EMAIL DETAILS

Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing


*From:* Bulletin Intelligence <Biden@BulletinIntelligence.com>
*Sent:* Thursday, November 29, 2018 7:57 AM
*To:* Biden@BulletinIntelligence.com
*Subject:* Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing for
Thursday, November 29, 2018


*Click to access
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=000-643&t=c>
mobile-optimized online version, including download options and an audio
reader.*


[image: Image removed by sender. Office of Vice President Biden
Intelligence Briefing]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=001-ee4&t=c>

*To: Vice President Joe Biden*

*Thursday, November 29, 2018 8:00 AM EST*
Today's Table of Contents

*Biden in the News <#SECTION_1>*

• Biden Profiled Among Potential 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidates.
<#S1>

• Continuing Coverage Of Colbert Discussing Biden Appearing On Show. <#S2>

• Biden To Keynote UNLV Law School Gala. <#S3>

• Beau Biden Foundation, Special Olympics Launching New Initiative. <#S4>

*Leading the News <#SECTION_2>*

• Trump Threatens New Tariffs In Latest Response To GM Plant Closings. <#S5>

*Foreign Policy <#SECTION_3>*

• Pompeo, Mattis Brief Senate Amid Growing Criticism Over US Response To
Khashoggi Killing. <#S6>

• Russian Officials Still Expect Trump To Meet With Putin In Argentina.
<#S7>

• Iranians Charged With Hacking US Targets. <#S8>

• Despite Obama Deal, Chinese Cyberespionage On The Rise. <#S9>

• Commerce Department Allowing Tariff Exemptions For Imported Chinese
Metals. <#S10>

• China Eyes Nuclear Deal With Argentina. <#S11>

• Brazil Backs Out Of Hosting 2019 UN Climate Talks. <#S12>

*Domestic Policy <#SECTION_4>*

• Media Analyses: Trump “Dangling Possibility Of A Pardon” In Front Of
Manafort. <#S13>

• Trump Says He Would “Totally Be Willing” To Shut Down Government Over
Border Wall Funding. <#S14>

• Trump Touts Steel Dynamics’ Plans For New Mill. <#S15>

• Stocks End Sharply Higher After Powell Signals Rate Hikes Could Slow.
<#S16>

• Pence Casts Tie-Breaking Vote To Move Stalled Judicial Nomination. <#S17>

• Trump Says He Could Retaliate Against House Democrats Over “Presidential
Harassment.” <#S18>

• Democrats Nominate Pelosi To Be Next Speaker Of House. <#S19>

*Cancer Research <#SECTION_5>*

• NCI Grants $9M For Research On Lymphoma Patient Relapse. <#S20>

• Most Viewed YouTube Videos On PCa Found To Have Low Quality Information,
Study Shows. <#S21>

*Editorials/Op-Eds <#SECTION_6>*

• Washington Post. <#S22>
Biden in the News
Biden Profiled Among Potential 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidates.

The Oregonian
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=002-15e&t=c>
(11/28) reports on the potential 2020 Democratic presidential field. Former
Vice President Joe Biden’s “name recognition keeps him in the mix,” but he
“risks falling by the wayside” due to the increasing profiles of “younger,
more aggressive presidential aspirants,” and, while he “has legitimate
blue-collar cred...he’ll never set hearts racing among the party’s
progressive activists.” Still, “many Republicans are worried about a Biden
bid.”

*Kerry Praises Biden As A Candidate. *CNN
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=003-bbc&t=c>
(11/28, Wright) reports, “Former Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday
that he is going to think about a 2020 presidential bid.” When asked about
his plans, Kerry said, “I’m not taking anything off the table.” Kerry also
acknowledged the former Vice President Joe Biden could run, saying, “I
don’t know if Joe’s going to run, he’s a great pal of mine, we’ve known
each other 40 years. He’s clearly qualified, clearly great, he understands
all these issues, and let’s see what the decides to do.” CNN’s Early
Start[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=004-d6b&t=c>
(11/29), the Washington Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=005-c8f&t=c>
(11/28, Correll), and the Independent (UK)
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=006-017&t=c>
(11/29, Baynes) also mention Kerry’s comment.
Continuing Coverage Of Colbert Discussing Biden Appearing On Show.

In continuing coverage, the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=007-0df&t=c>
(11/28, Butler) reports on “The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert’s
discussion during an interview with Jon Stewart of his struggle to find the
show’s voice. Colbert mentioned former Vice President Joe Biden’s 2015
appearance, saying, “Only I, my real self, could have received what Mr.
Biden was willing to share with me and with the audience.” He added, “And
when he left I turned to [executive producer Tom Purcell] over there, and I
said that nice old man just gave me my show because I know there are times
that I absolutely have to be myself.” Colbert also “said he held onto that
moment for six months as he and the producers figured out the rest of the
show.” Also covering this story and mentioning Colbert’s comments about
Biden are the Hollywood Reporter
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=008-c61&t=c>
(11/27, Shanley), The Wrap
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=009-f6c&t=c>
(11/28), and IndieWire
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=00a-945&t=c>
(11/28, Greene).
Biden To Keynote UNLV Law School Gala.

After a segment on KSNV-TV[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=00b-d88&t=c>
Las Vegas (11/28, 4:37 a.m. PST) about the popular installation,
“Infinity,” at the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art by Yayoi Kusama, anchor Kim
Wagner added that former Vice President Joe Biden “is probably going to
experience that this weekend,” as he will be at the Bellagio as the keynote
speaker for UNLV’s law school’s 20th anniversary gala.
Beau Biden Foundation, Special Olympics Launching New Initiative.

A brief in Politico Morning Education
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=00c-428&t=c>
(11/28, Wermund) reports, “Special Olympics and the Beau Biden Foundation
for the Protection of Children are launching a new initiative aimed at
strengthening protections for people with intellectual disabilities from
physical and sexual abuse.” The program “will review and update policies,
improve incident reporting and tracking, and create new training for staff
and volunteers.” Politico adds that the initiative was to be presented by
Hallie Biden, chair of the Beau Biden Foundation, and Timothy Shriver,
chairman of Special Olympics, at the National Press Club.
Leading the News
Trump Threatens New Tariffs In Latest Response To GM Plant Closings.

