Subject: FW: Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing for Wednesday, July 25, 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, 25 Jul 2018 10:35:22 -0400

Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing

*From:* Bulletin Intelligence <[email-masked]>
*Sent:* Wednesday, July 25, 2018 7:52 AM
*To:* [email-masked]
*Subject:* Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing for
Wednesday, July 25, 2018

*Click to access
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=000-be2&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=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=001-313&t=c>

*To: Vice President Joe Biden*

*Wednesday, July 25, 2018 8:00 AM EDT*
Today's Table of Contents

*Biden in the News <#SECTION_1>*

• Axios: Biden Is Candidate Trump, His Advisers Most Fear In 2020. <#S1>

• Vanity Fair’s Frank Identifies “Likeliest Flaws” Of Biden, Other
Potential 2020 Democrats. <#S2>

• Dr. Oz Highlights Beau Biden’s Role In Case Of Pedophile Pediatrician
Bradley. <#S3>

*Leading the News <#SECTION_2>*

• Trump Tells Farmers Not To Believe Media On Trade, Authorizes $12B Aid
Package. <#S4>

*Foreign Policy <#SECTION_3>*

• Trump Says He’s Open To New Iran Nuclear Deal. <#S5>

• Pompeo Urges Caution In Wake Of North Korean Dismantling Reports. <#S6>

• US, Australian Officials Meet In San Francisco. <#S7>

• Mattis: No Plans For US-Russia Military Cooperation In Syria. <#S8>

• Haley: Arab Nations Playing Hypocritical Role In Israel-Palestinian
Conflict. <#S9>

• May To Take Lead On Brexit Negotiations. <#S10>

• IMF: Venezuelan Inflation Rate May Reach One Million Percent. <#S11>

*Domestic Policy <#SECTION_4>*

• Trump “Concerned” Russia Will “Be Pushing Very Hard” For Democrats In
Midterms. <#S12>

• Capito Willing To Support Spending Up To $5 Billion On Border Wall. <#S13>

• Administration Restores ACA Risk Adjustment Program. <#S14>

• McConnell Says Kavanaugh Will Get Vote Before Midterm Elections. <#S15>

• Ryan Downplays Trump’s Threat To Revoke Security Clearances Of Former
Officials. <#S16>

• Sessions Joins “Lock Her Up!” Chant During High School Event. <#S17>

• Trump Discussed McDougal Payment With Cohen In Secretly Taped 2016
Conversation. <#S18>

• Trump-Backed Kemp Wins Georgia GOP Gubernatorial Primary Runoff By 39
Points. <#S19>

*Cancer Research <#SECTION_5>*

• FDA Issues Warning Against “Alternative Cancer Treatment” Cesium Chloride.
<#S20>

• Massachusetts Governor Tours Law Covering Cancer Costs For Firefighters.
<#S21>

*Editorials/Op-Eds <#SECTION_6>*

• New York Times. <#S22>

• Washington Post. <#S23>
Biden in the News
Axios: Biden Is Candidate Trump, His Advisers Most Fear In 2020.

Writing for Axios
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=002-c7d&t=c>
(7/25), Mike Allen says, “Advisers to President Trump say Joe Biden is the
Democrat he most fears running against” in 2020, “and that Pennsylvania is
the state he worries most about flipping against him. Trump’s calculation
is based partly on how weak he sees other Democratic possibilities,
including Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren, and partly on who’s capable
of appealing to his base of working class whites.” Biden, says Allen, “sees
the same opening Trump does with working class voters, especially in
Democratic states like Pennsylvania that Trump won.”

        Axios editor-in-chief Nicholas Johnston, appearing this
morning on MSNBC’s
First Look
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=003-dde&t=c>
(7/25), discussed the report from Allen, saying “that the one
candidate...Trump and his advisers are most worried about facing” in 2020
is Biden. Johnston said, “They see Biden as a person who could most likely
make in-roads at the core group of voters that helped Trump win the
election – that would be white, working-class voters. They’re particularly
worried about Pennsylvania. ... They think Joe Biden would do very well, be
a very effective candidate in rural Pennsylvania.” Johnston added, “I think
it’s important to note that recently in an interview on CBS, President
Trump was asked about Joe Biden. He said he would love to face him. What
our reporting says – that actually meant he wouldn’t.”
Vanity Fair’s Frank Identifies “Likeliest Flaws” Of Biden, Other Potential
2020 Democrats.

In a piece for Vanity Fair
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=004-131&t=c>
(7/24), T.A. Frank offers a look at the field of potential 2020 Democratic
presidential hopefuls and “their likeliest flaws,” writing that while
former Vice President Joe Biden “connects with ordinary Americans” and is
“loved by Senate” members of both parties, “he’s also, frankly, a
goofball.” His “campaign gaffes in 2008, which included asking a paraplegic
to stand, were so relentless that Barack Obama once reportedly fumed, ‘How
many times is Biden gonna say something stupid?’ Such foibles don’t
diminish with age, and Biden will be 78 in 2020. All of this is fodder for
a bully, meaning” President Trump. Biden “is tied to the record of Barack
Obama, who disappointed many of the voters who need to be won back.”
However, Biden’s “embarrassing episode of having plagiarized the oratory of
British Labor leader Neil Kinnock, is off limits for attack, unless Trump
wants a reminder that his wife did something similar.”
Dr. Oz Highlights Beau Biden’s Role In Case Of Pedophile Pediatrician
Bradley.

In a broadcast of “The Dr. Oz Show” on WWOR-TV[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=005-a35&t=c>
New York (7/25), host Dr. Mehmet Oz discussed what he described as the case
of “pedophile pediatrician Earl Bradley,” saying, “The late Beau Biden, the
son of former Vice President Joe Biden, was the attorney general of the
state of Delaware at the time. And he gave up the opportunity for political
advancement and made it his mission to see this horrific case through –
that’s how much he cared about it.” Dr. Oz went on to interview Beau Biden
Foundation for the Protection of Children Executive Director Patty Dailey
Lewis about the case.
Leading the News
Trump Tells Farmers Not To Believe Media On Trade, Authorizes $12B Aid
Package.

Media coverage of President Trump’s remarks in Kansas City was markedly
unfavorable, with reports and analyses indicating the Administration’s
trade policies created the need for the emergency farming aid package Trump
authorized yesterday. The coverage also highlights Republican criticism of
the aid package, with ABC World News Tonight[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=006-469&t=c>
(7/24, story 5, 2:30, Moran) reporting last night, “Being a Republican used
to mean a belief in free trade and budget discipline. But...Trump took over
this party. He doesn’t share that” and “remains undaunted, tweeting
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=007-082&t=c>
today, ‘tariffs are the greatest.’” To the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=008-bd6&t=c>
(7/24, Rucker), meanwhile, Trump “sought...to temper a growing Republican
rebellion over his escalating trade war.”

