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Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing


*From:* Bulletin Intelligence <Biden@BulletinIntelligence.com>
*Sent:* Wednesday, August 8, 2018 7:52 AM
*To:* Biden@BulletinIntelligence.com
*Subject:* Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing for
Wednesday, August 8, 2018


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[image: Image removed by sender. Office of Vice President Biden
Intelligence Briefing]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=001-bb4&t=c>

*To: Vice President Joe Biden*

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

*Biden in the News <#SECTION_1>*

• Biden Launches Initiative Aimed At Promoting LGBTQ Family Acceptance.
<#S1>

• Biden To Attend Fundraising Event For Group Allied With Clyburn. <#S2>

*Leading the News <#SECTION_2>*

• Balderson Leads O’Connor By 0.9% In OH12; Trump Claims Credit For His
“Great Victory.” <#S3>

*Foreign Policy <#SECTION_3>*

• Trump Touts “Most Biting Sanctions Ever Imposed” On Iran. <#S4>

• Bolton: “We Need Performance From North Korea On Denuclearization.” <#S5>

• Leaked Russian Document: Putin Lobbied Trump On Arms Control. <#S6>

• Pentagon Investigating Whether US Accidentally Bombed Afghan Forces. <#S7>

• Syrian Press Blames Mossad For Assassination Of Syrian Rocket Scientist.
<#S8>

• US, Turkish Officials To Discuss Detention Of American Pastor. <#S9>

• Administration Moving Ahead With New Tariffs On Additional $16B In
Chinese Imports. <#S10>

*Domestic Policy <#SECTION_4>*

• Kobach Holds Narrow Edge Over Gov. Colyer In Still-Undecided Kansas GOP
Primary. <#S11>

• Giuliani: Obstruction Questions Still On Table For Trump Interview With
Mueller. <#S12>

• NBC: White House Plan Would Aim To Impede Legal Immigrants’ Green Cards,
Citizenship. <#S13>

• Forbes: People Who Know Ross Say He “Wrongly Siphoned Or Outright Stole”
Millions. <#S14>

• Poll: 43% In GOP Say Trump Should Be Able To Close News Outlets For “Bad
Behavior.” <#S15>

• NRA Airing Pro-Kavanaugh Ads In Senate Battleground States. <#S16>

• California Responds To Administration’s Auto Pollution Proposal. <#S17>

• Trump To Visit Upstate New York Monday To Sign NDAA Named After McCain.
<#S18>

*Cancer Research <#SECTION_5>*

• Array BioPharma Colorectal Cancer Drug Gets FDA Breakthrough Therapy
Designation. <#S19>

• Partnership Tackles Cancer Rates Among Black, Latino Houston, Residents.
<#S20>

*Editorials/Op-Eds <#SECTION_6>*

• New York Times. <#S21>

• Washington Post. <#S22>
Biden in the News
Biden Launches Initiative Aimed At Promoting LGBTQ Family Acceptance.

In an online article, CNN
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=002-fe8&t=c>
(8/7, Hansler) reported that former Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday
announced a new initiative “aimed at emphasizing the importance of family
and community acceptance to LGBTQ youth. The ‘As You Are’ campaign was
launched under” Biden’s “eponymous foundation, which lists LGBTQ equality
as one of its pillars. The social media campaign hopes to collect
testimonies from LGBTQ youth, family members, educators and others,” whose
“stories will be used as educational tools ‘with the hope that they will
serve to inspire, to create communities, to heal families, and to change
the broader culture to ensure a bright future for all LGBTQ young people,’
a news release said.” The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=003-399&t=c>
(8/7, Kurtz) reported that Biden launched the “new campaign to promote
LGBTQ family acceptance, with the help of Cyndi Lauper and former NFL
player Wade Davis.” In a video announcing the initiative, Biden said,
“We’ll use our resources to highlight the harms of family rejection, and to
lift up research, best practices, and personal stories to show the
importance of family acceptance.”

On its website, CBS News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=004-ea5&t=c>
(8/7, Tillett) quoted Biden as saying, “By sharing your stories, we can
work together to change the culture and ensure a great future for the LGBTQ
young people in America.” In an online story, ABC News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=005-a61&t=c>
(8/7, Rivas) reported, “From officiating a same-sex marriage to telling the
audience at the” DNC’s “annual LGBTQ gala to hold[ing] President Donald
Trump accountable ‘for his pledge to be your friend,’ Biden has been a
long-standing supporter of LGBTQ community.” In a statement, Biden
Foundation LGBTQ Equality Director Emily Hecht-McGowan said, “While we must
continue working to pass laws and implement policies that protect LGBTQ
youth across the spectrum of their lives, laws and policies are not enough.
We must also change the culture. We know that personal stories are the
single best tool we have to change hearts and minds to move us towards a
culture of acceptance – not rejection.”

Several broadcasts also covered the story, including ABC-TV[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=006-cff&t=c>
New York (8/8), which showed a clip of Biden speaking in a video about the
initiative. Broadcasts offering similar reports include KCAL-TV[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=007-a89&t=c>
Los Angeles (8/7), WRAL-TV[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=008-f41&t=c>
Raleigh, NC (8/8), and WJAX-TV[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=009-d08&t=c>
Jacksonville, FL (8/8). Axios
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=00a-ea9&t=c>
(8/7, Fernandez), iHeartRadio
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=00b-f08&t=c>
(8/7, Dinh), the Independent Journal Review
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=00c-74e&t=c>
(8/7, Helmer), Gay Star News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=00d-60f&t=c>
(8/7), and the Advocate
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=00e-1db&t=c>
(8/7, Hecht) are among the numerous media outlets that also report on the
story.
Biden To Attend Fundraising Event For Group Allied With Clyburn.

BuzzFeed
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=00f-da0&t=c>
(8/7, Sands) reported that former Vice President Joe Biden is slated to
attend “a fundraiser on Martha’s Vineyard this month for Protecting Our
Vote PAC, an organization helmed by South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn.”
According to “two people briefed on the event, “the fundraiser “will be
held at a private residence. ... Tickets for the event range from $500 to
$5,000 donations, which will go directly to Protecting Our Vote PAC. The
event will also be attended by Congressional Black Caucus Chair Rep. Cedric
Richmond” and other members of the CBC. BuzzFeed added that Biden “is
currently considering another presidential run, and Clyburn a potential run
to helm the Democratic caucus.”
Leading the News
Balderson Leads O’Connor By 0.9% In OH12; Trump Claims Credit For His
“Great Victory.”

