Subject: FW: Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing for Wednesday, June 20, 2018
From: "Kathy Chung" <[email-masked]>
To: "Ashley Blazer Biden" <[email-masked]>, "Hunter Biden" <[email-masked]>, "Jill Tracy Biden" <[email-masked]>, "Jimmy Biden" <[email-masked]>, "Valerie Biden Owens" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 20 Jun 2018 09:33:49 -0400

Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing

*From:* Bulletin Intelligence <[email-masked]>
*Sent:* Wednesday, June 20, 2018 7:51 AM
*To:* [email-masked]
*Subject:* Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing for
Wednesday, June 20, 2018

*Click to access
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=000-592&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=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=001-f36&t=c>

*To: Vice President Joe Biden*

*Wednesday, June 20, 2018 8:00 AM EDT*
Today's Table of Contents

*Biden in the News <#SECTION_1>*

• Biden Endorses Abrams’ Bid For Georgia Governor. <#S1>

• Biden Backs Secretary Of State Candidates In Colorado, Nevada. <#S2>

• Biden To Headline Fundraisers For Cordray, Brown In Ohio. <#S3>

*Leading the News <#SECTION_2>*

• Trump Digs In On Family Separations Despite Mounting Criticism. <#S4>

• Trump Says He Would Accept Either House GOP Immigration Bill. <#S5>

*Foreign Policy <#SECTION_3>*

• Navarro: China Has More To Lose Than US In Trade War. <#S6>

• Trump Repeats Claim Immigrants Behind Rising Crime In Germany. <#S7>

• USA Today Poll: Plurality Cautiously Hopeful About Trump Outreach To
North Korea. <#S8>

• Citing Israel Bias, US Withdraws From UN Human Rights Council. <#S9>

• Iran: No Plans To Extend Missile Range, Won’t Negotiate With US. <#S10>

• ISIS Leader Responsible For Oil And Gas Sales Killed In Syria. <#S11>

• Afghan Ceasefire Extension Raises Hopes Of US-Taliban Talks. <#S12>

*Domestic Policy <#SECTION_4>*

• Administration Unveils Association Health Plan Option. <#S13>

• House GOP Releases Plan To Balance Budget, Slash Entitlements. <#S14>

• Colorado Joins California In Challenging EPA Weakening Of Emissions Rules.
<#S15>

• Federal Judge Strikes Down Kansas Voter ID Law. <#S16>

• WPost: HUD Plan To Raise Rent Would Have “Severe” Impact On DC. <#S17>

• Trump: IG Report Shows Clinton “Got Away With” Crimes. <#S18>

• Trump To Hold Rally In Duluth Today. <#S19>

• Richmond, Virginia’s JEB Stewart Elementary School Renamed After Obama.
<#S20>

*Cancer Research <#SECTION_5>*

• Study: Light Drinkers Have Lowest Combined Risk Of Cancer, Premature
Death. <#S21>

• AMPK Could Be Key Driver Of Aggressive Brain Cancer. <#S22>

*Editorials/Op-Eds <#SECTION_6>*

• New York Times. <#S23>

• Washington Post. <#S24>
Biden in the News
Biden Endorses Abrams’ Bid For Georgia Governor.

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=002-3aa&t=c>
(6/20, Barrow) reports that former Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday
endorsed ex-state House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams (D) “in her bid to
become Georgia’s first Democratic governor in 15 years and the nation’s
first-ever black female state executive.” Biden “hailed Abrams in a
statement to [the AP] for her ‘track record of building consensus across
party lines’ while still advancing Democratic priorities like Medicaid
expansion and public education.” The AP adds that while Abrams and Biden
“might seem like unlikely political partners,” the pair “are forming a
campaign alliance that could make perfect sense for both politicians and a
Democratic Party that’s still looking for the right counter arguments in
era of President Donald Trump. She’s styled herself as an unapologetic
progressive.” In the case of Biden, “who prides himself on being a
middle-class advocate who connects even with many Trump voters...the
alliance puts him on record alongside one of the party’s high-profile
up-and-comers.”

        In a broadcast this morning, WTVC-TV[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=003-43e&t=c>
Chattanooga, TN (6/20) Abrams “lands a major endorsement” with Biden’s
backing. WTVC-TV adds that Abrams “is trying to become the first
African-American female to become governor in the US.”
Biden Backs Secretary Of State Candidates In Colorado, Nevada.

Colorado Politics
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=004-94b&t=c>
(6/19, Harden) reported that former Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday
endorsed ex-Obama campaign aide Jena Griswold (D) in her general election
matchup against Secretary of State Wayne Williams (R), “saying the attorney
‘understands the importance of making sure every vote counts.’” Griswold
“called it an honor to win Biden’s endorsement, adding: ‘In the era of
Donald Trump, it is critical that we elect people who will protect our
democracy. I am running to stand up for all Coloradans’ voting rights...and
to expand voter participation.’” Griswold was among a group of
voter-protections attorneys who worked on the 2012 Obama campaign.

        Meanwhile, the AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=005-5da&t=c>
(6/19) reports that Biden on Tuesday endorsed state Assemblyman Nelson
Araujo’s (D) bid to unseat Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske (R). The AP
adds that Biden “says in a statement that Araujo protected small businesses
and first-responders as a member of the Nevada Assembly and will defend the
right to free and fair elections as secretary of state.” KRNV-TV[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=006-e8e&t=c>
Reno, NV (6/19) broadcast a similar report about the Araujo endorsement,
echoing the AP dispatch.
Biden To Headline Fundraisers For Cordray, Brown In Ohio.

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=007-f49&t=c>
(6/19) reports that former Vice President Joe Biden will travel to
Cincinnati on June 29 to raise cash for ex-CFPB chief Richard Cordray’s (D)
bid to succeed term-limited Gov. John Kasich (R). The AP says that Biden
“endorsed Cordray after he won” last month’s Democratic gubernatorial
primary “and touted Cordray’s work at the Consumer Financial Protection
Bureau, where he was appointed director by President Barack Obama.” Cordray
is battling state Attorney General Mike DeWine (R) in the general election.
WEWS-TV
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=008-d40&t=c>
Cleveland (6/19) reported that Biden “endorsed Cordray last month after he
won the nomination, calling him ‘smart, principled, pragmatic, and a
fighter.’”

        The Cincinnati Enquirer
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=009-6cc&t=c>
(6/19, Thompson) reports, “After his stop in Cincinnati, Biden plans to
travel to Cleveland for a fundraiser” benefiting the reelection campaign of
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D), who is being challenged this fall by Rep. Jim
Renacci (R). WCPO-TV
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=00a-e95&t=c>
Cincinnati (6/19), WLIO-TV
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=00b-516&t=c>
Lima, OH (6/19), WXIX-TV
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=00c-47a&t=c>
Cincinnati (6/19) and WTTE-TV
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=00d-82d&t=c>
Columbus, OH (6/19) broadcast similar reports on Biden’s slated visit to
Ohio.
Leading the News
Trump Digs In On Family Separations Despite Mounting Criticism.

Despite what Lester Holt described in the lead story for NBC Nightly
News[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=00e-024&t=c>
(6/19, lead story, 3:20) as “growing bipartisan distress and outrage over
migrant families being separated at the southern border threatening to
engulf the White House,” in a series of tweets early Tuesday morning, and
in a speech to the NFIB later in the day, President Trump reinforced the
“zero tolerance” policy, arguing that Democrats are to blame for loopholes
in the law that require the separations. Later Tuesday evening, Trump met
with House Republicans at the Capitol where he did not address the family
separation controversy but called on lawmakers to fix the immigration
system. The Administration’s position continues to receive heavy – and
overwhelmingly negative – media coverage.

        Early Tuesday, Trump tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=00f-822&t=c>,
“If you don’t have Borders, you don’t have a Country!” He immediately
followed that tweet with another
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=010-1d8&t=c>
saying, “Democrats are the problem. They don’t care about crime and want
illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest
our Country, like MS-13. They can’t win on their terrible policies, so they
view them as potential voters!” A few minutes later, Trump tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=011-ace&t=c>,
“We must always arrest people coming into our Country illegally. Of the
12,000 children, 10,000 are being sent by their parents on a very dangerous
trip, and only 2000 are with their parents, many of whom have tried to
enter our Country illegally on numerous occasions.” A few minutes after
that, he tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=012-82b&t=c>,
“#CHANGETHELAWS Now is the best opportunity ever for Congress to change the
ridiculous and obsolete laws on immigration. Get it done, always keeping in
mind that we must have strong border security.”

        Kristen Welker said on NBC Nightly News[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=013-95f&t=c>
(6/19, story 4, 2:30, Holt) that Trump is “defiant and digging in” despite
“mounting outrage.” Welker described Trump’s speech to the NFIB as “a
campaign style stem-winder earlier,” which he delivered “to thunderous
applause.” Cecilia Vega said on ABC World News Tonight[image: Image removed
by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=014-a21&t=c>
(6/19, story 2, 4:10, Muir) that with the White House “engulfed in
controversy,” Trump launched “a forceful defense of his policy to separate
migrant children from their parents.” Ed O’Keefe said in the lead story for
the CBS Evening News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=015-719&t=c>
(6/19, lead story, 3:10, Glor) that Trump “made clear he isn’t budging on
his decision to separate adults who enter the country illegally from their
children.”

        Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=016-d0c&t=c>
(6/19, Lynch) says that in his remarks, Trump “tried again to blame
Democrats for what he called ‘loopholes’ in the law that require families
detained for entering the country illegally either to be separated or
released.” Trump said, “These are crippling loopholes that cause family
separation, which we don’t want.” Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=017-437&t=c>
(6/19, Nelson) reports that Trump “dug in on his administration’s
much-derided talking points.” Trump told the group, “We want to solve this
problem, we want to solve family separation. I don’t want children taken
away from parents and when you prosecute the parents for coming in
illegally, which should happen, you have to take the children away. ...
Now, we don’t have to prosecute them but then we’re not prosecuting them
for coming in illegally. That’s not good.”

        The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=018-abb&t=c>
(6/19, Dinan) says Trump “portrayed the situation on the border as a choice
between catch-and-release, where parents arrive with children and get
released into the interior, or between his get-tough enforcement policy,
which involves using the criminal law to charge people who jump the
border.” Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=019-35c&t=c>
(6/19, Pettypiece, Litvan) reports that in his speech, Trump said he has
“only two options” for immigration enforcement, either “totally open
borders or criminal prosecution for law-breaking.” Rep. Ruben Gallego said
on CNN’s Situation Room
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=01a-db6&t=c>
(6/19), “Either the President is lying or he has no clue what he is talking
about when he talks about immigration enforcement. ... There’s so many
ways. The problem is the President doesn’t want to look at those other
options. He wants a political situation, number one, to get his vote out,
but number two, to basically hold these kids hostage.”

        The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=01b-5dd&t=c>
(6/19, Fabian) reports that Trump “said the ‘fake news’ reports about
children being separated from their families at the border are aiding human
traffickers.” Breitbart
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=01c-0a5&t=c>
(6/19, Spiering) quotes Trump as saying, “The fake news media back there
doesn’t talk about that. They are fake. ... They are helping these
smugglers and these traffickers like nobody would believe. They know it,
they know exactly what they’re doing, and it should be stopped.” The Daily
Caller
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=01d-c1e&t=c>
(6/19, Johnson) says the audience “applauded and cheered at the line.”

        *Fact Check: Policy Of Separating Families At Border Is Not Law. *The
Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=01e-41e&t=c>
(6/19, Rizzo) fact-checks Administration claims that “US laws or court
rulings are forcing them to separate families who are caught trying to
cross the southern border.” The Post says “these claims are false,” adding
that immigrant families “are being separated primarily because the Trump
administration in April began to prosecute as many border-crossing offenses
as possible.” Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=01f-ca0&t=c>
(6/19, Nelson) says Trump aides “are struggling to defend their talking
points on the furor over the administration’s practice of separating
families who enter the US illegally, with officials and spokespeople
engaging in heated exchanges with little backing from congressional
Republicans.” They have “faced fierce blowback during interviews and press
briefings, and fact checks have piled up discrediting the Trump
administration’s justifications.”

        Nonetheless, CQ Roll Call
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=020-91b&t=c>
(6/19, Bennett) reports that Trump “on Tuesday repeated his false claim
that Democrats are solely responsible for his decision to separate migrant
children from their parents when they attempt to illegally enter the United
States,” a line he “has been using...for the last week.” Similarly, on ABC
World News Tonight
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=021-f3a&t=c>
(6/19, story 2, 4:10, Muir), Cecilia Vega said Trump “repeat[ed] the false
claim that the law requires the separation, even though there is no law.
This is his policy.” Vega added that Trump is also “still falsely placing
blame squarely on the Democrats.”

        The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=022-076&t=c>
(6/19, Parker) says Trump “has been outdoing even himself with falsehoods
in recent days, repeating and amplifying bogus claims on several of the
most pressing controversies facing his presidency.” According to the Post,
since Saturday, the President “has tweeted false or misleading information
at least seven times on the topic of immigration and at least six times on
a Justice Department inspector general report into the FBI’s handling of
its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server.” The Post
adds that the figures do not “include falsehoods on other issues, whether
in tweets or public remarks.”

        *Sessions: Administration Does Not Want To Separate Parents,
Children. *In an op-ed for USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=023-7bd&t=c>
(6/19), Attorney General Sessions writes that the Administration does not
“want to separate parents from their children.” Sessions adds that the
Administration wants “a safe, lawful system of immigration that would end
this question altogether,” and “to build a wall to prevent illegal entry.
Congress could make that happen quickly – and they should.”

        *Border Issue Highlights “Awkward Alliance” Between Trump,
Sessions. *USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=024-7fa&t=c>
(6/19, Johnson) says Sessions, “the architect of the Administration’s ‘zero
tolerance policy,’” has been “the most forceful and consistent advocate for
the strategy in the face of a growing political firestorm.” Sessions “has
been an unflinching crusader, even as the campaign in opposition has
denounced it as immoral.” This, “at a time when his relationship with the
White House remains fraught.” While Trump “has openly belittled Sessions as
weak and disloyal for his decision to recuse himself from managing the
ongoing investigation into Russia interference in the 2016 election,” the
“border has once again highlighted an awkward alliance in which Sessions
again has been thrust into the harsh political spotlight – this time as a
willing partner.”

        The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=025-1d9&t=c>
(6/19, Miroff, Horwitz) reports that the idea of stepping up prosecutions
and separating families was conceived in 2014, but top Obama Administration
officials put the idea “into a drawer, like a blueprint for a weapon too
terrible to use.” When Trump took office, his Administration was “willing
to go deep into the government’s immigration enforcement arsenal – even at
the risk of triggering a political and humanitarian crisis.” The Post says
Trump, Sessions, White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller, and
Chief of Staff Kelly “played crucial roles in resurrecting the proposal and
making it actionable.”

        *McConnell: Senate GOP United Behind Plan To End Family
Separations. *The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=026-4cc&t=c>
(6/19, A1, Shear, Stolberg, Kaplan) reports that Republican senators moved
to “defuse a political crisis by seeking passage of legislation” that would
end the practice of separating families. Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell said that “all of the members of the Republican conference
support a plan that keeps families together.” McConnell added that “he
planned to reach out to Democrats to support the effort, hoping to stanch
the political damage from [the] administration policy.” However, Senate
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer “immediately shot down the Republican
approach, saying that Mr. Trump could — and should — use his executive
authority, not legislation, to quickly end the family separations.”

        Jonah Goldberg of National Review said on Fox News’ Special
Report[image:
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<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=027-f14&t=c>
(6/19), “I am pretty grateful to Chuck Schumer because it’s nice to know
that Washington on a bipartisan basis is living down to my expectations.
This White House has handled this issue in terms of messaging and politics
about as badly as I’ve seen any issue be handled. ... It’s great to see
that the Democrats are coming forward and saying no, we don’t want to do
anything that would solve the problem. We want to focus on Trump at all
times.”

        *Cruz’s Stance On “Zero Tolerance” Policy Has Softened. *The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=028-0ed&t=c>
(6/19, Weissert) describes “a dramatic about-face” by Sen. Ted Cruz on the
“zero tolerance” policy. Initially, Cruz “blasted criticism of the White
House crackdown,” but he has “softened substantially.” Cruz told reporters
on Tuesday, “All of us are horrified at the images we’re seeing.” The AP
calls it “striking that a leading conservative insurgent could flip-flop in
a deep-red state where hardline immigration policies are exceedingly
popular,” but adds that “the change underscores the chorus of politicians
and civic and religious leaders from both parties across the county who say
such measures are unacceptable — even as the Trump administration has vowed
to stand by them.”

        Guy Benson writes on Townhall
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=029-d9c&t=c>
(6/19, Benson) that “political observers are expressing surprise” that
Cruz, who has presented himself “as one of the most ‘anti-amnesty’ members
of Congress,” is “breaking with the president on this issue.” Benson
suggests “three explanatory factors.” First, Cruz is “a father of two young
girls.” Second, he is “up for re-election in a border state this year, and
a quick perusal of the public polling on this situation demonstrates how
gruesome the numbers are on the president’s new zero tolerance policy.”
Finally, the White House’s position “is that Congress must address the
problem through legislative action; Cruz, and other Republicans, can frame
their proposals as responses to the president’s call.”

        *NYTimes: Nielsen Shields Administration From Criticism Of
Immigration Policy. *The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=02a-ff4&t=c>
(6/19, Williamson, Nixon) reports that last month, DHS Secretary Nielsen
“drafted a resignation letter after being berated by President Trump over
what he saw as her tepid support for his tough immigration policies,
according to two people familiar with the episode.” This week, amid “images
of children in cages after they had been separated from their families at
the Southwest border,” she “served as a shield for the Trump administration
against global criticism for its hard-line attempts to discourage illegal
immigration.” The Times adds that her “comments to reporters at the White
House on Monday appeared to appease Mr. Trump, who on Tuesday night said
she ‘did a fabulous job.’”