        The Kansas City (MO) Star
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=009-09a&t=c>
(7/24, Kite, Hancock) recounts that during his “campaign-style speech at
the Veterans of Foreign Wars’ national convention,” Trump “implored
Americans to be patient and trust his policies.” Sparking “boos from the
crowd aimed at reporters in attendance,” Trump said, “Don’t believe the
crap you see from these people, the fake news.” Trump went on to vow “to
cut trade deficits and took aim at Democrats, whom he called ‘disciples of
a very low-IQ person, Maxine Waters.’” The Wichita (KS) Eagle
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=00a-f8f&t=c>
(7/24, Shorman) also reports that Trump told the audience, “What you’re
seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening,” while Breitbart
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=00b-291&t=c>
(7/24, Spiering) said that he “appeared frustrated by the news coverage,”
and “the audience cheered Trump and booed the news media in response.”

        CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash said on CNN’s Situation
Room
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=00c-9f9&t=c>
(7/24), “It is Orwellian – the idea that he is saying ‘don’t believe what
you see and hear. Nothing to look at. The only truth is me.’ It’s
dangerous. It really is. And I know we have said this so many times. But
it’s important to keep pointing it out because it’s not normal, and it’s
not accurate. And the issue is the reason it’s dangerous is because the
more he says it to the base and to people who do genuinely believe
everything he says, the more it doesn’t just chip away at the institution
of the press and other institutions that are important, it really takes a
sledgehammer to them, and it’s not going to be that easy to put it back
together.”

        The Los Angeles Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=00d-933&t=c>
(7/24, Stokols) says Trump “spent much of his 54 minutes on stage as if it
were one of his political rallies – promoting himself and other Republicans
and attacking Democrats and the media,” and “though the convention center
was half-empty” he “clearly relished the applause from a friendly crowd
estimated at about 4,000 veterans and spouses.” The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=00e-af8&t=c>
(7/24, Cochrane) similarly reports “Trump transformed a speech on Tuesday
before thousands of veterans into a political rally.” Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=00f-755&t=c>
(7/24, Heavey, Shepardson) says Trump “aggressively defended his trade
policies” during the speech, saying, “We have to do it. But it’s all
working out,” and The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=010-84b&t=c>
(7/24, Samuels) quotes him as saying, “We’ve got to fight it. Nobody else
fought it. ... Not any longer, folks. We’re making tremendous progress. ...
They don’t want to have those tariffs put on them. They’re all coming to
see us.”

        All three network newscasts last night, meanwhile, showed footage
of Trump telling the crowd, “The farmers will be the biggest beneficiary.
Watch. We’re opening up markets. You watch what’s going on. Just be a
little patient.” To ABC World News Tonight[image: Image removed by sender.
Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=011-543&t=c>
(7/24, story 5, 2:30, Moran), however, “Trump admitted that American
farmers...are becoming collateral damage in his escalating trade wars,”
though “he promised better days ahead.” ABC added, however, that among
farmers “patience is wearing thin,” and that “after igniting the trade
war,” Trump yesterday “authorized a $12 billion emergency aid package to
bail out the nation’s farmers,” with “the payouts beginning in September,
just before the midterm elections.” The CBS Evening News[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=012-056&t=c>
(7/24, story 7, 2:00, Jiang) noted “the proposal includes direct payments
to farmers, purchasing excess crops, and building new export markets.”

        The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=013-b8b&t=c>
(7/24, Davis, Swanson) reports the Administration is “moving to insulate
food producers from looming financial losses that would be a direct result
of...Trump’s policies.” The aid, announced by the Department of
Agriculture, “will come through a direct assistance program, one designed
to help with food purchase and distribution and one specifically geared
toward promoting trade.” The Times calls the move “an indication that Mr.
Trump – ignoring the concerns of farmers, their representatives in
Congress, and even some of his own aides about the adverse consequences of
a trade war he says he relishes – plans to plow forward in escalating his
tariff tit-for-tat around the world.”

        The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=014-7fa&t=c>
(7/24, Paletta, Dewey) reports that in announcing the aid, Agriculture
Secretary Perdue told reporters, “As you know, President Trump has promised
since day one that he had the back of every American farmer and rancher.
Today this announcement is the fulfillment of that promise.” The Post notes
that “farm groups have complained that moves by China and other countries
in response to Trump’s protectionist trade stance could cost them billions
of dollars, spooking Republicans who fear a political and economic blowback
to Trump’s approach.” The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=015-133&t=c>
(7/24, Salama) reports Perdue also said, “This is a short-term solution
that will give President Trump and his administration time to work on
long-term trade deals.” Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=016-c94&t=c>
(7/24, Boudreau, Behsudi, Evich, Cassella) notes that while “Perdue said
the amount is in line with the roughly $11 billion in negative effects that
USDA has calculated agricultural producers have suffered as a result of
‘illegal’ retaliatory tariffs,” it is “unclear whether the aid will cover
many of the price losses that various agriculture sectors are
experiencing.”

        The Washington Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=017-c13&t=c>
(7/24, Ferrechio) reports “Senate Republicans on Tuesday showed little
enthusiasm for a Trump administration plan,” but “none said they would
oppose” it. ABC World News Tonight
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=018-597&t=c>
(7/24, story 5, 2:30, Moran) said that “on Capitol Hill, Republicans are
unimpressed,” and NBC Nightly News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=019-048&t=c>
(7/24, story 4, 2:40, Jackson) reported that “patience is running thin at
the Capitol, where Republicans from hard-hit states are not happy and not
hiding it.” Sen. Ron Johnson was shown saying, “Give me trade, not aid. We
spent decades developing these markets. Let us have access to them. End the
trade war now.” Sen. John Kennedy said, “I’ve said many times the best way
to win a trade war is don’t fight the thing.” Sen. Ben Sasse, meanwhile,
said yesterday, “When you choose a war of choice, which is what this trade
war is, and then you say afterwards, let’s just solve it by buying people
gold plated crutches, farmers and ranchers of America, they don’t want
crutches, they want work.”

        Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=01a-79f&t=c>
(7/24, Bjerga, Sink) also says “farm state Republicans...criticized the
plan as welfare for farmers who would be better served by an end to the
trade war.” Sen. Jerry Moran said, “There will never be enough money to
solve the problem” created by Chinese duties on US farm goods. Bloomberg
also notes that the announcement came “just two days before Trump is set to
travel to Iowa,” and USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=01b-22c&t=c>
(7/24, Fritze, Shesgreen) says that the move comes as Trump “embarks on a
multistate tour through parts of the country hit heavily by trade battles.”
The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=01c-f10&t=c>
(7/24, Salama) runs a similar story, and the AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=01d-8a8&t=c>
(7/24, Thomas, Wiseman, Mascaro) reports “some farm-state Republicans
quickly dismissed the plan, declaring that farmers want markets for their
crops, not payoffs for lost sales and lower prices.” The Wichita (KS) Eagle
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=01e-2ad&t=c>
(7/24, Shorman) reports, “Rep. Roger Marshall, who represents Kansas’ First
Congressional District, called the $12 billion aid package a band-aid,”
saying, “I think the message sent today by the USDA is for our farmers to
hang on and believe in this administration, that our farmers are not being
forgotten about.”

        The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=01f-4f9&t=c>
(7/24, Boyer) reports, “Former White House Communications Director Anthony
Scaramucci also weighed in against the move,” tweeting
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=020-bcc&t=c>,
“Targeted bailouts are anti-capitalist and won’t begin to cover damages
from trade war. ... If we continue down this road, long-term costs to
American industry will be incalculable. Now is time to compromise.”

        The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=021-63e&t=c>
(7/24) editorializes that the “farm bailout will not undo the damage the
administration’s incoherent policies are doing to American industry and
workers.” Adds the Times, “The plan to help farmers reveals instead that
trade wars are complicated and difficult. Yes, the American piggy bank is
now being robbed – but it’s the president and his aides who are raiding it,
to cover up the costs of policies they still show little sign of
understanding.”

        *In Tweets Today, Trump Blasts Tariff Opponents, China, Says Trade
Talks “Going Really Well.” *Trump weighed in on tariffs and trade in three
tweets this morning. First, he tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=022-299&t=c>,
“Every time I see a weak politician asking to stop Trade talks or the use
of Tariffs to counter unfair Tariffs, I wonder, what can they be thinking?
Are we just going to continue and let our farmers and country get ripped
off? Lost $817 Billion on Trade last year. No weakness!” In the second tweet
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=023-dd5&t=c>,
he said, “When you have people snipping at your heels during a negotiation,
it will only take longer to make a deal, and the deal will never be as good
as it could have been with unity. Negotiations are going really well, be
cool. The end result will be worth it!” And in the third
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=024-4bb&t=c>,
Trump wrote, “China is targeting our farmers, who they know I love &
respect, as a way of getting me to continue allowing them to take advantage
of the U.S. They are being vicious in what will be their failed attempt. We
were being nice – until now! China made $517 Billion on us last year.”

        *VFW “Disappointed” Over Booing Of Media During Trump Speech. *The
Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=025-9b5&t=c>
(7/24, Anapol) reports the VFW “said Tuesday that the organization is
‘disappointed’ in its national convention attendees who booed the media
during...Trump’s speech earlier in the day.” VFW spokesperson Randi Law
said in a statement to The Hill, “We were disappointed to hear some of our
members boo the press. ... We rely on the media to help spread the VFW’s
message, and CNN, NBC, ABC, FOX, CBS, and others on site today, were our
invited guests. We were happy to have them there.”

        *Trump Offers EU Deal Where Both Sides Drop All “Tariffs, Barriers
And Subsidies.” *President Trump tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=026-c94&t=c>
Tuesday evening, “The European Union is coming to Washington tomorrow to
negotiate a deal on Trade. I have an idea for them. Both the U.S. and the
E.U. drop all Tariffs, Barriers and Subsidies! That would finally be called
Free Market and Fair Trade! Hope they do it, we are ready – but they
won’t!”

        *EU To Offer Proposal To Ease Trade Tensions With US. *The New York
Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=027-370&t=c>
(7/24, Swanson) reports that European negotiators will present ideas,
“including forging a new deal among the world’s biggest automobile
exporters,” to the Administration on Wednesday with an eye on “easing a
trade clash with the United States.” However, the offers “may fall short of
appeasing President Trump, who has expressed skepticism at past trade pacts
and branded the European Union as a ‘foe.’” The US and EU “are pushing
agendas that are increasingly at odds, threatening to turn allies into
adversaries. And trade is just part of the friction, as Mr. Trump seems
determined to undermine a global system that has defined the United States’
relationship with Europe for decades.”

        *Ahead Of Today’s Juncker Meeting, Trump Tweets “Tariffs Are The
Greatest.” *The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=028-6f0&t=c>
(7/24, Siegel) reports Trump “praised tariffs in a tweet Tuesday morning,”
saying “tariffs are the greatest!” He added that countries that treat the
US unfairly on trade must either negotiate fair deals or get “hit with
tariffs.” Wrote
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=029-6c4&t=c>
the President, “It’s as simple as that – and everybody’s talking! Remember,
we are the ‘piggy bank’ that’s being robbed. All will be great!” In a
second tweet, he said
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=02a-62f&t=c>,
“Countries that have treated us unfairly on trade for years are all coming
to Washington to negotiate. This should have taken place many years ago
but, as the saying goes, better late than never!” Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=02b-0ff&t=c>
(7/24, Dopp) says Trump’s tweets come “as he’s scheduled to meet with
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Washington for talks
aimed at heading off a trade war.” Bloomberg adds that the President “has
been critical of the EU over its $150 billion trade surplus with the US.”

        To The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=02c-ef1&t=c>
(7/24, Bowden), Trump “praised his administration’s recent trade actions,”
while Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=02d-4ee&t=c>
(7/24, Nelson) says he “defended his trade policy Tuesday morning,
declaring that ‘tariffs are the greatest’ because they allow him to fight
back against nations that engage in trade practices unfair to the US.”
Politico similarly reports that the tweets come “as he is scheduled to meet
this week with...Juncker...on trade issues.” Juncker, the AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=02e-e95&t=c>
(7/24, Casert) reports, is “hoping to convince him to hold off from raising
tariffs on imported cars and avoid a trans-Atlantic trade war.” His visit
“comes on the heels of an especially ill-tempered continental tour by
Trump, in which he called the EU...his ‘foe.’”

        *WSJournal: US Manufacturers Dismissing Tariff Concerns Amid Strong
Demand, High Profits. *The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=02f-657&t=c>
(7/24, Cameron) reports that strong domestic and foreign demand is
producing higher-than-anticipated profits and causing many US manufacturers
to dismiss concerns about tariffs and trade tensions.