In a pair of tweets
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=00d-3c0&t=c>
Wednesday morning, President Trump wrote, “The reason that the small truck
business in the U.S. is such a go to favorite is that, for many years,
Tariffs of 25% have been put on small trucks coming into our country. It is
called the ‘chicken tax.’ If we did that with cars coming in, many more
cars would be built here and G.M. would not be closing their plants in
Ohio, Michigan & Maryland. Get smart Congress. Also, the countries that
send us cars have taken advantage of the U.S. for decades. The President
has great power on this issue – Because of the G.M. event, it is being
studied now!”

The Detroit Free Press
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=00e-284&t=c>
(11/28, Spangler) reports that the President “continued to rail against
[GM’s] announced closures and layoffs” in the tweets, “using them to again
threaten tariffs on imported autos and auto parts.” CQ Roll Call
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=00f-910&t=c>
(11/28, Bennett) reports that the President also “retweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=010-25e&t=c>
a supporter’s call for General Motors to repay billions to the federal
government it received as part of last decade’s auto industry
bailout.” The Detroit
News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=011-d04&t=c>
(11/28, Laing) reports that GM “declined to comment on Trump’s latest
broadsides, but the company noted it has repaid the nearly $50 billion in
federal assistance that it received in the 2008 and 2009 auto bailouts, and
since invested $22 billion in US operations.” The Detroit Free Press
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=012-b47&t=c>
(11/28, LaReau) reports that Edmunds analyst Ivan Drury warned, “There’s
definitely more [job cuts] to come, but it depends on where GM places its
bets for the future.”

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=013-de2&t=c>
(11/28, Lemire, Miller) calls the tweets “the latest example of [Trump’s]
willingness to try to meddle in the affairs of private companies and
threaten to use government power to influence their business
decisions.” Bloomberg
News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=014-39c&t=c>
(11/27, Beene, Natter) headlines a report “Trump’s Threat to Kill GM’s
Subsidies Prompts Skeptical Response,” writing that “experts cast doubt on
the idea that Trump could unwind federal aid for the company by executive
fiat.” Kristin Dziczek of the Center for Automotive Research said, “It’s
very unusual for federal policy to single out one company for different
treatment than another company. So I don’t know exactly how they would do
that.” The Detroit News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=015-0b9&t=c>
(11/29, Thibodeau) reports under the headline “GM Moves Put Ford On Hot
Seat” that “some investors [are] waiting for specifics from Ford,” which
has vowed to cut costs by $25.5 billion over the next several years.
The Washington
Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=016-913&t=c>
(11/28, Chaitin) and The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=017-76e&t=c>
(11/28, Fabian), among other outlets, also report on the tweets.

*AP Analysis: Closings Could Impact Trump’s Midwest Prospects In
2020. *The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=018-d97&t=c>
(11/28, Wang, Krisher, Seewer) writes that “Ohio and much of the rest of
the industrial Midwest were vital” to Trump’s 2016 campaign, “and probably
will be again in 2020. Trump ran on a promise to bring back factory jobs,
and blue-collar voters in this otherwise Democratic stronghold in
northeastern Ohio embraced him.” University of Akron political scientist
David Cohen said, “You can’t place all of the blame on Donald Trump, but he
individually raised the stakes because he promised workers he was the only
one who could save the manufacturing base. And he can’t win the presidency
without carrying the industrial Midwest.”

However, the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=019-2ab&t=c>
(11/28, Scheiber) reports that “while critics faulted the president for
failing to deliver what he promised, a number of workers were quick to
exonerate him. Some portrayed him as well intentioned but simply outgunned
by larger economic forces,” and others “suggested that whatever Mr. Trump’s
flaws, they paled in comparison to those of General Motors, which they
considered the real culprit.”

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), who has said he is considering a
presidential run, tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=01a-fea&t=c>,
“President Trump told Ohio workers the jobs are ‘all coming back.’ Then, he
turned around and rushed through a tax scam that gives companies an
incentive to send jobs to Mexico. Workers deserve elected officials who
will step up for them every day.”

Detroit News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=01b-d37&t=c>
(11/28) columnist Daniel Howes writes, “This isn’t what candidate Trump
envisioned when he barnstormed the industrial Midwest two years ago
promising the return of auto jobs in Ohio and Michigan. Or when he vowed
that his beloved tariffs on foreign steel, aluminum, even cars and trucks
would restore the Arsenal of Democracy to its former glory. Ain’t working
out that way. ... The president is learning he, alone, cannot command the
auto industry sprawling across Trump country.”

*Mnuchin Deletes Retweet, Saying He Did Not Authorize It. *Bloomberg
News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=01c-6f1&t=c>
(11/28, Mohsin, Shankar) reports that Treasury Secretary Mnuchin “deleted a
retweeted Twitter post blasting [GM’s] plan to close U.S. factories and
said someone had gained unauthorized access to his account.” Mnuchin
“didn’t say who made the post...and didn’t claim that his account had been
hacked.” The tweet was the same one that the President retweeted Wednesday.
Foreign Policy
Pompeo, Mattis Brief Senate Amid Growing Criticism Over US Response To
Khashoggi Killing.

Secretary of State Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mattis held a closed-door
briefing with the Senate Wednesday on the Administration’s policy regarding
Saudi Arabia and the murder of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi. NBC
Nightly News[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=01d-290&t=c>
(11/28, story 3, 1:20, Holt) reported that the Administration is facing
“new criticism...that it’s ignoring a CIA assessment” that the “Saudi crown
prince...ordered the murder of...Khashoggi. ... Critics say the
Administration is covering up his role in Khashoggi’s death, and the CIA
Director not showing up to brief all senators today [is] angering many.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC): “How can I make a decision as a United States
Senator about whether or not the crown prince is complicit in a murder if I
don’t have access to the intelligence I read about in the paper?” Graham,
Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=01e-54b&t=c>
(11/28, Alexander) reports, said he will “withhold his vote on any key
issue, including upcoming spending bills, until the CIA briefs senators
about” Khashoggi’s murder. Graham is quoted as saying, “I am not going to
be denied the ability to be briefed by the CIA.”

