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Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing


*From:* Bulletin Intelligence <Biden@BulletinIntelligence.com>
*Sent:* Tuesday, January 15, 2019 7:58 AM
*To:* Biden@BulletinIntelligence.com
*Subject:* Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing for
Tuesday, January 15, 2019


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Intelligence Briefing]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=001-6de&t=c>

*To: Vice President Joe Biden*

*Tuesday, January 15, 2019 8:00 AM EST*
Today's Table of Contents

*Biden in the News* <#SECTION_1>

• Prominent Democrats Touting Biden As Party’s Strongest 2020 Contender.
<#S1>

• Harris Atop Nashua Telegraph’s Rankings Of 2020 Democratic Contenders;
Biden Fourth. <#S2>

• Sununu Praises Biden, Criticizes Obama Over “New Blood” Remarks. <#S3>

• Seib: 2018 Data Shows Centrist, Middle-Aged Democratic Voters May Be Key
In 2020. <#S4>

• Sharpton Open To Backing Biden Or Bloomberg In 2020 Democratic Race. <#S5>

• WPost’s Rubin Says Biden Far From A Lock To Win 2020 Democratic
Nomination. <#S6>

• Fox News Op-eds Highlight Frank Biden’s Criticism Of Clinton’s 2016
Campaign. <#S7>

• Native Americans Upset With Trump Over Tweet Mocking Warren. <#S8>

• AP: Sources Say Gillibrand To Form Presidential Exploratory Committee.
<#S9>

• Sanders To Meet With Ex-2016 Campaign Staff On Harassment, Sexism
Allegations. <#S10>

• Gabbard’s Past Stances On LGBT Issues Drawing Scrutiny. <#S11>

• Pro-Trump Oppo Research Group Collecting Info On Brown’s Wife. <#S12>

*Leading the News* <#SECTION_2>

• Trump Makes Case For Border Wall In Speech To Farm Bureau. <#S13>

*Foreign Policy* <#SECTION_3>

• Media Analyses: Rhetoric Eases After Trump-Erdogan Call. <#S14>

• Trump: US “Doing Very Well” In Trade Talks With China. <#S15>

• Bolton Tweet Links To Report Charging Iran Hiding Nuclear Facility. <#S16>

• Pompeo Meets With Saudi Crown Prince. <#S17>

• Vehicle Bomb Kills At Least Four In Kabul. <#S18>

• China Sentences Detained Canadian To Death. <#S19>

• May Makes Final Plea Ahead Of Today’s Brexit Vote. <#S20>

*Domestic Policy* <#SECTION_4>

• Bipartisan Group In Senate Looks For Shutdown Deal Amid Impasse. <#S21>

• Trump Denies Working For Russia, Calls Allegation “A Whole Big Fat Hoax.”
<#S22>

• Trump Lawyers Reject Mueller Request For A Sit-Down Interview. <#S23>

• Barr Says He Won’t End Mueller Investigation. <#S24>

• Supreme Court Rejects Case Alleging Whitaker’s Appointment Is Illegal.
<#S25>

• Trump Inaugural Committee Spent $1.5 Million At Trump’s DC Hotel. <#S26>

• Trump Defends Trade Policies To Farmers Meeting. <#S27>

*Cancer Research* <#SECTION_5>

• Invasive Follow-Up Tests To Examine Abnormalities Found With Lung Cancer
Screening May Lead To More Complications, Costs Than Previously Believed,
Study Suggests. <#S28>

• Study Suggests Suicide Risk Quadruples For People With Cancer. <#S29>

*Editorials/Op-Eds* <#SECTION_6>

• New York Times. <#S30>

• Washington Post. <#S31>
Biden in the News
Prominent Democrats Touting Biden As Party’s Strongest 2020 Contender.

National Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=002-a86&t=c>
(1/15, Trudo) reports that “several veteran Democratic leaders have begun
revealing their preferences for the next presidential nominee,” with former
Vice President Joe Biden garnering a good deal of attention. Ex-Gov. Ed
Rendell (D-PA), a former DNC chief, “hasn’t formally endorsed, but he’s
listed Biden as his top choice on social media and in multiple interviews.
‘There’s no one who’s close to him in the ability to talk to those people,’
Rendell said about Biden’s ease of addressing voters in Wisconsin,
Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Ohio — battlegrounds central to [President]
Trump’s victory in 2016.” The article says that Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY)
and Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) have both touted Biden as Democrats’
strongest candidate, though some in the party, such as ex-Gov. Martin
O’Malley (D-MD), have thrown their support behind ex-Rep. Beto O’Rourke
(D-TX).
Harris Atop Nashua Telegraph’s Rankings Of 2020 Democratic Contenders;
Biden Fourth.

The Nashua (NH) Telegraph
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=003-707&t=c>
(1/15) offers its rankings of the 10 leading “Democratic presidential
contenders for 2020.” Topping the list is Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA),
followed by ex-Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX), and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).
Fourth on the list is former Vice President Joe Biden, of whom the
Telegraph says “has some clear strengths and obvious weaknesses as a 2020
contender. On the plus side, we find experience, charisma and
name-recognition. However, he has a history of gaffes. Also, is a white man
who is now age 76 really going to be the Democratic Party nominee in 2020?”
Rounding out the top five is Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ).

*Writer: 2020 Democratic “Frontrunners” Are O’Rourke, Harris,
Biden. *Writing for the Heavy
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=004-a4a&t=c>
(1/14), Ben Doody examined the prospective 2020 field Democratic
presidential candidates. Doody used “the Democratic primary market at
PredictIt as a guide” to “divide the candidates into three tiers. We’ll
call them the frontrunners, the contenders, and the longshots.” Doody
identified ex-O’Rourke, Harris, and Biden as “The Frontrunners,” saying
that O’Rourke’s stock at PredictIt is at 21 percent, Harris’ is at 18
percent, and Biden’s is at 17 percent. Doody said that Biden has strong
poll numbers, but faces “some significant hurdles,” citing his age, the
fact Biden is “an old white man in a party whose energy is behind women,
people of color and generational change,” and his lengthy time in politics,
Sununu Praises Biden, Criticizes Obama Over “New Blood” Remarks.

