yet to prove a more fundamental case of
Russia-Trump collusion.” The Times adds “Mueller has yet to tie together
the two ends: Russian meddling and Trump campaign chaos.” Solomon L.
Wisenberg, who “served on independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr’s
investigation into President Clinton,” tells the Times, “Success is doing
justice, not just going out to get someone. ... Mueller has gotten some
guilty pleas, but none of those guilty pleas get him any closer to
collusion and conspiracy with Russian actors and people in the Trump
campaign.”

*Graham: “Anything Short” Of Collusion Will “Fall Into Partisan
Camps.” *The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=066-ca6&t=c>
(8/22, Fandos, Martin) quotes Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) as saying,
“Campaign finance violations – I don’t know what will come from that, but
the thing that will hurt the President the most is if, in fact, his
campaign did coordinate with a foreign government like Russia. Anything
short of that is probably going to fall into partisan camps.”

*Earhardt: Trump Expects Democrats To Impeach If They Win In
Midterms. *Ainsley Earhardt, who interviewed Trump for Fox, said on Fox
News’ Hannity[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=067-8d2&t=c>
(8/22) that she said to Trump that if Democrats win in the midterms “their
agenda is going to be to impeach because there’s no Russia collusion at
least so far. So what’s the next step if they hate you so much? What are
they going to do? And he agreed that...they are going to try to impeach and
he says he basically expects that.”

*WPost: Trump In “Foul Mood” Tuesday, “Seemed Sightly Deflated” In
West Virginia. *In a story about White House insiders’ views of the current
controversy, the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=068-ae7&t=c>
(8/22, Costa, Dawsey) reports “Trump was in a foul mood on Tuesday as he
boarded the short flight to his rally in West Virginia and incensed by the
wall-to-wall news coverage of his former associates who were convicted in
federal courts hours earlier,” and “later, Trump seemed slightly deflated
as he spoke to the thousands of supporters gathered before him in
Charleston.” Along similar lines, writing for Politico Magazine
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=069-811&t=c>
(8/22), Michael Kruse said that “for 16 or so hours after Tuesday’s
double-barreled bombshell news,” Trump “couldn’t even publicly say Michael
Cohen’s name. That was the first signal he had been wounded by his former
fixer’s guilty plea.” Cohen “is not Rosie O’Donnell. Cohen is not Omarosa.
And Trump seems to know it. ... His conspicuous stretch of silence
concerning Cohen was the loudest sound yet.”

*Axios’ Swan: Trump “Was Incredibly Calm” Tuesday During Trip.
*Jonathan
Swan of Axios said on Fox News’ Special Report[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=06a-be6&t=c>
(8/22), “I spoke to two sources who were on Air Force One with Trump” as he
flew to West Virginia Tuesday afternoon and the news of Cohen’s plea was
breaking. The sources “said that he was incredibly calm. There was not a
hysterical situation going on. ... Towards the end of the trip it became
clear to the people traveling with Trump that he was going to A, attack
Michael Cohen’s credibility, B, he was going to make the argument that he
was my lawyer and it is up to my lawyer to make these kinds of decisions,
and C, he was going to minimize the violation itself, which is what we have
seen.”

*Trump: “Only Thing I Have Done Wrong Is To Win An Election.” *Trump
tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=06b-9bc&t=c>
on Wednesday night, “The only thing that I have done wrong is to win an
election that was expected to be won by Crooked Hillary Clinton and the
Democrats. The problem is, they forgot to campaign in numerous states!”