With 100% of precincts reporting in Tuesday’s OH12 special election to
succeed ex-Rep. Pat Tiberi (R-OH), state Sen. Troy Balderson (R-OH) leads
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=010-fa0&t=c>
Franklin County Recorder Danny O’Connor (D-OH) 50.2 percent to 49.3
percent. The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=011-1f0&t=c>
(8/7, McLaughlin) reports the “margin, representing less than 2,000 votes,
is slightly greater than the 0.5 percent gap that would trigger an
automatic recount, though a losing candidate can still call for one.”
Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=012-e61&t=c>
(8/7, Schneider) reports that “O’Connor did not concede the race, and over
8,400 absentee and provisional ballots remain to be counted, according to
the Ohio secretary of state’s office.”

President Trump tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=013-e8e&t=c>
about the results last night, writing, “When I decided to go to Ohio for
Troy Balderson, he was down in early voting 64 to 36. That was not good.
After my speech on Saturday night, there was a big turn for the better. Now
Troy wins a great victory during a very tough time of the year for voting.
He will win BIG in Nov. ...
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=014-c6b&t=c>
Congratulations to Troy Balderson on a great win in Ohio. A very special
and important race!” House Majority Whip Scalise also credited Trump on Fox
News’ The Ingraham Angle[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=015-eee&t=c>
(8/7), saying, “President Trump going in really helped swing this race to
the Republican side. It was neck and neck all the way but President Trump
made the difference.”

The Columbus (OH) Dispatch
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=016-b51&t=c>
(8/7, Rowland) reports “Balderson apparently overcame a huge deficit among
early voters to narrowly beat...O’Connor,” but most media reports
highlighted the closeness of the race in what is regarded as a Republican
district. The Cincinnati Enquirer
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=017-9f0&t=c>
(8/7, Balmert, Icsman, Mallett), for example, says “Trump’s endorsed
candidate appeared to eke out a win in an extremely tight” contest – “but
it should have never been this close,” and adds that “with such a close
race, the ‘blue wave’ wasn’t crushed – but it was dampened,” as
“Republicans proved they could hold on to a reliably GOP seat in the face
of Democratic enthusiasm.”

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=018-882&t=c>
(8/8, Peoples, Smyth) highlights the fact that Trump touted “‘a great
victory,’ even though the contest could be headed to a mandatory recount.”
O’Connor, meanwhile, “vowed: ‘We’re not stopping now.’” To the Washington
Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=019-9ab&t=c>
(8/6, Scherer), “the too-close-to call race signaled Trump’s diminishing
ability to woo voters, coming just three days after he travelled to the
district to hold a rally for” Balderson “in the hopes of motivating his
supporters to the polls to counteract the growing Democratic enthusiasm in
the Columbus suburbs.” The Post says that the race “is the latest example
of increased voter and campaign donor energy for Democrats that has haunted
Republicans through special elections since Trump became president,
including House races in Arizona, Pennsylvania and South Carolina.”

The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=01a-5a5&t=c>
(8/7, Martin, Burns) reports “Republicans spent millions of dollars on
scorching television ads, pried a reluctant endorsement from Ohio’s
moderate governor, used the Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi as a foil and
enlisted...Trump in a last-minute turnaround effort in a special election
for Congress in Ohio.” Yet, “after all that, in a conservative-leaning
district outside Columbus, the Republican candidate clung to the narrowest
of leads.” Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=01b-c28&t=c>
(8/7, Whitesides) reports, “The narrow margin will be little comfort for
Republicans anxious about the prospect of a Democratic wave heading into
the Nov. 6 elections, and it is certain to encourage Democrats who
performed dramatically better than expected in a district Republicans have
represented since the early 1980s.”

Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=01c-592&t=c>
(8/8, Isenstadt) reports that while “the outcome was too close to
officially declare a winner, Balderson’s lead at the end of the night
averted an embarrassing outright loss for his party, which would have
generated a crush of bad headlines about the GOP’s fading prospects and the
growing likelihood of a blue wave in the fall. Yet warning signs abound
following a razor-thin outcome in a district that Republicans have held for
over three decades. Trump won there by double digits in 2016 and, in most
years, the seat never would have been in contention to begin with.”

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=01d-f38&t=c>
(8/7, Debonis) reports that the too-close-to-call contest “reinforced a
trend that has been developing for more than a year: Democrats are
routinely beating their 2016 performance by double digits – putting the
House and perhaps even the Senate within their grasp in November.” The Wall
Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=01e-f32&t=c>
(8/7, Epstein) also reports on the story.

Laura Ingraham said on Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=01f-784&t=c>
(8/7), “Even if Balderson wins, the other networks will say it’s really a
loss for Trump. So even if he wins, he loses.” Kristin Fisher said on Fox
News’ Fox News @ Night[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=020-c7a&t=c>
(8/7), “Democrats are going to say that this is a win for Danny O’Connor
and Democrats as well heading into the midterms because this race was so
close, because this is a race that should never have been close. ... But
still, a win is a win.”

John King said on CNN[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=021-51a&t=c>
(8/7), “Republicans will argue your best shot was in this lower turnout
special election. But this race will stay on the map. ... The last
Republican who won here – it was a blowout. A Democrat has not represented
this district since Ronald Reagan was President of the United States.” King
called the result “a moral victory for the Democrats.” Analyst Harry Enten
said on CNN[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=022-842&t=c>
(8/7), “Keep in mind, this is a very Republican district. There are about
70 districts nationwide that are currently held by Republicans, but
Democrats have done better in recent presidential elections. So that, to
me, indicates that if you’re jumping ahead to the full, the result tonight
is actually good news for Democrats.”