Mediaite
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=005-797&t=c>
(1/14, Howe) reported that during a Monday appearance on Fox News, ex-Gov.
John Sununu (R-NH) blasted “millennials and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
(D-NY) in a rowdy pushback against former President Barack Obama” over his
“recent remarks about the Democrats needing ‘new blood’ and an op-ed from
the New York Times over the weekend pitching a Joe Biden run in 2020.”
Asked about Obama’s remarks, Sununu said, “Look, if I were Joe Biden, I
would tell Obama to button his lip and butt out of the process.” Sununu
added, “If Obama was referring to the quantitatively illiterate millennials
who don’t know the difference between a million, billion, or a trillion,
like Ocasio Cortez, or perhaps to the anti-Catholic wing of the Democratic
party like [Sen.] Kamala Harris (D-CA), the Republicans are thrilled to
have him stick his nose where it ought not to be.” The report said Sununu
offered “a good deal of praise for Biden, saying he’s underestimated as a
2020 candidate.”

*Brownstein: Questions About Aging Democratic Leadership
Potentially Problematic For Biden. *In an online “analysis” for CNN
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=006-0c0&t=c>
(1/15), Ronald Brownstein says that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer “didn’t do any favors for Joe Biden with
their televised response to President Donald Trump’s immigration speech
last week,” as “the stiff and widely panned televised response from the two
leaders – an instant target for late-night comics – quickly reopened
questions about whether the Democrats’ national leadership is too old.
That’s not a helpful backdrop for Biden, 76, as he” mulls a 2020 White
House run at a time when “almost all of the Democrats’ most familiar and
powerful faces are graying while” the party “is growing more reliant on
younger voters to win elections. That disjuncture is likely to sharpen
questions about whether Democrats can maximize mobilization of their
increasingly youthful coalition without a leadership that better reflects
it.”
Seib: 2018 Data Shows Centrist, Middle-Aged Democratic Voters May Be Key In
2020.

In his Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=007-e2b&t=c>
(1/14) column, Gerald Seib said a narrative is being pushed that young,
liberal voters are the key demographic in the Democratic Party. However,
Seib said that in the 2018 elections, AP VoteCast found that at 36%, the
biggest slice of Democratic voters were those ranging from 45-64 years of
age and that 60% of all Democratic voters were at least 45 years old. In
addition, nearly half of Democratic voters said they were either moderate
or conservative. Seib said those findings suggest that former Vice
President Joe Biden, from both a generational and ideological perspective,
could be an appealing choice for general election voters in key Midwest and
Rust Belt states.
Sharpton Open To Backing Biden Or Bloomberg In 2020 Democratic Race.

Writing for The Atlantic
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=008-180&t=c>
(1/14), Edward-Isaac Dovere says that in the 2020 Democratic presidential
race, the Rev. Al Sharpton “wants to be both kingmaker and validator.” He
“has already been flexing that power behind the scenes,” meeting and
talking with a number of prospective candidates. This coming “Monday will
be the biggest public showcase yet: Michael Bloomberg will join Joe Biden
at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration in Washington, D.C., held by
Sharpton’s advocacy organization, the National Action Network.” In an
interview, Sharpton said “he’s open to eventually backing either Bloomberg,
despite the former New York City mayor’s stop-and-frisk policy that was
found to have disproportionately harassed young African American men, or
Biden, despite” his backing of the “crime bill that included severe
penalties that put millions of African Americans behind bars.”
WPost’s Rubin Says Biden Far From A Lock To Win 2020 Democratic Nomination.

Writing for the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=009-b0b&t=c>
(1/14), Jennifer Rubin takes issue with former Vice President Joe Biden’s
reported claim that “he thinks he’s the only one who could” defeat
President Trump in 2020, “or, more generously, that if he saw someone else
who could win, he’d stay out” of the race. Rubin says that Trump might not
even be the GOP nominee in 2020, and if that happens, “many, many Democrats
could conceivably win” the race. Rubin also says that Biden has a number of
“minuses,” ranging “from his support of the Iraq War to his age to his past
coziness with the banking industry...to his chairing the Anita Hill
hearings during Clarence Thomas’s Supreme Court confirmation.” Rubin adds
that Biden “should consider the argument that ‘only I can fix’ the
Democratic Party and the presidency. It’s just not true, and it’s likely to
be greeted as a variation on Hillary Clinton’s assumption of
inevitability.”

*Cox Media Group Analysis: Biden’s “Decades Of Public Service” A
Double-Edged Sword. *Under the headline “Is Joe Biden Running For President
In 2020?”, Cox Media Group
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=00a-d85&t=c>
(1/14, Lord) reports on Biden’s potential White House bid, saying that he
“has consistently been at the top of surveys asking Democratic voters who
they would vote for.” The report adds that a “big advantage Biden would
have in a 2020 run for the White House is decades of public service,” which
brings with it “supporters with deep pockets and a name that people
recognize. It also comes with baggage,” including Biden’s “treatment of
Anita Hill during the 1991 confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Clarence
Thomas,” which “rankles women still and was stirred up once again during
the confirmation hearing of Justice Brett Kavanaugh last fall.”

*Writer Says Biden’s “Brand Characteristics” May Be Problematic In
2020 Race. *Writing at Newsmax
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=00b-a7c&t=c>
(1/14), Dr. John Tantillo, “a marketing and branding expert,” said that
Biden “on the surface appears to offer a brand that can do very well in the
2020 presidential sweepstakes,” but there are a number of “Biden brand
characteristics that might not be the best alternative to” defeating
President Trump. Tantillo cited Biden’s “age,” “health,” “experience,” and
“political philosophy.”
Fox News Op-eds Highlight Frank Biden’s Criticism Of Clinton’s 2016
Campaign.

In his column on the website of Fox News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=00c-a6c&t=c>
(1/14), Todd Starnes said “that some members of former Vice President Joe
Biden’s family voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.”
Starnes quoted Biden’s brother, Frank Biden, as recently telling the Palm
Beach Post, “We never would have lost Pennsylvania, and all my relatives –
the Finnegan family – who voted for Donald Trump because they felt slighted
by Hillary and her campaign.” Starnes also highlighted that Frank Biden
criticized Hillary Clinton for “declaring a whole swath of people
‘deplorables.’” Starnes wrote that Joe Biden “took the insults even further
during a speech to the Human Rights Campaign when he called the so-called
deplorables the ‘dregs of society.’ I wonder if Biden knew at the time of
his address that he was related to a good many of those so-called dregs?”