        *Protesters Harass Nielsen At DC Restaurant. *The Washington
Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=02b-989&t=c>
(6/19, Datoc) reports that activists with the Washington, DC chapter of the
Democratic Socialists of America “surrounded Nielsen’s corner table at MXDC
Cocina Mexicana,” yesterday. They “chanted about Nielsen and the Trump
administration’s zero tolerance policy for illegal immigrants,” and called
her a “fascist pig.” DC police were called to the restaurant. The Examiner
says it was unclear “if protesters drove Nielsen from the restaurant before
her meal was completed, but a video of her leaving was posted to Twitter
shortly afterward.”

        *Homan: Families Who Break Law Are To Blame For Separations. *Acting
ICE Director Tom Homan said on CNN’s Situation Room[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=02c-de4&t=c>
(6/19), “If the parents don’t want to be separated from their children,
then enter through a port of entry through the legal system. When you
choose intentionally to violate the laws of this country and enter
illegally, you put yourself in that position. ... So if you want to blame
somebody for separating families, blame the parents who choose to break the
law.”

        *Nelson, Wasserman Schultz Barred From Entering Facility Housing
Migrant Children. *The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=02d-a91&t=c>
(6/19, Replogle, Fox) reports that Sen. Bill Nelson has “accused the Trump
administration of a ‘cover-up’ after officials denied him entry Tuesday to
a detention center for migrant children in South Florida.” According to the
AP, Nelson and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz “went to the contractor-run
Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children following reports it
was receiving detained migrant children who had arrived in the country
illegally.” Nelson says Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Eric
Hargan “told him it would take two weeks for them to get access.” The Miami
Herald
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=02e-51f&t=c>
(6/19, Smiley, Medina) says Nelson, Wasserman Schultz and state Rep. Kionne
McGhee “planned to tour the facilities, even get some video as they hoped
to see the conditions in which children are being held.”

        *NBC News: Administration Could Be Creating “Orphaned
Immigrants.” *Jacob
Soberoff reported on NBC Nightly News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=02f-3da&t=c>
(6/19, story 2, 1:15, Holt) that while the Administration “has told us that
these separations are temporary,” the Administration “may be creating a
significant group of orphaned immigrants. We talked last night about that
tear sheet. A former ICE official tells NBC News that the Trump
Administration could create permanent separations while these children are
staying here in this facility, and parents are deported to their home
countries.”

        *McClatchy: US Has Lost Track Of 6,000 Unaccompanied Migrant
Children. *McClatchy
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=030-bfc&t=c>
(6/19, Ordoñez, Kumar) reports that a “review of federal data” shows that
the Trump Administration “has likely lost track of nearly 6,000
unaccompanied migrant children, thousands more than lawmakers were alerted
to last month.” The 1,500 unaccompanied minors that federal officials
acknowledged last month “were placed with sponsors who did not keep in
touch with federal officials,” were “only a snapshot of a three- month
period during the last fiscal year.”

        *ABC News: Some Migrant Parents Sent Home Without Their
Children. *David
Muir said in the lead story for ABC World News Tonight[image: Image removed
by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=031-e28&t=c>
(6/19, lead story, 4:00, Muir) that “more than 2,000 children” have been
“separated in just the last month or so, and this evening, we learned some
of those parents have been sent home, but their children are still here in
the US, in those detention centers.”

        *Official: CBP Can Let Migrant Children Under Five Stay With
Parents. *The Daily Caller
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=032-552&t=c>
(6/19, Racke) reports that “an administration official” said Tuesday that
Customs and Border Protection officials “overseeing the detention of
illegal immigrant families have the authority to let children under five
stay with their parents or legal guardians.” CBP official Brian Hastings
told reporters in a conference call that agency field supervisors can
choose to keep adults in “civil immigration detention with their young
children” instead of referring them for criminal prosecution. On the CBS
Evening News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=033-c70&t=c>
(6/19, story 2, 2:40, Glor) David Begnaud reported from the border where he
rode along with Customs and Border Patrol.

        *Governors Withhold National Guard Troops Set For Border
Deployments. *The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=034-a21&t=c>
(6/19, Haag) reports that eight states’ National Guard troops “will be
withheld or recalled from the southern border...over mounting objections to
the Trump administration’s policy of separating children from their parents
there.” According to the Times, “The governors of Maryland, Delaware,
Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Virginia and North
Carolina declared that their soldiers would not help to secure the United
States’ border with Mexico, adding their names to widening outrage over the
policy.” The Times notes that President Trump “called in April for the
National Guard to be deployed to the border, saying that thousands of
troops were needed to stanch illegal crossings.” The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=035-f11&t=c>
(6/19, Thompson, Berman) notes that the Republican governors of Maryland
and Massachusetts are among those who have announced they are withholding
troops. Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=036-b98&t=c>
(6/19, Dopp) also reports on the Governors’ announcement.

        *New York To Sue Administration Over Family Separations. *Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=037-e78&t=c>
(6/20, Whitcomb) reports that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday that
his state will sue the Trump Administration “for separating children of
immigrants from their parents when apprehended illegally crossing the US
border.” Cuomo said in a statement, “The Trump Administration’s policy to
tear apart families is a moral failing and a human tragedy.”

        *Democratic State AGs Call For End To Family Separations. *USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=038-229&t=c>
(6/19, Alvarado) reports that Democratic attorneys general from 20 states
and Washington, DC have written to Attorney General Sessions and DHS
Secretary Nielsen demanding an end to the practice of separating children
form their parents when they enter the country illegally, “saying the
policy is undermining community trust and hurting law enforcement efforts.”

        *Business Groups Express Opposition To “Zero Tolerance” Policy. *
Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=039-f72&t=c>
(6/19, Lynch) reports on growing opposition to Trump’s “zero tolerance”
border security policy which has resulted in children being separated from
their parents when they enter the country illegally. Reuters says Democrats
“staged an impromptu congressional protest” on Tuesday and moderate
Republicans pushed the President to end the policy. Meanwhile, “the US
Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable, decried the separation
policy...and called for its immediate cessation.” Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=03a-982&t=c>
(6/19, Brody) reports that Chamber President Tom Donohue “slammed the
administration for acting against what he described as a ‘core’ American
value of not punishing children for their parents’ crimes, and for using
the separations ‘as leverage to gain other immigration policy changes from
Congress.’” The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=03b-5ef&t=c>
(6/19) says the Business Roundtable “released a statement Tuesday urging
the immediate end to the policy.”

        *Evangelical Group Backs Legislation To End Family Separations. *
Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=03c-822&t=c>
(6/19, Woellert) reports that the “influential evangelical group” the Faith
& Freedom Coalition has “endorsed legislation to end the Trump
administration’s practice of separating migrant families at the US border,
adding to a chorus of criticism from the faith voters that helped propel
the president into office.” In a letter to lawmakers, Chairman Ralph Reed
and Executive Director Timothy Head “said immigration bills from Rep. Bob
Goodlatte (R-Va.) and House leadership aren’t perfect, but called for a
quick legislative fix to the administration’s policy of detaining migrant
children.” However, the letter “stopped short of criticizing Trump’s border
policy itself.” Politico says the situation represents “the first crack in
what until now has been a unity of purpose between the administration and
the evangelical community.”

        *Women Religious Leaders Blast Family Separations. *USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=03d-8b0&t=c>
(6/19, Berry) reports that “dozens of female religious leaders stood in
front of the Customs and Border Protection headquarters Tuesday and called
on the Trump administration to end its policy of separating children from
parents who cross the border.” During the rally, “women religious leaders
from all different faiths took turns slamming the policy, calling it
immoral and an affront to American values,” and comparing it “to sins of
the past, including ripping children away from Africans brought to America
as slaves and families locked behind fences at Nazi concentration camps.”

        *Child Welfare Workers Alarmed By Family Separations. *The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=03e-ea3&t=c>
(6/19, Crary) reports that while child welfare agencies “make difficult
decisions every day to separate children from their parents,” they “have
ways of minimizing the trauma that aren’t being employed by the Trump
administration in separating immigrant families at the Mexican border.”
Social workers nationwide “are alarmed by what is happening at the border,
citing research demonstrating that family separation can cause long-term
trauma for children, including depression, anxiety, feelings of insecurity
and post-traumatic stress disorder.”

        *Protests Against Family Separations Planned In 132 Cities For June
30. *The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=03f-122&t=c>
(6/19, Lang) reports that protests “to demonstrate outrage at the Trump
administration’s policy of separating immigrant families at the border and
detaining children apart from their parents” are planned in 132 cities
including “Washington, at Lafayette Square across from the White House.” on
June 30.

        *Ranchers On Border Say Family Separations Are Necessary. *NBC
Nightly News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=040-2ad&t=c>
(6/19, story 3, 2:20, Holt) reported on ranchers along the US-Mexico border
who say family separations are “a necessary measure, because they have seen
tragic and deadly consequences of undocumented migration on their own
properties.”

        *Mexican Foreign Minister Calls Family Separations “Cruel And
Inhumane.” *Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=041-1f5&t=c>
(6/19, Diaz) reports that Mexico’s foreign minister Luis Videgaray said
Tuesday that separating children from immigrant parents is “cruel and
inhumane” and “urged the United States to reconsider the practice.”
Speaking at a new conference in Mexico City, Videgaray said, “This is a
clear violation of human rights and puts children, including those with
disabilities, in a vulnerable situation.”

