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Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing


*From:* Bulletin Intelligence <Biden@BulletinIntelligence.com>
*Sent:* Monday, July 9, 2018 7:53 AM
*To:* Biden@BulletinIntelligence.com
*Subject:* Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing for Monday,
July 9, 2018


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<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=000-ee0&t=c>
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[image: Image removed by sender. Office of Vice President Biden
Intelligence Briefing]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=001-c8b&t=c>

*To: Vice President Joe Biden*

*Monday, July 9, 2018 8:00 AM EDT*
Today's Table of Contents

*Biden in the News <#SECTION_1>*

• Mark Penn: Biden Is 2020 Democratic Primary Frontrunner. <#S1>

• WPost’s “The Fix” Ranks Biden Fourth Among Field Of Potential 2020
Democrats. <#S2>

• Biden Endorses Jealous’ Bid To Oust Maryland Gov. Hogan. <#S3>

• AJC Columnist Contrasts Biden’s Thurmond Eulogy With Today’s Political
Fighting. <#S4>

• Bidens Make Surprise Appearance At Kotb Book-Signing Event In Rehoboth
Beach. <#S5>

*Leading the News <#SECTION_2>*

• Trump Set To Announce “Exceptional” Supreme Court Nominee Tonight. <#S6>

*Foreign Policy <#SECTION_3>*

• Pompeo Sees “Difficult” Road Ahead, But Confident About North Korea Talks.
<#S7>

• Israel Presents US With “Red Lines” For Saudi Nuclear Deal. <#S8>

• Obama Team Shuttered Plan Targeting Taliban Drug Trade. <#S9>

• Turkey Fires Over 18,000 Civil Servants For Alleged Terror Links. <#S10>

• Hutchinson: Trump’s Pressure On NATO To Boost Defense Spending Paying Off.
<#S11>

• US Opposes Breast-Feeding Resolution At World Health Assembly. <#S12>

• AP: Trump Gambling Economy Can Sustain Effect Of His Tariffs. <#S13>

*Domestic Policy <#SECTION_4>*

• Giuliani: Cohen Should Cooperate With Mueller, Which “Will Lead To
Nothing.” <#S14>

• Democrats Balk At Administration Push For ICE Funding Increase. <#S15>

• Brady: Phase 2 Is About Making Business, Middle Class Tax Cuts Permanent.
<#S16>

• CMS Stops Payments To Insurers Covering Sicker Patients. <#S17>

• Agencies To Begin Implementing Trump Orders On Employee Unions Today.
<#S18>

• House Returns Amid Uncertainty About Both Parties’ Leadership. <#S19>

• Gallup: Candidates’ Views On NRA, Gun Control Has Become Litmus Test.
<#S20>

*Cancer Research <#SECTION_5>*

• Global Market For Biosimilars Expected To Increase Greatly Over Next Few
Years. <#S21>

• People Diagnosed With Cancer May Be More Likely To Develop Diabetes.
<#S22>

*Editorials/Op-Eds <#SECTION_6>*

• New York Times. <#S23>

• Washington Post. <#S24>
Biden in the News
Mark Penn: Biden Is 2020 Democratic Primary Frontrunner.

Commenting on the field of potential 2020 Democratic presidential
candidates, former Hillary Clinton strategist Mark Penn said on Fox News’
Fox and Friends Sunday[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=002-45f&t=c>
(7/8) that former Vice President Joe Biden “has been rising. He’s well over
30% in the Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll that we did last month. He rose again,
I think, into the mid-thirties. He is a frontrunner. He is dismissed as too
old, but he has just done a massive book tour. He is vibrant, he’s been a
VP. There is a frontrunner – he is it. He’s not in the forties like big
front-runners, but he is now head of the pack. And he’s the kind of person
Democrats are really looking for. When you get rid of all the fluff and the
excitement and all the people playing to the left, he actually is much more
in line with what Democratic primary voters are really looking for.”
WPost’s “The Fix” Ranks Biden Fourth Among Field Of Potential 2020
Democrats.

On the website of the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=003-6d5&t=c>
(7/6), Aaron Blake offered an updated list of rankings of “The Fix” blog’s
“top 15 contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.”
Topping the list was Sen. Bernie Sanders, followed by Sen. Elizabeth
Warren, Sen. Kamala Harris, ex-Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Cory Booker,
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, ex-Gov. Deval Patrick, ex-Gov. Terry McAuliffe,
ex-US Attorney General Eric Holder, and ex-New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg
rounding out the top 10. Of Biden, Blake wrote, “Polling this far out
should be taken with a huge grain of salt if not outright ignored. But I
suppose it’s worth something that Biden had the most people say they were
open to voting for him in a new Vox Populi poll. That’s partially because
of name ID, sure, but he was better off than Sen. Bernie Sanders and even
others who were as well-known as he is.”
Biden Endorses Jealous’ Bid To Oust Maryland Gov. Hogan.

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=004-f66&t=c>
(7/6, Chason) reported former Vice President Joe Biden on Friday endorsed
ex-NAACP chief Ben Jealous’ 2018 bid to oust Gov. Larry Hogan (R), citing
the Democratic challenger’s “ability how ‘to build an inclusive economy
that works for everyone.’” Jealous defeated “establishment favorite Rushern
L. Baker III in the primary last week. Biden urged Democrats at an event”
last weekend “to unite behind Jealous and end party infighting.” In a
broadcast, WBFF-TV[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=005-039&t=c>
Baltimore (7/6) reported that Biden called Jealous “a civil rights leader,
community organizer, and businessman with a proven track record.” In a
broadcast, WRDE-TV[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=006-a59&t=c>
Salisbury, MD (7/6) quoted Biden as saying in a statement that “Jealous has
a proven track record of achievement when it comes to making sure
government is on the side of working families.” In an online article, WJZ-TV
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=007-1e7&t=c>
Baltimore (7/6) briefly reported on Biden’s endorsement of Jealous.
AJC Columnist Contrasts Biden’s Thurmond Eulogy With Today’s Political
Fighting.

