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Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing


*From:* Bulletin Intelligence <Biden@BulletinIntelligence.com>
*Sent:* Monday, August 6, 2018 7:51 AM
*To:* Biden@BulletinIntelligence.com
*Subject:* Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing for Monday,
August 6, 2018


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<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=000-8a4&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=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=001-b8b&t=c>

*To: Vice President Joe Biden*

*Monday, August 6, 2018 8:00 AM EDT*
Today's Table of Contents

*Biden in the News <#SECTION_1>*

• The Hill: Democratic Senate Officials Skeptical About Biden’s 2020
Chances. <#S1>

• GOP Strategist Thinks Trump Most Fears Biden As 2020 Challenger. <#S2>

• Biden, Sanders Absent As Potential 2020 Democrats Appear At Netroots
Nation. <#S3>

• Biden Tweets Birthday Wishes To “My Brother, My Friend” Obama. <#S4>

*Leading the News <#SECTION_2>*

• Trump Defends Son’s “Totally Legal” Meeting With Russians. <#S5>

*Foreign Policy <#SECTION_3>*

• Pompeo: US Will Fully Enforce New Iran Sanctions Set To Take Effect Today.
<#S6>

• Bolton: No One In Administration Is “Starry-Eyed” On North Korea. <#S7>

• WPost: Administration’s Growing Use Of Sanctions Raises Concerns. <#S8>

• Sekulow: Trump “Working Diligently” On Pastor’s Release From Turkey. <#S9>

• Suicide Attack Kills Three NATO Troops In Afghanistan. <#S10>

• Israel: Gaza Truce Talks To Focus On Easing Blockade. <#S11>

• Steel Makers With Administration Ties Block Hundreds Of Tariff Exemption
Requests. <#S12>

*Domestic Policy <#SECTION_4>*

• WSJournal: Trillion-Dollar Deficits Could Be “New Normal.” <#S13>

• Trump: “Fake News” Media Is “Very Dangerous & Sick.” <#S14>

• Trump: “Bad Environmental Laws” Making California Wildfires Worse. <#S15>

• Republicans Reject Charges Of Partisanship Over Kavanaugh Documents.
<#S16>

• Public-Sector Unions See Decline In Revenue Following Supreme Court
Ruling. <#S17>

• “60 Minutes” Producer To Remain On Leave During Sexual Misconduct
Investigation. <#S18>

• Trump Holds Rally For Balderson In Tomorrow’s OH12 Special Election.
<#S19>

*Cancer Research <#SECTION_5>*

• House Panel Withholds Funding For WHO Agency On Cancer Research. <#S20>

• NCI Says “Trinity Test” Cancer Study May Be Released Next Year. <#S21>

*Editorials/Op-Eds <#SECTION_6>*

• New York Times. <#S22>

• Washington Post. <#S23>

• USA Today’s Lawrence: Obama Failed To Build Strong Democratic Party.
<#S24>
Biden in the News
The Hill: Democratic Senate Officials Skeptical About Biden’s 2020 Chances.

The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=002-e7e&t=c>
(8/5, Bolton) reported that while former Vice President Joe Biden leads
“the Democratic field in some early polls” on potential 2020 White House
contenders, “in the US Senate, there are plenty of skeptics who point to”
his “age, his support for the Iraq War and his two failed presidential bids
as reasons to doubt he would be successful.” The Hill quoted a “senior
Democratic aide” as saying, “It’s hard to see someone [winning] who voted
for the Iraq war. People are looking to turn the page.” Another “senior
Democratic aide said ‘polls show that voters want someone who is new.’” The
Hill added, “A Democratic senator who requested anonymity to comment on
Biden’s chances said ‘polls this early don’t mean anything’ and argued a
Politico/Morning Consult survey published Wednesday that showed Biden
leading Trump 44 percent to 37 percent among registered voters doesn’t mean
much since it didn’t poll other candidates against Trump.”
GOP Strategist Thinks Trump Most Fears Biden As 2020 Challenger.

Writing for CQ Roll Call (DC)
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=003-1a5&t=c>
(8/3), John Bennett said that a rally last week in Pennsylvania, President
Trump “essentially dared Democratic voters...to pick a nominee from that
party’s most liberal ranks,” calling out Sens Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and
Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) over their progressive policies. However, Trump
“did not mention more centrist Democrats who are considering a presidential
bid such as former Vice President Joe Biden, who a new poll suggests
already has a 7-percentage point lead over Trump in a hypothetical
one-on-one race.” Bennett quoted an unnamed “Republican strategist” as
saying that “Trump appears to ‘know that Joe Biden is probably the one
Democrat who could beat him.’” The strategist added, “I don’t think he
wants to run against Biden. When it comes to white, educated women in
places like Pennsylvania and Michigan and Wisconsin and other swing states,
Trump, I think, realizes Biden would be big trouble in terms of appealing
to them.”
Biden, Sanders Absent As Potential 2020 Democrats Appear At Netroots Nation.

Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=004-cd1&t=c>
(8/5, Siders) reported, “In a three-day audition of presidential campaign
themes at the annual Netroots Nation conference” this weekend in New
Orleans, Sen. Kamala Harris, (D-CA) vowed “to not be ‘shut up’ by critics
of ‘identity politics,’” Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) bemoaned “things that are
savagely wrong in this country,” and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) “called
the criminal justice system ‘racist...front to back.’” Politico added that
while the event was “laced with potential 2020” Democratic presidential
hopefuls, “notably absent were [Sen. Bernie] Sanders and former Vice
President Joe Biden, a frontrunner in early national polls.” The Washington
Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=005-ddb&t=c>
(8/3, Weigel, Sonmez) reported, “At the gathering of more than 3,000
activists, half a dozen Democrats who are seen as likely presidential
candidates – including [Booker, Harris, and Warren] – walked the crowds
through their ambitious liberal agendas and told them not to listen to
doubters.”
Biden Tweets Birthday Wishes To “My Brother, My Friend” Obama.