Byron York of the Washington Examiner said on Fox News’ Fox News @
Night[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=023-4d9&t=c>
(8/7), “There’s no doubt that it is closer than it should have been. This
is a district that’s been Republican for more than three decades and it
should not have been this close. On the other hand, a win is a win.
Republicans have one, but it was kind of a near-death experience for them.”

In his New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=024-8d9&t=c>
(8/8) column, Frank Bruni says, “A special election this near to the
November midterms isn’t solely or even primarily about who won and lost.
It’s about which candidate – and thus which party – beat the spread. It’s a
crystal ball with a glimpse of the future. ... And the vision presented by”
the OH12 “on Tuesday night should give Democrats considerable joy.”

All three network newscasts reported on the race last night ahead
the polls’ closure. NBC Nightly News[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=025-09c&t=c>
(8/7, story 2, 0:25, Holt) referred to “a closely watched special election
in Ohio” that “could be a nail-biter,” adding that if O’Connor “wins or
comes close, it could be a sign of trouble for Republicans come November.”
The CBS Evening News[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=026-c3e&t=c>
(8/7, lead story, 2:25, O'Keefe) reported “polls show the President’s
approval rating is below 50 percent in the district, despite its Republican
history,” and “that’s one reason O’Connor is competitive.” ABC World News
Tonight[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=027-159&t=c>
(8/7, story 3, 2:00, Palmeri), meanwhile, said “all eyes” were “on the
high-stakes special election in Ohio’s 12th district,” with
“Republicans...playing defense in areas of the country they never thought
they’d have to.”

*Biden Recorded Robocall For O’Connor Ahead Of OH12 Special
Election. *The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=028-848&t=c>
(8/7, Axelrod) reported that former Vice President Joe Biden sought to
boost O’Connor ahead of yesterday’s special election, “recording a robocall
for” the Democratic hopeful. Biden is quoted as saying in the call
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=029-4fa&t=c>,
“Ohioans need leaders like Danny, who will stand up for working families,
protect critical services that help folks get ahead and work together to
find common ground in Congress.” Biden went “on to emphasize that an
O’Connor victory would bring Democrats one step closer to taking control of
the House.”
Foreign Policy
Trump Touts “Most Biting Sanctions Ever Imposed” On Iran.

On [image: Image removed by sender. Video]NBC’s Today Show
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=02a-7d7&t=c>
(8/7), Savannah Guthrie reported “the US has started reimposing economic
sanctions against Iran, sanctions that had been eased after that landmark
2015 nuclear accord that the President has decided to exit.” Guthrie added
that President Trump “says he wants to pressure Iran to curb its nuclear
program and to stop supporting uprisings in the Middle East.” Trump tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=02b-36a&t=c>
Tuesday, “These are the most biting sanctions ever imposed, and in November
they ratchet up to yet another level. Anyone doing business with Iran will
NOT be doing business with the United States. I am asking for WORLD PEACE,
nothing less!” The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=02c-102&t=c>
(8/7, Balluck) reports that in a statement Monday, Trump also “said the
U.S. is ‘fully committed’ to enforcing the sanctions, adding that
individuals and entities that fail to wind down activities with Iran ‘risk
severe consequences.’”

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=02d-4db&t=c>
(8/7) reports National Security Adviser Bolton told [image: Image removed
by sender. Video]Fox News’ Fox & Friends
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=02e-011&t=c>
(8/7) that “the intent is not to bring about Iranian ‘regime change.’” The
AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=02f-699&t=c>
(8/7, George, Miller) reports Bolton said the US “definitely want[s] to put
maximum pressure on the government, and it’s not just to come back to
discuss fixing a deal that’s basically not fixable, dealing with the
nuclear weapons aspect.” He continued, “We want to see a much broader
retreat by Iran from their support for international terrorism, their
belligerent activity in the Middle East and their ballistic missile,
nuclear-related program.” NPR
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=030-bf4&t=c>
(8/7, Raphelson) quotes Bolton as stating, “There’s a lot going on here
that Iran needs to be held accountable for.”

Gillian Turner reported on [image: Image removed by sender. Video]Fox
News’ Special Report
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=031-15c&t=c>
(8/7) that State Department officials have “confirmed the US is seeking a
new deal with Iran. In a stark departure from the Obama Administration’s
nuclear deal, they say this one aims to be comprehensive.” Fox then showed
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert saying, “Not just the nuclear
program, but the missile program, their support for terrorism, and their
maligned regional behavior.” This comes as European officials have
“slammed” the US for reimposing sanctions on Iran. Turner said that
“according to one EU official, European companies that follow the US lead”
and stop doing business with Iran “may face sanctions from the Union.”
Financial sanctions experts “caution the importance of European reactions
cannot be overstated.” Those experts “say ultimately the key to the success
or the failure of the snapback sanctions is whether Iran is able to cut
deals with European companies.”

On [image: Image removed by sender. Video]CBS This Morning
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=032-a45&t=c>
(8/7), Weijia Jiang reported European foreign ministers released a joint
statement in which they “said they deeply regret the sanctions and are
taking measures to protect EU companies doing legitimate business with
Iran.” USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=033-360&t=c>
(8/7, Jackson) reports that while “European officials criticized Monday’s
move, saying Iran is abiding by the agreement,” Tehran “is also counting on
economic assistance from Russia and China.” The Financial Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=034-6ca&t=c>
(8/7, Hille) reports Russia, which has opposed the reimposition of
sanctions, said it would work with other countries party to the 2015
nuclear deal to continue trade with Iran.

Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=035-35a&t=c>
(8/7, Millike, Graff) reports “Iraq said it did not agree with the US
sanctions on its neighbor, but will abide by them to protect its own
interests.” Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi asserted, “As a matter of
principle we are against sanctions in the region. Blockade and sanctions
destroy societies and do not weaken regimes.”

Meanwhile, the AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=036-3ff&t=c>
(8/7, Vahdat, Fattahi) reports, “Iranians appear divided on how to respond”
to the reimposed US sanctions, and the “same goes for their theocratic
government, which for now is abiding by the atomic accord.” The question of
whether Tehran “should choose a North Korea-style photo-op with the
American president who backed out of the nuclear deal or abandon the
unraveling accord and increase its uranium enrichment remains a fiercely
debated question in Iran,” but almost “everyone agrees something has to be
done soon, as sporadic protests across the country of 80 million people
only add to the pressure.”