In his Atlanta Journal-Constitution
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=008-640&t=c>
(7/7) column, Leroy Chapman recounted then-Sen. Joe Biden’s 2003 eulogizing
of ex-Sen. Strom Thurmond, “the reformed segregationist.” Chapman said that
Biden “touched on everything he thought to be good and virtuous about
Thurmond without shying away from” some of the controversial aspects of his
political record, such as “his infamous and shameful filibuster of the
Civil Rights Act and his fingerprints on toxic Southern Strategy politics.”
Chapman said Biden’s eulogy “was a lesson in how our common humanity binds
‘we the people,’” and it stands in contrast to politics of today, when
“Democrats and Republicans are far more likely to see themselves as sworn
enemies, instead of fellow citizens who see the world differently.”
Bidens Make Surprise Appearance At Kotb Book-Signing Event In Rehoboth
Beach.

In the “Reliable Source” blog on the website of the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=009-258&t=c>
(7/8), Emily Heil reported that “former vice president Joe Biden and his
wife, Jill, [surprised] Hoda Kotb at her Saturday book signing at
Browseabout Books in Rehoboth Beach. ... The casually dressed Bidens (she
accessorized her look with a bike helmet tucked under her arm), who own a
vacation home in the beach town, were definitely unexpected attendees at
the NBC ‘Today’ show co-anchor’s event for her kids’ book, ‘I’ve Loved You
Since Forever.’ Kotb had a coulda-knocked-me-over-with-a-feather look when
she spotted the couple, who presented her with a bouquet of garden
hydrangeas – and a few hugs.” On its website, TODAY
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=00a-1c9&t=c>
(7/8, Koenig) reported that Kotb “was shocked when she got a special visit
from” the Bidens, who came “with a bouquet of beautiful hydrangeas in tow.”
In a brief broadcast, WBOC-TV[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=00b-4a6&t=c>
Salisbury, MD (7/7) featured photos of Kotb and the Bidens at Saturday’s
book-signing event. In a broadcast, WRDE-TV[image: Image removed by sender.
Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=00c-327&t=c>
Salisbury, MD (7/7) also mentioned the Bidens’ appearance at the event, and
WRDE-TV
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=00d-4a8&t=c>
Salisbury, MD (7/7, Metzner) reports about it on its website.
Leading the News
Trump Set To Announce “Exceptional” Supreme Court Nominee Tonight.

According to media reports, President Trump on Sunday was still
deliberating his selection of a Supreme Court nominee ahead of tonight’s
expected announcement, but as the CBS Evening News[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=00e-e08&t=c>
(7/8, story 4, 0:10, Quijano) reported, Trump “will be introducing his
Supreme Court nominee Monday evening.” Trump tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=00f-205&t=c>
Sunday afternoon from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, “Looking
forward to announcing my final decision on the United States Supreme Court
Justice at 9:00pmE tomorrow night at the @WhiteHouse. An exceptional person
will be chosen!” NBC Nightly News[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=010-75d&t=c>
(7/8, story 3, 3:50, Snow) showed Trump saying, “Let’s say it is the four
people, but they are excellent. You can’t go wrong. I’m getting very close
to making a final decision,” and the Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=011-42f&t=c>
(7/8, Nicholas, Radnofsky) reports he added, “I’ll be deciding tonight or
tomorrow sometime by 12 o’clock.”

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=012-e5c&t=c>
(7/8, Lucey, Miller) reports that despite several ongoing controversies — a
“family separation crisis of his own making” at the border; the resignation
of EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt; and his upcoming summit with Russian
President Vladimir Putin — Trump “has every confidence that on Monday
night, the nation’s attention will be right where he wants it.” After “more
than a week of pitched speculation, Trump will go on prime-time television
to reveal his choice,” taking “center stage in a massive show.”

As Trump mulled his options, media outlets continued their
speculation about the top contenders. ABC World News Tonight[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=013-e28&t=c>
(7/8, story 4, 2:30, Llamas) said Trump told reporters on Sunday “his
shortlist...remains at four,” which the Washington Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=014-620&t=c>
(7/8, Quinn) identifies as federal appeals judges Brett Kavanaugh, Raymond
Kethledge, Amy Coney Barrett and Thomas Hardiman. The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=015-4f8&t=c>
(7/8, Lucey) also identifies the “top contenders” as Kavanaugh, Kethledge,
Barrett and Hardiman. Over the weekend, however, Trump reportedly expressed
“renewed interest in Hardiman — the runner-up” when Trump nominated Justice
Neil Gorsuch.

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=016-8cb&t=c>
(7/8, A1, Costa, Weigel, Barnes) reports Trump spent the weekend “weighing
the strengths and weakness of four leading candidates” and “mulling the
likely response of key senators and his core supporters to each prospect,
according to White House officials and Trump advisers involved in the
discussions.” While Hardiman “received a wave of new attention in the
weekend discussions,” White House officials “cautioned Sunday that Trump’s
informal conversations with golf partners and friends did not necessarily
hint at whom he would ultimately select.” The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=017-e75&t=c>
(7/8, Haberman, Schmidt, Liptak) too says Trump is “expressing fresh
interest in...Hardiman,” but sources close to the process “all cautioned
that Mr. Trump could go a different way before he reveals his choice.”
Trump “has said positive things” about Barrett, and “has not ruled
out...Kavanaugh,” but sources “said he found Judge Hardiman’s personal
story to be compelling.” Hardiman, the Times notes, “was the first member
of his family to graduate from college, and he helped pay for his education
by driving a taxi.”

According to USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=018-1ab&t=c>
(7/8, Bohan), Trump adviser Leonard Leo “singled out” two candidates –
Kavanaugh and Barrett – “for praise Sunday...in an indication they remain
prominent in the search.” Said Leo, “Certainly, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy
Barrett have a lot of name recognition among supporters of the president,
and I think that ultimately when people like them are nominated you’ll see
a lot of folks line up.” Leo said Hardiman and Kethledge are “a little bit
less known by conservatives. And their records are a little bit lighter,”
which USA Today says “might mean it could take more time to generate the
same level of conservative enthusiasm behind them.” Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=019-bc4&t=c>
(7/8, Schectman) quotes Leo as telling ABC’s This Week[image: Image removed
by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=01a-45d&t=c>,
“I think in regards to Kethledge and Tom Hardiman they are a little less
known by conservatives and their records are a little bit lighter so it
might take some time. It’s important to have people who are extremely well
known and have distinguished records.”