The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=006-bea&t=c>
(8/4, Anapol) reported that former Vice President Joe Biden “shared a
selfie with former President Obama to mark Obama’s 57th birthday on
Saturday. The photo was taken last week when the pair stopped by a bakery
in Georgetown for lunch.” Biden is quoted as writing in a tweet
accompanying the photo, “Our lunches together were a highlight of every
week at the White House. Last week’s trip to [Dog Tag Bakery] was no
different. Happy birthday to my brother, my friend, @BarackObama.” In a
report on the various well-wishes Obama received on his birthday, the
Huffington
Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=007-582&t=c>
(8/4, Moran) said that Biden “led the way with this sweet message,”
highlighting his tweet. The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=008-0dc&t=c>
(8/4) reported that Biden “tweeted a selfie of Obama and him taken last
week with best wishes to ‘my brother.’” People
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=009-ad0&t=c>
(8/4, Quinn) and the Washington Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=00a-482&t=c>
(8/4, Leach) were among the other media outlets that mentioned Biden’s
birthday tweet to Obama.
Leading the News
Trump Defends Son’s “Totally Legal” Meeting With Russians.

In a series of tweets Sunday, President Trump dismissed news reports that
he is worried about possible legal trouble for his son related to the
special counsel’s investigation. Media reports cast Trump as responding to
a CNN
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=00b-497&t=c>
report over the weekend, which cited anonymous White House sources who said
Trump is concerned Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe will ensnare his
family. Trump’s tweets are also being cast by media outlets as an admission
from Trump that the Trump Tower meeting was intended to get information on
an opponent, while both he and Don Jr. previously stated it was to discuss
Russian adoptions.

Trump tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=00c-c21&t=c>
Sunday morning, “Fake News reporting, a complete fabrication, that I am
concerned about the meeting my wonderful son, Donald, had in Trump Tower.
This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and
done all the time in politics – and it went nowhere. I did not know about
it!” He added in a second tweet
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=00d-0b7&t=c>,
“Why aren’t Mueller and the 17 Angry Democrats looking at the meetings
concerning the Fake Dossier and all of the lying that went on in the FBI
and DOJ? This is the most one sided Witch Hunt in the history of our
country. Fortunately, the facts are all coming out, and fast!” Trump tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=00e-b05&t=c>
a third time on the topic, saying, “Too bad a large portion of the Media
refuses to report the lies and corruption having to do with the Rigged
Witch Hunt – but that is why we call them FAKE NEWS!”

NBC Nightly News[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=00f-66d&t=c>
(8/5, story 4, 2:50, Welker) said Trump “was back on Twitter and on
defense, insisting that 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with his eldest son and
a Kremlin-linked attorney was totally legal,” while ABC World News
Tonight[image:
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<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=010-1ba&t=c>
(8/5, story 3, 2:40, Llamas) said he is “lashing out against reports that
he’s increasingly worried about his son’s entanglement in the Russia
investigation,” and “claiming it wasn’t criminal for campaign aides,
including Donald Trump Jr., to meet with Russians at the infamous Trump
Tower meeting months before the election.” In its lead story, the CBS
Evening News[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=011-b43&t=c>
(8/5, lead story, 2:15, Quijano) reported Trump “released another flurry of
tweets Sunday morning,” saying “the news media is falsely reporting that he
is concerned about the meeting his son had in Trump Tower.”

Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=012-089&t=c>
(8/5, Ali, Krasny, Harris) reports Trump “repeated that he didn’t know
about his son’s meeting with Russians at Trump Tower,” while “asserting
that such meetings are a routine part of politics – ‘totally legal and done
all the time.’” To the Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=013-872&t=c>
(8/5, Swoyer), Trump “dismissed news reports Sunday that he’s worried about
legal trouble for his son...and continued his attacks on the media,” and
the Daily Caller
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=014-5c8&t=c>
(8/5, White) says he “dinged ‘Fake News’ Sunday morning for pushing what he
called fabricated reports.”

Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=015-137&t=c>
(8/5, Griffiths) says Trump “disputed reports that he is worried about his
son’s involvement in the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting, adding that the
gathering was innocuous because participants were there just to ‘get
information on an opponent.’” Politico says his admission that the meeting
was “to get information on an opponent” “contradicts the initial statement
Trump Jr. provided to The New York Times in July 2017,” which said
participants “primarily discussed” an adoption program for Russian
children.

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=016-220&t=c>
(8/5, Lemire) reports that “13 months ago, Trump gave a far different
explanation for the meeting.” The AP notes that a July 2017 statement
“dictated by the president,” likewise said the purpose of the meeting was
to discuss “a program about the adoption of Russian children.” However,
“since then, the story about the meeting has changed several times,
eventually forced by the discovery of emails between the president’s eldest
son and an intermediary from the Russian government.” The AP says Sunday’s
tweet “was Trump’s clearest statement yet on the purpose of the meeting,
which has become a focal point of Mueller’s investigation.”

Along similar lines, Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=017-6a6&t=c>
(8/5, Chiacu) reports “Trump acknowledged on Sunday that his son met with
Russians in 2016 at Trump Tower to get information on his election opponent
Hillary Clinton,” but “had previously said the meeting was about the
adoption of Russian children by Americans.” The Los Angeles Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=018-052&t=c>
(8/5, King) likewise says that his admission Sunday “contradicted Trump’s
past statements on the meeting’s purpose and was his most explicit
declaration yet that his eldest son agreed to see the Kremlin-linked
figures in hopes of obtaining damaging information on Hillary Clinton.”

To the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=019-6e2&t=c>
(8/5, Parker, Helderman), Trump “offered his most definitive and clear
public acknowledgment that his oldest son met with a Kremlin-aligned lawyer
at Trump Tower during the 2016 campaign to ‘get information on an
opponent,’” and the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=01a-bbb&t=c>
(8/5, Shear) calls the tween “the starkest acknowledgment yet that a
statement he dictated about the encounter last year was misleading.”

Peter Hasson writes for the Daily Caller
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=01b-3d4&t=c>
(8/5, Hasson), “Media outlets botched another Trump-Russia story on Sunday.
... The vast majority of reporting on the president’s tweet portrayed it as
a significant admission,” but “there’s just one problem: Trump’s tweet
wasn’t a reversal at all. It’s true that Trump’s original explanation for
the Trump Tower meeting was that it focused on adoptions, but the president
has long since acknowledged that the meeting’s origin was an offer of
opposition research.” Hasson notes that during a July 13, 2017 press
conference, Trump said, “I do think this, that taken from a practical
standpoint … most people would’ve taken that meeting. It’s called
opposition research, or even research into your opponent.” A “notable
exception to the widespread media overreaction,” Hasson says, was Axios
reporter Jonathan Swan, who tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=01c-d73&t=c>,
“Trump said nothing substantively different today from what he said last
July. I don’t understand why people are treating this as breaking news.”

Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=01d-e6a&t=c>
(8/5, Ali, Krasny, Harris) reports, “Appearing on ABC’s This Week[image:
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<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=01e-1e2&t=c>
on Sunday less than an hour after the president tweeted, Trump attorney Jay
Sekulow said nobody had identified any law potentially violated by Trump’s
son in participating in the meeting.” Said Sekulow, “The question is, how
would it be illegal?” ABC’s George Stephanopoulos “noted that conspiracy to
defraud the US has been suggested as a possible charge.” The Washington
Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=01f-4e1&t=c>
(8/5, Swoyer) likewise says Sekulow “defended the legality of the meeting.” USA
Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=020-317&t=c>
(8/5, Kelly) reports Sekulow “agreed Sunday with Trump’s tweet,” and,
“repeating the recent mantra of Trump’s legal team and of the president
himself,” said there “has been no evidence at this point of any type of
collusion by the president.” The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=021-107&t=c>
(8/5, March) and Washington Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=022-5b8&t=c>
(8/5, Mayfield), among other outlets, also report Sekulow’s comments.

Jeff Zeleny said on CNN Inside Politics[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=023-dde&t=c>
(8/5), “The issue here is the President has always believed his family
members would be kind of a red line to cross here or the family finances
but it seems it’s already in that territory. So we’ll see sort of where
this goes. But it is one of the reasons that has fueled his anger. We’ll
see what he tweets this week and we have not heard from Don Jr.” Asked on CNN
Inside Politics[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=024-485&t=c>
(8/5) about Trump’s tweet Sunday, Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post
said that Trump is “trying to play cleanup again. The problem is this story
has kept changing so many times and now you have basically people saying
yeah, he would have known, he did know. And so the President is kind of
trying to run circles and change the story and hopefully listen to the most
recent version of the events that he is laying out in his tweets but it’s
very reactive and that suggests that there’s less credibility there when
your line keeps changing.”

*Sekulow: “Inclination Is Not” To Allow Trump Interview With
Mueller. *The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=025-7e6&t=c>
(8/5, Swoyer) reports Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow said Sunday that Trump’s
legal team “is leaning towards not having the president sit down for an
interview” with Mueller. Sekulow told ABC’s “This Week” the legal team “is
still having ongoing discussions about whether an interview should take
place, but he added the president may or may not take his lawyers’ advice.”
Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=026-131&t=c>
(8/5, Matishak) reports Sekulow also “warned of a legal battle if...Mueller
subpoenas Trump to testify in the ongoing Russia investigation.” Said
Sekulow, “A subpoena for live testimony has never been tested in court as
to a president of the United States,” adding: “It’s hard-pressed to see why
they need the president’s testimony.” The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=027-6f8&t=c>
(8/5, March) reports Sekulow also “blasted...Mueller’s review of the
president’s tweets for possible obstruction of justice,” calling it
“absurd.” Said Sekulow on ABC’s This Week[image: Image removed by sender.
Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=028-43a&t=c>,
“Obstruction of justice by tweet is absurd. The president has a First
Amendment right to put his opinions out there.”

*Bolton, Conway Defend Trump’s “Russian Hoax” Comments. *The New
York Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=029-dbc&t=c>
(8/5, Moore) reports National Security Adviser Bolton on Sunday defended
Trump’s comments about a “Russian hoax,” claiming Trump “isn’t doubting
that Moscow meddled in the 2016 election but disputing his campaign
colluded in the effort.” Bolton told Fox News Sunday[image: Image removed
by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=02a-de7&t=c>,
“I think what he’s saying by the hoax is the idea that somehow the Russians
directed and controlled his campaign or controlled his administration –
that there was some conspiracy that violated US law.” Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=02b-3dd&t=c>
(8/5, Matishak) reports Bolton also “stood by the administration line that
Trump ‘misspoke’ when during his press conference with Russian President
Vladimir Putin in Helsinki last month, when the president seemed to side
with the foreign leader over the findings of the US intelligence
community.” Said Bolton, “You can’t read any motive into what he did other
than his deep concern about Russian election meddling.”

The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=02c-bc9&t=c>
(8/5, Samuels) reports Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway
similarly said Sunday on CBS’ Face the Nation[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=02d-83a&t=c>
that, “The president, when he says ‘Russia hoax,’ he means the
investigation and some others on TV never under oath wanting to suggest
that somehow Russian meddling in the 2016 election was successful in
changing a single vote or indeed the electoral outcome.” The Hill says both
Conway and Bolton “argued in separate Sunday show appearances the president
has a more narrow focus in mind” when he calls the Mueller investigation a
“witch hunt” and a “hoax.”

Mollie Hemingway of The Federalist said on Fox News MediaBuzz[image:
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<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=02e-37a&t=c>
(8/5), “I do think we need to have media people who understand how Donald
Trump speaks. ... He’s expressing a great deal frustration with a probe
that has sidelined his Administration for a year and a half. He is the only
person that seems to be talking about it where everyone else in Washington,
D.C. is pretending its OK, what’s going on. Everyone else, not just being
politicians but people in the media, are not holding Mueller accountable.”

*Rubio: If Mueller Had “Strong Evidence” Of Collusion, It Would
Have Been Leaked. *The Washington Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=02f-916&t=c>
(8/5, Caralle) reports Sen. Marco Rubio “said Sunday that if there was
strong evidence to prove that there was collusion between President Trump’s
campaign and Russia, it would have been leaked by now.” Rubio told Fox News
Sunday[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=030-0bf&t=c>,
“I am comfortable in saying this: if there was evidence, strong evidence of
collusion, I guarantee you it would have been leaked by now.” He added, “I
believe it’s in the best interest of the president and of the United States
of America and the American people for that investigation to run the
course, for all the truth to come out.”