        *Harley: Profits Will Suffer This Year. *That sentiment is not
universal, however. The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=030-b95&t=c>
(7/24, Hufford, Tita) also reports that Harley Davidson said Tuesday that
its profits would suffer this year as tariffs add to the company’s
longstanding sales slump. Harley predicted its costs would rise as much as
$55 million this year due to increased steel and aluminum costs and higher
duties on motorcycles it exports to Europe. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=031-b93&t=c>
(7/24, Barrett) reports that Harley said “it faces up to $100 million in
European Union tariff costs in 2019” in addition to “about $50 million this
year as the company calculates the damages from recently imposed tariffs.”

        *NYTimes Lists Indicators Of Economic Damage From Trade War. *In an
analysis, the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=032-e50&t=c>
(7/24, Irwin) says that while assessing how “the trade war could affect
growth, the job market and inflation at the macroeconomic level” requires
data, a lot of economic data “operates with long time lags. By the time
there would be solid evidence that the trade war was doing damage, the
damage would already have been done.” However, “certain indicators are
likely to provide early signs of trouble: data that is more big picture
than individual anecdotes, but more timely than things like G.D.P. and the
unemployment rate.” The Times says a “dashboard for evidence of economic
damage from the trade war” should include: business confidence and capital
spending, the stock market, prices and inflation, and jobs and
unemployment.

        *Bloomberg News: China Wary Of New Round Of Trade Talks With
US. *Bloomberg
News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=033-41a&t=c>
(7/24) reports that the “last time the US and China engaged in serious
trade negotiations, President Xi Jinping’s top economic aide got burned.”
Following talks in Washington this May, Vice Premier Liu He “declared that
a trade war had been avoided,” but “just days later, [President] Trump said
the US would slap tariffs on as much as $50 billion of Chinese imports.”
The move, says Bloomberg, “torpedoed any progress, and was an embarrassment
for Liu.” Now, as both sides “hint at the possibility of restarting talks,
China is worried that it might get played again, according to three Chinese
officials.”

        *WSJournal: Apple Exposed In US-China Trade Battle. *The Wall
Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=034-2cb&t=c>
(7/24, Mickle, Kubota) reports that Apple is exposed in the increasing
trade fight between the US and China because while assembling its iPhones
in China enabled Apple to use China’s workforce and manufacturing
capabilities, it made the phones a Chinese export, which could face tariffs
in the trade battle. Moreover, China is Apple’s strongest non-US market,
which means the company is exposed if Beijing clamps down on its sales.

        *Chinese Real Estate Investors Roll Back US Buying Spree. *The Wall
Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=035-810&t=c>
(7/24, Fung) reports that amid pressure from Beijing, Chinese real estate
investors are rolling back a US buying spree in which they often paid
record prices for major properties. Chinese investors have, for the first
time in a decade, have become net sellers of US commercial real estate,
selling $1.29 billion worth of U.S. commercial real estate in the second
quarter versus only $126.2 million in property purchases, according to data
firm Real Capital Analytics.

        *IMF: US Large Driver Of Global Trade Deficits. *The Wall Street
Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=036-05d&t=c>
(7/24, Zumbrun) reports the IMF’s annual assessment of global imbalances
found that the US remained by far the largest driver in 2017, running the
world’s largest deficit and adopting policies that are likely to increase
its imbalances in coming years. Last year, the US ran a $466 billion
deficit, and accounted for 43% of all global deficits, up from 39% in 2016,
according to the IMF.
Foreign Policy
Trump Says He’s Open To New Iran Nuclear Deal.

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=037-aae&t=c>
(7/24, Miller) reports that in a speech Tuesday to the Veterans of Foreign
Wars national convention in Kansas City, President Trump “tempered his
threatening rhetoric toward Iran Tuesday, two days after he sent an
all-caps warning of future conflict.” In his remarks, Trump “took credit
for pulling the US out of the Iran nuclear accord, but said his
administration stands ready for Iran to come back to the negotiating
table.” Said the President, “We’re ready to make a real deal, not the deal
that was done by the previous administration, which was a disaster.” To
Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=038-67d&t=c>
(7/24, Holland), Trump “kept open the possibility of negotiating an
agreement to denuclearize Iran, two days after he rattled his saber at the
nation on Twitter,” while Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=039-06a&t=c>
(7/24, Morin) reports he said the US “is ready to make a ‘real deal’ with
Iran just days after he threatened the country ‘will suffer consequences
the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before.’”

        *Mattis: Trump’s Tweet Made “Clear That Iran Is On The Wrong
Track.” *Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=03a-846&t=c>
(7/24, Marinucci) reports Defense Secretary Mattis “appeared to
defend...Trump’s all-caps tweet threatening Iran earlier this week,” saying
Tuesday that Trump was merely “making clear that Iran is on the wrong
track,’’ given the “destabilizing influence that Iran has consistently
portrayed and demonstrated throughout the region.” Mattis, speaking to
reporters alongside Secretary of State Pompeo at bilateral talks with
Australian officials in California, was asked by reporters about the Trump
tweet. In response, Mattis “launched into a litany of examples of Iran’s
misbehavior,” noting that “the only reason that the murderer [Syrian
president Bashar-Al] Assad is still in power is that Iran has stuck by
him...and funded him.’’ Mattis added, “We see the same kind of malfeasance
down in Yemen, where they’re fomenting more violence. We’ve seen their
disruptive capabilities demonstrated” repeatedly.

        *Turkey Opposes US Sanctions On Iran. *Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=03b-0e8&t=c>
(7/24, Kucukgocmen, Gumrukcu) reports Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut
Cavusoglu said Ankara has “told American officials it opposes US sanctions
on Iran and is not obliged to implement them.” Said Cavusoglu, “We do not
have to adhere to the sanctions imposed on a country by another country. We
don’t find the sanctions right either.”

        *Iran To Respond In Kind If US Blocks Oil Exports. *Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=03c-295&t=c>
(7/24, Dehghanpisheh) reports Iran “will react with equal countermeasures
if Washington tries to block its oil exports, the foreign ministry said on
Tuesday,” while the nation’s armed forces chief “said US threats would draw
an ‘unimaginable and regrettable’ reaction.” State-run media quoted foreign
ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi as saying, “If America wants to take a
serious step in this direction it will definitely be met with a reaction
and equal countermeasures from Iran.” Separately, Armed Forces Chief of
Staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri “said on Tuesday that Iran wants peace
but will defend its interests in the Gulf.”
Pompeo Urges Caution In Wake Of North Korean Dismantling Reports.