Benjamin Hall reported on [image: Image removed by sender. Video]Fox
News’ Special Report
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=037-ec6&t=c>
(8/7) that the latest sanctions follow “months of unrest” in Iran, but the
leadership in Tehran is “defiant.” President Hassan Rouhani, only hours
before the sanctions were imposed, rejected Trump’s proposal to meet with
no preconditions. Fox showed Rouhani saying, “In my opinion, what Americans
are seeking in their psychological warfare is to make Iranian people
hesitant about their country.” Hall said the question now is “whether the
protests will turn into something more, and if the Iranian people decide
enough is enough.” Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=038-063&t=c>
(8/7, Nasseri) similarly says Rouhani “responded to the return of sweeping
US sanctions with a statement of defiance and a call for unity,” but the
impact of the sanctions “could fuel further anti-government protests and
escalate Iran’s confrontation with Gulf foes who back Trump’s offensive
against Tehran.”

Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=039-5f8&t=c>
(8/7, Murray) reports that later Tuesday, “Iranian Foreign Minister Javad
Zarif took to Twitter to bash Trump as a ‘warmonger.’” He wrote, “Reminder:
International relations is not a beauty pageant, with tired clichés about a
desire for WORLD PEACE. And it is not the first time that a warmonger
claims he is waging war for ‘world peace.’” Zarif continued, “Tantrums &
CAPPED TWEETS won’t change the fact that the world is sick & tired of US
unilateralism. Stopping US trade and killing 100K US jobs is fine with us,
but the world won’t follow impulsive tweeted diktats. Just ask EU, Russia,
China & dozens of our other trading partners.”

Vice
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=03a-b15&t=c>
(8/7, Gilbert) reports that while Rouhani said he’d be willing to meet with
Trump for talks without preconditions “right now,” Bolton “quickly
dismissed” that offer as “propaganda.” Breitbart
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=03b-4fa&t=c>
(8/7, Hayward) likewise says “Bolton indicated in a CNN interview on
Tuesday that Rouhani’s offer to talk isn’t being taken all that seriously
in Washington just yet.” Bolton stated, “Let’s see what really comes of it
or whether it’s just more propaganda. If the Iranians are really willing to
come and talk about all of their malign behavior in the region and around
the world, I think they’d find the President willing to do it.”

[image: Image removed by sender. Video]Fox News’ Fox & Friends
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=03c-4bb&t=c>
(8/7), Griff Jenkins reported House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is
“blasting the move, calling it counterproductive, saying it ‘diminishes
America’s credibility, erodes our relationship with NATO and allies and
sets back a path toward a more stable region and peaceful non-nuclear
future.’”

Fox News Insider
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=03d-0d6&t=c>
(8/7) reports Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), however, “is advocating for
regime change” in Iran. In a tweet on Monday, “Graham referenced Trump’s
famous campaign slogan,” writing, “Make Iran Great Again. Dump the
Ayatollah!”

*Grenell “Quietly Convincing” German Companies To Cease Iran
Operations. *The Daily Caller
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=03e-4f7&t=c>
(8/7, Enjeti) reports US Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell “is quietly
convincing German companies to discontinue business with Iran.” Grenell
“has met with several other CEOs of major German companies with planned
business in Iran to deliver a stark message: either do business with Iran
or the US, but not both.” He “has scored a series of victories in recent
days by successfully lobbying against a $400 million payment from the
German central bank to the Islamic Republic,” and “was particularly
instrumental in convincing Daimler to cancel its expansion and business
with Iran, having met with the CEO of the company on several occasions, a
US official familiar with the process tells The Daily Caller.”
Bolton: “We Need Performance From North Korea On Denuclearization.”

Under the headline “North Korea Has Not Taken Steps To Denuclearize, John
Bolton Says,” the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=03f-008&t=c>
(8/7, Sonmez) reports that in an appearance on Fox News’ Fox & Friends[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=040-dd5&t=c>
this morning, National Security Adviser Bolton said North Korea “has not
made progress toward denuclearization in a dismal acknowledgment that comes
nearly two months after President Trump held a historic summit with North
Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore.” The Post says the Administration
“has consistently sought to reassure critics that Kim will make good on his
pledges to denuclearize,” but Bolton’s acknowledgment contradicts Trump’s
optimistic take on developments since the summit. Asked on [image: Image
removed by sender. Video]Fox News’ Fox & Friends
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=041-724&t=c>
(8/7) if he had “have anything to announce about a second meeting” between
Trump and Kim, Bolton laughed and said, “No, but, as I have said, Secretary
of State Mike Pompeo is prepared to go back to North Korea to meet with Kim
Jong Un. ... But what we need is not more rhetoric, we need performance
from North Korea on denuclearization.”

Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=042-28e&t=c>
(8/7, Heavey) reports Bolton also “said the relaxation of any sanctions was
not under consideration.” Bolton reiterated
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=043-233&t=c>
(8/7), “What we really need is not more rhetoric. What we need is
performance from North Korea on denuclearization.” The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=044-dcb&t=c>
(8/7, Muñoz) reports that Bolton “explained that Russia’s business in”
North Korea “and even humanitarian aid undermine” the Trump
Administration’s “maximum pressure approach” because Russia’s investment
and aid is “fungible.” Asked about reports suggesting North Korea is
pressing the US to end sanctions against the country, “Bolton doubled down
on that strategy” and “argued that the U.S. lived up to its end of the
Singapore summit.” On Pyongyang’s return of US service members’ remains,
Bolton asserted: “What a nation that is truly committed to turning the page
would do is return the bodies of all the soldiers [of other nations
involved in the war]. There’s no point in holding the remains from a
conflict that long ago.”