*Schiff: “Plenty Of Evidence” Of Collusion. *Rep. Adam Schiff said
on CBS’ Face the Nation[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=031-f19&t=c>
(8/5, Brennan), “I think there’s plenty of evidence of collusion or
conspiracy in plain sight.” However, “that’s a different statement than
saying that there’s proof beyond a reasonable doubt of a criminal
conspiracy” as “Bob Mueller will have to determine.” He added, “I do think
that the President continues to cast doubt on whether he accepts the
fundamental conclusion that Russia intervened” in the 2016 US elections.

*Issa: Strzok Wanted To Use “Special Powers.” *Asked on Fox News’
Sunday Morning Futures[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=032-0ee&t=c>
(8/5, Bartiromo) asked about the idea that FBI agent Peter Strzok wanted to
keep his security clearance, Rep. Darrell Issa said, “This is not new. ...
In the case of Peter Strzok, what was interesting was he did not just want
to keep his clearance, he wanted to use special powers; powers that even
the Speaker of the House does not have,” such as “issuing national security
letters, meaning doing investigations without the normal protections of a
court order and the ability to declassify documents selectively.”

*Manafort’s Attorneys Seek To Portray Gates As Corrupt Business
Partner. *The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=033-b68&t=c>
(8/5, Mordock) reports that defense attorneys for former Trump campaign
manager Paul Manafort last week “made a point of asking trial witnesses
about Rick Gates’ intelligence, signaling a key element in their strategy
to pin blame on Mr. Manafort’s former business partner for what federal
prosecutors say was massive bank and tax fraud.” As the trial enters its
second week Monday, “legal analysts say the case appears to turn on Gates,
who defense attorneys want jurors to believe was the real orchestrator of
the fraud and embezzled from Mr. Manafort.” Gates himself is expected to
testify today or tomorrow in what the Times says “is shaping up as a
pivotal moment” in the trial. The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=034-fa8&t=c>
(8/5, Barrett) says Gates’ testimony against Manafort “will do more than
lay bare the end of a long relationship that made both men millions of
dollars as political consultants. The prosecution’s theory is that, time
after time, Manafort instructed Gates to lie, and many of those lies were
crimes.” According to the Post, “prosecutors plan to use Gates to explain
what Manafort knew and what he instructed others to do over years of the
alleged fraud.”

*US Officials Push New Penalties For Electrical Grid Hackers. *The Wall
Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=035-873&t=c>
(8/5, Smith) reports that Administration officials are considering new
penalties for state-sponsored hackers of critical infrastructure to deter
attacks in the future by nations like Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.
In an interview, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Robert L. Strayer said
recent attacks on the nation’s energy sector have forced “an evolution in
the US government’s thinking about how to deter malicious cyberactors.”

*Russia Appoints Steven Seagal As US Special Envoy. *The New York
Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=036-f69&t=c>
(8/5, Gomez) reports Russia over the weekend tapped action-movie star
Steven Seagal as its “special representative to improve relations between
the United States and Russia.” The Russian Foreign Ministry announced the
appointment on Facebook, saying his mission will include promoting
“relations between Russia and the United States in the humanitarian field,
including cooperation in culture, arts, public and youth exchanges.”
Foreign Policy
Pompeo: US Will Fully Enforce New Iran Sanctions Set To Take Effect Today.

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=037-76d&t=c>
(8/5, Morello) reports Secretary of State Pompeo “said Sunday that the
United States will fully enforce sanctions against Iran, scheduled to be
put back in place Monday.” Pompeo told reporters that the sanctions are “an
important part of our efforts to push back against Iranian malign
activity,” and for Iran to break free, it must “behave like a normal
country.” Pompeo continued, “That’s the ask. It’s pretty simple. We think
that most other countries, everyone with whom I spoke, understands that
they need to behave normally, and they understand that this is a country
that threatens them.” Calling Iranian leaders “bad actors,” Pompeo “held
out slim hope for its behavior to moderate and to negotiate.” The Post says
while “Pompeo has consistently avoided calling directly for regime change,
he has come close, and seemed to hint at it again Sunday.” Pompeo told
reporters, “This is just about Iranians’ dissatisfaction with their own
government,” and “we want the Iranian people to have a strong voice in who
their leadership will be.” The Los Angeles Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=038-96a&t=c>
(8/5, Wilkinson) says “Pompeo has insisted Washington is not advocating for
regime change in Iran, but veteran Iran-watchers say the administration’s
demands come pretty close.”

The [image: Image removed by sender. Video]CBS Weekend News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=039-7d7&t=c>
(8/5, story 7, 1:50, Quijano) reported Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah
Khamenei, and its president, Hassan Rouhani, “have not yet responded
publicly to President Trump’s offer of talks.” Meanwhile, the sanctions to
be re-imposed Monday are “expected to cause Iran’s economy to deteriorate
even more and fuel more protests,” which Iranian authorities are “playing
down” even as they’re “stepping up security.” Iran has also announced new
measures “aimed at countering US sanctions. One plan is to make imports of
basic goods and medicine available at lower prices.”

As for the sanctions to be restored today, Axios
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=03a-153&t=c>
(8/5, Swan) says they will target “any entity trading with Iran in gold,
steel, aluminum, coal and other minerals and metals.” The Administration
“will also restore sanctions on the Iranian automotive industry and on the
issuing of Iranian debt or ‘significant’ trade in Iranian currency.” Axios
says “Trump is moving ahead with his Iranian version of ‘maximum pressure’
– though the end game, beyond a hope of unprecedented behavior change or
regime collapse, remains unclear.”

The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=03b-5ef&t=c>
(8/5, Kheel) says while the “most significant tranche of sanctions,
including on oil sales, won’t come back into force until November,”
Monday’s move “fires a shot across the bow, telling businesses, European
allies and Iran that President Trump is serious about keeping the United
States out of what he’s called the ‘worst deal ever negotiated.’” Since
announcing the US withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal in May,
“administration officials have left the door open to sanctions waivers, but
have been working to convince businesses to cut ties with Iran and have
warned they won’t hesitate to sanction even those in allied countries.”
Monday also marks the end of “another, 90-day period after which the US can
sanction transactions with US dollar banknotes; trade in gold and precious
metals; direct or indirect sales of graphite, raw or semi-finished metals;
and Iran’s automotive sector.”