        *Facebook Fundraising Page Takes In $5 Million For Immigrant
Families At Border. *The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=042-bf9&t=c>
(6/19, Jacobs) reports that after seeing “a viral photo of a toddler crying
as her mother was detained at the border,” Charlotte and Dave Willner
“responded by starting a fund-raising page that would rapidly become the
largest single fund-raiser in Facebook’s history.” The Willners “set a
modest goal of $1,500” for the fundraising page they created Saturday to
benefit the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services.
But, three days later, “it has garnered more than $5 million from more than
130,000 people, stunning the staff at Raices.”

        *State Department Criticized Over Facebook Chat On Traveling With
Children. *The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=043-53f&t=c>
(6/19, Sugiyama) reports that amid the controversy over the
Administration’s “zero tolerance” border policy “that has separated crying
children from their parents,” the State Department on Tuesday held Facebook
Live chat “on how to travel with children.” Under the Department’s caption,
which read, “Ask us your questions about applying for U.S. passports for
your kids, document requirements, and tips to make sure your vacation this
summer goes smoothly,” Face book users posted “responses [which] spoke
volumes,” including, “Do you recommend cage training for children to get
them used to arriving in the US?,” and, “What is the process for getting my
children back once the US Government has separated them from me and
incarcerated them?” Reporting that the State Department “aroused anger and
ridicule” for hosting the event, Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=044-7b7&t=c>
(6/19, Editorial) also highlights “comments mocking President Donald
Trump’s policy of separating migrant parents from their children when they
are caught crossing the border.”

        *“Zero Tolerance” Policy Has Flooded Federal Courthouses Along
Southern Border. *The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=045-865&t=c>
(6/19, A1, Jordan) reports that President Trump’s “zero-tolerance” border
policy “has swiftly flooded criminal courthouses from Texas to California.”
According to Syracuse University’s TRAC, “federal criminal prosecutions of
migrants arrested along the southwest border jumped 30 percent in April
over March.” In addition, “nearly 60 percent of all federal criminal
prosecutions in April were for immigration violations.”

        *Prosecutors Charge Five In “Smuggling Scheme” After Deadly Texas
Crash. *The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=046-027&t=c>
(6/19, Tarinelli) reports that in the wake of “the fatal crash of an SUV
that was fleeing Border Patrol agents and sheriff’s deputies in South
Texas,” federal prosecutors said Tuesday that give people have been charged
in a “smuggling scheme.” At least five people were killed in the crash of
the vehicle that investigators said “was carrying 14 people and traveling
more than 100 mph when it lost control and overturned on Texas Highway 85.”

        *Bruni: Trump Holding Migrant Children Hostage. *In his New York
Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=047-ffd&t=c>
(6/19) column, Frank Bruni writes that the children separated from their
parents at the border are “hostages.” Trump “is using them as
flesh-and-blood bargaining chips, hoping that their ordeal and reasonable
Americans’ disgust with it will get him what he wants.”

        *Parker: Trump, Republicans Have Guaranteed No Latino Will Vote For
GOP. *Kathleen Parker writes in the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=048-602&t=c>
(6/19, Parker) that with the midterm elections a few months away, Trump
wants his border wall “so much, babies can cry and little boys can curl
into fetal balls for all he cares. He wants it so badly that traumatizing
children is acceptable to him.” Parker adds that Republicans “have been in
such a dither over illegal immigrants...they’ve created a scenario in which
virtually no one of Latino descent would now consider supporting a GOP
candidate. At whatever point Trump decides to join the human race and
cancel his administration’s optional interpretation of zero tolerance, it
will be – and is – too late.”
Trump Says He Would Accept Either House GOP Immigration Bill.

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=049-916&t=c>
(6/19, A1, Debonis, Rucker, Kim, Wagner) reports that President Trump met
with “anxious House Republicans” at the Capitol Tuesday evening, where he
“implored” the lawmakers “to fix the nation’s broken immigration system but
did not offer a clear path forward amid the growing uproar over his
administration’s decision to separate migrant families at the border.” The
AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=04a-871&t=c>
(6/20, Mascaro, Fram) says Trump “provid[ed] little clear direction for
party leaders searching for a way to defuse the escalating controversy over
family separations at the southern border,” and it is “uncertain if Trump’s
support will be enough to push any legislation through the divided GOP
majority.”

        Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=04b-c84&t=c>
(6/19, Bade, Bresnahan) reports that in a “freewheeling address,” Trump
said “that he would accept either of two competing immigration bills slated
for a vote this week,” which “many Republicans...interpreted” as “support
for a measure negotiated among GOP leaders, moderate Republicans and
conservatives.” Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=04c-724&t=c>
(6/19) reports that White House spokesman Raj Shah said in a statement, “In
his remarks, he endorsed both House immigration bills that build the wall,
close legal loopholes, cancel the visa lottery, curb chain migration, and
solve the border crisis and family separation issue by allowing for family
detention and removal.”

        The Los Angeles Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=04d-383&t=c>
(6/19, Stokols) says Trump “spoke little of the family-separation
controversy or immigration policy generally, and left without giving party
leaders the full endorsement they sought for their bill, according to
accounts from those in the room.” The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=04e-651&t=c>
(6/19, Hughes, Radnofsky) reports in a front-page story that while many
lawmakers went into the session prepared to press Trump to end the “zero
tolerance” policy, he did not take any questions or engage in any
discussion.

        Dana Bash said on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=04f-029&t=c>
(6/19), “On this issue of children and separating children from their
families, what I am told that the President did behind closed doors is
really talk about it in the political context, talking about the images and
the optics about how bad it is politically much more so than about the
policy in general. And that rubbed some Republicans the wrong way who I
talked to who are saying, wait a minute, it is not just about the optics –
which are not good – it is about what we are doing to these children.”

        Later, on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360[image: Image removed by sender.
Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=050-e3b&t=c>
(6/19), House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte disagreed with
that characterization of Trump’s comments, saying, “I think the President
said that it was a terrible situation, it’s always a terrible situation
when you separate children from parents. So. I think that he truly wants to
resolve this issue, but he also needs to have the tools so that the
children can be kept with their parents while the parents are detained for
a trial on their illegal entry into the United States. And the legislation
that I introduced today, which is a part of the new consensus legislation
includes the provisions necessary to do just that.”

        Kristen Welker said on NBC Nightly News[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=051-9dc&t=c>
(6/19, story 4, 2:30, Holt) that Republican lawmakers are “panicked over
the fallout” from the Administration’s “zero tolerance” border policy and
“are vowing to end the separation policy with an emergency bill.” USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=052-9e0&t=c>
(6/19, Shesgreen, Collins) says Republicans fear “a political backlash”
over the policy and “have started pushing back hard.”

        Cecilia Vega said on ABC World News Tonight[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=053-27c&t=c>
(6/19, story 2, 4:10, Muir) that Republicans are “feeling the pressure to
act,” and the AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=054-6cb&t=c>
(6/19, Mascaro, Fram) reports that Republicans are “frantically
search[ing]...for ways” to end the policy, and The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=055-7ac&t=c>
(6/19, Bolton) says GOP lawmakers “are scrambling to avert a public
relations disaster as backlash grows.”

        Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=056-27e&t=c>
(6/19, Editorial) cites a “House Republican aide” who said House
Republicans have “revised a draft immigration bill to keep authorities from
separating children from their parents during criminal proceedings for
misdemeanor, first-time illegal border crossings.” The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=057-a09&t=c>
(6/19, Brufke) says the new legislation “would require DHS to keep families
together while parents are going through legal proceeding related to their
detention for illegally crossing the border, according to a House GOP
source familiar with the new bill, which is still being drafted.” The Hill
says it is not clear whether the House will approve the measure, “and it
seems unlikely to get through the Senate where Republicans would need help
from Democrats.”

        *ICE Officers’ Union Opposes House GOP Leaders’ Immigration Bill. *The
Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=058-3a2&t=c>
(6/19, Dinan) reports that the National ICE Council on Tuesday “warned” the
President against supporting House GOP leaders’ immigration bill, “saying
it amounts to an amnesty that ‘recklessly’ repeats the mistakes of the
failed Obama-era ‘Gang of 8’ bill.” In a letter to the President, Council
president Chris Crane “complained that the lawmakers who write the bill,
under the auspices of House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, never sought out ICE
officers to get their input on what would actually work to cut illegal
immigration.” Crane wrote, “You pledged publicly to ‘have the backs’ of the
men and women of ICE law enforcement. I am asking you to keep that
promise.”

        *Congressional Intern Shouts Expletive At Trump. *The Washington
Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=059-1fd&t=c>
(6/19, Boyer) reports that young woman, “reportedly a congressional
intern,” shouted an expletive at the President “as he arrived at the
Capitol for a meeting with Republican lawmakers.” In a video clip recorded
by NBC’s Frank Thorp V., the woman can be heard yelling, “Mr. President, f–
you.”
Foreign Policy
Navarro: China Has More To Lose Than US In Trade War.