*Giuliani Believes Mueller “Has To Be Winding Down.” *The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=06c-68f&t=c>
(8/22, Samuels) reports, “Rudy Giuliani told The Washington Post on
Wednesday that he believes...Mueller ‘might be at the end’ of his
investigation into Russian interference after his prosecutors won a
conviction against...Manafort.” Post reporter Richard Costa wrote on Twitter
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=06d-d95&t=c>,
“Giuliani, calling Post from golf course in Scotland, says he has spoken
with POTUS today and deliberated over what it all means – Manafort, Cohen,
etc. Says, optimistically, they believe Mueller ‘might be at the end now.
He has to be winding down. What else is there? Near the end.’” Costa also
wrote
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=06e-122&t=c>,
“Giuliani adds that Trump legal team is looking into its options re Cohen
tapes and whether they can release audio of some of his conversations with
reporters about the payment since they believe they can use Cohen’s own
words to counter his latest claims.”

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=06f-ee5&t=c>
(8/22, Costa, Dawsey) “Giuliani said the president was upbeat as they spoke
by phone Wednesday morning.” Giuliani “urged calm and talked up Trump’s
political standing, and the president bantered back.” Said Giuliani in a
phone interview, “I told him, ‘We might be at the end now. He has to be
winding down.’” The Post adds “Giuliani’s rosy view of Mueller’s imminent
wrap-up was offered without evidence.”

*GOP Pollster: Criminal Probes Won’t Affect Trump In Long Term. *The
Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=070-ede&t=c>
(8/22, Manchester) reports “Republican pollster Brett Loyd said Wednesday
that...Trump’s long term approval rating likely will not be affected
negatively despite two of his former confidants being found guilty or
pleading guilty in criminal probes on Tuesday.” Loyd told Hill. TV, “We
might see his approval dip a couple of points. This isn’t going to be
something sustained. ... I don’t foresee this being a lead into the
election type of conversation that we should be having.”

*NYTimes, WPost Editorials Call For Congressional Probe Of Cohen
Charges. *In an editorial, the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=071-e92&t=c>
(8/22) says “Congress should be demanding information and launching its own
inquiry” into Cohen’s charges against Trump, adding that “if congressional
Republicans will not set aside partisan loyalties and start digging, voters
will have reason to replace them in November.” The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=072-91f&t=c>
(8/22) also editorializes that GOP lawmakers must start distancing
themselves from Trump, and “Congress needs to open investigations into the
campaign finance violations to which Mr. Cohen pleaded guilty and said Mr.
Trump directed.” GOP “lawmakers need to buck up, remind themselves of their
constitutional responsibilities and erect some basic guardrails to ensure
that – in a fit of rage, panic or mere pique – this president does not wake
up one morning and decide to drive American democracy off a cliff.”

*Stephens, Boot, Todd Call For Impeachment Proceedings To Get
Underway Now. *In the aftermath of Michael Cohen’s plea and Paul Manafort’s
conviction, a number of high-profile media commentators are calling on
Congress to begin impeachment procedures against the President. Bret
Stephens writes in the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=073-fdd&t=c>
(8/22), “The Constitution’s standard for impeachment is ‘Treason, Bribery,
or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.’ The standard is now met.” Max Boot
writes in the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=074-823&t=c>
(8/22) that “even more than Nixon, Trump is now an illegitimate president
whose election is tainted by fraud.” Boot adds that “if Trump had an iota
of decency, he would resign – but he doesn’t,” and “a responsible Congress
would have by now already convened an impeachment inquiry. But that is not
the Congress we have.”

On NBC’s Today[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018082301biden&r=email-781b&l=075-c3c&t=c>
(8/22), Chuck Todd said, “You now have President of the United States
accused of committing a federal crime. The way a functional Washington
would work...the Judiciary Committee in the House of Representatives would
begin to look to see if there’s enough evidence to start investigating and
drawing up articles of impeachment, but this is not a functional Congress.
This is a Congress controlled by Republicans.” Todd added, “I think Paul
Ryan needs to think long and hard about the future of the Republican Party.
This is your last chance off this train. And it looks like Manafort and
Cohen only have more to say, only may cooperate more. This could get worse.
Ryan is retiring. I think he actually could do the party a favor, and if
you just start the procedure in the House Judiciary Committee, you give
some place for