*Iran Eases Currency Rules Ahead Of US Sanctions. *Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=03c-21f&t=c>
(8/5, Hafezi) reports an Iranian “state body led by President Hassan
Rouhani and including the heads of the judiciary and parliament on Sunday
partially lifted a ban on the sale of foreign currency at floating rates,
allowing exchange bureaux to sell at unofficial market rates for purposes
such as overseas travel.” The central bank governor, Abdolnaser Hemmati,
“said the plan reflected Iran’s self-confidence in the face of the looming
US sanctions,” but Reuters says it was likely a bid to prevent the collapse
of the rial, which “has lost half its value since April due to fears about
US sanctions likely to be imposed this week.” The rial’s plunging value
“and soaring inflation have sparked sporadic demonstrations against
profiteering and corruption, with many protesters chanting anti-government
slogans.”

*WSJournal A1: Iranians’ Demand For Gold Triples. *On its front
page, the Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=03d-816&t=c>
(8/5, A1, Fitch) reports the World Gold Council released a study Thursday
that found Iranians’ demand for gold bars and coins in the second quarter
tripled year-over-year to about 15 metric tons, reflecting the growing
anxiety in Iran over the shaky economy and looming US sanctions. Iran’s
central bank has minted thousands of new gold coins totaling about 60 tons
to meet the demand, which continues to grow despite the increased
production and skyrocketing gold prices.
Bolton: No One In Administration Is “Starry-Eyed” On North Korea.

Breitbart
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=03e-80d&t=c>
(8/5, Key) reports that in an appearance on “Fox News Sunday,” National
Security Adviser Bolton briefly discussed reports suggesting North Korea is
violating sanctions and continuing to produce plutonium. Bolton told [image:
Image removed by sender. Video]Fox News Sunday
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=03f-270&t=c>,
“As I’ve said to you and others before, there’s nobody in his
administration starry eyed about the prospects of North Korea actually
denuclearizing. But I think what’s going on now is that the president is
giving Kim Jong-un on a master class and how to hold a door open for
somebody. And if the North Koreans can’t figure out how to walk through it,
even the president’s fiercest critics will not be able to say it’s because
he didn’t open it wide enough.” Bolton added, “We are going to have to see
a performance from the North Koreans. There’s no question about it.” Asked
about the prospect of another summit between Trump and Kim, Bolton
responded: “Well, they are talking about in the exchange of letters what is
necessary to get performance on the commitment that North Korea itself made
in Singapore to denuclearize. That’s the central issue for us. There’s a
lot of interest in inter-Korean negotiations.”

Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=040-8ee&t=c>
(8/5, Matishak) reports Bolton declined to comment on whether the US has
observed North Korea taking steps toward surrendering its arsenal.
“Unfortunately,” Bolton explained, “I can’t talk about intelligence,” but
“Trump is ‘doing everything he can’ to emphasize how life would be
different for the regime if it were to give up its nuclear weapons.” Also
appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) was more “dubious
that anything was going to be accomplished.” He said he does not believe
Kim “is ever going to give up his nuclear arsenal,” and will likely offer a
“series of unilateral concessions” instead, like destroying non-necessary
facilities. Rubio added that “Trump is ‘hoping for the best but prepared
for the worst’ and urged the administration to stay engaged with allies in
the region.”

In an editorial, the Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=041-f9f&t=c>
(8/5) says the Administration claims that progress toward the
denuclearization of North Korea is being made, but the chances of achieving
that goal are slimmer now than when Trump met Kim in Singapore. The Journal
says this is because the President accepted a “phased” denuclearization
process and abandoned demands that Pyongyang agree up front to disclose and
dismantle its weapons programs.

*Report: Navarro Proposed Steep Tariffs On Countries Conducting
Business With North Korea. *The Washington Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=042-17f&t=c>
(8/5, Lim) reports “White House trade adviser Peter Navarro drafted an
executive order slapping tariffs on every product imported into the US by
countries conducting significant business with North Korea, according to a
report” by Axios on Sunday. Axios
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=043-b19&t=c>
(8/5, Swan), which “obtained a copy of a draft executive order,” says the
tariffs “would have been massive, and they would have gradually increased
as high as 45%” – perhaps “the most expansive tariff proposal ever floated
in the Trump administration.” Axios says there is “no evidence Trump ever
saw” the plan, but officials at the Commerce, State, and Treasury
Departments “and the Office of the United States Trade Representative all
considered the proposal totally unworkable.”

*Young North Koreans Provide Accounts Of Defections To South.
*The Washington
Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=044-afd&t=c>
(8/3, Min) provides accounts from “five young people who made the perilous
escape from North Korea and have found their feet in South Korea.” The Post
says when North Koreans “began arriving in the South during a devastating
famine 20 years ago,” they encountered various challenges and “encountered
a world that might as well have been on another planet,” but many are now
“thriving.” According to activists, these “young and determined” defectors
“will be the ones who bridge the gap between the two Koreas if the
countries are reunified.”
WPost: Administration’s Growing Use Of Sanctions Raises Concerns.

A Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=045-d26&t=c>
(8/5, Morello) analysis says the “barrage of sanctions” the US has imposed
against various nations in recent months reflect the Administration’s
“aggressive strategy of using economic tools instead of military might
against foes.” The Administration’s increasing reliance on sanctions “has
led to concerns that they are being overused as the foreign policy of first
resort, hurting US credibility among allies who complain that they are
being forced to bow to US policies and potentially undercutting the US
dollar.” Critics also caution that “the expansion of sanctions by the
administration and Congress threatens to undermine their effectiveness.”
Administration officials have “dismiss[ed] the criticism, saying they have
proved effective in convincing nations like Iran and North Korea to agree
to negotiate their nuclear weapons programs.”
Sekulow: Trump “Working Diligently” On Pastor’s Release From Turkey.