In an op-ed on the website of Fox News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=00d-1ca&t=c>
(1/15), former GOP operative Lauren DeBellis Appell also highlights Frank
Biden’s remarks that “the former vice president’s Pennsylvania family ‘felt
slighted’ by Hillary Clinton” over her “basketful of Deplorables” comment
during the 2016 race. Since the 2016 election, says Appell, “Democrats have
chartered a course and it’s full speed ahead, rebranding themselves as the
party of far-left radicalism. Frank Biden is not alone when he says: ‘My
personal politics are not as far left as many of the candidates seem to
be.’”
Native Americans Upset With Trump Over Tweet Mocking Warren.

The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=00e-df8&t=c>
(1/14, Caron) reports, “It’s been more than a century since the Wounded
Knee massacre and the Battle of Little Bighorn, but both of these notorious
conflicts were thrust into a national conversation about Native Americans
and race” on Sunday after President Trump took to Twitter to mock Sen.
Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) over an Instagram video she “posted on Dec. 31, the
same day she entered the 2020 race for president,” in which she “drank a
beer in her kitchen and complimented her husband.” Trump, “who has
repeatedly referred to Ms. Warren as ‘Pocahontas,’ did so again” in his
tweet
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=00f-dae&t=c>,
adding “that if Ms. Warren ‘did this commercial from Bighorn or Wounded
Knee instead of her kitchen, with her husband dressed in full Indian garb,
it would have been a smash!’” The Times says Trump “faced swift criticism
from Native Americans.”

*Steinhauser Calls New Hampshire A “Must-Win” State For Warren. *The
Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=010-872&t=c>
(1/14, Bonn) reported that veteran political reporter Paul Steinhauser on
Monday called New Hampshire “a ‘must win’ state for” Warren, “arguing that
Massachusetts candidates have a history of winning in the state’s prized
first-in-the-nation primary. ‘Let’s be honest, New Hampshire is a must-win
state for her,’ Steinhauser” said during an interview with Hill. TV. He
added, “She comes from neighboring Massachusetts, we have a history here of
Massachusetts candidates winning the primaries.” Steinhauser cited the New
Hampshire primary wins of former Govs. Michael Dukakis (D-MA) and Mitt
Romney (R-MA),
AP: Sources Say Gillibrand To Form Presidential Exploratory Committee.

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=011-85c&t=c>
(1/14, Summers) reports that Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) “is expected to
move toward launching a 2020 presidential campaign within days by forming
an exploratory committee, according to several” sources. Gillibrand “will
likely announce her intentions ahead of a trip to Iowa this weekend, one
person said. She will be a guest Tuesday night on CBS’ ‘The Late Show with
Stephen Colbert.’” Drawing from the AP dispatch, the New York Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=012-d7e&t=c>
(1/14, Tacopino) also reports on the story.
Sanders To Meet With Ex-2016 Campaign Staff On Harassment, Sexism
Allegations.

The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=013-a17&t=c>
(1/14, Ember, Benner) reports that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT),
“accelerating his efforts to contain the damage from reports of sexism and
harassment during his 2016 presidential campaign, plans to meet on
Wednesday with a group of former staff members seeking assurances of better
practices if he runs again in 2020.” Wednesday’s meeting, “which will be
held in Washington, will focus on the treatment of women going forward,”
according to sources. During “the last two weeks, The New York Times and
Politico have published reports with accounts of harassment and
discrimination from former workers in Mr. Sanders’s 2016 campaign. Mr.
Sanders has twice apologized publicly to women who were mistreated, and
promised to do better if he runs again.”

BuzzFeed News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=014-1bb&t=c>
(1/14, Cramer) reported, “The Wednesday meeting, aides have said, will be
an opportunity for” Sanders “to hear directly from the women who worked for
a campaign that was hastily constructed and run mostly by men, without a
traditional human resources department. The meeting follows a formal
request from a group of men and women who worked on the 2016 campaign,
specifically on ‘the issue of sexual violence and harassment on the 2016
campaign, for the purpose of planning to mitigate the issue in the upcoming
presidential cycle.’”

*Sanders To Reintroduce Legislation To Raise Federal Minimum Wage
To $15 Per Hour. *Fox Business
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=015-693&t=c>
(1/14, De Lea) reported on its website that Sanders plans to reintroduce
legislation to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour. CNBC
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=016-f81&t=c>
(1/14, Chappell) reported on its website that Sanders on Monday said that
he will reintroduce a bill to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per
hour. In a tweet, Sanders said, “The federal minimum wage of $7.25 is a
starvation wage. If you work 40 hours a week, you should not live in
poverty.” He “introduced similar legislation in 2015 and 2017, but both
bills were stalled in Congress.”
Gabbard’s Past Stances On LGBT Issues Drawing Scrutiny.

In an online article, ABC News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=017-557&t=c>
(1/14, Verhovek) reported that Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), “who announced
over the weekend that she is running for president in 2020, is facing
renewed scrutiny over her past comments on LGBT issues and a controversial
meeting with Syrian leader Bashar Al-Assad.” ABC added, “A review
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=018-48a&t=c>
of Gabbard’s past political engagements published by CNN’s KFile found that
while Gabbard was running for the state legislature at the age of 21, she
touted work she did alongside her father to help pass a constitutional
amendment to ban same-sex marriage in Hawaii.” CNN “also found that the
group led by Mike Gabbard supported the practice of conversion therapy,
which treats homosexuality as a mental illness.” In response to the CNN
story, Gabbard said, “I regret the positions I took in the past, and the
things I said. I’m grateful for those in the LGBTQ+ community who have
shared their aloha with me throughout my personal journey.”

CQ Roll Call
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=019-2f5&t=c>
(1/14, Connolly) further quoted Gabbard as saying, “Over the past six years
in Congress, I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to help work
toward passing legislation that ensures equal rights and protections on
LGBTQ+ issues. Much work remains to ensure equality and civil rights
protections for LGBTQ+ Americans and if elected President, I will continue
to fight for equal rights for all.”