To the CBS Evening News[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=01f-e16&t=c>
(11/28, story 3, 2:10, Glor), Pompeo and Mattis “tried to quell a growing
Senate revolt” over the Administration’s “tepid response” to the murder.
President Trump, “who views the crown prince as an ally, has been reluctant
to accept the CIA findings.” Lawmakers were “furious” that CIA Director
Haspel “was not included” in the briefing. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL): “We
were told in this briefing that it was the direction of the White House
that she not attend.” Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) said on CNN’s Anderson Cooper
360[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=020-3f9&t=c>
(11/28) that a “broad,” “bipartisan range” of senators wanted Haspel there
to give her opinion on Khashoggi’s murder, because “many of my colleagues
have not had the opportunity to hear directly from the agency about their
conclusions” and “want her to do that or ask questions.” Reed added that
“the sense I have...is that she was told not to go, and by the White
House.”

Fox News’ Special Report[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=021-804&t=c>
(11/28) said that while Pompeo and Mattis offered a “strong defense of the
US alliance with Saudi Arabia” and “back[ed]...the Saudi coalition in
Yemen,” both Democratic and Republican senators “say they want punishment
for Saudi Arabia for the death of...Khashoggi.” Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN)
“says it’s apparent” the crown prince is responsible for Khashoggi’s death,
while “others questioned why the CIA Director failed to attend.” However,
Fox reported the CIA “says Haspel already briefed the Senate Intelligence
Committee and she was never told to attend this morning’s session.”

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=022-18a&t=c>
(11/28, Jalonick, George) reports that Pompeo and Mattis “urged
senators...to keep supporting US involvement in the Saudi-led war in Yemen,
but it was unclear whether their message would dissuade lawmakers who want
to punish the kingdom for its role” in Khashoggi’s murder. After meeting
with Pompeo and Mattis, “several senators said they were unsatisfied and
likely to back the resolution to halt US support for the war,” which has
drawn a veto threat from the White House.

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=023-fd1&t=c>
(11/28, Morello) says Pompeo has “struck an unapologetic tone, arguing that
without US involvement, the humanitarian crisis in Yemen and the threat
posed to US interests and Americans ‘would be a hell of a lot worse.’” The
Post says that “among the outcomes Pompeo predicted are more civilian
deaths without U.S. training for targeting.” The Post says Pompeo “echoed
points he made in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=024-d3b&t=c>
(11/27, Pompeo) Wednesday, in which he characterized the reaction to”
Khashoggi’s murder “as heightening ‘Capitol Hill caterwauling and media
pile on,” but “did not mention Khashoggi in his prepared remarks.” Mattis,
however, “lamented the journalist’s killing while underscoring the need to
continue a partnership with Saudi Arabia even as the airstrikes have killed
tens of thousands of people, both civilians and rebels.” Mattis, Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=025-7b4&t=c>
(11/28, Zengerle, Chiacu) reports, told senators that “he had read all the
US intelligence reports about the incident and a transcript of what is
believed to be an audio recording of the killing,” but concluded, “We have
no smoking gun the crown prince was involved, not the intelligence
community or anyone else. There is no smoking gun.”

In what the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=026-75f&t=c>
(11/28, Harris, Schmitt, Cooper, Fandos) calls a “forceful and coordinated
effort,” Pompeo and Mattis “urged senators against withdrawing American
military support for the war in Yemen.” In a report titled “White House Bid
To Placate Senate Over Saudi Behavior Backfires,” Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=027-01b&t=c>
(11/28, Litvan, Dennis, Flatley) says “senior senators from both parties
rebuffed” the Administration’s “attempt to placate lawmakers demanding
action against Saudi Arabia and threatened to punish the kingdom through
restrictions on US support for its war in Yemen.” The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=028-733&t=c>
(11/28, Peterson, McBride) reports that later on Wednesday, the Senate
advanced in a 63-37 vote a measure to withdraw US support for Saudi-led
forces in Yemen.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said on CNN’s Situation Room[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=029-05f&t=c>
(11/28), “I think...we’re so used to supporting the lesser of two evils,”
and “this Administration is doing what every administration has done over
the last decade after decade. They look away when it’s their guy.” Paul
added[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=02a-a62&t=c>
that he thinks Wednesday’s briefing did have influence over the Senate’s
decision to advance the resolution to end the US involvement in the war in
Yemen since “several” previous votes on the matter had “failed, and now we
have gained about 10 or 15 new votes today.”

Charles Hurt of the Washington Times said on Fox News’ Special
Report[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=02b-aa6&t=c>
(11/28), “It so easy to be in Congress and to take totally legitimate
potshots at some really terrible people, including the Crown Prince and
others around the world who do egregious, nasty things that run counter to
everything that we believe in in America. The problem is on the other side
of Pennsylvania Avenue. You have the White House desperately trying to not
let it get out of control because of the real-world interests at play
here.”

Hugo Gurdon of the Washington Examiner said on Fox News’ Special
Report[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=02c-b5f&t=c>
(11/28), “It may well be there presumably is no absolute smoking gun, but
at the same time, I don’t think anyone has any doubt that the Crown Prince
is responsible. I think the White House played this very badly, and
President Trump has played this badly because it is quite possible to say
we are not going to overthrow our entire Mideast strategy. ... You can
still say, we are going to impose sanctions, we are going to make sure that
Saudi Arabia recognizes that the United States doesn’t stand up for this. I
think Saudi Arabia miscalculated. They thought they could literally get
away with murder because of the alliance with the United States. The United
States has to make it perfectly plain that they cannot do that.”
Russian Officials Still Expect Trump To Meet With Putin In Argentina.