In an appearance on [image: Image removed by sender. Video]ABC’s This Week
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=046-1e7&t=c>
(8/5, Stephanopolis) on Sunday, Trump attorney Jay Sekulow was briefly
asked about Pastor Andrew Brunson’s detention in Turkey. Sekulow said, “The
president was successful in negotiating what I call phase one. Brunson was
in jail, George, as you know, and Turkey has been very difficult for
religious minorities.” He continued, “The Greek Orthodox Church has had
problems, the Protestant church has had tremendous problems. This pastor
had been there for 23 years, was put in jail – was in jail for 21 months”
on charges of “Christianization,” which in Turkey is “a violation” akin to
“espionage and spying.” Sekulow reiterated that Trump “has been very
aggressive securing” Brunson’s release from prison and return “to what we
would consider a house arrest in his apartment in Izmir, Turkey. Having
said that, the ultimate victory here is the return of Andrew Brunson to his
country of origin which is the United States.”
Suicide Attack Kills Three NATO Troops In Afghanistan.

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=047-9d3&t=c>
(8/5) reports the Taliban claimed responsibility for Sunday’s suicide
attack targeting NATO service members on a foot patrol in eastern
Afghanistan. The attack killed three Czech service members and wounded one
American and two Afghan service members. Gen. John Nicholson, the commander
of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, offered his condolences to the
victims’ friends and families. The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=048-a11&t=c>
(8/5, Mashal, Sukhanyar) reports Col. Alozai Ahmadi, the Parwan provincial
head of security coordination, “said those attacked had been on a routine
patrol going after suspicious groups in the larger perimeter around the
Bagram military base, about five miles from the site of the attack.”
According to Ahmadi, the suicide bomber was about 18 years old. “Violence
also continued elsewhere” in Afghanistan. In Jalalabad, the site of a “a
recent wave of Islamic State bombings, a suicide bomber tried to target a
checkpoint of the Afghan Army, which has taken over the security for the
city.” Meanwhile, Uruzgan provincial officials “said the Taliban had
largely overrun the district of Chinarto, with the remaining government
forces stuck in the Police Headquarters.”
Israel: Gaza Truce Talks To Focus On Easing Blockade.

Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=049-990&t=c>
(8/5, Lubell, Al-Mughrabi) reports Israel released a statement outlining
its limited goals for Gaza peace negotiations, “saying the focus was on a
proposal to ease its blockade of the Islamist Hamas-controlled territory in
return for the Palestinians calming their side of the frontier.” Just hours
later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “convened his security
cabinet to discuss” and “possibly approve” United Nations- and
Egyptian-brokered proposals “for preventing another threatened Gaza war.”
The proposals have not been publicly disclosed, and the UN and Egypt have
instead “spoken generally of a need to improve humanitarian conditions in
Gaza, stem cross-border hostilities and reconcile Hamas – which refuses
formal peacemaking with Israel – to its Western-backed Palestinian rivals.”
Steel Makers With Administration Ties Block Hundreds Of Tariff Exemption
Requests.

The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=04a-437&t=c>
(8/5, Tankersley) reports that two of the nation’s biggest steel
manufacturers, Nucor and United States Steel, both of which have “deep ties
to administration officials,” have “successfully objected to hundreds of
requests by American companies that buy foreign steel to exempt themselves
from President Trump’s stiff metal tariffs.” The companies “have objected
to 1,600 exemption requests filed with the Commerce Department over the
past several months,” arguing that “the imported products are readily
available from American steel manufacturers.”

*Bolton: Don’t “Underestimate” Trump’s “Resolve” On China Trade
Dispute. *Breitbart
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=04b-80b&t=c>
(8/5, Key) reports National Security Adviser Bolton told Fox News Sunday[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=04c-34e&t=c>
that no one should “underestimate” President Trump’s “resolve” in the trade
dispute with China. Said Bolton, “Don’t underestimate President Trump’s
resolve. The reason he’s so resolved is that for decades China has been the
principal malefactor trying to use free-trade aspiration most of the rest
of the world has, too pursue its goals. It steals American and European
intellectual property.” He added, “I think the pressure will continue. I
think the president has made that very clear.”
Domestic Policy
WSJournal: Trillion-Dollar Deficits Could Be “New Normal.”

The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=04d-e42&t=c>
(8/5, Timiraos) writes under the headline “Why Trillion-Dollar Deficits
Could Be The New Normal” that federal spending continues to significantly
outpace revenues even though the economy is on track and unemployment is
low. While spending increased during the Obama Administration in the
aftermath of the Great Recession, the Trump Administration has both cut
taxes and increased spending in some areas. While NEC Director Kudlow has
said that deficits at four or five percent of GDP are “not bad,” the
Journal writes that most forecasters expect the current growth rate to
decline next year, further exacerbating the issue.

*US Firms See Large Profits Surge Amid Tax Cuts, Healthy Economy. *On
its front page, the Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=04e-adc&t=c>
(8/5, A1, Gryta) credits lower tax rates and a healthy economy for a surge
in profits at the nation’s largest companies. According to Thomson Reuters,
in the three month period ending in June, profits at S&P 500 companies
increased an estimated 23.5%.

*Amid Job Growth, Some Industries Struggle To Fill Openings. *Axios
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=04f-816&t=c>
(8/5, Atkinson) report that while the nation is “in the midst of its
longest-ever streak of job growth, some American industries are having
problems finding workers to fill their openings.” While many of the
industries in question “pay well and provide ample benefits,” they are
“often physically demanding or mentally stressful — often a combination of
both — leading many millennials, who are likely to be more educated than
the generations before them, to seek employment in other sectors.”

*AP: 58.55% Of New Jobs Occurring In Areas That Backed Clinton. *The
AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=050-367&t=c>
(8/5, Boak) reports in an analysis that while the US “is on pace to add
about 2.6 million jobs this year under President Donald Trump’s watch,”
much of the hiring “has occurred in bastions of Democratic voters rather
than in the Republican counties that put Trump in the White House.”
According to the AP, for the year-ended this May, on average, “58.5 percent
of the job gains were in counties that backed Democrat Hillary Clinton in
2016.” The AP adds that “a striking number of Trump counties are losing
jobs.” According to the AP analysis, “35.4 percent of Trump counties have
shed jobs in the past year, compared with just 19.2 percent of Clinton
counties.”
Trump: “Fake News” Media Is “Very Dangerous & Sick.”