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=03d-23c&t=c>
(7/24, Lee) reports that as President Trump “expressed appreciation to
North Korea on Tuesday following reports that Pyongyang has started to
dismantle key parts of a missile test site,” Secretary of State Pompeo
“expressed a note of caution.” At a news conference Tuesday, Pompeo told
reporters that dismantling activities would “be entirely consistent with
the commitment that Chairman Kim [Jong-un] made to President Trump when the
two of them were in Singapore together,” but the US has nonetheless “been
pressing for there to be inspectors on the ground when that engine test
facility is dismantled, consistent with Chairman Kim’s commitment.” Asked
what additional steps North Korea must take, Pompeo replied: “That’s easy.
They need to completely, fully denuclearize. That’s the steps that Chairman
Kim committed to and the world has demanded through U.N. Security Council
resolutions. It’s that straightforward.”

        The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=03e-171&t=c>
(7/24, Wolfgang) says like Pompeo, “other top administration officials and
leading lawmakers, including some prominent Republicans, were more muted”
than Trump in their assessments of the reports, “and there are serious
questions about whether the Sohae facility still plays a major part in
Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions.” Sen. Marco Rubio “said the US. shouldn’t
assume the Korean Peninsula is any safer now that the site is being
dismantled.” Regional analysts cautioned that by dismantling the facility,
Pyongyang sent “mixed signals on its readiness to give up its nuclear
programs, and Mr. Trump’s critics say there is still no firm outline of the
steps North Korea is willing to take.” The Times says the move also “leaves
the U.S. far short of Mr. Trump’s original demand: a quick, complete,
verifiable and irreversible end to the North’s nuclear weapons and missile
programs.” Likewise, Axios
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=03f-32e&t=c>
(7/24, Lawler) says it “remains unclear” whether Pyongyang “intends to do
anything that would more directly impact its nuclear weapons program” and
whether it will return the remains of US soldiers “as expected in coming
days – another potential signal of goodwill from Pyongyang.”

        According to the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=040-deb&t=c>
(7/24, Sanger), “inside the White House, Mr. Trump’s aides wonder whether
they are falling into a familiar pattern of endless negotiations with the
North, which in the past has destroyed a few symbolic facilities but kept
expanding its arsenal.” With the President “now arguing that the clock is
moving the other way in Iran,” the Times says Trump’s “combination”
approach – “flatter Mr. Kim, threaten the mullahs” – is “based on his
negotiating approach as a New York developer, according to several current
and former American diplomats and intelligence officials who spoke on the
condition of anonymity.”

        *Trump Hopeful North Korea Will Return US War Remains Soon. *Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=041-a95&t=c>
(7/24, Holland) reports in remarks to the Veterans of Foreign Wars national
convention, Trump said he “hoped that the remains of American soldiers
killed in the Korean war will be returned by North Korea soon.” Said Trump,
“As you may know we’re also working to bring back the remains of your
brothers in arms who gave their lives to Korea and I hope that very soon
these fallen warriors will begin coming home to lay at rest in American
soil.”

        *GQ Report: Warmbier Suffered Brain Injury Shortly After Trial. *USA
Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=042-6c4&t=c>
(7/24, Saker) reports that an article in GQ
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=043-3ba&t=c>
magazine by Doug Bock Clark says late UVA student Otto Warmbier “most
likely was not tortured during his 15 months in North Korean captivity,”
but he “may have suffered the brain damage that ultimately killed him
immediately after his trial.” The GQ report also “suggests the Trump
administration promoted the idea that Warmbier had been physically tortured
as part of its drumbeat of war against the isolated Asian nation last
year.” But after President Trump “secured a summit meeting in June with
North Korea’s leader, ‘The story of Otto being brutally beaten had outlived
its usefulness.’”
US, Australian Officials Meet In San Francisco.

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=044-699&t=c>
(7/24) reports Secretary of State Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mattis are
in San Francisco for a two-day meeting with their Australian counterparts.
The officials are expected to discuss US talks with North Korea and trade
tensions with China. Pompeo, Mattis, Australian Foreign Minister Julie
Bishop and Australian Defense Minister Marise Payne are expected to hold a
joint news conference at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.
Mattis: No Plans For US-Russia Military Cooperation In Syria.

The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=045-d21&t=c>
(7/24, Muñoz) reports that in “a rare televised press conference” Tuesday
alongside Secretary of State Pompeo, Australian Foreign Affairs Minister
Julie Bishop, and Australian Defense Minister Marise Payne, Defense
Secretary Mattis said the Pentagon has received no directives on initiating
joint US-Russian operations in Syria. Mattis said the Pentagon was awaiting
possible orders on adjusting the scale or scope of the US presence in
Syria, but those changes will not take place “until the secretary of state
and the President have further figured out, at what point, we are going to
start working alongside our allies with Russia in the future.” According to
the Times, “Defense officials in Moscow made clear, in no uncertain terms,
that American military cooperation in Syria is the Trump administration’s
only option if the U.S. wants to continue its operations in the country.”

        *Israel Downs Syrian Fighter Jet Over Golan. *The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=046-299&t=c>
(7/24, Kershner) reports Israel “shot down a Syrian fighter jet on Tuesday
after it penetrated about a mile into Israeli-controlled airspace over the
Golan Heights, the Israeli military said, a rare encounter that underscored
the heightened risk of confrontation in the area.” According to the Times,
the shooting down of the military jet, “which crashed on the Syrian side of
Golan Heights, marked only the second time during the seven-year-old civil
war in Syria that Israel had intercepted a warplane; the first was in
2014.”

        The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=047-e95&t=c>
(7/24, Issa) reports that while the Israeli military “said it monitored the
advance of the Syrian Sukhoi fighter jet and shot it down with a pair of
Patriot missiles after it penetrated Israeli airspace,” Syria’s military
“said one of its jets was targeted by Israel over Syrian territory as it
flew sorties against Islamic State militants.” The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=048-8ad&t=c>
(7/24, Morris) says the Israeli military has been on “high alert as
fighting inside Syria has pushed closer to Israel’s northern border in
recent weeks,” and Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=049-ce5&t=c>
(7/24, Williams, Barrington) says the incident “added new fuel to weeks of
tensions over the Golan.”