The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=05a-593&t=c>
(6/19, Swanson) reports that as President Trump’s threat Monday to impose
tariffs “on almost every Chinese product that crosses into the United
States sent stock markets tumbling on Tuesday,” the Administration
“remained unmoved by those concerns, with a top trade adviser, Peter
Navarro, insisting that China has more to lose from a trade fight than the
United States.” Navarro also declared Trump “would not allow Beijing to
simply buy its way out of an economic dispute by promising to import more
American goods.” Said Navarro in a call with reporters, “President Trump
has given China every chance to change its aggressive behavior. China does
have much more to lose than we do.” Trump himself on Tuesday “suggested he
was ready for a fight,” saying China, “You see what’s happening with China.
We have no choice. This should have been done many years ago.”

        The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=05b-887&t=c>
(6/19) reports Navarro also said Beijing “may have underestimated the
resolve of President Donald J. Trump” by refusing to meet US demands on
trade and by threatening to retaliate against US sanctions. Navarro told
reporters, “Our phone lines are open; they have always been open.” Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=05c-856&t=c>
(6/19) reports that according to Navarro, “multiple rounds of talks between
US and Chinese officials had not yielded progress.” The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=05d-edb&t=c>
(6/19, A1, Davis, Wei) reports on its front page that the White House’s
tough stance represents the trade hawks in the Administration, particularly
Navarro and USTR Lighthizer, who both argue China represents a fundamental
threat to the US.

        ABC World News Tonight
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=05e-6f1&t=c>
(6/19, story 5, 0:20, Muir) reported China’s Commerce Ministry is calling
Trump’s latest sanctions threat “blackmail,” and vowing to retaliate with
more tariffs on US goods as well. NBC Nightly News[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=05f-83c&t=c>
(6/19, story 6, 1:40, Holt) also reported on China’s response, and Bloomberg
News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=060-ef8&t=c>
(6/18, Leonard, Curran, Mohsin) quotes the Ministry statement as saying,
“If the US loses its senses and publishes such a list, China will have to
take comprehensive quantitative and qualitative measures,” and Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=061-ed1&t=c>
(6/19, Lawder) says the Ministry alleged the US “has initiated a trade war
and violated market regulations, and is harming the interests of not just
the people of China and the US, but of the world.”

        *Stocks Close Lower, Wiping Out Dow’s Gains For Year. *NBC Nightly
News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=062-6db&t=c>
(6/19, story 6, 1:40, Holt) reported that as the Administration is “upping
the ante in its trade war with China,” the news “sent stocks plunging
today.” USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=063-bef&t=c>
(6/19, Shell) reports the Dow “erased its gains for the year Tuesday,
finishing 287 points lower and extending a global stock sell-off triggered
by...Trump’s threat to levy billions of dollars more in tariffs on Chinese
goods.” Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=064-e97&t=c>
(6/19, Joyner) reports the S&P 500 “lost 11.18 points, or 0.40 percent, to
2,762.57 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 21.44 points, or 0.28 percent, to
7,725.59.” The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=065-fdf&t=c>
(6/19, Bird, Hong) reports that while trade war concerns have rattled
markets repeatedly this year, Tuesday’s losses suggest investors are
reassessing the situation. The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=066-c21&t=c>
(6/19, Phillips, Rao) likewise says that “it appears that investors are
starting to take seriously how such a trade conflict could become a drag”
on the global economy.

        *Navarro Unaware Of Reported iPhone Tariff Exemption. *Bloomberg
News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=067-397&t=c>
(6/19, Gurman, Mohsin) reports that Navarro said today that he is “unaware
of any tariff exemption for Apple Inc.’s iPhone in the growing trade spat
with China.” Bloomberg notes that the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=068-e01&t=c>
reported on Monday that President Trump has told Apple CEO Tim Cook “that
the US would not place tariffs on iPhones.” Said Navarro, “With respect to
Tim Cook and exceptions, I have no knowledge or comment about that.”

        *Blankfein: Tariff Threats Are Likely Just Trump “Negotiating
Tactic.” *Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=069-553&t=c>
(6/19, Spicer) reports Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein said Tuesday that
“Trump’s threat to escalate a trade conflict with China is likely a
negotiating tactic and not a ‘suicide pact.’” Said Blankfein, “I don’t know
if this is going to be the pattern of North Korea – a lot of bluster. And I
don’t know that we’re in a suicide pact on this. I suspect that we are not
going to cause the economies to collapse. ... I do think that...this is
kind of a negotiating tactic.” Blankfein added, “This would not have been
the course that I would have done; it would not be what I would recommend.”

        *Senators Vow To Fight For Measure Blocking ZTE From Doing Business
With US Suppliers. *Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=06a-66d&t=c>
(6/19, Zengerle) reports that senators “who back a clampdown on China’s ZTE
Corp said on Tuesday they intend to fight for the measure, and urged fellow
lawmakers not to give in to White House pressure to give up on the
legislation.” Reuters notes that the Senate “voted 85-10 on Monday for a
sweeping defense policy bill that included a provision that would kill the
Trump administration’s agreement to allow ZTE to resume business with US
suppliers.” Senate Minority Leader Schumer “not[ed] that the ZTE measure
was backed by some of the chamber’s most conservative Republicans,
including some who are very close to the White House, as well as its most
liberal Democrats.”

        *Russia To Impose Retaliatory Tariffs On US Imports. *The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=06b-10b&t=c>
(6/19) reports Russian Economic Development Minister Maxim Oreshkin said
Tuesday in “a statement that Moscow has decided to apply retaliatory
measures in line with the World Trade Organization’s rules to compensate
for damage incurred by the US tariffs” on steel and aluminum imports.
Oreshkin said his ministry will soon release a list of targeted US imports,
and “added that the tariffs will be applied to the US goods that have
domestic equivalents to avoid hurting the national economy.” The AP reports
that the “European Union, India, China and Russia all have applied to the
WTO to challenge the tariffs that took effect March 23.”
Trump Repeats Claim Immigrants Behind Rising Crime In Germany.

On Twitter
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=06c-69f&t=c>
Tuesday morning, President Trump doubled-down on his claims that immigrants
are responsible for rising crime in Germany. Trump tweeted, “Crime in
Germany is up 10% plus (officials do not want to report these crimes) since
migrants were accepted. Others countries are even worse. Be smart America!”
An AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=06d-f13&t=c>
(6/19, Jordans) “Fact Check” says that “after wrongly stating a day earlier
that crime in Germany is surging,” Trump “is singling out the European
nation again to warn about the alleged danger posed by migrants.” Trump’s
claim “about an overall rise in crime due to migration is false, as the
latest official figures show.” Responding to Trump’s tweets, Chancellor
Angela Merkel “cited figures showing a nearly 10 percent drop in crime
nationwide, bringing it to the lowest level since 1992.” She told reporters
that the statistics “speak for themselves.” Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=06e-753&t=c>
(6/19, Delfs, Viscusi) similarly says that “for the second straight day,”
Trump “waded into German domestic policy...via his favored medium of
Twitter.” Asked about the tweets, Merkel said, “Of course, we always need
to do more to fight crime. But the numbers certainly were encouraging to
keep working along those lines to further reduce crime.” To Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=06f-ea5&t=c>
(6/19), Merkel “coolly rebuffed...Trump’s assertion.”

        The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=070-920&t=c>
(6/19) editorializes that “Trump may be going beyond the equivalent of
heckling Ms. Merkel to more direct and even less appropriate intervention
in the internal politics of her country. ... Forget the factual errors in
[his] claims, including Ms. Merkel’s continuing popularity among half of
Germans, according to polls. It is extraordinary for an American president
to egg on the internal adversaries of a fellow NATO member, and it can only
convince Ms. Merkel and other Western leaders that the US presidency has
been captured by someone intent on dealing with them in bad faith.”

        *Steinmeier Worries About “Irreparable Damage” To US Ties. *Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=071-958&t=c>
(6/19) reports German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier expressed concern
Tuesday that European relations with the US “could suffer irreparable
damage, and urged Washington not to view the world as a boxing ring ‘in
which everyone fights everyone.’” During a speech in Los Angeles,
Steinmeier said, “I am less worried about the future of American democracy
than about the future of our transatlantic partnership. But the damage of
today’s shock could be more profound, long-term – and above all
irreparable.”

        *Merkel, Macron Agree To Back Eurozone Budget. *Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=072-7b3&t=c>
(6/19, Carrel) reports Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron “agreed
on Tuesday to create a budget for the euro zone and hailed a ‘new chapter’
for the currency union, but they left the details to be worked out later
with other members of the 19-country bloc.” The meeting, which was
organized ahead of “an EU summit on June 28-29, had been dubbed a ‘moment
of truth’ for bilateral relations by France’s finance minister, as Paris
has pressed Berlin for months to agree reforms to crisis-proof the bloc.”
While the European economy “has picked up and there is no immediate sign of
financial stress, many analysts say reforms are needed to protect the
single currency.” Merkel, for her part, “said she was optimistic her
government and parliament would back the proposed reforms.” According to
Reuters, “her political capital is being eroded by a row with her Bavarian
allies, who have given the chancellor two weeks to find a European solution
to their immigration dispute.” The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=073-e45&t=c>
(6/19, Horobin, Thomas) says Merkel secured a win on the immigration issue,
however, as Macron pledged to support her push for an EU-wide resolution to
the crisis.
USA Today Poll: Plurality Cautiously Hopeful About Trump Outreach To North
Korea.

USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=074-ecf&t=c>
(6/19, Page, Nzanga) reports that in a USA Today/Suffolk University poll of
1,000 registered voters nationwide, respondents say they are “hopeful that
President Trump’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will reduce
the threat to the world from Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons...although most
doubt that North Korea will deliver on its promise to eliminate its nuclear
arsenal.” USA Today adds that by a margin of “41 percent to 20 percent,
those surveyed call last week’s summit a success rather than a failure,”
while “39 percent are either undecided or say it is too soon to judge.” In
addition, “51 percent approve of the job Trump is doing” on North Korea,
and 34 percent disapprove. Still, the poll also finds that 54 percent of
respondents “express concern about deteriorating relations with traditional
allies like Canada, Germany and Great Britain in the wake of the
contentious G-7 economic summit in Canada.”

        The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=075-c26&t=c>
(6/19) editorializes that “after a single meeting in Singapore, President
Trump has, in his own fantastical telling, rendered North Korea ‘no longer
a nuclear threat.’ Never mind that North Korea still has as many as 60
nuclear weapons, scores of ballistic missiles and an untold number of
facilities that are producing plutonium and enriched uranium. Unfortunately
for the president, containing a nuclear power requires more than just one
meeting. Negotiating an end to North Korea’s nuclear threat will take
deliberation, political courage – and time.”

        David Ignatius similarly writes in his Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=076-a55&t=c>
(6/19) column that the President “boasted last weekend that his
‘denuclearization deal’ with Kim Jong Un could ‘save potentially millions &
millions of lives!’ ... But as the Great Dealmaker should know, it’s
important to read the fine print. And after a week’s reflection, the
Singapore joint communique, for all the dramatic television coverage that
surrounded it, looks like what real estate mavens sometimes call a
‘conditional offer.’” Ignatius argues that the “inherent problem with a
conditional offer” is that “if the deal doesn’t close quickly, it can blow
up – leaving both parties frustrated and angry.”

        *Xi Hopeful US, North Korea Can Implement Summit Agreement. *The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=077-b00&t=c>
(6/19, Bodeen, Kang) reports Chinese President Xi Jinping “told North
Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday he hopes Pyongyang and Washington can
fully implement the outcome of last week’s nuclear summit at which Kim
pledged to work toward denuclearization in exchange for US security
guarantees.” Xi told Kim that “through the ‘concerted efforts of the
relevant countries’ negotiations regarding issues on the Korean Peninsula
are back on track and the overall situation is moving in the direction of
peace and stability,” according to state broadcaster CCTV.

        *Pompeo Cancels Briefing With Lawmakers. *ABC World News Tonight[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=078-f76&t=c>
(6/19, story 6, 1:50, Muir) reported Secretary of State Pompeo “has
abruptly canceled his visit to the Capitol tomorrow to brief lawmakers on
the status of the agreement between the President and Kim Jong-Un.” Martha
Raddatz reported “the State Department and a Republican aide said they have
been unable to find a mutually agreeable time.”

        *Officials: North Korea Expected To Begin Transferring Remains Of
US Troops Soon. *Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=079-1f0&t=c>
(6/19, Ali) reports North Korea “could start the process of handing over
the remains of troops, including Americans, missing from the Korean War
within the next few days, two US officials told Reuters on Tuesday.” The
officials said North Korea would hand over the remains to UN Command in
South Korea, and they would then be transferred to Hickam Air Force Base in
Hawaii. One official said “a sizable number” of remains were expected to be
handed over, “but declined to give a specific number.”

        *North Korea Rejects UN’s Human Rights Abuse Allegations. *Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=07a-19c&t=c>
(6/19, Nebehay) reports North Korea “rejected allegations by the top UN
human rights official that serious and widespread violations persisted in
the country despite its diplomatic opening.” UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said in a “wide-ranging speech on Monday that
remote monitoring by his office found ‘little change in the country’s
longstanding, grave and systematic violations of human rights.’” Zeid said,
“The people of the DPRK risk their lives and their dignity for the exercise
of their fundamental human rights, including seeking to leave the country
and communicating with individuals abroad.”

        *Singapore Viewed As Possible Development Model For North Korea. *The
Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=07b-5ba&t=c>
(6/19, Cheng) reports Choson Exchange, a nonprofit based in Singapore, has
provided 2,000 North Koreans with entrepreneurship and business training in
courses taught in Pyongyang. The nonprofit has also hosted 100 North
Koreans in Singapore. The Journal examines how Singapore could be a
technocratic, authoritarian model for North Korea to follow for economic
development.
Citing Israel Bias, US Withdraws From UN Human Rights Council.

NBC Nightly News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=07c-2d1&t=c>
(6/19, story 7, 0:20, Holt) reported briefly that the US withdrew from the
UN Human Rights Council. Announcing the move, Ambassador Haley called the
Council a “cesspool of political bias.” NBC said the move “did not come as
a surprise. Haley threatened to do it last year, citing US complaints that
the Council is anti-Israel.” The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=07d-79e&t=c>
(6/19, Morello) similarly says the move was “in protest of what [the US]
perceives as an entrenched bias against Israel and a willingness to allow
notorious human rights abusers as members.” Haley, “who has sought major
changes on the council throughout her tenure, issued a blistering critique
of the panel,” but told reporters, “I want to make it crystal clear that
this step is not a retreat from our human rights commitments. On the
contrary. We take this step because our commitment does not allow us to
remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a
mockery of human rights.”

        Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=07e-7a7&t=c>
(6/19, Wroughton) reports Haley “slammed Russia, China, Cuba and Egypt for
thwarting US efforts to reform the council,” and the AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=07f-725&t=c>
(6/19, Lee, Lederman) reports Haley said the US had given the body
“opportunity after opportunity” to make changes, while Secretary of State
Pompeo, appearing alongside Haley at the State Department, said the Council
once had a “noble vision. But today we need to be honest. The Human Rights
Council is a poor defender of human rights.” Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=080-224&t=c>
(6/19, Wadhams) says Haley “took the lead on the decision Tuesday, as was
made plain by the choreography of the announcement. ... Pompeo delivered
brief remarks before she spoke, praising Haley and leaving it to her to
announce the withdrawal.”

        Calling the move “the latest effort by the Trump administration to
pull away from international organizations and agreements that it finds
objectionable,” the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=081-035&t=c>
(6/19, Harris) notes that the US withdrawal marked “the first time a member
has voluntarily left the United Nations Human Rights Council.” The US
“joins Iran, North Korea and Eritrea as the only countries that refuse to
participate in the council’s meetings and deliberations.” While human
rights advocates “denounced the decision,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu “welcomed the decision,” tweeting, “The US decision to leave this
prejudiced body is an unequivocal statement that enough is enough.”
Iran: No Plans To Extend Missile Range, Won’t Negotiate With US.

Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=082-d8b&t=c>
(6/19, Sharafedin) reports Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander Major
General Mohammad Ali Jafari said Iran has “no plans to extend the range of
its missiles since their 2,000-km (1,240-mile) reach is enough to protect
the country.” He also “again ruled out negotiations” with President Trump
“over Tehran’s military capabilities and regional influence, saying that
such talks would be against the values of the Islamic Republic.” Jafari
said the “previous negotiations with the United States about Iran’s nuclear
program were ‘an exception,’ and called Iranian politicians and activists
who have favored fresh talks with Trump as ‘traitors and
anti-revolutionaries.’”
ISIS Leader Responsible For Oil And Gas Sales Killed In Syria.

Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=083-852&t=c>
(6/19) reports the US-led coalition in Syria said Tuesday “it had disrupted
Islamic State’s funding by killing the man who ran its oil and gas network
and other members of the group last month.” According to Reuters, the
“coalition said it killed the oil and gas network leader Abu Khattab
al-Iraqi and three other Islamic State members on May 26 in the ‘Middle
Euphrates River valley.’”
Afghan Ceasefire Extension Raises Hopes Of US-Taliban Talks.

Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=084-ca6&t=c>
(6/19, Jain) reports Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s “offer to hold
unconditional peace talks” with the Taliban has “set the stage for US
officials to open back-channel negotiations,” according to Western
diplomats and analysts. Secretary of State Pompeo seemingly suggested the
possibility when he “welcomed Ghani’s 10-day extension of a ceasefire,”
saying the US “is prepared to support, facilitate and participate in these
discussions.” To former US special envoy Richard Olson, Pompeo’s statement
was significant “in that it signals that the U.S. is prepared to ultimately
discuss the issue that is paramount to the Taliban, which is the withdrawal
of foreign forces.” State Department spokesman Nolen Johnson also “said
Ghani had invited the United States to ‘participate in an Afghan-led peace
process.’” While the Taliban on Sunday “said the organization was unified
and called on ‘the invading American party’ to ‘sit directly for
dialogue,’” a second US official said some hardline elements are unwilling
to negotiate directly.