*Daily Beast: “Far Right And Conservative Media” Big Fans Of
Gabbard. *Under the headline “Why Conservative Media And The Far Right Love
Tulsi Gabbard For President,” the Daily Beast
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=01a-3fa&t=c>
(1/15, Tani, Weill) reports that Gabbard “has an unexpected base of
support: The far right and conservative media.” Though she held “familiar
Democratic positions on environmental issues, health care, and gun control,
Gabbard was a frequent critic of President Obama’s foreign policy, met with
Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, and has questioned whether he used
chemical weapons on his own citizens.” She “first became an in-demand Fox
News guest in 2015 after she criticized Barack Obama’s unwillingness to use
the label ‘radical Islamic terrorism.’ Her media tour explaining that
position earned her positively-tilted coverage in right-wing outlets like
Breitbart and The Daily Caller – a trend that continued when she later
expressed skepticism of Obama’s Iran nuclear deal.”
Pro-Trump Oppo Research Group Collecting Info On Brown’s Wife.

BuzzFeed News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=01b-b82&t=c>
(1/14, Gomez) reported, “The leading opposition research group for national
Republicans is digging into the career of Connie Schultz, the wife” of
potential 2020 White House hopeful Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH). The
revelation “underscores how visible Schultz – a prominent journalist
successful in her own right – would be in any campaign.” The article said,
“Two days after Brown won” reelection in the 2018 midterms, “an operative
for America Rising sent a public records request to Kent State University,
where Schultz teaches several journalism courses,” seeking her “contracts
and performance evaluations.” The group “has roots in the Republican
establishment and is partnering with President Donald Trump’s allies to
attack Democratic contenders as the 2020 race begins. By going after
Schultz’s Kent State records, the group has signaled it will comb for
information on spouses who have worked on government payrolls and at
taxpayer funded institutions like state colleges.”
Leading the News
Trump Makes Case For Border Wall In Speech To Farm Bureau.

Coverage of President Trump’s speech Monday to the American Farm Bureau
Federation’s 100th annual convention in New Orleans focuses heavily on his
comments concerning the ongoing partial government shutdown and his demand
for a wall on the US-Mexico border. Media reporting, which is heavy,
describes Trump as digging in on his demands in an effort to maintain
pressure on Democrats to make a deal, even as polls show he is getting much
of the blame for the impasse.

Fox News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=01c-51f&t=c>
(1/14, O'Reilly) says on its website that Trump used the address “to dig in
on his call for a border wall, even as new polling indicates most Americans
oppose his administration’s strategy,” and Lester Holt reported on NBC
Nightly News[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=01d-fc4&t=c>
(1/14, story 3, 0:45) Trump “sounded more dug in than ever.” WGMB-TV[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=01e-79d&t=c>
Baton Rouge, LA (1/14, 9:04 p.m. CST) reported Trump “bill[ed] himself a
friend of the farmer. ... Alongside talk of crops rising from the earth, a
continued call to root a wall at the southern border.” Trump was shown
saying, “Wheels work, and walls work. There are some things you can’t beat.
So, I am asking all of our citizens to call their Democratic lawmakers and
ask them to pass a bill that secures our border, protects our country, and
now reopens our government, because as soon as they do that, we reopen our
government. You would think that would be a very simple task.” KARD-TV[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=01f-70e&t=c>
West Monroe, LA (1/14, 9:14 p.m. CST) reported Trump “addressed the partial
government shutdown and spent a lot of time talking about what he called
the humanitarian and security crisis at the southern border and how a wall
or border is the answer. He then tied the issue into legal immigration,
saying farmers heavily depend on the guest worker program. However, the
guest worker program is on hold because of the government shutdown.”’

On its website, NPR
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=020-435&t=c>
(1/14, Horsley) says Trump “devoted much of his speech to the ongoing
stalemate over the border wall.” WVUE-TV[image: Image removed by sender.
Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=021-799&t=c>
New Orleans (1/14, 9:01 p.m. CST) showed Dillard University political
analyst Robert Collins, Ph.D. saying, “He spent most of the speech today
actually talking about immigration and the border wall, which is
interesting since it was a speech to the farm bureau. Now, he did include
farming issues in there but i think the President’s number one policy
priority right now is the wall and immigration.”

The New Orleans Times-Picayune
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=022-14f&t=c>
(1/14, Litten) reports Trump “railed against illegal border
crossings...although he promised to fix an immigration system the
agriculture sector relies upon for migrant labor.” Trump “spent much of his
speech talking up border security, including his proposed border wall, and
enhanced drug detection technology.” He argued the wall would help keep out
the “2 percent” of illegal immigrants who commit crimes. Said Trump, “Those
2 percent are not going to make America great again. ... This is common
sense: Do you think the country is giving us their finest? They’re giving
us the opposite of their finest.” The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=023-346&t=c>
(1/14, Lucey, Superville) says Trump “kept his hard line...on the partial
government shutdown.” He said, “When it comes to keeping the American
people safe, I will never, ever back down.”

Fox News chief White House correspondent John Roberts said on Fox
News’ Special Report[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=024-929&t=c>
(1/14) in New Orleans, Trump “tried to keep up the pressure on Democrats to
make a deal on border security and reopen the government. ... In a speech
to the Farm Bureau attempting to flip the script and blame Democrats for
federal workers not getting their paychecks.” The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=025-72b&t=c>
(1/14, Boyer) reports the President said Democrats are playing politics
with border security, and argued the only reason they oppose the wall “is
that they want to make him break his 2016 campaign promise to build it.”
Trump said, “They are only doing this because of the 2020 election. … They
view this as a political thing. I’m not doing it for that reason. I’m doing
it because we have to do it – it’s common sense.”

The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=026-5f6&t=c>
(1/14, Samuels) reports that Trump “touched on trade negotiations,
deregulation and how the shutdown is affecting farmers,” but “much of the
hourlong speech, however, was devoted to the need for border
security.” The Washington
Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=027-a98&t=c>
(1/14, Quinn) reports Trump used the address “to tout his government’s
accomplishments, even though his biggest campaign promise – a border wall –
remains out of reach.” Trump said, “I said I’m going to build the wall and
I’m going to build the wall. And it’s only one of many things that I
promised.” He added, “I mean if you look at – got you the biggest tax cut
beyond the Ronald Reagan tax cuts, ANWR, getting rid of the individual
mandate, the biggest cuts in regulations in the history of our country. And
we’re going further.”

Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=028-bb5&t=c>
(1/14, Huffstutter) reports farmers were “hoping for an update on a White
House trade war with China that has left them struggling,” while the Wall
Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=029-961&t=c>
(1/14, Davis, Leary) reports before the speech, Trump told reporters,
“We’re doing very well with China. They’re having a hard time with their
economy because of the tariffs.” He also said, “I think we’re going to be
able to do a deal with China.” PBS NewsHour
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=02a-6ea&t=c>
(1/14) reports Trump said farmers are “winners from the administration’s
proposed rollback of federal protections for wetlands and waterways across
the country, describing farmers crying in gratitude when he ordered the
change.” PBS adds that “farmers and farmland already are exempt from most
of the regulatory hurdles on behalf of wetlands that the Trump
administration is targeting.”

The New Orleans Times-Picayune
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=02b-33a&t=c>
(1/14, LaRose) also reports the wall and the shutdown “occupied much of his
address,” but adds that he “gave high praise to Sen. John Kennedy, who he
mentioned several times in his speech.” Trump also “made it a point to take
issue with the news media.” Trump further “spoke effusively” of farmers
“and touched on the efforts of his administration to improve the trade and
regulatory landscape for agriculture interests.”

Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=02c-3cf&t=c>
(1/14, McCrimmon) reports the event came “at an awkward time, as farmers
and ranchers begin to feel the pinch of the partial government shutdown.”
Similarly, USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=02d-ed5&t=c>
(1/14, Jackson, Collins) says those in attendance “have felt the full force
of the partial government shutdown,” but Trump “spent more time talking
about border security than about the fallout from the shutdown that has hit
farmers especially hard.”

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=02e-a11&t=c>
(1/14, Nakamura) reports that Trump “offered one exception to his hard-line
immigration stance, promising to allow seasonal farmworkers to more easily
enter the country.” While Trump “spent most of his hour-long
address...defending his decision to shut down the government over the fight
for funding for a border wall,” he “pledged to pursue changes to
immigration laws” that would “actually make it easier for them to help the
farmers because you need these people.” KTBS-TV[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=02f-ff9&t=c>
Shreveport, LA (1/14, 6:29 p.m. CST) reported Trump “said that he
understands that farmers need people to help with harvest he says that
he’ll make it easier for immigrants to enter the country to work on farms.”
Trump: “When we have proper security people aren’t going to come, except
for the people we want to come because we want to take people in to help
our farmers, et cetera. Very important. We are going to make that actually
easier for them to help the farmers because you need these people.”

A Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=030-e69&t=c>
(1/14, Oprysko) report posted Tuesday morning says the President on Monday
“kept up his calls for Democrats to immediately restart funding
negotiations.” Trump “criticized lawmakers for leaving town over the
weekend, reiterating that he was waiting in the White House for Democrats
to return to the negotiating table after talks came to a standstill last
week.” In one tweet
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=031-387&t=c>,
Trump wrote, “I’ve been waiting all weekend. Democrats must get to work
now. Border must be secured!” In another
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=032-7a1&t=c>,
he wrote, “Nancy and Cryin’ Chuck can end the Shutdown in 15 minutes. At
this point it has become their, and the Democrats, fault!”

The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=033-338&t=c>
(1/14, Miller) reports Trump told reporters, “I’ve been here all weekend. A
lot of the Democrats were in Puerto Rico celebrating something, maybe they
were celebrating the shutdown.” The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=034-3a1&t=c>
(1/14, Dinan) adds that the President’s “prime-time plea to Americans to
support his plans for a border wall fell flat, with opposition to the idea
still running strong – and with the public increasingly blaming Mr. Trump
for the government shutdown.” The Times cites polls from Quinnipiac and
CNN.

*Trump Rejects Graham’s Call To Reopen Government While Wall Talks
Continue. *Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=035-772&t=c>
(1/14, Mason) reports the President “rejected a Republican call for
temporarily reopening shuttered US government agencies to encourage
negotiations with Democrats over border security issues.” Sen. Lindsey
Graham (R-SC) on Sunday “urged Trump to reopen the government for a short
period of time in an effort to restart talks. It is an idea that Democrats
have been urging for weeks.” However, as he left the White House for
Louisiana Monday, Trump told reporters, “Well, that was a suggestion that
Lindsey made but I did reject it. ... I want to get it solved, I don’t want
to just delay it.” The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=036-f44&t=c>
(1/14, Wagner) quotes Trump as saying, “I’m not looking to call a national
emergency. ... This is so simple you shouldn’t have to.” The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=037-ff4&t=c>
(1/14, Karni, Haberman) reports Trump “said that he did not want to extend
the impasse over funding for the wall,” but it was not clear “what Mr.
Trump saw as an alternative.”

Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=038-75b&t=c>
(1/14, Restuccia, Bade) reports the President “appeared to rule out – at
least for now – declaring a national emergency to build a wall.” The Los
Angeles Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=039-52f&t=c>
(1/14, Stokols) also reports the President “seemed to back further away
from his threat to declare a national emergency to fund his southern border
wall.” Instead, Trump said that Democrats “should agree on border
security,” and he added, “We should get on with our lives.” CQ Roll Call
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=03a-27c&t=c>
(1/14, Shutt) said that Democrats are “reluctant to give ground,” because
they “are concerned...it would set a precedent for more rounds of dangerous
brinksmanship.” The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=03b-754&t=c>
(1/14, Stolberg) says Senate Republicans “remain in lock step with Mr.
Trump.” Only three – Sens. Cory Gardner (R-CO), Susan Collins (R-ME), and
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) – “have decisively broken with Mr. Trump and called
for the government to reopen without a border wall deal. ... Others are
expressing their unease with caution.” Jennifer Duffy of the Cook Political
Report said, “The question for Republicans up in 2020 is how long can they
let this go on. ... The more uncomfortable they get, the closer they get to
breaking with Trump. But they have to watch the base.”

A Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=03c-39d&t=c>
(1/14, A1, Costa, Sullivan, Werner) analysis says Trump’s “dismissals of
his own party’s calls for compromise and his seeming indifference to
shuttered federal agencies left the snowbound capital paralyzed Monday,
with lawmakers in both parties scrambling to jump-start talks but
increasingly uncertain about Trump’s interest in ending the longest
government shutdown in history.” The Post says the “standstill also
underscored the dysfunction that has gripped Washington since divided
government began this month. Overtures to Trump’s core voters have
dominated the White House’s strategy as Democrats have looked on in
confusion.”