While CNN
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=045-d00&t=c>
(8/7, Watkins) reports that Bolton “stressed” in a Tuesday CNN interview
“that Trump had been willing to have a dialogue with North Korea,” CNBC
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=046-4c6&t=c>
(8/7) says the “hawkish advisor” also “vowed that the U.S. would keep up
its ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions campaign against Kim’s regime until North
Korea denuclearizes completely.” Bolton is quoted as saying, “The idea that
we’re going to relax the sanctions just on North Korea’s say-so I think is
something that just isn’t under consideration.” To the Los Angeles Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=047-f03&t=c>
(8/7, Sonmez), Bolton offered a “dismal acknowledgment” that the North
hasn’t made progress toward denuclearization, after the Administration “has
consistently sought to reassure critics that Kim will make good on his
pledges to denuclearize.”

Jennifer Rubin writes in the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=048-5b0&t=c>’s
(8/7, Rubin) “Right Turn” blog that “Bolton, who to his credit tried to
prevent the disastrous one-on-one meeting between Kim and Trump,
inadvertently (or not) let on that North Korea hasn’t done much of
anything.” Rubin says “we shouldn’t be surprised.” She argues that Trump
“gave away much of that leverage in Singapore by treating the event as a
spectacle, rather than an opportunity to lay the groundwork for a
negotiation to denuclearize North Korea.” She adds that the North’s
“intransigence likely will get worse as Kim finds support in China, Russia
and perhaps elsewhere.”

*North Korea Reportedly Dismantling Sohae Satellite Launching
Station. *The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=049-d07&t=c>
(8/7, Sands) reports that according to the website 38 North, North Korea
has “taken more steps to dismantle a key launch facility” at the Sohae
Satellite Launching Station in what is seen as “evidence Pyongyang is
moving to fulfill commitments made to President Trump at the June 12 summit
in Singapore.” Analyst Joseph S. Bermudez Jr. is quoted as saying, “the
North Koreans have continued to tear down the steel base structure and
appear to be removing fuel and oxidizer tanks from dismantled bunkers.”
According to 38 North, the dismantling “appears to go beyond” what Kim
pledged at Singapore, though “much of the activity at Sohae is ambiguous
and easily reversible.”

*North Korea Returns South Korean Arrested For Illegal Entry. *The New
York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=04a-646&t=c>
(8/7, Choe) reports on Tuesday, North Korea released a 34-year-old South
Korean man identified as Seo, who had been arrested July 22 in North Korea
and charged with illegal entry. The Times calls it “a rare humanitarian
gesture welcomed by the South Korean government.” Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=04b-771&t=c>
(8/7, Kim) reports South Korea has been seeking “the return of six other
South Koreans believed to have been held for years in North Korea.”
Leaked Russian Document: Putin Lobbied Trump On Arms Control.

Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=04c-717&t=c>
(8/7, Bender) reports Russian President Putin presented President Trump
with a “series of requests during their private meeting in Helsinki last
month, including new talks on controlling nuclear arms and prohibiting
weapons in space, according to a Russian document” provided to Politico by
a person who “obtained it from Russian officials.” The document offers
“evidence that Putin remains interested in maintaining the two nations’
traditional cooperation on nuclear weapons despite all their other
friction, said one participant in recent unofficial arms control talks in
Moscow.” While the White House “would neither confirm nor deny the
document’s veracity,” NSC spokesman Garrett Marquis says Trump and Putin
“discussed a range of subjects, including our nuclear arsenals, which when
combined account for roughly 90% of all nuclear weapons.” He added that no
commitments were made in the meeting, and neither leader presented the
other with “written proposals.”

*NYTimes: Journalists’ Murder In CAR Highlights Russia’s Africa
Expansion. *A New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=04d-7e6&t=c>
(8/7, Higgins, Nechepurenko) analysis says “several Western experts on
Africa said in interviews that they believed” three Russian journalists
murdered by unknown assailants in “the violent and rebel-plagued Central
African Republic” were “affiliated with the Wagner Group, a private
security company tied to Yevgeny V. Prigozhin.” Prigozhin, a “St.
Petersburg businessman close to” Russian President Vladimir Putin, “was
indicted by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, for interfering in
the 2016 presidential election through his troll factory, the Internet
Research Agency.” The Times says “some experts believe” the Wagner Group is
“a vehicle used by military intelligence for operations that the Russian
state wants to keep at arm’s length but which offer moneymaking
opportunities for insiders connected to the state.” Nonetheless, the
incident has illuminated “Russia’s campaign to return to Africa” and shined
“a spotlight on the role of private military contractors, one of the
murkiest features of Russia’s effort to reclaim its status as a great
power.”

*Saakashvili: Russia’s Moves Against Georgia A Warning For West. *In
a Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=04e-8ed&t=c>
(8/7) op-ed, former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili says Russia in
2008 invaded his nation under the auspices of defending against separatist
militants – but long before its conventional assault, Russia had openly
backed the militants and lodged disinformation and cyberwarfare campaigns
to interfere with Georgia’s internal affairs. In the wake of the invasion,
several Western nations faulted Georgia; however, Saakashvili writes, the
lack of a unified Western response to the crisis reflects how many in the
West underestimate the extent of Moscow’s ambitions.

Meanwhile, Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=04f-3a6&t=c>
(8/7) columnist Robert Kagan says the “five-day Russo-Georgian war” that
erupted a decade ago “was ostensibly fought over disputed territories, but
Putin’s real purpose was geopolitical. Georgia, like other former Soviet
satellites and republics, was seeking to integrate into the West
economically and politically, and to gain Western protection from Moscow.”
The Western response “bordered on indifference,” and so Putin was
ultimately “rewarded” for these actions. Kagan warns that with President
Trump’s “outreach to Putin,” it seems that 10 years after the conflict,
“the real lessons of Russian aggression still escape us.”
Pentagon Investigating Whether US Accidentally Bombed Afghan Forces.

Fox News’ Special Report[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=050-999&t=c>
(8/7) reported the Pentagon is investigating reports that a US airstrike
“may have accidentally killed more than a dozen Afghan security forces
overnight.” A US military spokesman told Fox that a US jet bombed an area
50 miles south of Kabul “where local officials say Afghan forces were
killed.” According to the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=051-f0b&t=c>
(8/7, Mashal, Mangal), “Hundreds of armed Taliban militants made a run for
the Azra district center in Logar Province, about 50 miles south of Kabul,
late on Monday,” and “American airstrikes had been called in for support,
but that because of a misunderstanding, the planes mistakenly targeted an
Afghan police outpost.” The Times says “the number of casualties...remained
unclear,” as “members of the provincial council said the strike had killed
12 security personnel, a mix of Afghan police officers and pro-government
militia members,” while “a tribal elder from Azra said he counted 19 dead,
among them 17 Afghan police officers and pro-government militia members and
two civilians.”