        *Coalition General: Defeat Of ISIS Still Months Away. *The Washington
Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=04a-49a&t=c>
(7/24, McIntyre) reports that the defeat of ISIS “is still months of ‘hard
fighting’ away, but the outcome is inevitable, a senior commander with the
US-led counter-ISIS coalition said Tuesday.” French Brig. Gen. Frederic
Parisot, in a video briefing for Pentagon reporters from Baghdad, said, “We
are still in the fight for at least two or three months...but the good
thing is they are trapped.”
Haley: Arab Nations Playing Hypocritical Role In Israel-Palestinian
Conflict.

The Washington Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=04b-135&t=c>
(7/24, Gehrke) reports that in remarks to the United Nations Security
Conference on Tuesday, Ambassador Haley “argued that the Arab world needs
to put more pressure on Palestinian officials.” Haley asserted: “Too often,
the Arab countries give just enough money and mouth just enough
uncompromising words to stay out of the crosshairs of Palestinian
representatives,” but if Arab leaders “really cared about the Palestinian
people, they would not do that.” She also “defended Israel and dismissed
criticism of the United States from other world leaders more critical of
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, observing that the U.S.
humanitarian aid to the Palestinians far outstrips any other donor.” The
Examiner says “Haley’s broadside came amid a series of clashes between
Israeli forces and Palestinian terrorists, which have led to widespread
criticism of Israel over civilian casualties.”

        *Palestinians To Lead UN Developing Nations Bloc. *The New York
Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=04c-b02&t=c>
(7/24, Gladstone) reports the Group of 77, the United Nations’ “biggest
bloc of developing countries,” selected “the observer state of Palestine as
its next leader, the Palestinian ambassador,” Riyad Mansour, told the Times
in a telephone interview Tuesday. According to the Times, “Symbolically at
least, the choice of Palestine as the Group of 77’s leader is a diplomatic
rejoinder to Israel and the United States in the protracted
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and a political advance for the
Palestinians.” As such, the Times says, the bloc’s decision “could cause
new tensions with Israel and the United States.” Israeli Ambassador Danny
Danon, meanwhile, “was strongly critical” of the move, saying it its
“unfortunate” that the Group of 77 “will now become a platform for
spreading lies and incitement. This will not promote the G-77’s goals, and
encourages the Palestinians to not engage in negotiations for peace.”
May To Take Lead On Brexit Negotiations.

Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=04d-b95&t=c>
(7/24, James, MacAskill) reports British Prime Minister Theresa May said
Tuesday that she would now lead Brexit negotiations with the European
Union. Brexit Secretary David Davis resigned earlier this month, and a
“special unit within May’s office has played an increasing role in Brexit
talks during recent months,” so today’s announcement “formalizes that shift
in responsibility.” Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=04e-d20&t=c>
(7/24, Ross, Morales, Penny, Donaldson) says the move “reinforces [May’s]
drive to keep close to the European Union,” and comes “at a critical time
in the negotiations,” with “less than three months left to finalize the
UK’s divorce terms and map out the future trade agreement.”
IMF: Venezuelan Inflation Rate May Reach One Million Percent.

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=04f-0a9&t=c>
(7/24, Krygier) reports the International Monetary Fund predicted “that
Venezuela’s hyperinflation is poised to shoot for the stars by year’s end,
reaching an annualized rate of 1 million percent” – a “far more severe
prognosis” than its prediction “earlier this year that hyperinflation in
Venezuela could top 13,000 percent.” The Post says Venezuela’s “inflation
is soaring as the economy has been broken by extreme corruption, failed
socialist policies and a collapsing oil industry where a lack of spare
parts and expertise has seen output fall to levels not seen since the
1950s.” Meanwhile, the Post says, “President Nicolás Maduro – the anointed
successor of Hugo Chávez, who died in 2013 – has sought to cling to power
by destabilizing institutions, rigging the courts and, his critics say,
stealing elections.”
Domestic Policy
Trump “Concerned” Russia Will “Be Pushing Very Hard” For Democrats In
Midterms.

President Trump tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=050-1b2&t=c>
yesterday, “I’m very concerned that Russia will be fighting very hard to
have an impact on the upcoming Election. Based on the fact that no
President has been tougher on Russia than me, they will be pushing very
hard for the Democrats. They definitely don’t want Trump!”

        Media coverage of the tweet was decidedly skeptical. Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=051-148&t=c>
(7/24, Chiacu, Heavey) says Trump expressed his concern “despite US
intelligence agencies’ conclusion that Russia tried to put” him “in the
White House in 2016,” USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=052-696&t=c>
(7/24, Jackson) that he offered “no evidence for his claims,” Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=053-37d&t=c>
(7/24, Sink) that “just eight days ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin
stood beside Trump in Helsinki and said he favored a Trump victory in 2016
as a way to improve relations between their two countries,” the AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=054-a56&t=c>
(7/24, Press) that “Putin said last week at his joint press conference with
Trump that he was rooting for the Republican,” and the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=055-e92&t=c>
(7/24, Sonmez) that Trump made his claims “without evidence.” The Post also
describes Trump as “debuting a new line on Russian interference as the
uproar over his shifting stances on the issue enters its second week.”

        Along those lines, Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=056-22e&t=c>
(7/24, Morin) says Trump’s “tweet...appears to be an attempt to manage
expectations around Republicans’ performance in the midterms, which usually
favor the party that is not in control of the White House.” ABC World News
Tonight
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=057-3bb&t=c>
(7/24, story 6, 2:10, Thomas) reported, “We reached out to multiple
agencies to give them a chance to endorse the President’s statement, and
they would not comment. Just days ago, the President himself tweeted he got
along very well with Putin, who has been invited to the White House this
fall.”

        The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=058-5e0&t=c>
(7/24, Muñoz) recounts, “Trump faced harsh criticism for suggesting at the
Helsinki summit that he didn’t believe Russia was responsible for
interfering with the US 2016 elections, contrary to the findings of the US
intelligence community.” The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=059-7ea&t=c>
(7/24, Samuels) reports Trump also “appeared to tell reporters ‘no’ when
asked last week whether he believed Russia was still a threat,” though “the
White House later claimed he was saying ‘no’ to answering additional
questions.” CQ Roll Call
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=05a-758&t=c>
(7/24, Bennett), meanwhile, reports that “the acknowledgment that Moscow is
poised to meddle in its second consecutive US national election is perhaps
Trump’s clearest statement yet that he agrees with American intelligence
agencies about Russia’s intent to upend his country’s democratic process.”

        Sen. Angus King said on CNN’s Situation Room[image: Image removed
by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=05b-451&t=c>
(7/24) that he doesn’t “know of any evidence” to support Trump’s claim that
Russia wants to help Democrats in the midterms. He said, “The only evidence
is what we saw last week when Putin said he supported Trump in 2016.” King
was critical of Trump for not being “able to separate the collusion
issue...and the fact the Russians did in fact attack our democracy. The sad
part is by not making that distinction...it has paralyzed our ability to
effectively respond to an ongoing challenge” from the Kremlin.