The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=01b-b46&t=c>
(7/8, Samuels) reports Leo also said he believes Trump’s nominee will be
confirmed before the November midterm elections, but the New York Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=01c-3c3&t=c>
(7/8, Moore) reports he “sidestepped a question about whether the candidate
would oppose Roe v. Wade.” Leo told ABC he is “very confident with this
president’s enthusiasm and with [Senate Majority] Leader McConnell’s
enthusiasm that they can get anybody confirmed.” Asked about Democrats’
fear that the candidate selected will be opposed to Roe, Leo “brushed it
off” saying, “We’ve been talking about this for 36 years, going all the way
back to the nomination of Sandra O’Connor. So I think it’s a bit of a scare
tactic and rank speculation more than anything else.”

Elsewhere on the Sunday morning shows, The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=01d-eea&t=c>
(7/8, Samuels) reports Republicans “expressed optimism” that the Senate
will confirm any of Trump’s nominees for the Supreme Court, “while
Democrats sharpened their arguments in response to reports that the
president has zeroed in on a few potential nominees.” Republicans commended
each of the “four frontrunners” — Barrett, Hardiman, Kavanaugh and
Kethledge — “lauding the potential nominees’ qualifications and expressing
confidence that Trump’s pick could secure the Senate’s confirmation before
the November midterms.” Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=01e-31e&t=c>
(7/8, Nelson) reports Sen. Lindsey Graham said on Fox News Sunday[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=01f-8fa&t=c>,
“Republicans are holding four lottery tickets, and all of them are winners.
If you’re a conservative Republican, the four people named — particularly
Thomas Hardiman, I’m glad he’s on the list — are all winners, and every
Republican should embrace these picks.” NBC Nightly News[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=020-773&t=c>
(7/8, story 3, 3:50, Snow), however, said Senate Majority Leader McConnell
“encouraged the President to make a tactical choice, echoed today by Roy
Blunt,” who said, “The President has to think about who is the easiest to
get confirmed.”

The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=021-f21&t=c>
(7/8, Samuels) reports that “while Trump and his allies have downplayed
whether the president is looking for a justice who will overturn Roe v.
Wade,” Democrats “argued the point is moot because the judge will come from
a list prepared by the Federalist Society and...the Heritage Foundation.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal said on ABC’s This Week, “I’ve never seen a
president of the United States in effect make himself a puppet of outside
groups and choose from a group of right wing fringe ideologues that are
prepared on this list.” Sen. Chris Coons, a members of the Senate Judiciary
Committee, told CBS’ Face the Nation[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=022-430&t=c>
that he intends to meet with Trump’s eventual nominee ahead of any
confirmation vote, but acknowledged that the individual will come from a
list “prepared for him by two right-wing activist groups.”

ABC World News Tonight[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=023-2c4&t=c>
(7/8, story 4, 2:30, Llamas) reported Sen. Richard Blumenthal said Sunday,
“We’re in an extraordinary time. This next nominee will be the swing vote
to overturn Roe v. Wade.” Blumenthal, the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=024-deb&t=c>
(7/8, Weigel) reports, also noted, “The vast majority of American people,
shown by poll after poll, want Roe v. Wade to be preserved.” Asked on Fox
News MediaBuzz[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=025-b4f&t=c>
(7/8) if liberal commentators are being alarmist in assuming that Trump’s
Supreme Court choice will mean Roe v. Wade will be tossed out, Fox News
contributor Mo Elleithee said, “It’s a legitimate question. First of all,
it’s one that the President brought up himself back during the campaign
when said that anyone he appointed would be someone who would be opposed to
Roe v. Wade. So, he opened the door to this entire line of conversation
himself during the campaign.”

Matt Vespa writes for Townhall
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=026-c13&t=c>
(7/8, Meads) that “in the Senate, it’s quite possible that we end up with a
50-50 split. And Sens. Murkowski (R) and Susan Collins (R) could defect,
derailing Trump’s nominee. Again, let’s see what happens after Monday.
Maybe one or two red state Democrats will defect as well. We’ll see.”

*Durbin To Democrats: Defeating Nominee More Important Than Winning
Reelection. *The Washington Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=027-bd0&t=c>
(7/8, Chaitin) reports Sen. Dick Durbin “said his vulnerable colleagues
from red states ‘understand’ that fighting to stop President Trump’s
Supreme Court pick is more important than getting re-elected in 2018.” On NBC’s
Meet the Press[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=028-afd&t=c>,
Durbin said, “It is a dilemma in one respect, but not in another. I will
tell you, the men and women that I work with on the Democratic side really
take this seriously. They understand it’s an historic decision. It’s about
more than the next election,” adding that the issue is about setting the
future course for the country.

*White House Team Set To “Hit The Ground Running” After
Announcement. *Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=029-70f&t=c>
(7/8, Cadelago) reports Administration officials “have been preparing for
the president’s Supreme Court pick with an anything-can-happen approach to
the historic task.” With the knowledge that the President “could change his
mind at the last minute — and with the president’s obsession to keep his
final decision tightly held — Trump aides” expect to “immediately hit the
ground running once Trump makes his 9 p.m. announcement on Monday.” In the
first “24 to 36 hours, they’ve mapped out what one aide described as a
‘meticulous approach’ to promote and defend the nominee before opponents
have time to define the person in a negative light.”

*WPost: Decision To Release List Of Candidates Without Precedent. *The
Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=02a-0f0&t=c>
(7/8, A1, Achenbach) reports that “in early 2016, while working as Donald
Trump’s top campaign lawyer, Donald McGahn came up with a novel idea whose
reverberations are still being felt.” McGahn conceived of a list that
“would contain the names of people Trump would consider to replace the late
Justice Antonin Scalia on the US Supreme Court.” By releasing the list
publicly, “Trump could reassure the GOP base. The gambit helped Trump win
the White House.” The Post says that “while other presidents surely made
such lists, the decision to publicize the result has no known precedent.”

The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=02b-9f0&t=c>
(7/7, Richardson) reports Trump adviser Leonard Leo “said the chance to
nominate a second jurist in two years is the president’s prize for making
the Supreme Court a major selling point in the 2016 presidential race.”
Said Leo, “What drives the president in this process is that he made the
Supreme Court a huge issue in the election, more than any other
presidential candidate, he greatly enthused voters over it.”