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=02d-d91&t=c>
(11/28, Miller) reports that the Russian government said Wednesday that “it
still expects a meeting between” President Vladimir Putin and President
Trump “to go ahead as planned despite a suggestion from Trump that it could
be canceled.” Trump, “in an interview with The Washington Post on Tuesday,
said he might cancel the sit-down with Putin in Argentina following
Russia’s seizure of three Ukrainian naval ships last weekend.” Kremlin
spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the meeting is “on” and Russia “has not
received ‘any other information from our US counterparts.’” Foreign affairs
adviser Yuri Ushakov “noted that the meeting, which is set for Saturday,
has been prepared through official channels and Moscow expects Washington
to notify it of any changes in the same way.” He added, “This meeting is
necessary for both sides.”

Putin, Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=02e-ec9&t=c>
(11/28, Osborn, Zverev) reports, “shrugged off a threat from...Trump to
cancel a meeting” this weekend Buenos Aires, saying he “still hoped to meet
Trump at the G20, while the Kremlin said the meeting was still being
prepared and Washington had not informed Moscow it was off.”

*Putin Accuses Poroshenko Of Trying To Exploit Naval Incident For
Political Gain. *In an article titled, “Amid Crisis With Russia, Ukraine’s
President Also Faces Political Fight At Home,” the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=02f-664&t=c>
(11/28, Ferris-Rotman) reports that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko,
who has “signed off...on orders for limited martial law amid a showdown
with Moscow over the seizure of Ukrainian naval vessels” over the weekend,
is “deeply unpopular” and “faces an election next year.” According to the
Post, “Some critics – especially...Putin – question whether he is trying
use the standoff as a way boost his standing.”

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=030-ede&t=c>
(11/28, Karmanau, Vasilyeva) reports Poroshenko “donned combat fatigues to
implement martial law in much of the country on Wednesday, a move Russia
denounced as a cynical political trick.” Putin “bluntly accused” Poroshenko
of “provoking the naval incident in order to shore up his sagging
popularity and sideline competitors ahead of the March election.” Said
Putin, “The Black Sea incident certainly was a provocation organized by the
sitting government, including the incumbent president ahead of the
presidential vote in March.” He alleged that Poroshenko wanted to
“exacerbate the situation and create obstacles for his rivals.”
Iranians Charged With Hacking US Targets.

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=031-550&t=c>
(11/28, Barrett) reports that the Justice Department has “unsealed
charges...accusing two Iranian men of hacking into American hospitals,
universities, government agencies and the city of Atlanta, causing tens of
millions of dollars in damages.” According to DOJ, “More than 200 victims
were affected, more than $6 million in ransom was collected and damages
exceeded $30 million.” The Los Angeles Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=032-f16&t=c>
(11/28, Freeman) reports that according to the indictment, “the city of
Atlanta; the city of Newark, N.J.; the Colorado Department of
Transportation; and the University of Calgary in Canada were among the
government entities attacked.” In addition, “healthcare facilities
including Kansas Heart Hospital; MedStar Health in Maryland; Nebraska
Orthopedic Hospital; and Allscripts Healthcare Solutions in Chicago were
victims.” According to USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=033-810&t=c>
(11/28, Johnson), “Authorities did not identify the victims who made the
ransom payments for the return of the data.”

McClatchy
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=034-42c&t=c>
(11/28, Johnson) says Wednesday’s charges “marked the first US indictment
against foreign hackers engaged in a for-profit ransomware and extortion
scheme.” The two Iranians, Faramarz Shahi Savandi, 34, and Mohammad Mehdi
Shah Mansouri, 27, “remain at large, presumably in their homeland,
officials said.” McClatchy says Assistant Attorney General Brian A.
Benczkowski “sidestepped a question about whether Iran’s government
sponsored the two, saying only that the indictment contains no such
allegation.” The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=035-946&t=c>
(11/28, Perlroth, Benner) reports the Treasury Department “also imposed
sanctions on two other Iranians, accusing them of changing the Bitcoin
obtained by the hackers into Iranian rial.”
Despite Obama Deal, Chinese Cyberespionage On The Rise.

The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=036-4bb&t=c>
(11/29, Sanger, Myers) reports that three years ago, President Obama
“struck a deal” in which Chinese President Xi Jinping “agreed to end his
nation’s yearslong practice of breaking into the computer systems of
American companies, military contractors and government agencies to obtain
designs, technology and corporate secrets, usually on behalf of China’s
state-owned firms.” For the next 18 months or so, “the number of Chinese
attacks plummeted,” but since “soon after” President Trump took office,
China’s “cyberespionage picked up again and, according to intelligence
officials and analysts.” The nature of that espionage “has also changed,”
with older hacking operations being “replaced by stealthier operatives in
the country’s intelligence agencies.”
Commerce Department Allowing Tariff Exemptions For Imported Chinese Metals.

The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=037-58a&t=c>
(11/28, Tankersley) reports that President Trump “imposed sweeping tariffs
on steel and aluminum to prevent China and other countries from flooding
the American market with cheap metals,” but the Administration “has granted
nearly 3,000 requests that could exempt Chinese-made metal products from
the tariffs.” Since March, when the tariffs went into effect, the Commerce
Department has approved “a higher share of exclusion requests that include
imports from China than it has from American allies like Japan and Canada.”

*Administration Reiterates Plan To Raise Tariffs On Chinese Cars. *The
New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=038-5d0&t=c>
(11/28, Rappeport, Thrush) reports the Administration reiterated Wednesday
“its intention to raise tariffs on cars made in China, a move aimed at
pressuring Beijing into easing trade restrictions on American companies
ahead of President Trump’s meeting with President Xi Jinping of China this
week.” USTR Lighthizer said he would “examine all available tools” to
equalize tariffs China imposed on American cars. He said China’s
“aggressive” industrial policies were harming American workers and
companies.

*Xi Makes Case For “Globalization” Over “Unilateralism And
Protectionism.” *The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=039-9ef&t=c>
(11/28, Parra) reports that in Madrid on Wednesday, Chinese President Xi
Jinping “issued an impassioned defense...of free markets’ ability to combat
economic uncertainty as he sought allies amid his nation’s worsening trade
dispute with the United States.” Said Xi, “In economic terms, we need to
decide if we are going to follow the economic globalization and free market
or if we are going to choose unilateralism and protectionism.” Xi’s two-day
visit to Spain, the AP says, “is presenting the Chinese leader with the
opportunity to charm a country that has traditionally avoided confrontation
with Beijing.”