Townhall
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=051-2a4&t=c>
(8/5, Meads) reports President Trump “unleashed a torrent of insults
against the fake news media” Sunday morning, “calling the languid industry
the ‘enemy of the people’ and saying it purposefully causes ‘division and
trust’” and can “cause war.” Trump tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=052-314&t=c>,
“The Fake News hates me saying that they are the Enemy of the People only
because they know it’s TRUE. I am providing a great service by explaining
this to the American People. They purposely cause great division &
distrust. They can also cause War! They are very dangerous & sick!”

*Wallace Presses Bolton On Trump’s Tweet That Journalists Can
“Cause Wars.” *The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=053-e59&t=c>
(8/5, Samuels) reports that “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace
“challenged” National Security Adviser Bolton about President Trump’s
assertion that journalists can “cause war.” Wallace read Trump’s tweet back
to Bolton, then asked, “What wars have we started?” According to the Hill,
“Bolton largely avoided the substance of Trump’s tweet, instead arguing
that press bias ‘has been around for a long, long time.’” Wallace replied
by saying reporters are rightfully called out when they publish inaccurate
information, “but added that Trump’s latest attacks on the media are
‘taking it to a completely different level.’” Bolton responded, “That’s the
president’s view, based on the attacks the media has made,” adding, “I
think this kind of adversarial relationship is typical.”

Slate
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=054-d7b&t=c>
(8/5) says Bolton “largely avoided answering” Wallace’s question, “What
wars have we started?” To the Huffington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=055-678&t=c>
(8/5, Miller), Bolton “dodged questions” from Wallace and “continued to
defend Trump’s repeated attacks on the media and journalists.” The Week
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=056-538&t=c>
(8/5) says Bolton “offered a quibbling reply on how ‘press bias has been
around for a long, long time,’ suggesting the idea that journalists cause
war is simply ‘the president’s view based on the attacks that the media
made on him.’”

*Conway Says Press Is Not “Enemy Of The People.” *USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=057-aa3&t=c>
(8/5, Kelly) reports that presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway told CBS’
Face The Nation[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=058-19d&t=c>
on Sunday that she does not regard the press as the “enemy of the people,”
despite Trump describing the media that way. Conway said, “I don’t believe
journalists are the enemy of the people. ... I think some journalists are
the enemy of the relevant, the enemy of the news you can use. And I think
most of the sins are of omission, not commission.” Conway “criticized what
she views as evidence of bias by some journalists in their remarks on
Twitter and on cable news shows.” She said, “I know he (Trump) believes
it’s not all (journalists). ... That’s why he said it refers to those who
aren’t always telling the truth, who are giving emotion over information.”
Conway added that “the temperature need to be dialed down overall.”

Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, meanwhile, said on Fox
News MediaBuzz[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=059-e49&t=c>
(8/5), “When you look at the coverage of one historic thing that happened
this week was almost nothing. We had US soldiers’ remains returned back to
Hawaii after the Korean war conflict. ... Most of the major media outlets
didn’t cover it. And I think it’s frustrating for this President for what
he is doing on behalf of the American people to get so little credit on
something that’s so important. He has to talk about his own message because
he knows if he doesn’t do it, nobody will do it for him.” Mollie Hemingway
of The Federalist said on Fox News MediaBuzz[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=05a-473&t=c>
(8/5), “The best way to hold Donald Trump accountable as a media
organization is just to cover him straight because when you behave in such
a clownish fashion as so many people are where they are just open and
honest about how much they view their job as resisting him it gives him the
ammunition he needs.”

*Twitter Suspends Owens’ Account For Mimicking Jeong’s. *Breitbart
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=05b-cad&t=c>
(8/5, Bokhari) reports that Twitter has suspended Turning Point USA
Communications Director Candace Owens’ account “after she highlighted
racist posts made by Sarah Jeong, the recent New York Times hire whose long
history of bigoted tweets about white people has placed the newspaper at
the center of a public outcry.” Twitter later “reversed the ban, calling it
an ‘error’ in an email to Owens.” In her tweets, Owens mimicked the wording
of Jeong’s but she “substituted the words ‘Jewish people’ for ‘white
people,’ in an attempt to show that some forms of racism are considered
more acceptable than others.” Breitbart says Twitter “appears to have
proven her point.”

*“Activist Editors” Prohibit Mentions Of Jeong Tweets On Wikipedia.
*The Daily Caller
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=05c-692&t=c>
(8/5, Brest) reports that Jeong’s Wikipedia page “includes no mention of
her racist tweets...apparently because activist editors for the free online
encyclopedia won’t allow any mention of her tweets.”

*Boot: Trump’s “Prejudice” Is “More Toxic And Dangerous” than
Jeong’s. *Max Boot writes in the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=05d-b41&t=c>
(8/5) that “the right has a point about Jeong,” but asks, “where are their
voices when a far more prominent bigot is spewing hatred from a much more
powerful platform?” Boot argues that “the kind of prejudice that Trump
exhibits is far more toxic and dangerous.” While “we have made real
progress toward a more color-blind society, we are not there yet — and with
Trump at the wheel, we are going in reverse.”

*California Newspaper Owner Denies His View Are Influencing Paper. *The
New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=05e-4d8&t=c>
(8/5, Schonbrun) reports that Paladin Multimedia Group’s sale of the Santa
Clarita Valley Signal newspaper to a former publisher of The Signal,
Richard Budman, and his wife, during “a hotly contested race in the 25th
Congressional District (a seat held by Republicans since the 1992
election), has produced consternation among some in the community.” An
early July tweet by Budman in which he said “we have to fight” to keep the
district in Republican control has added to the concern. Budman recently
said in an interview, “The paper is mine now, so the editorial voice will
be mine.” However, in an interview with the Times, he “denied that the
paper was being influenced by his views, which he described as centrist on
several issues.”
Trump: “Bad Environmental Laws” Making California Wildfires Worse.