*WPost: Role Of Catholic Justice In Roe V. Wade Overlooked.
*The Washington
Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=02c-73a&t=c>
(7/8, Rosenwald) notes that while drafting the Roe v. Wade decision,
Justice Harry Blackmun asked fellow Justice William J. Brennan Jr., a
Catholic, to review a section in the opinion. Brennan was the court’s lone
Catholic at the time, and agreed with Blackmun on legalizing abortion. The
Post says the “story of Brennan’s seminal role in legalizing abortion has
been largely overlooked as President Trump considers two Catholic judges,
Brett M. Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, as potential nominees.”

*NYU Students Bash Trump’s Yet-To-Be Announced Pick. *Breitbart
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=02d-2e4&t=c>
(7/8, Rodriguez) reports New York University students “expressed their
dismay over President Trump’s pick to replace Associate Justice Anthony
Kennedy on the Supreme Court — the only problem is, Trump has not announced
his pick yet.”

*Michelle Wolf: “God Bless Abortions And God Bless America.”
*The Washington
Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=02e-ba9&t=c>
(7/8, Chaitin) reports comedian Michelle Wolf “saluted abortions” on her
weekly Netflix show, declaring at the end of a sketch, “God bless abortions
and God bless America,” while “donning the colors of the American flag and
tossing confetti.”
Foreign Policy
Pompeo Sees “Difficult” Road Ahead, But Confident About North Korea Talks.

Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=02f-5cd&t=c>
(7/8, Brunnstrom) reports Secretary of State Pompeo on Sunday “brushed off
North Korean charges that he used ‘gangster-like’ diplomacy in negotiations
in Pyongyang,” saying he would continue to pursue denuclearization talks
with North Korea. After meeting his Japanese and South Korean counterparts
in Tokyo, Pompeo said “he was confident North Korean leader Kim Jong Un
would stick to a commitment to abandon nuclear weapons.” Said Pompeo, “When
we spoke to them about denuclearization, they did not push back. The road
ahead will be difficult and challenging and we know that critics will try
to minimize the work that we’ve achieved.” Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=030-445&t=c>
(7/8, Wadhams) similarly says Pompeo “brushed off a harshly worded North
Korean statement that cast doubt on the outlook for denuclearization talks
between the two countries, insisting that Kim Jong Un hasn’t backed off a
commitment to give up his nuclear weapons.” An Administration official
“said the US believed the North Korean statement was a negotiating tactic,
and that Pompeo wasn’t discouraged.”

Speaking later on Sunday during a visit to Hanoi, the AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=031-fbb&t=c>
(7/8, Lee) reports, Pompeo “appealed for North Korea’s leadership to follow
Vietnam’s path in overcoming past hostilities with the United States.”
Speaking to members of the US-Vietnamese business community, Pompeo said,
“We know it is a real possibility because we see how Vietnam has traveled
this remarkable path. ... It’s yours if you’ll you seize the moment. This
miracle can be yours. It can be your miracle in North Korea as well.” On ABC
World News Tonight[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=032-5f3&t=c>
(7/8, story 5, 1:40, Llamas), Tara Palmeri said Pompeo is “drawing a line
in the sand, telling the North Koreans if they think his demands for
denuclearization are ‘gangster-like,’ he’s got plenty of company.” Pompeo:
“If those requests were gangster-like, the world is a gangster.” Palmeri:
“Pompeo still insists that this weekend’s talks had North Korea reaffirming
its commitment to complete denuclearization. This, despite that staggering
statement released after his departure, calling US talking points
‘cancerous’ and ‘deeply regrettable.’”

A Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=033-59c&t=c>
(7/8, Tweed) analysis says Pompeo “went to Pyongyang to get Kim Jong Un to
give up his nuclear weapons. He left with a harsh reminder that the North
Korean leader expects something in return.” The North Korean statement
issued hours after talks ended Saturday, Bloomberg says, “shows that Kim is
willing to test Trump’s patience and not bargain away his arsenal without
sufficient security guarantees.” The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=034-21e&t=c>
(7/8, Donati, Jeong) reports Joseph Yun, a former US special representative
for North Korea policy at the State Department, said, “The pace of
discussions and negotiations are being dictated by North Korea.”

Sen. Roy Blunt (R) said on NBC’s Meet the Press[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=035-772&t=c>
(7/8, Todd), “This is standard operating procedure for three generations
now of dictators in North Korea and I hope we at the end come to success,
but I think nobody should be surprised by foot-dragging.” He continued,
“Nobody should be surprised by saying one thing and then apparently that’s
not what maybe they meant to say when they said it” as “this has troubled
now four US presidents.”

Sen. Chris Coons (D) told CBS’ Face the Nation[image: Image removed
by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=036-b1e&t=c>
(7/8, Brennan), “We haven’t gotten the sort of detailed strategy or updated
briefing from Secretary Pompeo that I think we need and deserve.” He added,
“My concern... is that the Singapore summit last month was really not much
more than a reality TV handshake summit that didn’t really accomplish much
in terms of getting North Korea to commit to verifiable and irreversible
denuclearization. ... I commend Secretary Pompeo for how hard he’s trying
to make something out of nothing but so far I don’t see that we’ve
accomplished much.”

On CBS’ Face the Nation[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=037-9e7&t=c>
(7/8, Brennan), Sen. Joni Ernst (R) said, “I do think talks are
progressing, so I applaud the Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, for engaging
in these discussions.” She continued, “The ultimate goal is
denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and if these talks will eventually
lead to that, I am very, very supportive of those efforts. Of course, we’re
going to hear hard talk coming from North Korea” and “this is not the path
that they want to take, but it is what the rest of the world wants to see.”

Brit Hume said on Fox News MediaBuzz[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=038-3bf&t=c>
(7/8), “Pompeo indicated basically that this meeting went about as he
expected. Progress was made. Significant issues were discussed. They broke
it down into working groups to cover the multitude of issue that would have
to be negotiated to bring this outcome about . He seems to think everything
is fine. The North Korea officials put out this blustery statement of the
kind that we are accustomed to hearing them through the years. So the
question arises, whom do you believe?”
Israel Presents US With “Red Lines” For Saudi Nuclear Deal.