*WSJournal Analysis: Miscalculations Brought US, China To Brink Of
Trade War. *The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=03a-e23&t=c>
(11/28, Davis, Wei) says the US and China are on the brink of a trade war,
and how the two nations reached this point was not inevitable. The Journal
writes that over the past year, officials in both Washington and Beijing
have been calculating — and often miscalculating. Chinese officials have
misread Trump, and failed to recognize the growing resentments in the US
about their trade policies. For its part, the Administration has learned
that increasing up pressure on China’s leaders has failed to persuade them
to change their policies.

*Experts Who Long Supported US Engagement With Beijing Now Urging
More Skepticism. *The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=03b-abf&t=c>
(11/28, Nakashima) reports that a “distinguished group of China specialists
who have long championed engagement with Beijing are now advocating the
United States take a more skeptical view of what they see as growing
Chinese efforts to undermine democratic values, including free-speech
rights, both here and abroad.” In a report to be released today by a
working group convened by the Hoover Institution and the Asia Society’s
Center on US-China Relations, the specialists write, “Except for Russia, no
other country’s efforts to influence American politics and society is as
extensive and well-funded as China’s.” The report cites “a range of
examples of Chinese operations, from legitimate activities such as lobbying
to more ‘covert, coercive or corrupting’ behavior such as pressuring
Chinese students studying in the United States to spy on their Chinese
peers on American campuses.”

A Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=03c-ca3&t=c>
(11/28) editorial says “what’s most striking about the report is the
cumulative evidence of this quiet wave. While China’s theft of intellectual
property by hacking is well known, the report describes how China has
fielded a lesser-noticed, informal network of ‘collectors’ who are
‘operating under the radar’ through a maze of ventures to harvest US
technical know-how for China’s economic priorities, including
semiconductors, robotics, information technologies, aviation, artificial
intelligence and electric vehicles.” The Post argues that “it is time for
more clear-eyed understanding of what China is up to on these shores.”

*Trump Adviser: US Companies Should Do More To Stop Intellectual
Property Theft. *The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=03d-2df&t=c>
(11/28, Rappeport) reports that when President Trump and Chinese President
Xi Jinping meet later this week, “their negotiations are likely to be
framed” by the White House’s “insistence that China routinely steals
American technology and intellectual property.”

Samantha F. Ravich, vice chairman of the President’s Intelligence
Advisory Board, writes in the Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=03e-9ed&t=c>
(11/28) that intellectual property theft is threatening American national
security and prosperity and points to China as the biggest perpetrator.
However, she argues that protecting American technology is not something
the government can do alone. The private sector, Ravich says, needs to work
more closely with government to keep sensitive technology out of the hands
of hostile nations.

*WPost: Chinese Claim Highlights “Perils And Promise” Of Gene
Editing. *A Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=03f-9d1&t=c>
(11/28) editorial says Monday’s surprise claim by a Chinese scientist “that
he successfully edited the genetic makeup of a human embryo followed by
live births is a moment for serious worry.” If confirmed, the Post says the
research “must trigger a fresh reexamination of the procedures for research
that could alter the basic blueprint of humankind. Vigilance, transparency
and oversight are vital bulwarks against dangerous research, and this
experiment appears to have skirted them all.”
China Eyes Nuclear Deal With Argentina.

Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=040-a21&t=c>
(11/28, Garrison, Spetalnick) reports Argentina and China are “aiming to
close a deal within days for the construction of the South American
nation’s fourth nuclear power plant, a multi-billion dollar project that
would cement Beijing’s deepening influence in a key regional US ally.”
Argentina hopes to announce an agreement during Chinese President Xi
Jinping’s state visit on Sunday following the G20 summit in Buenos Aires,
Juan Pablo Tripodi, head of Argentina’s national investment agency, told
Reuters in an interview.
Brazil Backs Out Of Hosting 2019 UN Climate Talks.

The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=041-b2e&t=c>
(11/28, Londoño, Friedman) reports that Brazil this week “pulled out of
hosting next year’s United Nations global summit on climate change, the
latest signal that Latin America’s largest nation no longer aspires to be
an influential player in efforts to mitigate the effects of a warming
planet.” The decision leaves the UN “scrambling to find a new venue for the
summit, which was scheduled to take place next November.” In a statement,
Brazil’s foreign ministry said the decision was made “to save money.”
Domestic Policy
Media Analyses: Trump “Dangling Possibility Of A Pardon” In Front Of
Manafort.

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and the President’s comments
on it led two of the three network news broadcasts Wednesday evening, and
received extensive print and online coverage. Nearly all of the reporting
highlights the President’s claim in an Oval Office interview with the New
York Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=042-98e&t=c>
(11/28, Schultz, Schwab) that he is not taking the possibility of a pardon
for his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort “off the table.” The remark
is cast in many reports as evidence that Trump is “dangling” a pardon in
front of Manafort to urge him not to cooperate with the probe. The
President also tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=043-c23&t=c>
at 11:39 p.m., “So much happening with the now discredited Witch Hunt. This
total Hoax will be studied for years!”

The New York Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=044-235&t=c>
(11/28, Schultz, Schwab) quotes the President as saying of a possible
pardon, “It was never discussed, but I wouldn’t take it off the table. Why
would I take it off the table?” The Post says the President also criticized
special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation “and charged that Manafort,
his former political adviser Roger Stone and Stone’s associate Jerome Corsi
were all asked to lie by the special counsel.”