*Rossello Objects To Using Disaster Funds For Wall. *CNN’s New
Day[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=03d-53d&t=c>
(1/14) hosted Puerto Rico’s Gov. Ricardo Rossello. Asked about reports that
the Administration may use “unspent Defense Department disaster recovery
funds for the construction of his border wall,” Rossello said, “My view is
very simple: We’re at the cusp of two routes – you can either choose to
obstruct, which is establishing a wall, or to construct and rebuild the
lives of thousands, if not millions, of US citizens.”

*Hill Says New Fencing Can Only Be Considered After Government Has
Been Reopened. *On CNN’s New Day[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=03e-90c&t=c>
(1/14) Rep. Katie Hill (D-CA) said, “Our biggest priority is getting the
government back open, and we’re willing to come to the table after that and
talk about what the right solutions are around border security and around
immigration reform.” She added, “Exactly what that looks like is what the
debate should be around and we know that it’s not a 2,000-mile long
concrete wall.” Asked about “new fencing,” Hill said, “Only if the
government is open will I even consider such an idea, and it has to be part
of a bigger package.” She also said, “I think everybody across the board
has written off this concept of a wall.”

*Conway: Democrats “Pushing Back” Against “Pelosi’s Claim That
Walls Are Immoral.” *Kellyanne Conway, on Fox News’ Fox & Friends[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=03f-1bb&t=c>
(1/14) said that Sen. Chris Coons “is pushing back as are many other
Democrats privately and publicly on speaker Pelosi’s claim that walls are
immoral.” Conway also said, “We showed up to work today. We’ll negotiate
with anyone. By the way, if Democrats would like some kind of briefing akin
to the one President had with the cameras in the room on Friday, it was
remarkable to hear from the people on the ground.” Asked about the polls
reported above, Conway said that the question should be “how can we get
border security and reopen the government.” She also said, “This is not
just about the barrier. ... We have an 800,000-case backlog in immigration
cases.”

*Polls Show Trump Getting Blame For Shutdown. *Brit Hume said on Fox
News’ Special Report[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=040-36e&t=c>
(1/14), “Mostly, I think people perceive the Republicans as the party that
wants to shrink the government and the Democrats as the party of
governments. It is a natural tendency to blame the Republicans for a
shutdown, especially when their leader, in this case President Trump,
publicly says he will take the blame. He is getting it and it is affecting,
I think, his poll numbers in a way that was basically inevitable.” Bloomberg
News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=041-676&t=c>
(1/14, Kapur) says the President “said a month ago that he’d gladly take
the blame for a government shutdown over his proposed border wall. Polls
show he’s getting it.” The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=042-647&t=c>
(1/14, Muñoz, Dinan) says Trump’s “prime-time plea to Americans to support
his plans for a border wall fell flat, and the public increasingly blames
him for the government shutdown.” Last week’s address failed to “boost
support for Mr. Trump’s wall,” and “Americans aren’t even giving the
president the benefit of the doubt anymore.”

CBS This Morning[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=043-2d3&t=c>
(1/14) reported, “A new CBS News poll shows seven in 10 Americans are
worried about the impact on the economy,” and “nearly half in that poll
blame the President for the shutdown, while 30 percent blame Democrats in
Congress.” NBC’s Today[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=044-07a&t=c>
(1/14, Welker) reported, “A new poll shows more Americans blame the
President and his party for this historic standoff. ... A new Washington
Post/ABC News poll shows the majority of Americans blame the President and
Republicans for the shutdown, 53 percent compared to 29 percent who hold
Democrats responsible.” CNN’s New Day[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=045-ab1&t=c>
(1/14) reported, “A new CNN poll finds that most Americans blame President
Trump for the shutdown and a majority oppose his border wall.”

USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=046-485&t=c>
(1/14, Groppe) reports a Quinnipiac University poll released Monday found
that “close to two-thirds of voters” do not want the President “to use
emergency powers to build a border wall. They do want the rest of the
government reopened while wall funding is negotiated.” According to the
poll, “nearly six in 10 said the wall is not a good use of taxpayer
dollars.” The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=047-146&t=c>
(1/14, Sheffield) reports 69 percent of those polled on The Hill-HarrisX
survey said “they would oppose President Trump declaring an emergency to
build a wall on the Mexican border.” The poll “shows widespread disapproval
for the declaration, with men, women and every racial group surveyed
disapproving. Voters across all regions of the country also were opposed.”

ABC’s Good Morning America[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=048-266&t=c>
(1/14, Bruce) reported, “According to our latest poll
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=049-2e6&t=c>,
53 percent of Americans blame President Trump and Republicans for the
stalemate. Twenty-nine percent blame congressional Democrats.” However,
Breitbart
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=04a-e61&t=c>
(1/14, Binder) points out that the ABC poll “reveals a major shift among
nearly all demographic groups across the country when it comes to support
for a border wall at the southern border.” Last year at this time, “the
poll claimed that only 34 percent of voters supported a wall at the
U.S.-Mexico border. Today, support for the wall has climbed to 42 percent
overall. Most notable, swing voters are increasingly supportive of the
border wall to control immigration.” The number of swing voters supporting
the wall “soared to 40 percent” in this year, marking “an 11 percent
increase in support year-to-year.”

Ben Domenech of The Federalist said on Fox News’ Special Report[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=04b-859&t=c>
(1/14), “This is not about the money. This is about sending a message. A
message in this case by the President to his base that, ‘Yes, I am, after
two years of sort of not dealing with this promise, the biggest promise
that I made, going to deal with this.’ And the message from Democratic
leadership to their base that they are not going to show up in Washington
and have their first act to be to bend over to this President on his
signature issue.”
Foreign Policy
Media Analyses: Rhetoric Eases After Trump-Erdogan Call.

Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=04c-fa7&t=c>
(1/14, Ant) reports President Trump talked with Turkish President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan by phone as the two “tamped down their public rhetoric” and
“took a more conciliatory stance” than the weekend in which Trump warned
that Turkey “risked economic ruin if it defies him.” In a Monday tweet
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=04d-c46&t=c>,
Trump said they spoke about “all matters including our last two weeks of
success in fighting remnants of ISIS” and “economic development between the
US & Turkey – great potential to substantially expand!” The Wall Street
Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=04e-187&t=c>
(1/14, Leary) reports according to the White House, Trump spoke with
Erdogan about the US withdrawal and warned against any attacks on Kurds in
Syria.