Barak Ravid of Axios
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=039-5e9&t=c>
(7/8, Ravid) said “Israel has presented the Trump administration with its
‘red lines’ for the nuclear deal the United States is currently negotiating
with Saudi Arabia to build reactors in the kingdom.” Last March, Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “raised concerns about the deal during a
meeting with President Trump and other senior U.S. officials,” who “told
Netanyahu that, if the U.S. does not sell the Saudis nuclear reactors,
other countries like Russia or France will.” A “senior Israeli official”
told Ravid that when Netanyahu’s government realized the deal would proceed
despite its objections, it “decided instead to attempt to reach an
understanding with the Trump administration regarding the parameters of the
deal.”

*Israeli Lawmakers Visit Contested Jerusalem Holy Site. *The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=03a-529&t=c>
(7/8) reports two Israeli lawmakers on Sunday visited “a flashpoint
Jerusalem shrine after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly lifted
a ban on Israeli parliamentarians entering the site.” Agriculture Minister
Uri Ariel and Likud party member Sharren Haskel visited the compound, known
to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.

*Syria Says It Thwarted Israeli Attack On Air Base. *Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=03b-3a2&t=c>
(7/8) reports Syrian air defenses “struck an Israeli warplane and shot down
Israeli missiles targeting the T4 air base in Homs province in response to
an act of ‘aggression’ on Sunday night, Syrian state media said.” An
Israeli military spokeswoman declined to comment on the report, but Reuters
notes Israel’s air force “has struck scores of targets it describes as
Iranian deployments or arms transfers” to Hezbollah.

*Thousands Who Fled Recent Fighting Along Jordanian Border Return
Home. *The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=03c-bdb&t=c>
(7/8, Mroue, Akram) reports that “most Syrians displaced by recent fighting
stranded at the border with Jordan...have returned to their homes, a UN
official...said Sunday.” After Syrian government forces regained control of
areas along the border for the first time in three years, many of the
estimated 330,000 people displaced by the fighting returned home. Anders
Pedersen, the top UN humanitarian coordinator in Jordan, told reporters
Sunday that “just 150 to 200 Syrians remained near a key crossing point
into Jordan,” adding that as “far as we understand they are almost
exclusively men.”
Obama Team Shuttered Plan Targeting Taliban Drug Trade.

According to the Daily Caller
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=03d-f11&t=c>
(7/8, Pickrell), former President Obama’s Administration “reportedly had
the chance to cripple the global heroin trade funding terrorism in war-torn
Afghanistan, but it shelved the plan to advance a broader political
agenda.” The shuttered plan, dubbed Operation Reciprocity, was drafted by
Drug Enforcement Administration and Justice Department legal advisers “to
stop the spread of narcotics around the world, prevent Afghanistan’s
emergence as a narco-state, and sever the critical revenue streams
financing the deadly insurgency American troops are fighting and dying to
end.” The “high-stakes strategy was strangled in its crib by the Obama
administration’s deputy chief of mission in Kabul, Tina Kaidanow, to
protect the administration’s strategic ambitions” in Afghanistan,
“including but not limited to the proposed drawdown of America’s military
presence in the region.”

Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=03e-e23&t=c>
(7/8, Meyer) reports Kaidanow “confirmed that she felt blindsided by such a
politically sensitive and ambitious effort and the traction it had received
at Justice.” If Kaidanow “did issue such an order” to shutter it, “she
said, it was because she – as the administration’s ‘eyes’ in Afghanistan –
had concerns it would undermine the White House’s broader strategy in
Afghanistan, including a drawdown that included the DEA as well as the
military.” Nonetheless, the authors of the plan are “expressing anger over
the decision” to shelve it “and hope that the Trump administration, which
has followed a path similar to” Obama’s “in Afghanistan, will eventually
adopt the plan as part of its evolving strategy.” According to Politico,
however, while President Trump “has sharply criticized Obama’s approach in
Afghanistan, his team is using a similar one, including a troop surge last
year and possibly another, and, recently, a willingness to engage in peace
talks with the Taliban.”

*US, Afghan Forces Clear ISIS From Eastern District. *Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=03f-755&t=c>
(7/8, Mackenzie) reports US and Afghan Special Forces “are completing an
operation to clear Islamic State fighters from a remote district in
Nangarhar, the eastern province where they have their main stronghold in
Afghanistan, officials said.” The operation in Deh Bala, on the border with
Pakistan, “began at the end of April and was largely complete in early June
but final mine clearance operations are still under way, said Lt. Col. Josh
Thiel, from the US First Special Forces Group.”

*US Identifies Soldier Killed In Afghan Insider Attack. *The US
soldier killed Saturday “in an insider attack in Afghanistan” has been
identified as Cpl. Joseph Maciel “of the Army 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st
Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, according to a statement from U.S.
military headquarters in Kabul,” the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=040-f39&t=c>
(7/8, Lamothe) reports. He was deployed in February “to provide training
and advising to Afghan soldiers and police” as “part of the Trump
administration’s strategy for the war, U.S. military officials said.” Two
other American soldiers were wounded in Saturday’s ambush, which the Post
says “will inject new stress on the U.S. military’s plans to place
conventional military advisers from the brigade in closer proximity to
Afghan troops than the Pentagon has in years.” Maciel’s “death marks the
third U.S. combat death in Afghanistan this year” and “the first time a
U.S. service member has been killed in an insider attack since June 2017.”
Turkey Fires Over 18,000 Civil Servants For Alleged Terror Links.

The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=041-8ce&t=c>
(7/8, Gauthier-Villars) reports Turkish authorities on Sunday fired more
than 18,000 state employees for alleged ties to terror groups as President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan is about begin a new term with vastly expanded
executive powers. An emergency decree listed the individuals, saying they
had been “removed from public duty” over their alleged links to
organizations that “act against national security.”
Hutchinson: Trump’s Pressure On NATO To Boost Defense Spending Paying Off.

Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=042-d31&t=c>
(7/8, Nix, Capaccio) reports President Trump’s pressure campaign on NATO
allies to boost spending for their own defense is paying off, NATO
Ambassador Kay Bailey Hutchison said Sunday. Appearing on Fox News
Sunday[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=043-404&t=c>,
Hutchinson said, “NATO really is making progress, and they are doing it
really at President Trump’s insistence. It’s very clear, and he’s been very
direct about the Europeans needing to do more for their own security.”
The Washington
Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=044-077&t=c>
(7/8, Richardson) quotes Hutchison as saying, “Now, I think, for the first
time, we are really seeing the Europeans actually start going in the right
direction. Every ally is now increasing defense spending. We’ve had the
largest increase in defense spending since the Cold War. And in the year
and a half that President Trump has been in office, it has doubled since
2014.”

US Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell said on Fox News’ Sunday
Morning Futures[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=045-b43&t=c>
(7/8, Bartiromo), “This is a very important issue for the readiness of
NATO, for the readiness of Europe, it is a very pro-Europe position to ask
countries in Europe, specifically Germany, to increase their defense
spending. ... This is going to create a stronger transatlantic alliance.”

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg writes in a Wall Street
Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=046-418&t=c>
(7/8) op-ed that the alliance is currently facing a complex security
environment, so it must invest more in its collective defense. He argues
that all member nations understand this and are keeping their pledge to
move toward spending 2% of their respective gross domestic products on
defense within a decade. Stoltenberg credits Trump for his leadership on
this issue. He also urges the alliance to overcome its differences in order
to maintain strength.

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=047-c0d&t=c>
(7/8, Colvin, Lemire) reports Trump departs Tuesday on a four-nation tour
and “in the run-up to his trip...did little to ease European concerns by
delivering fresh broadsides against NATO.” At a rally last week in Montana,
the President said, “I’ll tell NATO: ‘You’ve got to start paying your
bills,” and “then laced into German Chancellor Angela Merkel,” saying, “And
I said, you know, Angela, I can’t guarantee it, but we’re protecting you,
and it means a lot more to you. ... I don’t know how much protection we get
from protecting you.” The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=048-81a&t=c>
(7/8, Birnbaum) reports that “NATO leaders once feared President Trump
wasn’t invoking the right words to convince Russia that the United States
was still serious about defending Europe.” Ahead of this week’s summit,
they’re now “worried about something bigger: a full crackup of the
alliance, or at least such a weakening of Washington’s security commitments
that NATO would emerge deeply damaged.” The Post notes that European
Council President Donald Tusk “warned European leaders last month that
judging by Trump’s language, allies could no longer assume that NATO would
endure.”

The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=049-28b&t=c>
(7/8, Schlesinger, Pancevski) similarly reports on the tensions between the
President and NATO leaders over his demands that nations increase defense
spending, as well as the Administration’s moves to impose tariffs on
Europe. Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=04a-32b&t=c>
(7/8, Nelson) reports Hutchinson, however, insisted that trade tensions
between the US and its allies “have thus far not bled over into military
activities at NATO.” Said the Ambassador, “One thing I will say is that in
all of the disagreements that we have seen at the G7 and with allies with
whom we are now having trade talks and negotiations and tariffs, that has
not come up in the NATO context.”

The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=04b-f10&t=c>
(7/8) editorializes that as NATO allies gather in Brussels this week for
their annual meeting, “many are wondering whether the American president is
intent on wrecking it.” The Times argues that “Trump is burning up all the
credit the United States has accrued with our allies across decades by
attacking the basis of this alliance, if not the very idea of any alliance
— thus, deliberately or not, doing the bidding of Mr. Putin in his quest to
divide the West.” At this week’s summit, the Times says the “result that
matters most is a firm and convincing commitment to a strong NATO,” and
“Trump would do well to make that commitment, and honor the friends we
have.”

*Hutchinson: Russia Poses Threat To NATO. *Asked on the CBS’ Face
the Nation[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=04c-407&t=c>
(7/8, Brennan) how much of a threat Russia was to the NATO alliance, Bailey
Hutchinson said, “We’re seeing Russia with maligned activities on so many
fronts right now, especially the hybrid area where they are, through social
media, sowing discontent and even false information to try to divide our
allies.” She added, “They are also doing things like the terrible attack,
the nerve agent attack in Great Britain; they’re supporting a Syrian
dictator who is using chemical weapons on his own people to kill even
children and it’s just on and on and on.”

*Woman Exposed To Nerve Agent In Southern England Dies. *The Washington
Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=04d-eda&t=c>
(7/8, Booth) reports that a British woman, “who somehow came into contact”
with a Soviet-era nerve agent, died Sunday evening. Prime Minister Theresa
said she was “appalled and shocked by the death,” and “announced that
incident is now being investigated as a murder.” The CBS Weekend News[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=04e-73a&t=c>
(7/8, story 5, 0:25, Quijano) reported that Dawn Sturgess was hospitalized
with her partner last week after being exposed to the nerve agent Novichok.
Her partner, Charlie Rowley, remains in critical condition. NBC
Nightly News[image:
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<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=04f-ec6&t=c>
(7/8, story 4, 0:25, Snow) reported that Novichok is “the same substance
used to poison a former Russian spy and his daughter in March. ... Police
suspect the two were exposed to a contaminated item leftover from the
attack on the Russians.” ABC World News Tonight[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=050-01a&t=c>
(7/8, story 9, 0:20, Llamas) had a similar report, adding that “the British
government blam[es] Russia for that spy attack.”

Citing the two poison attacks in the UK, the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=051-e8e&t=c>
(7/8) editorializes that last month, “a proposal to strengthen procedures
for attribution in chemical weapons attacks — in other words, figuring out
who did it — was approved by the nations that signed the Chemical Weapons
Convention prohibiting the use of chemical weapons. The initiative was
pushed by Britain, backed by the United States and approved by 82 nations,”
but opposed by 24, including Russia and Syria. The Post argues that “if
translated into effective action, this initiative could provide more teeth
to investigations, helping detectives finger the perpetrators.”

*Giuliani Urges London Mayor To Stop Attacking Trump, “Do Your
Job.” *The Washington Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=052-701&t=c>
(7/8, Quinn) reports Giuliani “offered stinging advice” to London Mayor
Sadiq Khan, telling him “do your job” as London’s murder rate surpassed
that of New York City’s. Giuliani told London’s Daily Express
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=053-406&t=c>,
“Sadiq Khan should be ashamed of himself. He’s so busy attacking President
Trump’s visit and, in the meantime, crime is spiraling in London. Maybe he
should just do his job instead of attacking a world leader.”