The Washington Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=05f-c23&t=c>
(8/5, Lim) reports that in a tweet yesterday, President Trump “blamed
California’s environmental laws for exacerbating 17 wildfires raging across
the state, saying lawmakers had ‘magnified’ the situation and hindered
responses.” Trump wrote
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=060-5ae&t=c>,
“California wildfires are being magnified & made so much worse by the bad
environmental laws which aren’t allowing massive amount of readily
available water to be properly utilized. It is being diverted into the
Pacific Ocean. Must also tree clear to stop fire spreading!” The New York
Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=061-b76&t=c>
(8/5, Moore) says Trump’s comment “about the lack of water apparently come
from a 2015 proposal floated by the Tree People, an environmental
nonprofit, that Californians should capture rainwater draining from roofs
and streets instead of allowing it to continue into the ocean.”
Republicans Reject Charges Of Partisanship Over Kavanaugh Documents.

The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=062-aed&t=c>
(8/5, Swoyer) reports that Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans on Sunday
pushed back on Democrats’ claims that partisanship is undermining “the
review of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s documents relating to his
work for the federal government.” While the committee “is receiving
hundreds of thousands of documents from Judge Kavanaugh’s time working for
Independent Counsel Ken Starr in the 1990s during his probe into President
Bill Clinton, as well as his time working in the White House counsel’s
office from 2001 to 2003,” Democrats “have sought his records from 2003 to
2006 when he served as staff secretary to President George W. Bush,” and
they have objected to “President Bush’s lawyer, William A. Burck,
overseeing the review of the White House counsel documents before they are
turned over to the committee.” Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley’s
spokesman Taylor Foy “said the committee is receiving the documents not
only from President Bush’s legal team, but also from the National Archives,
dismissing charges of partisanship.”

*Environmental Groups Worried About Kavanaugh Nomination. *The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=063-c29&t=c>
(8/5, Mulvihill) reports that environmental groups are “especially worried”
about President Trump’s nomination of Kavanaugh who “has a record of
slapping back Environmental Protection Agency regulations during his 12
years as a federal appeals court judge.” While Justice Anthony Kennedy “was
especially pivotal on environmental cases, ruling with the majority on
nearly all of them over 30 years on the bench – and often siding with the
environmentalists in the biggest cases,” Kavanaugh “has a narrower view of
what environmental protections the federal government can implement.”’
Public-Sector Unions See Decline In Revenue Following Supreme Court Ruling.

The Wall Street Journal
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(8/5, Maher) reports that following the Supreme Court’s ruling that it is
unconstitutional to require public-sector employees to pay agency fees,
public-sector unions are seeing a decline in revenues and trying to prevent
an exodus of members.
“60 Minutes” Producer To Remain On Leave During Sexual Misconduct
Investigation.

The CBS Weekend News[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=065-85f&t=c>
(8/5, story 8, 1:50, Quijano) reported that “60 Minutes” executive producer
Jeff Fager will not return to work this week as his broadcast “is part of
two independent investigations into allegations of sexual misconduct and
whether a culture existed that tolerated it.” CBS (Dokoupil) added that
Fager has “elected to extend a planned vacation while at least one of the
investigations into his workplace reportedly draws to a close.” The
investigation follows “accusations of sexual misconduct against former CBS
This Morning co-host and ‘60 Minutes’ correspondent Charlie Rose,” and
allegations that “at least three CBS managers were aware of Rose’s
problems. Fager has denied being one of those managers.” However, he “is
likely to face additional scrutiny in a second investigation following a
New Yorker expose” which “detailed accusations by six women that CBS News
chairman and CEO Lesley Moonves harassed or assaulted them.”

*State Lawmakers Seek Reelection Amid Sexual Harassment
Allegations. *The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=066-e18&t=c>
(8/5, Turkewitz, Blinder) reports that across the nation, “more than a
dozen politicians...have been accused of misconduct and are running for
state legislatures again anyway.” While some candidates “hope that voters
will accept their apologies,” others “believe constituents will dismiss the
allegations as untrue – or deem them unimportant at a time when state
legislatures could play crucial roles either in advancing the Trump
administration’s agenda or forming bulwarks against it.” The Times
highlights the cases of Arizona State Rep. Don Shooter who has been accused
of sexual harassment by “a Republican colleague, a Democratic legislator,
at least two lobbyists, a newspaper intern and the former publisher of The
Arizona Republic,” and Washington State Rep. David Sawyer, who “has been
accused of unwelcome advances, inappropriate remarks or other misconduct by
at least eight women, including former legislative aides and a lobbyist he
asked to be his ‘arm candy.’”
Trump Holds Rally For Balderson In Tomorrow’s OH12 Special Election.

President Trump on Saturday headlined a rally in Ohio on behalf of state
Sen. Troy Balderson (R), who is battling Franklin County Recorder Danny
O’Connor (D) in tomorrow’s special election to succeed ex-OH12 Rep. Pat
Tiberi (R). The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=067-398&t=c>
(8/4, March) reported Trump “gave a shot in the arm to” Balderson, who
“joined Trump on stage, where both took shots at...O’Connor, who they cast
as an empty suit for” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. The Cincinnati
Enquirer
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=068-d31&t=c>
(8/4, Balmert, Abdul-Karim) reported that the “message [of the] crowded,
overheated rally at Olentangy Orange High School” was “if you like...Trump,
you’ll like...Balderson.” The Enquirer said Trump “needs a victory in the
Midwest to stem talk of a Democratic blue wave before voters hit the polls
in November,” and the OH12 contest “gives the president that chance.” Trump
said some are predicting a “blue wave,” but he “think[s] it could be a red
wave.”

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=069-71a&t=c>
(8/4, Lemire) reported that Trump “argued that Republicans needed to
control Congress by casting the midterms as a referendum on himself.” Trump
“defiantly questioned the idea that, historically, the party that controls
the White House suffers in the midterms, declaring ‘but I say why?’ ‘Why
would there be a blue wave? I think it could be a red wave,’ Trump said of
his party’s prospects in November. ‘They want to take away what we’ve
given. And we’re doing a lot of things people don’t even know about.’”
Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018080601biden&r=email-d2cf&l=06a-156&t=c>
(8/4, Isenstadt) reported that Trump urged “his supporters to turn out
for...Balderson, as the party raced to fend off an embarrassing special
election loss that could portend a November wave.” At the event, Trump
“repeatedly lavished praise on Balderson” and blasted O’Connor, “calling
him a pawn of Democratic leaders and giving him a Trumpian nickname: ‘Danny
boy.’ ‘You got to get out, because they want to take away what w