The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=04f-5b4&t=c>
(1/14, Boyer, Miller) reports White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders
issued a statement saying, “The president expressed the desire to work
together to address Turkey’s security concerns in northeast Syria while
stressing the importance to the United States that Turkey does not mistreat
the Kurds and other Syrian Democratic Forces with whom we have fought to
defeat ISIS.”

The CBS Evening News[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=050-8e3&t=c>
(1/14, story 6, 2:00, Glor) reported Trump spoke with Erdogan, saying “he’d
agree to a security zone in northern Syria, that is home to US-backed
Kurdish fighters.” CBS (D’Agata) added that areas held by the US-backed,
Kurdish-led militia the Syrian Democratic Forces “could be a contested area
once again when American forces pull out.” Turkey accused the group “of
having links to terrorists on Turkish soil.” While Turkey is promising to
increase attacks against the SDF, “President Trump has threatened to
devastate Turkey economically if it does.”

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=051-3ff&t=c>
(1/14, Fahim) reports Secretary of State Pompeo has been saying that he is
“confident” and “optimistic” about an agreement with Turkey on the US
withdrawal from Syria, “But a pugnacious tweet
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=052-d17&t=c>
from President Trump on Sunday night vowing to ‘devastate’ the Turkish
economy if Ankara attacks US-backed Kurds revealed a much wider chasm
between the two sides.” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu replied
to Trump by saying, “You will not get anywhere by threatening Turkey’s
economy.” On Monday, “Pompeo told reporters in Riyadh that he assumed Trump
meant the United States would levy sanctions on Turkey if it attacked the
Kurds but that he did not know for certain.” Pompeo said, “We want to make
sure that the folks who fought with us to take down the caliphate and ISIS
have security and also that terrorists [in] Syria aren’t able to attack
Turkey – those are our twin aims.”

*AP Analysis: Trump’s Foreign Policy Changes Have Made Difficulties
For Pompeo. *The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=053-197&t=c>
(1/14, Lee) reports President Trump “has repeatedly wreaked havoc with
diplomacy,” with his Administration’s foreign policy adjustments “coming
fast and furious with often no or little warning, making the job of
communicating them that much more difficult.” Monday morning, during his
visit to Saudi Arabia, Secretary of State Pompeo, when asked about Trump’s
tweeted threat to Turkey, said, “I haven’t had a chance to have any
conversations with the Turks as of yet since the president’s tweets went
out,” and added “you would have to ask” Trump what he meant. The tweet
“appeared to throw...into doubt” Pompeo’s confidence, expressed two days
prior, “that US and the Turks would reach an agreement to protect America’s
Kurdish partners.” Meanwhile, throughout his trip Pompeo has had to defend
“the Syria withdrawal while insisting the administration is in it for the
long haul in destroying the Islamic State and combating Iran’s increasing
assertiveness.”
Trump: US “Doing Very Well” In Trade Talks With China.

The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=054-822&t=c>
(1/14, Davis, Leary) reports President Trump on Monday said that China is
feeling the pain from US tariffs, positioning the US well in trade talks.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said, “We’re doing very well with China.
They’re having a hard time with their economy because of the tariffs.” He
added, “We are getting things that before I became president, you would
have had no chance of getting. ... I think we’re going to be able to do a
deal with China.”

*USTR To Continue Trade Talks Despite Lack Of Funding. *The Washington
Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=055-465&t=c>
(1/14, Higgins) reports the USTR’s office said Monday “that it would
continue negotiations for upcoming trade talks despite having run out of
funds due to the federal shutdown.” In a statement, the office said, “USTR
has implemented its lapse in appropriations contingency plan. Excepted
personnel will ensure USTR continues to conduct operations, including trade
negotiations and enforcement.” The Examiner notes that USTR Lighthizer is
set to meet with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He in Washington on Jan. 30 to
begin the latest round of talks.

*China’s Trade Surplus Reached Record In 2018, But Fell In December
Due To Tariffs. *The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=056-36c&t=c>
(1/14, McDonald) reports, “China’s 2018 trade surplus with the United
States surged to a record $323.3 billion, but exports contracted in
December” as President Trump’s “tariff hikes started to hurt demand.”
China’s “exports to the United States in 2018 rose 11.3 percent to $478.4
billion,” while US exports to China “rose just 0.7 percent.” In December,
however, China’s exports to the US “fell 3.5 percent from a year earlier to
$40.3 billion.”

*China’s Slowing Economy Hitting US Companies. *The Wall Street
Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=057-cc1&t=c>
(1/14, Pacheco, Francis) reports Apple recently said China’s slowing
economy contributed to its late-year sales slump, rattling the stocks of
other major US companies with large operations in China. The Journal
cautions that the impact will likely vary among US companies, but China’s
manufacturing sector has declined since late 2017.

*AEI Scholars: US Should Treat China Like Dangerous Rival. *Derek
Scissors and Daniel Blumenthal of the American Enterprise Institute argue
in the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=058-854&t=c>
(1/14, Scissors, Blumenthal) that “China is our only major trade partner
that is also a strategic rival, and we should treat it differently from
friendly countries with whom we have disputes.” Specifically, they say the
US should “impose sanctions on the Chinese beneficiaries of intellectual
property theft and coercion, in cooperation with our allies.” And “rather
than across-the-board tariffs,” Scissors and Blumenthal says “Chinese
companies receiving stolen or coerced intellectual property should not be
allowed to do business with firms in America or, with our allies’
cooperation, in Europe and Japan.”
Bolton Tweet Links To Report Charging Iran Hiding Nuclear Facility.

Under the headline “John Bolton Endorses Report Accusing Iran Of Hiding
Nuclear Facilities,” the Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=059-15a&t=c>
(1/14, Morton) reports “National Security Adviser John Bolton retweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=05a-bea&t=c>,
with apparent approving comment,” an Institute for Science and
International Security “report that accused Iran of fudging its reports to
nuclear-disarmament watchdogs.” According to the report, Iran did not
identify “a former nuclear weapons site under Project 110 of the Amad
Plan.” Bolton tweeted, “The President was right to end horrible Iran deal.
Pressure on Iran to abandon nuclear ambitions will increase.”