        Max Boot, writing in a Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=05c-16f&t=c>
(7/24) op-ed, argues that Trump won a close election contest in 2016
because of Russia’s help, and “that is the inconvenient truth the Putin
Republicans won’t admit.”

        *Trump Touts Book “The Russia Hoax, The Illicit Scheme To Clear
Hillary Clinton & Frame Donald Trump.” *Trump tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=05d-bab&t=c>
last night, “‘The Russia Hoax, The Illicit Scheme To Clear Hillary Clinton
& Frame Donald Trump’ is a Hot Seller, already Number One! More
importantly, it is a great book that everyone is talking about. It covers
the Rigged Witch Hunt brilliantly. Congratulations to Gregg Jarrett!”

        *Kremlin: Putin, Trump Could Meet At G20 In November. *Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=05e-0db&t=c>
(7/24, Pinchuk, Osborn) reports the Kremlin “was reticent on Tuesday about
whether it would accept an invitation” from Trump to hold a summit with
Vladimir Putin in Washington later this year, “saying only that the two men
had other chances to meet as well.” Reuters says the Kremlin’s “failure to
swiftly accept Trump’s invitation for a Washington summit has been
noticeable.” Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said, “There are other options (to
meet) which our leaders can look at,” citing a G20 meeting in Argentina in
November.

        *Ryan: Putin Would Not Be Invited To Capitol Hill. *Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=05f-4b3&t=c>
(7/24, Bade) reports that while Trump “might be planning to welcome
Vladimir Putin to the White House this fall,” House Speaker Ryan told
reporters Tuesday that Putin “will not be invited to give a joint-session
of Congress, echoing comments Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s
office made Monday.” Ryan told reporters, “We would certainly not be giving
him an invitation to do a joint-session. That’s something we reserve for
allies.” Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=060-553&t=c>
(7/24) reports Ryan said “he did not have a problem with Trump sitting down
with foreign leaders like Putin, but said the message being conveyed during
such talks is what is important.” Said the Speaker, “If the message is,
‘Stop meddling in our country, stop violating our sovereignty,’ then I
support that. But it’s the message that counts.” He added that “we can
always be firmer on that.” The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=061-301&t=c>
(7/24), among other outlets, also report the comments.

        *Graham, Menendez Propose New Sanctions On Russia. *Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=062-312&t=c>
(7/24, Litvan) reports Sens. Lindsey Graham and Bob Menendez “said Tuesday
they’ll introduce a bipartisan bill to increase US sanctions against Russia
that would target Russian debt as well as the country’s energy and
financial sectors.” In a joint statement, the senators said, “The United
States must make it abundantly clear that we will defend our nation and not
waver in our rejection of his effort to erode Western democracy.”

        *Poll: 51% Think Putin Has Compromising Information On Trump. *
Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=063-45c&t=c>
(7/24, Murray) reports that according to the new Quinnipiac University
national poll, “half of American voters think” the Kremlin has “dirt” on
Trump. Fifty-one percent of voters believe “the Russian government has
compromising information about President Trump.” Thirty-five percent of
respondents “believe the opposite.”

        *Pompeo: Trump-Putin Meeting Was “Incredibly Important,” Will
Benefit World. *CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360[image: Image removed by sender.
Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=064-e28&t=c>
(7/24) reported Secretary of State Pompeo was asked Tuesday what happened
in the closed-door meeting between Trump and Putin. When asked about his
“understanding of the agreements that were made,” Pompeo was shown saying,
“The President has been clear about some of the things that were agreed to.
We’re going to put together a business council. There’ll be places where
we’ll start track two processes. There were many things that came from what
I view as an incredibly important meeting. ... One that I think the world
will have benefited from when history is written.” Anderson Cooper said
that “Pompeo doesn’t say he knows all of what was discussed,” and while he
said many things came from the meeting, Pompeo offered “zero specifics on
what they might be.”

        *Cruz: Trump “Made A Mistake With Putin.” *The Dallas Morning News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=065-ada&t=c>
(7/24, Gillman, Chief) reports that Sen. Ted Cruz, who is one of Trump’s
“most ardent allies in Congress,” criticized him for “apologizing for
Russia” last week “and sending mixed messages about U.S. resolve toward
foes that meddle in American elections.” Cruz told Fox News’ Your World[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=066-fbc&t=c>
(7/24), “President Trump made a mistake with Putin. He should have been
more vigorous in that news conference. I think it’s a bad idea for the
President not to be visibly and vocally standing up to Russia. ... We need
to continue focusing on defending this nation, and not be in a position of
treating America and Russia as morally equivalent – not be in a position of
apologizing for Russia.”

        *Trump Proposes Mueller Interview With Questions Limited To
Collusion. *Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=067-e73&t=c>
(7/23, Pettypiece) reports Trump “would agree to an interview with Special
Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators if it’s limited to questions on
whether his presidential campaign colluded with Russia in the 2016
election, lawyer Rudy Giuliani said.” In return, Giuliani said, Trump is
requiring “that he isn’t asked questions about obstruction of justice in
the probe.” Trump’s legal team is “concerned that Mueller and his staff
might believe witnesses who contradicted Trump’s account, such as former
FBI Director James Comey, Giuliani said. That could leave the president
vulnerable to a perjury charge, he added.”

        Legal analyst Dan Abrams was asked on ABC’s Good Morning America[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=068-8f9&t=c>
(7/24) if the offer is something Mueller would accept. Abrams said, “No,
they’re calling it a counter-offer. I don’t know what it means. A
counter-offer to the fact that Mueller says we want to talk to the
President, and now Giuliani is coming out and saying we have a
counter-offer now. ... Here’s the problem: obstruction of justice is too
closely linked to collusion. Even if there is no collusion, you still have
to be able to figure out what were the possible reasons for potential
obstruction of justice. So I don’t see how they can figure out where that
line is drawn between collusion and obstruction of justice in a way that
Mueller would deem to be acceptable.”

        *Nunes Wants Intelligence Agencies To Declassify Report On Russian
Election Meddling. *The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=069-fb9&t=c>
(7/24, Scarborough) cites “a congressional source” who said the House
Intelligence Committee “wants intelligence agencies to declassify the
censored parts of its final report on Moscow election interference in light
of the fact that special counsel Robert Mueller’s indictment this month of
12 Russians contains some of the same information.” According to the
source, the panel “will make the request to declassify huge sections of
Chapter 2, ‘Russia Attacks the United States,’ of its March report that
have been blacked out, or redacted, by the intelligence community.” The
matter represents “a new fight” between House Intelligence Chairman Devin
Nunes “and the intelligence bureaucracy over the contested issue of
disclosing as much information as possible on the ongoing Trump-Russia
probe.”