Terry Moran said on ABC World News Tonight[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=045-2b2&t=c>
(11/28, story 3, 2:35, Muir) that Trump “seems to be openly dangling the
possibility of a pardon.” Paula Reid reported in the lead story for the CBS
Evening News[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=046-bd3&t=c>
(11/28, lead story, 2:00, Glor) that Trump “may have provided a lifeline to
Manafort, who could spend the rest of his life behind bars.” The New York
Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=047-aa9&t=c>
(11/28, Lafraniere, Fandos) says that while Trump “is given to loose
promises that go unfulfilled, the suggestion of a pardon was nonetheless
remarkable.” With the comment, Trump “showed a new willingness to publicly
signal that he will intervene to protect people who are in the special
counsel’s cross hairs.” Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=048-5a4&t=c>
(11/28, Chiacu, Alexander) says the President “has been vocal in his
support for Manafort.” During Manafort’s trial in Virginia, Trump called
him a “very good person.”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said on CNN’s Situation Room[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=049-b2c&t=c>
(11/28) that Trump “seems to be dangling that idea of a pardon and Manafort
seems to be angling for it. We have here sharing of information by Manafort
apparently with the President’s lawyers. We have the President talking
openly about a pardon and...the President himself seeking to discredit and
lay the ground work for suffocating or strangling the special prosecutor’s
resources and authority.”

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) said on CNN’s The Lead[image: Image removed
by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=04a-6ae&t=c>
(11/28), “That’s par for the course, I guess, to hold that and dangle it
out there is what the President is kind of doing on this investigation. I
just can’t for the life of me understand why more of us here in the Senate
aren’t concerned about this investigation. The Attorney General is fired,
somebody is brought in that is hostile to the Mueller probe. I think that
we ought to be much more concerned than we are right now.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said on CNN’s Situation Room[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=04b-33c&t=c>
(11/28), “I don’t have any particular insight into the President, whether
he’ll offer pardons or not offer pardons to people. I do think in general,
though, that the idea of special prosecutors is a bad one. And the reason I
say this is that typically in our justice system, someone commits a crime
and we go after a crime and we find out who committed a crime. What a
special prosecutor does is go after a person and look for a crime. And we
let the prosecutor troll back through a person’s entire life history. And I
think it’s too much power. It gives the government too much power to
prosecute people. ... I am really not a fan of this and I think it’s a
distortion of justice. So, I am for the Mueller investigation to end as
soon as possible. If there is something out there, let’s hear about it, but
I think they’ve gone on long enough.”

Former Trump campaign senior adviser David Urban downplayed Trump’s
comment, telling CNN’s The Lead[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=04c-656&t=c>
(11/28), “The reporter asked the question, would you take it off the table.
The President says, no, I wouldn’t take anything off the table. Why would
he take anything off the table? He’s not dangling anything. He was posed
the question. He answered the question. I don’t think there was much more
than that.” However, Hugo Gurdon of the Washington Examiner said on Fox
News’ Special Report[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=04d-e6c&t=c>
(11/28), “The President does have a way...of dangling things, or another
way of looking at it is expressing things in a way which poked the hornets
nest. By just suggesting he is not going to take it off the table, it
suggests to the Democrats, who have been saying he wants to pardon
Manafort, that that is what he is going to do.”

CNN senior political commentator David Axelrod said on CNN’s
Situation Room[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=04e-c0e&t=c>
(11/28) that “there’s no doubt that the President is sending a very strong
message to all of these guys, ‘Do not cooperate,’ with the intimation that
there will be some relief at the end of this saga.”

*Manafort Lawyer Briefed Trump Lawyers On Discussions With Mueller.
*The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=04f-005&t=c>
(11/27, A1, Schmidt, Lafraniere, Haberman) reported in a front-page story
Tuesday that “one of Mr. Trump’s lawyers and two other people familiar with
the conversations” say Manafort’s lawyer, Kevin M. Downing, “repeatedly
briefed” Trump’s lawyers “on his client’s discussions with federal
investigators after Mr. Manafort agreed to cooperate with the special
counsel.” The Times says the arrangement was “highly unusual and inflamed
tensions with the special counsel’s office when prosecutors discovered it
after Mr. Manafort began cooperating two months ago, the people said.” The
President’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, “acknowledged the arrangement on Tuesday
and defended it as a source of valuable insights into the special counsel’s
inquiry and where it was headed.” The Times adds that some “legal experts
speculated that it was a bid by Mr. Manafort for a presidential pardon.”

Pete Williams said on NBC Nightly News[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=050-3e0&t=c>
(11/28, lead story, 2:10, Holt), “Such an arrangement with lawyers for
other people under investigation is so rare that many legal experts
consider it a sign Manafort wanted to stay on the President’s good side,
hoping for a pardon.” Moran said on ABC World News Tonight[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=051-985&t=c>
(11/28, story 3, 2:35, Muir) that Manafort’s lawyer gave “the President a
direct view into the investigation.” Moran added that while it is
“allowed,” it is “risky for Manafort to possibly alienate the prosecutors
who he cut a deal with. And the real question is, did Manafort and
President Trump have any conversations about President Trump issuing a
pardon in exchange for Manafort holding back? That would be trouble for
Manafort and President Trump.”

At the opening of CNN’s New Day[image: Image removed by sender.
Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=052-e57&t=c>
(11/28) Wednesday morning, John Berman asked, “What does this suggest about
a possible pardon?” On NBC’s Today[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=053-1a0&t=c>
(11/28), Peter Alexander said Manafort was engaged in “a highly unusual
arrangement that several legal experts...suspect may be a bid for a
presidential pardon.” On CBS This Morning[image: Image removed by sender.
Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=054-379&t=c>
(11/28), Paula Reid said that while “the White House dismissed any talk of
pardons, we know that...Manafort’s attorney talks with the President’s
attorneys. That’s completely legal, but it also sets him up for a pardon.”
On MSNBC’s Morning Joe[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=055-d3a&t=c>
(11/28), NBC News’ Anna Scheckter said, “I think this speaks directly to
what we’ve known for a long time, which is that a pardon was really what
Manafort was looking for, and this just bolsters that.”