*ABC News Travels With US Special Forces Battling ISIS In
Afghanistan. *Ian Pannell reported on ABC World News Tonight[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=052-034&t=c>
(8/7, story 4, 2:55, Muir) from Afghanistan, where his team traveled with
“US special forces on the hunt for ISIS.” While the US has air superiority
and is able to strike ISIS positions and tunnels, Pannell said “the truth
is they still have to put troops on the ground to take the fight to the
militants.” ABC then showed Pannell and his team accompanying Army Green
Berets as they went door-to-door, “checking for ISIS fighters and hidden
bombs.”

*Afghan Government Fails To Bring Justice For Rape Victim. *The New
York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=053-435&t=c>
(8/7, Mashal) reports Ahmad Ishchi “went on national television” in 2016 to
accuse Afghan “Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, the vice president of a government
bankrolled by the United States, of abducting him, punching and kicking him
until a pool of blood formed under his feet.” He also accused Dostum of
attempted rape. “President Ashraf Ghani promised justice, telling Western
diplomats he would not tolerate this on his watch,” but Dostum ultimately
“returned from exile” – not “to submit to a court appearance, but to revel
in a red-carpet reception.” Last week, the Special Inspector General for
Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) released a “scathing review” of Ghani’s
efforts and said the US views Afghanistan as “consistent with a largely
lawless, weak, and dysfunctional government.” Interviews with officials and
court documents also “suggest that a genuine effort was made by lower level
officials to bring General Dostum to justice, but that it was scuttled by
lack of political will at the top.”
Syrian Press Blames Mossad For Assassination Of Syrian Rocket Scientist.

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=054-4f3&t=c>
(8/7, Sly) reports that the Syrian government is “accus[ing] Israel of
assassinating a top Syrian rocket scientist over the weekend.” Aziz Asbar,”
a research director at Syria’s Scientific Studies and Research Center, was
killed on Saturday by an explosive device targeting his car in the town of
Masyaf in Syria’s Hama province.” The Post reports that the Israeli air
force is “suspected to have targeted” the research center “on at least two
occasions over the past year, in September and July.” According to the
Post, “Syrian press reports blamed Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency for
the killing and said Asbar had survived two previous assassination
attempts, also by Israeli agents.”

*Israeli Defense Minster Says Syria’s Ground Forces Will Surpass
Their Pre-Civil War Size. *Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=055-bd2&t=c>
(8/7) reports Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman claimed today that
the Syrian government is “building up its ground forces beyond their
pre-civil war size, an assessment that suggests President Bashar al-Assad’s
army has recovered from a critical manpower shortage earlier in the war.”
Speaking in the Golan Heights, near Israel’s border with Syria, Lieberman
said, “Across the way we see the Syrian military, which is not satisfied
with just taking over all of Syrian territory but is expressly building a
broad-based, new ground army that will return to its previous proportions
and beyond.”
US, Turkish Officials To Discuss Detention Of American Pastor.

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=056-0ba&t=c>
(8/7, Deyoung) reports senior US and Turkish officials are scheduled to
“meet in Washington on Wednesday to try to resolve a dispute over Turkey’s
ongoing detention of a US pastor, an issue that has become the primary
irritant in increasingly tense relations between the two.” The pastor,
Andrew Brunson, “is under house arrest near the city of Izmir after
spending nearly two years in a Turkish prison under what the Trump
administration has said are bogus allegations of aiding terrorists.” The
prospect “of a possible deal, possibly including an exchange of Brunson for
a convicted Turkish national in the United States, are apparent to both
sides, and both have expressed some optimism.” Yet, the Post says, “mutual
suspicion and allegations of bad faith remain between the NATO allies over
a variety of issues, including the Turkish purchase of F-35 jets, as well
as Syria, said officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity about the
sensitive Brunson case.”

Meanwhile, Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=057-91f&t=c>
(8/7, Toksabay) reports, Defense Secretary Mattis and Turkish Defense
Minister Hulusi spoke by phone Tuesday to “discuss bilateral defense deals,
Syria and counterterrorism, Turkish broadcasters and the state news agency
said, without citing their source.”

*Even As Economic Crisis Worsens, Turks Back Erdogan In Condemning
US. *The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=058-11a&t=c>
(8/7, Gall) reports that after the Trump Administration “imposed financial
sanctions against two ministers of [President] Erdogan’s cabinet, sending
the Turkish lira plummeting and a stream of nationalist invective pouring
forth from the Turkish media,” all “across the spectrum, Turkish
politicians, despite their deep divisions, took a united front against the
United States.” According to the Times, “Most of the opposition parties in
the Parliament condemned the United States sanctions in a joint statement,
and the Chambers of Commerce and Industry and other business organizations
denounced the sanctions by the United States.” However, Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=059-97b&t=c>
(8/7, Courcoulas, Ant, Ozsoy) reports that “desperate measures are in the
air in Turkey: trading rooms are awash with talk of a bailout by the
International Monetary Fund and potential capital controls.” According to
Bloomberg, Turkey’s central bank and Erdogan government “have remained
largely silent as the currency plummeted to record lows and the US imposed
sanctions and threatened more.” Bloomberg says the Turkish lira “is
buckling under the weight of one of the widest current-account deficits in
emerging markets and inflation is spiraling ever higher.”

*Amid US-Turkey Spat, Armenian PM Seeks Meeting With Trump.
*The Washington
Free Beacon
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=05a-476&t=c>
(8/7, Kredo) reports Armenia’s “newly installed” Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinyan “is amping up efforts to get a face-to-face meeting with
President Donald Trump, an effort that recently received a boost in
Congress, when nearly 50 members formally petitioned the White House to
organize a meeting with the Armenia leader.” Pashinyan’s request for “a
one-on-one with Trump to help bolster ties between the United States and
Armenia” comes amid escalating tensions “between the United States and
Turkey, which was recently hit with sanctions for its continued detainment”
of Brunson. As such, supporters of Pashinyan’s calls for a meeting with
Trump “see an opportunity to bolster ties between the United States and
Armenia as diplomatic tensions escalate with Turkey, which has
traditionally had chilly relations with Armenia.”
Administration Moving Ahead With New Tariffs On Additional $16B In Chinese
Imports.