*Giuliani: Trump “Has To Sit Down With Vladimir Putin.” *The New
York Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=054-8f6&t=c>
(7/8, Schultz) reports that “despite the federal probe into his campaign’s
ties to Russia,” Rudy Giuliani said Sunday that he supports Trump’s
upcoming face-to-face summit with Vladimir Putin. On NBC’s “Meet the
Press,” Giuliani said, “He has to sit down with Vladimir Putin. Vladimir
Putin happens to run one of the most powerful countries on ​Earth.” He
added, “I don’t think he has a choice. I think it’s a sign of how confident
the president is that he did nothing wrong. He’s not going to be stopped by
this.”

*WTimes: Trump’s Relationship With Mattis “Intriguing Subplot” Of
Summit. *The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=055-d80&t=c>
(7/8, Muñoz) reports that Trump’s “ability to get along with America’s top
military allies is the dominant storyline of this week’s NATO summit in
Brussels. But an intriguing subplot is emerging over Mr. Trump’s ability to
get along with his own top military adviser.” The Times says that “despite
repeated Pentagon denials of a rift,” the relationship between Trump and
Defense Secretary Mattis “remains a source of intense speculation in
Washington and in numerous NATO capitals.”

*WPost’s Diehl: Trump Exception To Consensus In Washington On
Crimea. *Jackson Diehl, in his Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=056-6db&t=c>
(7/8, Diehl) column, writes that “inside the US government there is virtual
unanimity on the question of Crimea, the Ukrainian region invaded and
abruptly annexed by Russia in 2014: It was an egregious act of aggression
and, as the first forcible transnational seizure of territory in Europe
since World War II, should never be accepted by the United States. There’s
just one exception to this consensus: President Trump.” Trump, he notes,
“has repeatedly said — most recently, to the other leaders of the Group of
Seven democracies — that Crimea ought to be part of Russia because a
majority of its people are Russian-speaking.”
US Opposes Breast-Feeding Resolution At World Health Assembly.

The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=057-001&t=c>
(7/8, A1, Jacobs) reports that a “resolution to encourage breast-feeding
was expected to be approved quickly and easily by the hundreds of
government delegates who gathered this spring in Geneva for the United
Nations-affiliated World Health Assembly.” Based on “decades of research,
the resolution says that mother’s milk is healthiest for children and
countries should strive to limit the inaccurate or misleading marketing of
breast milk substitutes.” However, the US delegation, “embracing the
interests of infant formula manufacturers,” sought to “water down the
resolution” by removing language that called on governments to “protect,
promote and support breast-feeding.” When that effort failed, “they turned
to threats, according to diplomats and government officials who took part
in the discussions.” The State Department declined to comment.
AP: Trump Gambling Economy Can Sustain Effect Of His Tariffs.

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=058-403&t=c>
(7/8, Boak) reports in an analysis that amid a robust economy, President
Trump “is gambling that he can deploy tariffs to his advantage even though
they will inflict some pain on businesses and consumers that backed him in
2016.” The Trump team appears to have calculated that “foreign countries
have no choice but to trade with the world’s largest economy and will
ultimately have to yield.” While “the economy can absorb the costs of the
new tariffs, including separate steel and aluminum import taxes, without
suffering a crushing hit,” the “pain could intensify” as Trump “has
threatened a 20 percent tariff on roughly $50 billion of auto imports from
the European Union,” which “could lead to reciprocal taxes from other
countries that could hurt U.S. automakers and lead to layoffs.”

*Brady “Worried” Tariffs Will Slow Economy. *House Ways and Means
Committee Chairman Kevin Brady was asked on Fox News The Journal Editorial
Report[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=059-a47&t=c>
(7/8) how worried he is that tariffs will slow the economy’s momentum.
Brady said, “I think I am worried. I think the economic momentum we have
from the tax cuts and from our balanced regulation has really given us
momentum we haven’t had before. The tariffs’ issues aren’t showing yet but
I believe they will. ... I think some good smart adjustments could focus
the trade strategy.”

*Thai Chemical Company Eyeing Appalachia Petrochemical Plant. *The
AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=05a-f04&t=c>
(7/8, Gillispie) reports that a section of Appalachia along the Ohio River,
which lost manufacturing jobs “to overseas competition is looking to Asia
to revive the region’s fortunes with a more pliable product – plastic.” The
Thai chemical company PTT Global Chemical and its new South Korean partner,
Daelim, “are taking halting steps toward building a multibillion-dollar
petrochemical plant in eastern Ohio that would ‘crack’ molecules of ethane,
a byproduct of natural gas drilling, into the raw material used to produce
plastic products.” the project “would create thousands of construction jobs
and hundreds of permanent positions,” and Ohio Gov. John Kasich has said it
would be a “game changer.” However, PTT “has engendered skepticism after
failing to keep promises about when it would announce its intentions.”
Domestic Policy
Giuliani: Cohen Should Cooperate With Mueller, Which “Will Lead To Nothing.”

USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=05b-801&t=c>
(7/8, Korte) reports Rudy Giuliani said Sunday that President Trump has
nothing to fear from his former personal attorney Michael Cohen cooperating
with federal prosecutors. Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Giuliani
said, “If [Cohen] wants to cooperate, I think it’s great. ... Because it’s
going to lead to nothing.” The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=05c-625&t=c>
(7/8, Richardson) reports that Giuliani told ABC’s This Week[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=05d-871&t=c>,
“Michael Cohen should cooperate with the government. ... We have no reason
to believe he did anything wrong.” The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=05e-ff4&t=c>
(7/8) reports that Giuliani said they are not concerned about Cohen “as
long as he tells the truth.” The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=05f-beb&t=c>
(7/8, Samuels) reports that Giuliani “argued that the president is not
involved in any of Cohen’s legal troubles,” telling ABC’s “This Week” that
“every indication we have is the president is not involved in this.”