In an op-ed for the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=056-9e9&t=c>
(11/28), former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Harry Litman writes that
the “jaw-dropping” revelation that Manafort’s lawyers had been talking to
Trump’s lawyers about the discussions “has significant legal and political
implications.” It “represents another breach of the demolished cooperation
agreement that Manafort entered into.” In addition, “the conversations
between some combination of Manafort, Trump and the lawyers for both of
them were not privileged, and Mueller is entitled to know their contents.”
Mueller “is fully entitled to subpoena Manafort counsel Kevin Downing and
whichever Trump counsel spoke with him...and force them to reveal every
word of the discussions.” In an op-ed for the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=057-ab2&t=c>
(11/28), former federal prosecutor Ken White calls the revelation
“shocking” and “a potential catastrophe for everyone involved.”

In an op-ed for the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=058-349&t=c>
(11/28), Cristian Farias writes Manafort, George Papadopoulos, and Jerome
Corsi, by “casting aspersions on Mr. Mueller’s work,” are “signaling to the
president that they remain loyal to him, despite their initial attempts to
at least admit some culpability and work with federal prosecutors. Whether
that means pardons or commutations may be awaiting them, only the president
knows.”

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=059-bff&t=c>
(11/28) says in an editorial that while it is unclear whether this week’s
revelations “will add up to a case that President Trump colluded with the
Russians to sway the 2016 presidential election,” they “do prove...that
there are more than enough troubling questions and shady Trump associates
to justify Mr. Mueller’s continued work.”

*Trump Likens Mueller Probe To McCarthyism. *USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=05a-a00&t=c>
(11/28, Jackson) says discussion of a possible pardon for Manafort came
“hours after a tweet in which he accused Mueller’s office of trying to
coerce his former campaign chief Manafort and two other witnesses to
testify against him.” Trump wrote
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=05b-34c&t=c>,
“At least 3 major players are intimating that the Angry Mueller Gang of
Dems is viciously telling witnesses to lie about facts & they will get
relief. This is our Joseph McCarthy Era!” Along with Manafort, the three
“major players” include “longtime political adviser Roger Stone, and
conservative writer Jerome Corsi, an ally of Stone who said he rejected a
plea deal from Mueller.” Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=05c-98f&t=c>
(11/28, Oprysko) says there is “no hard evidence that Trump’s claims are
accurate and he neglected to provide proof of his accusations.”

The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=05d-c9f&t=c>
(11/28, Boyer) reports Trump told the New York Post, “If you told the
truth, you go to jail.” Trump said, “You know this flipping stuff is
terrible. You flip and you lie and you get – the prosecutors will tell you
99 percent of the time they can get people to flip. It’s rare that they
can’t.” The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=05e-376&t=c>
(11/28, Wagner) says the tweet “marked the third straight day in which
Trump has taken to Twitter in an attempt to discredit Mueller.” However,
“aides have continued to insist that he has no intentions of directing
Mueller’s firing or otherwise interfering in the investigation.”

Corsi said on Fox News’ Hannity[image: Image removed by sender.
Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=05f-454&t=c>
(11/28), “What the special prosecutor is asking me to do is accept a
fraudulent plea, which I am going to have my attorneys file criminal
charges on with the Department of Justice. My experience made it clear to
me that the political criminals are running the Department of Justice and
Mueller’s prosecution. I was ridiculed. My testimony was laughed at. They
yawned at it. They misbehaved and they accused me of being a liar and
fabricator. I think it was an attack on me for the books I have written
that have been successful. Twenty books since 2004.”

Sean Hannity said on Fox News’ Hannity[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=060-671&t=c>
(11/28), “You are witnessing a partisan witch hunt. That is what it is. But
not into any crime. Not into any collusion. Into a single man that they
hate won the presidency. That is Donald Trump. You got investigators,
almost all of them Democrats, singularly focused only on him, and loving
Hillary Clinton supporters. She gets a pass. ... The Constitution gets
shredded. No equal justice under the law. No equal application of our laws.
It is all to destroy the President you elected. They are willing to destroy
lives of anyone and everyone who dares get in their way.”

*In Responses To Mueller, Trump Denied Knowing About Trump Tower
Meeting, WikiLeaks. *On its website, CNN
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=061-090&t=c>
(11/28, Bash, Scannell, Perez) cites “two sources familiar with the matter”
that Trump told Mueller “in writing that Roger Stone did not tell him about
WikiLeaks, nor was he told about the 2016 Trump Tower meeting between his
son, campaign officials and a Russian lawyer promising dirt on Hillary
Clinton.” CNN points out that one source described Trump’s answers “without
providing any direct quotes and said the President made clear he was
answering to the best of his recollection.” WikiLeaks and the Trump Tower
meeting “are critical to Mueller’s central mission: investigating whether
the Trump campaign colluded with Russians during the 2016 campaign.” While
the President’s attorneys “previously told CNN the answers would match his
public statements,” the “written answers could be subject to criminal
charges if false.” Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=062-085&t=c>
(11/28, Beech) cites an MSNBC report which cited “sources familiar with the
matter” who said Trump told the special counsel “that he was not aware
ahead of time” of the Trump Tower meeting.

Stone was asked on Fox News’ Hannity[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=063-031&t=c>
(11/28) if he ever discussed Assange or WikiLeaks with the President. Stone
said, “Absolutely not. ... At no time did Donald Trump and I, candidate
Trump or President Trump, discuss WikiLeaks.” Stone added that prosecutors
“try to destroy you financially to make you plead guilty to a minor crime
you didn’t commit. Just like General Flynn.”

CNN senior congressional correspondent Manu Raju said on CNN’s
Situation Room[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=064-402&t=c>
(11/28), “Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee are not satisfied
with the President’s written responses, what they are hearing about his
written responses to Robert Mueller.” Raju added that incoming Chairman
Adam Schiff “told me the responses are not adequate. He said he wants to
learn more about the Trump Tower meeting and whether the President knew
about it at the time.” Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=065-2a6&t=c>
(11/28, Cheney) reports Democrats are “pointing to what they call new
evidence of collaboration between the 2016 Trump campaign and Moscow,” and
they are vowing that “when they assume control of the House in January,
they will revisit testimony from witnesses who provided incomplete or
contradictory testimony about their connections to Wikileaks and Russia.”