        *Trump’s Nominee To Lead Afghan War Says US Troops Should Remain. *The
Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=085-a61&t=c>
(6/19, Lamothe) reports Army Lt. Gen. Austin “Scott” Miller, President
Trump’s nominee “to be the commander of the war in Afghanistan,” told the
Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing “on Tuesday
that he wouldn’t speak about the war reaching a turning point ‘unless there
is one.’” To the Post, Miller’s statement “was an acknowledgment that the
war has dragged on nearly 17 years and of how past US commanders often
proclaimed that conditions were set for forces to make significant progress
soon.” The Post adds that “Miller’s confirmation is considered a foregone
conclusion, with numerous senators expressing admiration for his service
during the hearing.” Miller did, however, “take tough questions from
lawmakers concerned about whether success in Afghanistan can be achieved.”
When “asked what the largest challenge is in Afghanistan” Miller “said that
it’s ‘the neighbors’” – namely, Pakistan – although he “did not elaborate
on whether he thought that country has been helpful.”
Domestic Policy
Administration Unveils Association Health Plan Option.

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=086-191&t=c>
(6/19, Alonso-Zaldivar) reports, “The Trump administration Tuesday rolled
out a health insurance option for small businesses and self-employed people
that could lead to lower premiums but may also cover fewer benefits than
current plans.” Labor Secretary Acosta said the new association health
plans (AHPs) “will allow small business to pool their purchasing power,
gaining access to some of the advantages that large employers have in the
health insurance market.” The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=087-e5a&t=c>
(6/19, Pear) reports that the “sweeping new rule...will make it easier for
small businesses to band together and set up health insurance plans that
skirt many requirements of the Affordable Care Act.” Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=088-db9&t=c>
(6/19, Abutaleb) reports that “health providers, insurers and medical
groups have warned that the plans could drive up premiums and make
insurance unaffordable for some people by siphoning off healthy consumers
who want cheaper coverage, leaving behind a sicker patient pool with higher
medical costs” in ACA plans. Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=089-648&t=c>
(6/19, Demko) headlines its report “Trump’s New Health Insurance Rules
Expected To Hurt Obamacare.”

        *Proposed CMS Rule Would End Release Of Data On Hospital
Infections. *USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=08a-479&t=c>
(6/19, O'Donnell) reports, “Federal health regulators will have to stop
releasing data on hospital infections – which affect one in 25 hospital
patients every day” – under a Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services
proposal set to take effect in November, according to an analysis by
Leapfrog Group, a patient safety advocate group. If the rule is finalized,
it “could halt the public disclosure of the ‘super bug’ MRSA,
post-operative sepsis and surgical site infections, as well as infections
from accidents and injuries ranging from bedsores to respiratory failure
after surgery.”

        *Lawmakers Demand Secret VA Nursing Home Data Be Released. *USA
Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=08b-177&t=c>
(6/19, Slack, Estes) reports that “several members of Congress demanded
Tuesday that the Department of Veterans Affairs release a full complement
of nursing home data that the agency has kept hidden from the public for
years, citing a recent USA Today and Boston Globe investigation into the
state of care at VA facilities.” Minnesota Rep. Tim Walz, the ranking
Democrat on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said, “Widespread
underperformance at VA nursing homes is a betrayal of veterans’ trust and
well-being. VA concealing this data from the public until news stories were
about to be filed makes matters infinitely worse and is nothing more than
fake transparency.” The VA, meanwhile, “pushed back Tuesday on the report,
which was based on the agency’s own internal documents and facility
ratings, by downplaying the findings and calling the story ‘fake news.’”
House GOP Releases Plan To Balance Budget, Slash Entitlements.

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=08c-13e&t=c>
(6/19, Werner) reports, “House Republicans released a budget proposal
Tuesday that would balance in nine years – but only by making large cuts to
entitlement programs, including Medicare and Social Security, that
President Trump has vowed not to touch.” The House Budget Committee hopes
to pass the plan “later this week, but that may be as far as it goes this
midterm election year.” The leadership may not bring it to a floor vote,
“and even if it were to pass the House, the budget would have little impact
on actual spending levels.” Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=08d-173&t=c>
(6/19, Wasson) reports that the budget “claims to balance by 2027 through
$8 trillion in spending cuts. ... A massive tax cut approved last year is
expected to add $2 trillion in deficits over 10 years.” CQ Roll Call
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=08e-369&t=c>
(6/19, Krawzak) reports, “The plan includes reconciliation instructions
requiring $302 billion in savings over 10 years, almost 50 percent more
than the $203 billion in the initial version” of the Fiscal Year 2018 House
budget resolution.
Colorado Joins California In Challenging EPA Weakening Of Emissions Rules.

The Los Angeles Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=08f-48d&t=c>
(6/19, Halper) reports that as the EPA moves to roll back vehicle-emissions
targets, California “and several other states that rely on those standards
to achieve their clean air goals have enlisted an influential new partner
in the fight to keep the rules intact.” Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper
announced Tuesday that his state “plans to join a dozen others that will
refuse to go along with any rollback.” The Times says the move “intensifies
the fight between the states and the administration, which is positioning
to strip California of its authority to set emissions rules that are
tougher than those imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency.”
Federal Judge Strikes Down Kansas Voter ID Law.

Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=090-aa8&t=c>
(6/18, Editorial) reports that a federal judge has “struck down a Kansas
law requiring proof of US citizenship to register to vote in a decision on
Monday that could make voter registration easier in the state in the run-up
to November mid-term elections.” The ruling “ended a two-year legal battle
in which Democrats argued that such ID laws targeted voters who typically
support their party, such as the young and minorities.” The ACLU challenged
the law, which has been championed by Kansas Secretary of State Kris
Kobach.

        The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=091-6ed&t=c>
(6/19, Board) editorializes, “The Kansas law was uniquely harsh in
requiring documented proof of citizenship, but the ruling should serve as a
warning to other states that try to erect barriers to voting. The ruling’s
discrediting of Mr. Kobach is significant because of the national name he
has made for himself as chief purveyor of voter-fraud claims and
anti-immigration rhetoric.”
WPost: HUD Plan To Raise Rent Would Have “Severe” Impact On DC.

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=092-f66&t=c>
(6/19, Natanson) reports $900 represents “the average annual increase in
rent that the District’s poorest residents would pay under Housing and
Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson’s proposal this spring to raise
rents in federally subsidized housing across the United States.” Carson’s
proposal, if approved by Congress, would “at least triple the minimum rent
that extremely low-income Americans,” and a “recent analysis by the
nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) showed the
nation’s capital would see a larger increase in rent than any of the 50
states would experience.”
Trump: IG Report Shows Clinton “Got Away With” Crimes.

The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=093-efd&t=c>
(6/19, Boyer) reports, “President Trump said Tuesday a recent internal
Justice Department report shows that Hillary Clinton ‘got away with’
misconduct over her private email server.” Addressing the National
Federation of Independent Businesses, Trump said, “Let me tell you, we got
some bad people that are doing bad things. When you read that report about
how she got away with what [Clinton] got away with, it’s a disgrace.”

        *Trump 2020 Campaign Manager Urges Him To Fire Sessions, End
Mueller Probe. *Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=094-727&t=c>
(6/19, Dennis, Strohm, House) reports that Brad Parscale, Trump’s 2020
campaign manager, is urging Trump to “fire” Attorney General Sessions and
“end” Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Parscale tweeted,
“Time to fire Sessions. End the Mueller investigation. You can’t obstruct
something that was phony against you. The IG report gives @realDonaldTrump
the truth to end it all.” Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=095-8ab&t=c>
(6/19, Staff) also reports on Parscale’s tweet.

        *USA Today Poll: 58% Back Impeachment If Trump Pardons Himself. *USA
Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=096-96c&t=c>
(6/19, Page, Nzanga) reports, “By more than 3-1, 64 percent to 18 percent,”
respondents in a USA Today/Suffolk University poll “say the president
doesn’t have the power to pardon himself. Even Republicans are inclined to
split with Trump on this. Just 29% say he has the power to pardon himself;
45% say he doesn’t.” If Trump does pardon himself, 58% of respondents,
“including 31 percent of Republicans,” say the House should impeach Trump.

        *Horowitz Questioned About Strzok. *On the CBS Evening News[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=097-2d1&t=c>
(6/19, story 3, 2:00, Glor), Paula Reid reported, “FBI agent Peter Strzok
was escorted from the FBI as he awaits possible disciplinary action for his
anti-Trump text messages,” while “on Capitol Hill, Republicans hammered
Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz about those messages
between Strzok and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page.” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH):
“February, March of 2016, Peter Strzok said, ‘Trump is abysmal. He’s an
idiot. Hillary should win 100,000 to 0.’ It sounds like he hates the
President.” Horowitz: “His text messages would implicate that.” Bloomberg
News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=098-47b&t=c>
(6/19) says House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Trey Gowdy
delivered “a challenge to...Horowitz’s finding that bias he uncovered among
at least five FBI officials didn’t affect decisions” in the investigation
of Clinton’s use of a private email server. The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=099-bda&t=c>
(6/18, Demirjian, Zapotosky, Barrett) notes that Horowitz’s office is
“probing possible misconduct in the FBI’s safeguarding of its own secrets.”