The Washington Examiner
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(7/8, Quinn) says one of the issues facing Cohen is “a $130,000 payment he
facilitated just before the 2016 election to Stormy Daniels.” Trump
“reimbursed Cohen for the payment last year, his most recent campaign
finance report revealed, though Cohen said Trump didn’t know about the
payment at the time.” According to Giuliani, Trump “did not originally
know” about the payment, but reimbursed Cohen when he found out about it.
The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=061-99a&t=c>
(7/8, Harris) reports that Giuliani also told ABC’s This Week[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=062-ab6&t=c>
that he has counseled the Trump against pardoning Cohen. Said Giuliani, “I
have advised the president, which he understands: no discussion of
pardons.” However, Giuliani “seemed not to rule out that the president
might change his mind.” Giuliani argued that ruling out a pardon “wouldn’t
be fair to – to the president, wouldn’t be fair to Cohen, wouldn’t be fair
to future presidents. But the fact is there’s no reason for a pardon right
now . . . and, quite honestly, it would just confuse everything.”

Stormy Daniels’ attorney, Michael Avenatti, said on MSNBC AM Joy[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=063-e6a&t=c>,
“As I’ve been saying for months, there’s no question Michael Cohen is going
to flip. The only question is when, not if. That’s first of all. Second of
all, as it relates to Donald Trump putting Michael Cohen on an island,
which is effectively what he’s done, I think that was a grave error, a
strategically stupid mistake on Donald Trump’s part. Look, I think what
this boils down to is reality is setting in for Michael Cohen. The reality
that he is in a bad place and about to be in a world of hurt if he doesn’t
do the right thing.”

Meanwhile, the Washington Post
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(7/8, Sellers) reports that Daniels is scheduled to perform her strip show
today at “the Cloakroom, a K Street nightclub about midway between the
Capitol and the White House.”

*Giuliani Wants “Factual Basis” For Mueller Probe Before Trump Is
Interviewed. *The New York Post
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(7/8, Schultz) says Giuliani yesterday also “cast serious doubt on the
possibility his client would ever sit down with Special Counsel Robert
Mueller,” while the Wall Street Journal
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(7/8, Clozel) reports that Giuliani told NBC’s Meet the Press[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=067-901&t=c>
that Trump would agree to an interview with Mueller only if Mueller could
show a “factual basis” for the Russia investigation. Giuliani told CNN’s
State Of The Union[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=068-ba2&t=c>,
“We’d like to know if there is any factual basis for the investigation
originally or they’ve developed one, because we can’t find one. Nor can
anyone else, nor have they with all the leaking they’ve done even leaked
one, which I think would have happened immediately because they want to
justify themselves.”

Politico
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(7/8, Nelson) reports that Giuliani told ABC’s This Week[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=06a-d80&t=c>
that Mueller’s investigation is “the most corrupt investigation I have ever
seen.” Giuliani said, “We can’t find an incriminating anything, and we need
a basis for this investigation, particularly since we now know it was
started from biased – by biased,” origins. Giuliani told NBC that he does
not think Mueller is corrupt, but “he’s surrounded by biased people. Almost
exclusively.” Errol Barnett said on the CBS Weekend News[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=06b-f91&t=c>
(7/8, story 3, 1:45, Quijano) that should Trump “be compelled to testify
via a subpoena from Robert Mueller’s team, Giuliani said today that without
showing a particularized need, quote, ‘we could easily have a subpoena
squashed.’”

*Manafort Lawyers Object To Prosecutors’ Meeting With AP Reporters.
*Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=06c-447&t=c>
(7/8, Gerstein) reports in its “Under The Radar” blog that former Trump
campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s lawyers are taking issue with “a meeting
Justice Department prosecutors held with four Associated Press reporters
last year as news organizations and the FBI bore down on the longtime
lobbyist and political consultant.” Manafort’s attorneys have “argued for
months that the off-the-record session on April 11, 2017, was a potential
conduit for improper leaks to the press about the probe,” and now they
“have fresh evidence they say bolsters their claims: two memos written by
FBI agents who attended the meeting and documented their version of what
transpired.” Manafort’s lawyers cast the evidence “as confirmation that
journalists were given inside information about the investigation in
violation of Justice Department policies and, perhaps, legal prohibitions
on disclosure of grand jury secrets.”

*Biggs: A Lot Of Questions Remain For Strzok. *Rep. Andy Biggs was
asked on Fox News Sunday Morning Futures[image: Image removed by sender.
Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=06d-c0d&t=c>
(7/8, Bartiromo) about Peter Strzok’s testimony to lawmakers. Biggs said,
“There’s a lot left to get to” and “I think we will go back and talk about
the biases, how he conducted the investigation.” He said, “There’s still a
lot of meat on that bone regarding the bias and whether he actually was
enacting some of that bias in his investigations.”

*Journalist Defends Decision To Reveal Source To FBI. *The Washington
Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=06e-5e0&t=c>
(7/6, Sullivan) reports that Marcy Wheeler, who writes the “well-regarded
national security blog” Emptywheel, revealed a source “to the FBI,
eventually becoming a witness in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s
investigation of President Trump’s possible connections to Russia.” While
Wheeler has not revealed the source publicly, “her dealings with him have
brought her around to believing something she initially questioned: that
Russian interference in the 2016 election was a very real thing, and that
Trump associates played a part.” Wheeler “is clear that she wasn’t
motivated to talk to the FBI because she is out to get Trump,” but “what
motivated her recent revelation that she went to the FBI has plenty to do
with politics: She is disgusted by the way House Republicans are, in her
view, weaponizing their oversight responsibilities and making it all too
likely that FBI informants will have their names revealed – and their
safety threatened.”

*Dershowitz’s New Book Makes Case Against Impeaching Trump. *The New
York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018070901biden&r=email-eaf6&l=06f-4e4&t=c>
(7/8, Alter, Ember) reviews Alan Dershowitz’s new book, “The Case Against
Impeaching Trump,” saying it is “likely to be the most controversial of his
career.” The Times says it is “less of a book and more a hastily assembled
compilation of his public musings.” Noting that Dershowitz “claims to have
been shunned on Martha’s Vineyard” for defending Trump, the Times says he
“seems to be reveling in his pariah status, pointing to it as proof that he
is committed to defending constitutional principles that transcend partisan
politics.” Dershowitz “says he is not advocating for Mr. Trump, but
defending civil liberties, as he has always done,” and that he would have
defended Hillary Clinton “against calls for impeachment had she won the
election.”

*NYTimes’ Blow: Impeachment Fear In Trump’s Inner Circle. *Charles
M. Blow writes in the New York Times
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(7