The Administration’s announcement Tuesday that it is moving ahead with
plans to impose 25 percent tariffs on an additional $16 billion in Chinese
imports is receiving light media coverage. Reports cast the move as being
made despite complaints from American companies that it would raise
operating costs. None of the networks covered the move last night, but Fox
News’ Special Report[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=05b-2e1&t=c>
(8/7) reported the Administration says it will go ahead with tariffs on $16
billion in Chinese imports of industrial products. Customs officials will
begin collecting tax on such products August 23. The “new taxes are in
addition to 25% tariffs that took effect July 6 on Chinese products. China
has responded with the retaliatory tariffs of its own.” Breitbart
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=05c-585&t=c>
(8/7, Moons) reports that Trump told reporters, “As you know we have 200
billion in abeyance and then after the 200 billion we have 300 billion in
abeyance.”

USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=05d-744&t=c>
(8/7, Collins) says the move “further escalat[es] a trade war with
Beijing,” and to the AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=05e-c9c&t=c>
(8/8, Wiseman), the announcement “was not a surprise. In April, the
administration had announced plans to slap tariffs on 1,333 Chinese product
lines worth $50 billion a year. After receiving public feedback, it cut 515
products from the list in June and added 284.” According to Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=05f-771&t=c>
(8/7, Mayeda), the Administration will begin imposing the duties “in two
weeks” on “279 product lines, down from 284 items on the initial list.” It
will mark “the second time the US slaps duties on Chinese goods in about
the past month, despite complaints by American companies that such moves
will raise business costs and eventually consumer prices.”

To Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=060-003&t=c>
(8/7, Lawder), the “action is the latest by...Trump to put pressure on
China to negotiate trade concessions after imposing tariffs on $34 billion
in goods last month.” China, Reuters says, “has vowed to retaliate to an
equal degree.” While USTR “removed a handful of items from its original
list after a 46-day public comment and review period found they would cause
‘severe economic harm,’” the Semiconductor Industry Association “expressed
disappointment at USTR’s decision to keep the sector on the tariff list.”
SIA President John Neuffer said in a statement, “We have made the case to
the administration, in the strongest possible terms, that tariffs imposed
on semiconductors imported from China will hurt America’s chipmakers, not
China’s, and will do nothing to stop China’s problematic and discriminatory
trade practices.”

The Washington Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=061-7ce&t=c>
(8/7, Williams) reports that “large corporations like Caterpillar have
raised costs to mitigate the impact of the new tariffs, while Ford Motor
Co., General Motors and others are warning that profits will be lower in
2018 as a result of the Trump administration’s trade agenda.” Meanwhile,
“several smaller manufacturers, who are unable to pass the cost of the
tariffs along to customers, are laying off workers and cutting production
as a result of the trade skirmishes with China, the European Union, Mexico
and others.” The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=062-594&t=c>
(8/7, Simon) reports that smaller US businesses and startups are being hit
particularly bad, and USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=063-9dd&t=c>
(8/7, Hayes) says a “South Carolina television-making company says it might
be forced to shut down a plant and lay off its employees because of the
ongoing trade war between the US and China.” The Element Electronics plant
in Winnsboro, “one of the biggest employers in Fairfield County, said
unless its parts are removed from the tariff list, it will be forced to
close down and layoff 126 people.”

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=064-24d&t=c>
(8/7, Liedtke, Gill), meanwhile, warns that the “prices of headphones,
speakers, high-tech lighting and internet service could all go up if the US
trade war with China continues.” However, it “remains unclear how much
prices might rise, partly because the next round of tariffs won’t be
imposed until the fall.” The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=065-ddd&t=c>
(8/7, Elis) reports China “has already slapped back at the US with its own
tariffs,” and “is expected to respond in kind to the latest round of
tariffs.” According to The Hill, China’s “responses are already having an
effect, particularly in the agricultural sector.” Congressional
Republicans, meanwhile, “worry that the escalating trade war will take the
winds out of their sails as they seek to campaign on a strong economy and
their tax cut law ahead of November’s elections.”

CNBC
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=066-8cc&t=c>
(8/7) reports that China’s state media “continued its aggressive rhetoric”
against the Administration, “accusing Washington of being ‘double-faced’
amid an ongoing trade dispute.” The People’s Daily newspaper wrote in an
editorial, “Pointing China with (sic) gun and artillery and then asking for
a talk, the US showed zero sincerity.”

*White House Officials Met With Tech Groups To Reassure Them About
China Policy. *David McCabe of Axios
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=067-ef3&t=c>
(8/7, McCabe) reports that “White House officials sought to reassure tech
industry representatives at a private meeting last week that the Trump
administration’s pugnacious trade policies will ultimately aid their
businesses.” Citing “multiple sources,” McCabe says the White House
officials “argued that tariffs will help the administration push China to
change course on issues that matter to tech, including the forced transfer
of American intellectual property into Chinese hands.” One source is quoted
as saying, “the administration did its best to suggest there is a coherent
strategy behind all this churn.” According to McCabe, “The White House
meeting was attended by staffers for trade groups representing the tech and
telecom industries, as well as representatives of some individual
companies.”

*Bloomberg News: While US Stocks Continue To Post Gains, Trump’s
Trade War Is Weakening Xi. *Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=068-c94&t=c>
(8/7, Kawa) reports US stock indices are continuing to post gains.
Bloomberg says “it turns out that a trade war isn’t enough to tarnish
President Trump’s favored report card: the American stock market.”
Bloomberg notes that the S&P 500 “logged back-to-back gains the past two
sessions that pushed the benchmark close to its January record, despite
China’s unveiling of tariff plans on Friday,” and “was less than half a
percent from the all-time high on Tuesday.” Bloomberg adds, “With the S&P
500 climbing by some $1.3 trillion since Trump unofficially kicked off the
trade war by announcing aluminum and steel tariffs on March 1, he has all
the more reason to escalate the trade battle between the world’s two
largest economies.”