        The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=09a-c78&t=c>
(6/19, Zapotosky) reports that Strzok, who had “had been re-assigned to the
FBI’s Human Resources Division after he was taken off” Mueller’s team, “was
escorted from the FBI building Friday and effectively relieved of work
responsibilities – though he technically remains an FBI agent, his lawyer
said.” The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=09b-ca6&t=c>
(6/19, Jalonick) reports that House Republicans say the FBI “hasn’t
adequately addressed bias within the agency” and are “threatening to hold
top department officials in contempt – or even impeach them.”

        Meanwhile, Trump tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=09c-e42&t=c>
Tuesday morning, “‘I can’t think of something more concerning than a law
enforcement officer suggesting that their going to use their powers to
affect an election!’ Inspector General Horowitz on what was going on with
numerous people regarding my election. A Rigged Witch Hunt!p”.
Additionally, Rudy Giuliani said on Fox News’ Hannity[image: Image removed
by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=09d-667&t=c>
(6/19), “The case was fixed, corruptly, we know that. We’re way beyond
that. ... The President of the United States, my friend and a great
president who’s off to a terrific start, is going to be vindicated. ...
They’re in jeopardy of having the whole thing thrown out on the fact that
Strzok began it.”

        *Prince Says He “Cooperated” With Mueller Probe. *The Daily Beast
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=09e-0c5&t=c>
(6/19, Woodruff) interviews Erik Prince, the founder of private security
company Blackwater, who “has found himself embroiled in special counsel
Robert Mueller’s investigation of potential coordination between the Trump
campaign and the Kremlin.” In his “first on-the-record interview in
months,” Prince said, “I have spoken voluntarily to Congress and I also
cooperated with the special counsel. I have plenty of opinions about the
various investigations but there’s no question some people are taking it
seriously and I think it’s best to keep my opinion on that to myself for
now. All I will add is that much of the reporting about me in the media is
inaccurate, and I am confident that when the investigators have finished
their work, we will be able to put these distractions to the side.”

        *Cohen Called In Loan While Seeking Funds To Pay Daniels. *The Wall
Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=09f-663&t=c>
(6/19, Maremont, Palazzolo, O'Brien) reports that Trump’s then-attorney
Michael Cohen took steps to call in a multimillion-dollar debt in October
2016 when he was arranging the $130,000 payment to adult-film star Stormy
Daniels. Cohen foreclosed on a loan one day after missing a deadline to pay
Daniels.
Trump To Hold Rally In Duluth Today.

President Trump tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=0a0-dab&t=c>
Tuesday, “Join me tomorrow in Duluth, Minnesota for a #MAGA Rally!”
According to the Duluth (MN) News Tribune
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=0a1-f46&t=c>
(6/18, Olsen), the White House said the President will attend “a mining
roundtable at a so-far undisclosed location near the Duluth waterfront
before proceeding to Amsoil Arena for the rally.” KARE-TV
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=0a2-ee5&t=c>
Minneapolis (6/19, Kare) reports that “a dozen elected officials as well as
representatives from the mining and steel industry” will attend Wednesday’s
roundtable discussion, which is billed as “promoting and protecting
American workers.”

        The Minneapolis Star Tribune
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=0a3-66a&t=c>
(6/19, Coolican) reports that Trump arrives in Minnesota Wednesday “as the
unquestioned leader of the state Republican Party’s officeholders,
activists and rank-and-file — a marked change from his distant third place
finish in the 2016 presidential caucus.” Jennifer Carnahan, chairwoman of
the Minnesota Republican Party, said, “Now that President Donald Trump has
been in office, even people who weren’t for him say they’re impressed. He’s
been principled and is doing things to move our country forward.”
Richmond, Virginia’s JEB Stewart Elementary School Renamed After Obama.

The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=0a4-188&t=c>
(6/19, Hauser) reports that J.E.B. Stuart Elementary School in Richmond,
Virginia, is being renamed Barack Obama Elementary School. On Monday night,
the Richmond School Board voted to remove the name of the Confederate
general. The Times notes that about 90% of the students at the school are
African-American.
Cancer Research
Study: Light Drinkers Have Lowest Combined Risk Of Cancer, Premature Death.

ABC World News Tonight
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=0a5-f00&t=c>
(6/19, story 8, 0:10, Muir) reported, “News tonight about alcohol and
cancer. A new study shows that the risk of cancer is actually lowest in
light drinkers, people who consume between one and five drinks per week.”
The NPR
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=0a6-1fe&t=c>
(6/19, Aubrey) “The Salt” blog reports that the “study comes at a time when
the American Society of Clinical Oncology...is trying to spread awareness
about the risks of excessive alcohol consumption.” NPR adds that
researchers at the National Cancer Institute were involved in the study.
HealthDay
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=0a7-ebe&t=c>
(6/19, Norton) reports that “even moderate drinking may raise the risk of
certain cancers,” researchers found. After studying “nearly 100,000 older
US adults,” investigators also “found that lifelong light drinkers were
somewhat less likely to die over the next nine years,” compared to people
who drank more heavily or who did not drink at all. The findings
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=0a8-7c6&t=c>
were published online in PLOS Medicine.
AMPK Could Be Key Driver Of Aggressive Brain Cancer.

Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=0a9-958&t=c>
(6/19) reports researchers at the Cincinnati Children’s Cancer and Blood
Diseases Institute have suggested in a paper
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=0aa-08b&t=c>
(6/18) in Nature Cell Biology that AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) “may
represent a key driver of aggressive brain cancers” based on studies
showing “that blocking AMPK reduced the growth of GBM stem cells (GSCs)
transplanted into the cerebral cortex of experimental mice, leading to
increased survival.” Senior investigator Biplab Dasgupta, PhD, at the
Division of Oncology at Cincinnati Children’s, said, “AMPK is considered to
play a suppressive role in cancer because it inhibits cancer-promoting
enzymes like mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and acetyl Co-A
carboxylase (ACC). ... Our study uses analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas
to show that AMPK proteins are highly expressed in lethal human
glioblastoma and that inhibiting AMPK by genetic means shrinks brain tumors
and prolongs survival in mice.”
Editorials/Op-Eds
New York Times.

*“If You Want To Be Speaker, Mr. Crowley, Don’t Take Voters For Granted.”*
The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=0ab-886&t=c>
(6/19, Board) editorializes that “when asking New Yorkers for their vote,
most candidates would begin by showing up. Not Representative Joseph
Crowley. No, Mr. Crowley, a 10-term Democratic congressman who reportedly
has ambitions of serving as House speaker, chose to skip a debate Monday
night with his primary challenger, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.” The Times
notes that it marked “the second primary debate in which Mr. Crowley was a
no-show,” and argues that the “snubs should be galling not only to Ms.
Ocasio-Cortez and Mr. Crowley’s constituents in New York’s 14th
Congressional District, in Queens and the Bronx, but also to anyone who
cares about the democratic process.”

        *“Beyond Trump’s Korea Fantasies.” *The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=0ac-7ac&t=c>
(6/19) editorializes that “after a single meeting in Singapore, President
Trump has, in his own fantastical telling, rendered North Korea ‘no longer
a nuclear threat.’ Never mind that North Korea still has as many as 60
nuclear weapons, scores of ballistic missiles and an untold number of
facilities that are producing plutonium and enriched uranium. Unfortunately
for the president, containing a nuclear power requires more than just one
meeting. Negotiating an end to North Korea’s nuclear threat will take
deliberation, political courage — and time.”
Washington Post.

*“NATO’s Most Powerful Member Could Become Its Most Destructive.”* The
Washington
Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=0ad-8de&t=c>
(6/19) editorializes that “Trump may be going beyond the equivalent of
heckling Ms. Merkel to more direct and even less appropriate intervention
in the internal politics of her country. ... Forget the factual errors in
[his] claims, including Ms. Merkel’s continuing popularity among half of
Germans, according to polls. It is extraordinary for an American president
to egg on the internal adversaries of a fellow NATO member, and it can only
convince Ms. Merkel and other Western leaders that the US presidency has
been captured by someone intent on dealing with them in bad faith.”

        *“There Was A Fraud In Kansas But It Wasn’t In The Voting.”
*The Washington
Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=0ae-9c1&t=c>
(6/19, Board) editorializes that a Kansas law requiring proof of
citizenship to register to vote “was uniquely harsh in requiring documented
proof of citizenship,” but a federal judge’s ruling striking down the law
“should serve as a warning to other states that try to erect barriers to
voting. The ruling’s discrediting of [Kansas Secretary of State Kris]
Kobach is significant because of the national name he has made for himself
as chief purveyor of voter-fraud claims and anti-immigration rhetoric.”

        *“While We Watch The World Cup, Russians Are Being Jailed For
Reading The Bible.” *In an editorial, the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018062001biden&r=email-32b5&l=0af-e03&t=c>
(6/19) expresses support for Russia’s Jehovah’s Witnesses, who “report that
17 members are being held in pretrial detention in 11 regions.” The Russian
Supreme Court has “declared the group ‘extremist’ and banned it from
operating on Russian territory.” The Post counters that “Jehovah’s
Witnesses are not extremists,” but nonetheless, “as in Soviet times, they
are victims of Mr. Putin’s authoritarianism.” The Post concludes in
writing, “As the World Cup captivates spectators around the globe with
stadium matches in the Russian provinces, it is important to remember that,
under the cover of darkness, people are being arrested and jailed for
reading the Bible.”

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