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=066-42e&t=c>
(11/28, Dawsey) reports late night calls from the President to Stone “have
come under intensifying scrutiny as special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s
investigation bores into whether Stone served as a bridge between Trump and
WikiLeaks as the group was publishing hacked Democratic emails.” Mueller’s
interest “was laid out in a draft court document revealed this week in
which prosecutors drew a direct line between the two men – referring to
Stone as someone understood to be in regular contact with senior Trump
campaign officials, ‘including with then-candidate Donald J. Trump.’” The
mention “of the president by name in the draft filing rattled his legal
team and indicated how closely the special counsel is scrutinizing what
Trump may have learned from Stone about WikiLeaks’ release of emails that
prosecutors say were hacked by Russian intelligence operatives.”

*Mueller Asked Trump About GOP Platform Change Regarding Ukraine. *ABC
News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=067-c2c&t=c>
(11/28, News) reports that “the list of questions...Mueller submitted to”
Trump “included a query about a controversial change to the Republican
party’s convention platform in June 2016 regarding the US providing arms to
Ukraine.” ABC cites “sources familiar with the president’s responses.”
According to ABC News, “The platform revision occurred as the Republican
National Convention got underway in Cleveland. On July 18, party insiders
took the unusual step of watering down its formal position on whether the
US should help protect Ukraine from Russian incursions – a move viewed as a
surprising concession to the Russian government at a time of tension in
Ukraine.” ABC points out that “the platform change took place during the
Republican convention organized by then-Trump campaign chairman Paul
Manafort.”

*Investigators Still Looking Into Papadopoulos’ Russia Ties. *The
Atlantic
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=068-97b&t=c>
(11/28, Bertrand, Stedman) reports that “a letter now being investigated by
the House Intelligence Committee and the FBI indicates that [George]
Papadopoulos is still in the crosshairs of investigators probing a
potential conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia.” The letter
“makes a series of explosive but uncorroborated claims about Papadopoulos’s
alleged coordination with Russians in the weeks following Trump’s election
in November 2016, including that Papadopoulos said he was ‘doing a business
deal with Russians which would result in large financial gains for himself
and Mr. Trump.’” If they are corroborated, “the claims in the letter would
add to an emerging portrait of Trump and his associates’ eagerness to
strike backdoor deals with Russia even after the intelligence community
concluded that Moscow had interfered in the 2016 election.”

*Trump Retweets Meme Showing His Political Opponents Behind Bars
For “Treason.” *The Daily Caller
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=069-46d&t=c>
(11/28, Enjeti) reports President Trump on Wednesday “retweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=06a-26b&t=c>
a meme from a fan account showing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein
and former President Barack Obama behind bars.” It “also showed special
counsel Robert Mueller, former Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John
Podesta, Clinton herself, her aide Huma Abedin, former FBI Director James
Comey, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former
President Bill Clinton, and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch.” The DC
says the inclusion of Rosenstein “is particularly noteworthy because he
currently serves as Trump’s own deputy attorney general.” Breitbart
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=06b-8ff&t=c>
(11/28, Morris) says the image reads, “Now that Russia collusion is a
proven lie, when do the trials for treason begin?”

Senior justice correspondent Evan Perez said on CNN’s
Situation Room[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=06c-297&t=c>
(11/28), “There’s an angle here. And that is to undermine whatever this
investigation is going to come out. The President is concerned about
whatever Mueller is going to come out with, with his report. And I think
what he wants to make sure is he can soften some of the public. He knows
he’s got his base behind him. But he wants people who are maybe more in the
middle to know that whatever Mueller tells you is not going to be the
truth. And so this is part of a political strategy that has been going on
simply, you know, for the better part of the year.”

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=06d-17e&t=c>
(11/28, Sonmez) reports that hours after the retweet, the President
“sharply criticized” Rosenstein, telling the New York Post, “He should have
never picked a special counsel.” However, he “declined to answer a
follow-up question on whether he intends to fire Rosenstein.”

*Senate Blocks Measure To Protect Mueller From Being Fired. *USA
Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=06e-f32&t=c>
(11/28, Collins, Jansen) reports the Senate has, for the second time,
“blocked an expedited vote on legislation that would protect special
counsel Robert Mueller from being fired.” Sens. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Chris
Coons (D-DE), and Cory Booker (D-NJ) “urged brisk debate on the legislation
in an effort to prevent President Donald Trump from firing Mueller,” but
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), who argued the measure was unconstitutional,
“objected to the request, blocking immediate action.” Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=06f-763&t=c>
(11/28, Oprysko, Levine) reports Coons said, “I think, frankly, at the end
of the day, Leader McConnell has gotten reassurances from the president
that he won’t act against Mueller, but those assurances are undermined
every single day when President Trump both tweets untrue criticisms of
Robert Mueller and his investigation and does other things that are
unexpected or unconventional or unjustified. ... They don’t have an answer
other than, well, it would be a bad thing to do so it won’t happen. This is
the easiest way possible to prevent an entirely predictable constitutional
crisis.”

Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=070-ddf&t=c>
(11/28, Lambert) says the bill’s failure spurred Flake “to make good on his
threat of opposing judicial nominations until the bill moves forward.” As a
result, Vice President Pence “was called in as president of the senate to
break a tie vote on confirming Thomas Farr as a U.S. District Judge in
North Carolina, after Flake voted ‘no.’” The Washington Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=071-e1d&t=c>
(11/28, Ferrechio) reports Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Grassley has
“canceled panel votes scheduled for Thursday on 25 executive and judicial
nominations.” Grassley announced the cancellation after McConnell “blocked”
the effort to bring up the bill. Flake’s “refusal to support any of the
pending judicial nominees dooms them to a 10-10 Judiciary panel vote, which
would prevent Grassley from reporting them to the Senate floor.”
Trump Says He Would “Totally Be Willing” To Shut Down Government Over
Border Wall Funding.

Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018112901biden&r=email-aa13&l=072-6df&t=c>
(11/28, Sherman, Palmer) writes that in a Wednesday interview, President
Trump made it clear that he “is done waiting” for Congress to fund his
promised border wall. The President told Politico “that he is unflinchingly
firm Congress must send him a bill approving $5 billion for his wall...and
that he would ‘totally be willing’ t