*NYTimes Analysis: Unclear Whether Pompeo Made Progress Uniting
Region Against Iran. *The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=05b-3f9&t=c>
(1/14, Wong, Hubbard) reports that in a “barnstorming tour that took him to
eight countries in one week,” Secretary of State Pompeo sought “to get Arab
countries to work together to roll back Iranian influence in the region and
take on the militias Iran is backing. But as the trip drew to a close on
Monday, it was unclear whether he had made any notable progress on that
front.” The Times says “it will be difficult for the Arab nations to work
closely together on anti-Iran policies because of the complexity of
relationships in the region, officials and analysts from those countries
say.”

*Fifteen Dead After Iran Military Plane Overshoots Runway. *NBC
Nightly News[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=05c-4ae&t=c>
(1/14, story 12, 0:10, Holt) reported that fifteen people died and one
survivor was found after a military plane in Iran “overshot the runway and
crashed into a home.”
Pompeo Meets With Saudi Crown Prince.

NBC Nightly News[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=05d-ea1&t=c>
(1/14, story 6, 1:50, Holt) reported Secretary of State Pompeo met with
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday amid tensions over the
murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Pompeo told reporters, “Every single
person who has responsibility for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi needs to be
held accountable.” However, Andrea Mitchell reported the CIA has concluded
that “the crown prince must have known about the plot” and human rights
groups say he is “cracking down on critics.” Mitchell concluded, “No matter
what the Secretary of State says publicly, it’s clear the crown prince has
the support of his friend Jared Kushner and most importantly, President
Trump.”

The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=05e-6fb&t=c>
(1/14, Taylor) reports Pompeo also “defend[ed] Saudi Arabia as a key
strategic partner in isolating Iran, even as he raised concern about
Riyadh’s human rights record” and Khashoggi’s murder. To the Times, the
“delicate dual messaging marked the end of a weeklong diplomatic trip
through the region, where Mr. Pompeo faced a string of tricky geopolitical
challenges.”

A Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=05f-677&t=c>
(1/14) editorial says that after Monday’s meeting with the Saudi king and
crown prince, Pompeo said he had reiterated US “expectations” that “every
single person who has responsibility for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi
needs to be held accountable.” The Post says “that is the right position;
the question is whether Mr. Pompeo and President Trump are serious about
it. Unfortunately, all indications are that they are not.”

*WPost A1: Crackdown On Dissidents, Khashoggi’s Killing Could Make
Saudi Tourism Harder Sell. *The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=060-055&t=c>
(1/14, A1, Fahim) reports on its front page that attractions around the
city of Al-Ula are “the cornerstone of a planned effort to invite foreign
tourists” to Saudi Arabia, beyond the millions of religious pilgrims who
visit the country’s holy sites every year. To the Post, the “ambitious
initiative, led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, would be challenging
in the best of times,” but the government’s crackdown on dissidents and the
killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents further complicates
the plans.

*Saudi Teen Expresses Hope About New Life In Canada. *In an
interview with the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=061-52f&t=c>
(1/14, Porter), “Saudi-turned-Canadian-refugee” Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun said
“she wants to go to college to study architecture,” take English classes,
and “is wondering about how to harness her newfound media stardom.” Said
Alqunun, “I want to do crazy things I’ve never done before.”
Vehicle Bomb Kills At Least Four In Kabul.

The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=062-fcb&t=c>
(1/14, Faizi) reports a vehicle bomb in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan,
“killed at least four people and wounded 90,” according to officials. The
Times adds that the vehicle bomb seems to have detonated at a roundabout,
and it may not have reached its target. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah
Mujahid “said one of its suicide bombers had detonated a truck full of
explosives targeting a compound where foreigners lived.” The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=063-d57&t=c>
(1/14, Horton, Hassan, Salahuddin) reports the Green Village area, where
the blast occurred, “has been the frequent target of attacks because of the
large numbers of foreigners there.”
China Sentences Detained Canadian To Death.

Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=064-88d&t=c>
(1/14, Wen, Shepherd, Ljunggren) reports the Dalian Intermediate People’s
Court in China’s northeast province of Liaoning sentenced Canadian Robert
Lloyd Schellenberg to be executed for drug smuggling, leading “Canada’s
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to accuse China of using the death penalty
arbitrarily.” The situation “could aggravate already sour relations between
Beijing and Ottawa” after Huawei Technologies CFO Meng Wanzhou, was
arrested in Vancouver on a US extradition warrant and China arrested
Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and Canadian consultant Michael Spavor in
what Western diplomats in China’s capital say is “a tit-for-tat reprisal.”
China’s government, also on Monday, “dismissed Trudeau’s statement that
Kovrig enjoyed some form of diplomatic immunity”; a Chinese foreign
ministry spokeswoman “said Trudeau should ‘earnestly study’ the Vienna
Convention governing diplomatic ties so as to ‘not become a laughing
stock.’”

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=065-73e&t=c>
(1/14, Shih, Rauhala) reports Trudeau, “in his strongest-yet statement on
the matter,” said, “It is of extreme concern to us as a government – as it
should be to all our international friends and allies – that China has
chosen to begin to arbitrarily apply a death penalty.” The Chinese
government had taken “the rare step of inviting foreign media to attend”
Schellenberg’s appeal, “prompting speculation that Beijing wanted to use
Schellenberg’s case to exert pressure on Ottawa to free Meng.”

The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=066-f7e&t=c>
(1/14, Buckley) says the Ottawa-Beijing “diplomatic clash...reached its
highest stakes.” While the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs denies
“Schellenberg’s trial and the arrests of Mr. Kovrig and Mr. Spavor have
anything to do with Ms. Meng’s arrest,” Chinese officials, including the
Chinese ambassador to Ottawa, Lu Shaye, “have diluted that argument by
suggesting that their government was engaged in ‘defense’ after the arrest
of Ms. Meng.”

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=067-3b7&t=c>
(1/14, Wang, Bodeen, Gillies) reports Schellenberg’s “sudden retrial”
reversed his earlier sentence of 15 years in prison.

*China Estimated To Execute Thousands. *The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019011501biden&r=email-349e&l=068-f01&t=c>
(1/14, Taylor) reports Amnesty International annually “publishes an
exhaustive report looking at capital punishment around the world,” and it
“suggested that there were possibly ‘thousands of executions carried