A second Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=069-b40&t=c>
(8/7, Martin, Crawford) report says that only a short while ago, Chinese
President Xi Jinping “seemed unstoppable,” but now Xi “looks like he may
have overreached. An economic slowdown, a tanking stock market, and an
infant-vaccine scandal are all feeding domestic discontent, while abroad,
in Western capitals and financial centers, there’s a growing wariness of
Chinese ambitions.” Bloomberg adds, “And then there is the escalating trade
war with the US. China initially refused to believe it would happen, but in
the past few weeks it’s become the prism through which Xi’s perceived
failings are best projected.” According to Bloomberg, its “slowing economy
makes China more vulnerable to damage from a trade war, which economists
predict could cut as much as half a percentage point from growth.”

*Senators Urge Administration To Counter “Predatory” Chinese
Lending To Poor Countries. *The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=06a-daf&t=c>
(8/7, Boylan) reports that a group of 16 bipartisan senators wrote a letter
to the Administration “about their alarm that Pakistan could soon request
an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout loan to repay China for a
series of ‘predatory Chinese infrastructure financing’ projects.” In the
letter to Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and Secretary of State Pompeo, the
senators asked how the Administration “plans to address the dangers of
China’s so-called Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which they argue seeks to
leverage lending into strategic military footholds across Asia.” Wrote the
senators, “As financially strapped countries negotiate with China to free
themselves of mounting debt, Beijing has extracted onerous concessions,
including equity in strategically important assets. Further, Beijing has
repeatedly used economic pressure to affect foreign policy decisions.”

*Chinese Intellectual Warned Beijing It Was Being Too Complacent
Over Trump. *The South China Morning Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=06b-9c1&t=c>
(8/7, Leng) reports that a “contrarian Chinese research report published
two years ago that challenged the consensus that Donald Trump’s rhetorical
threats could be safely ignored has left the unknown professor who wrote it
basking in the spotlight.” One week after the election in November 2016,
economics professor Yang Qijing “wrote that some in China mistakenly
considered [Trump’s] victory a strategic opportunity that would support
China’s rise.” Instead, that assessment was very likely to be “an
over-optimistic and very dangerous strategic misjudgment,” Yang wrote,
“warning that China needed to study immediate countermeasures to the
policies Trump would pursue.”

*State-Run Chinese Outlet: Apple May Be Made To Suffer If Trade War
Is Prolonged. *CNBC
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=06c-d13&t=c>
(8/7) reports that China’s People’s Daily warned in an article published
Tuesday that Apple “has benefited from cheap labor and a strong supply
chain in China and needs to share more of its profit with the Chinese
people or face ‘anger and nationalist sentiment’ amid the ongoing trade
war.” CNBC “highlights how Apple made $9.6 billion in revenues in China in
the June quarter,” and says “the continuing trade war between the US and
China could leave Apple and other US firms vulnerable as ‘bargaining chips’
for Beijing.” The People’s Daily said “China doesn’t want to close its
doors to Apple despite the trade conflict, but if the US company wants to
earn good money in China, its needs to share its development dividends with
the Chinese people.”

*People’s Daily Praises Google For Submitting To Government’s
Censorship Demands. *The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=06d-c8d&t=c>
(8/7, Shaban) reports, “In an opinion piece and on social media posts on
Monday, Chinese state media welcomed Google back to the country, as long as
it follows the law.” The Post adds that “the commentary by People’s Daily,
the main newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, follows reports that the
search giant is developing a censored version of its app that would earn
the blessing of the Chinese government.” The Post notes that The Intercept
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=06e-7ae&t=c>
“first reported that Google planned to develop a China-compliant search
engine that would blacklist websites and search terms tied to human rights,
peaceful protest and democracy.”

*Beijing Demands Christians Infuse Faith With “Chinese
Characteristics.” *The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=06f-87b&t=c>
(8/7, Wang) reports that “without warning,” residents of China’s “Christian
heartland province of Henan ha[ve] found themselves on the front lines of
an ambitious new effort by the officially atheist ruling Communist Party to
dictate – and in some cases displace – the practice of faith in the
country.” Under President Xi Jinping, Christians “are seeing their freedoms
shrink dramatically even as the country undergoes a religious revival.”
According to the AP, the crackdown “is part of a broader push by Xi to
‘Sinicize’ all the nation’s religions by infusing them with ‘Chinese
characteristics’ such as loyalty to the Communist Party.”

*Chrysler CEO Expected To Push Trump To Rethink Auto Tariffs.
*Bloomberg
News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=070-d09&t=c>
(8/7, Coppola) reports Fiat Chrysler “has won tweets of praise from
President Trump for its decision to shift pickup production from Mexico to
Michigan,” but “now new [CEO] Mike Manley must try to parlay that goodwill
into a change in the president’s trade policy.” Along with other CEOs,
Manley was to meet with Trump in New Jersey on Tuesday evening. According
to Bloomberg, “Automakers have been loudly and publicly lobbying against
the Trump administration’s consideration of a tariff on imported cars,
warning it would trigger retaliation from other countries, depress sales,
and force them to lay off workers.” Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=071-76e&t=c>
(8/7) reports that along with Manley, “expected attendees include the heads
of...Boeing Co, FedEx Corp, and Honeywell International Inc.,” while Bloomberg
News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=072-b5f&t=c>
(8/7, Talev) says Trump “will be joined by aides including his daughter
Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner; Larry Kudlow, his top economic
adviser; and deputy chief of staff for policy coordination Chris Liddell.”

Breitbart
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080801biden&r=email-e238&l=073-5af&t=c>
(8/7, Spiering) reports that during Tuesday night’s dinner, Trump
“boast[ed] of all the great economic news for the country.” Trump
reportedly told the gathering, “We’re taking our economy to incredible new
heights.” China, he added, has “not treated us fairly for many decades,”
placing “the blame squarely on past presidents,” and “predicting success at
the bargaining table.”

*NYTimes: Metal Tariffs Could Increase Costs For Construction
Industr