        *Nunes Blasts CNN Over Surveillance Abuse Memo. *The Washington
Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=06a-b6b&t=c>
(7/24, Chaitin) reports that Nunes “clashed with CNN” as the network
pressed him “to answer for a memo his panel released earlier this year on
alleged surveillance abuse.” Senior congressional correspondent Manu Raju
sought to ask Nunes “about whether he still stood by the memo,” to which
Nunes replied, “Do you really think I’m going to talk to the leading
Democratic Party propaganda?” Asked by Anderson Cooper “if all the
Republican did was accuse CNN being Democratic propaganda,” Raju replied,
“That’s pretty much it.” Nunes, in a tweet Tuesday, “excoriated CNN for not
mentioning a quote provided by his office: CNN’s slavish adherence to the
Democrats’ comical talking points is an amazing sight to behold.’ ... Guess
what? They refused to run the statement. ... This is another great example
of ‘Fake and fraudulent news.’”

        *Meadows Weighs Resolution To Hold Rosenstein In Contempt Of
Congress. *Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=06b-5e5&t=c>
(7/24, Cheney, Bresnahan) reports that Trump’s “top allies in the House”
are weighing “a last-ditch attempt to circumvent Republican leaders and
punish Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees Special Counsel
Robert Mueller.” Rep. Mark Meadows (R) said Tuesday that he is considering
introducing “of a resolution to hold Rosenstein in contempt of Congress,”
which “could force a vote – even without Speaker Paul Ryan’s blessing –
before the House leaves town for a five-week recess on Thursday.” Such a
move “would mark a sharp escalation of efforts to undercut the nation’s
second most powerful law enforcement official, one who holds great sway
over Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s contacts with
Russians.”

        *Pew Poll: 49% Of Republicans View FBI Positively; Down 16 Points
Since Early 2017. *Axios
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=06c-375&t=c>
(7/24, McCammond) reports that a new Pew Research Center poll
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=06d-f27&t=c>
“shows a 16-point drop in favorable views of the FBI among Republicans and
Republican-leaning independents since early 2017.” In the poll, 49 percent
“of Republicans view the FBI positively, which is a stark contrast to the
65% who had positive views of the bureau before President Trump took
office.” The finding “suggests President Trump’s repeated attacks on the
FBI are influencing voters. “

        *Trump Allies Paid Gates For Advice On Administration. *The New
York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=06e-fab&t=c>
(7/24, Vogel, Mazzetti, Haberman, Kirkpatrick) reports on the relationship
between former Trump campaign official Rick Gates, who has pleaded guilty
in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, and Elliott Broidy, “a
top fund-raiser for President Trump.” The Times says that after the
inauguration, Gates “began receiving monthly consulting payments for help
navigating the new administration from a company headed by [California
investor and Trump inaugural committee chairman Thomas] Barrack, Colony
NorthStar, which paid Mr. Gates $20,000 a month, and one owned by Mr.
Broidy, which paid Mr. Gates $25,000 a month.” The payments “came despite
the fact that Mr. Gates and [former Trump campaign chairman Paul] Manafort
were emerging as subjects of federal and congressional investigations
looking into their lucrative Ukraine work, and any connections between the
Trump campaign and Russia.”

        *Page: FISA Warrant Was Way To Attack Trump Campaign. *Carter Page
said on Fox News’ Hannity
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=06f-ae7&t=c>
(7/24) that he was never approached to be a spy. Asked how he responds to
his characterization in the FISA warrant, Page said, “It is an unhidden way
of attacking the Trump campaign. It’s very clear, particularly given...the
association with the dodgy dossier.”

        *NYTimes: In Criticizing Trump, Former Intelligence Officials Risk
Being Pulled Into Political Fray. *The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=070-348&t=c>
(7/24, Barnes, Mazzetti) says Trump seems to view the nation’s intelligence
apparatus “as a phantom army opposing him” and has “waged a battle against
the people he sees as their public proxies – former officials who have
rebuked him in opinion articles, in books, in strident Twitter posts and on
cable television.” The Times says this “extraordinary fight” highlights the
“risk for current and former spies” of “being pulled into the political
fray.” Their criticism of Trump “could cause long-term damage that extends
beyond the Trump administration, especially if the intelligence gathered by
the C.I.A. and other agencies comes to be seen as colored by politics or if
officers are seen as pushing political agendas.”

        *Intelligence Officials Concerned About Broader Russian Attacks On
Energy Grid. *Jim Sciutto reported on CNN’s Situation Room[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=071-79d&t=c>
(7/24) that US intelligence officials believe Russian meddling capabilities
“extend beyond voting systems to critical systems including nuclear power,
and electrical systems, and they believe those attacks and Russia’s
capability are truly alarming.” Sciutto said that earlier in 2018, DHS and
the FBI detailed a two-year, multi-state effort by Moscow to target
“hundreds of companies that they believe is still ongoing.” The hackers
initially gained access to small energy-related companies, “planting
malware that allowed them to move to larger networks.” The Russians
“collected information on the facilities’ control systems, attempting to
acquire the ability to turn those systems off.”

        DHS Secretary Nielsen said on Fox News’ Special Report[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=072-f35&t=c>
(7/24), “What we saw was targeting a particular industrial control system
which manages our grid, manages distribution of energy, and in one case we
did see access to a very limited distribution asset. That would not have
had an effect on the larger grid. Nonetheless, it shows us the capability
is there. So we are going to work hand in glove with Department of Energy
and with private sector partners to make sure we are prepared.” She added
that the percentage of Americans concerned about Russia interfering in
future elections “needs to be higher. We know they have the capability. We
know they have the intent. It would be foolish to assume they don’t try to
disrupt or sew discord in our democracy.”

        *Bruni Criticizes Republicans For Falling “Pathetically Into Line”
Behind Trump. *Under the headline “Donald Trump’s Relentless Tribe,” Frank
Bruni writes in the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=073-14d&t=c>
(7/24), “The verdict on the most galling week of an outrageous presidency
is in, and it shouldn’t come as the shock that it does: Republicans
forgive...Trump his surrender to...Putin, his siding with Russia over the
United States, his puppy-dog performance in Helsinki – all of it. Or
rather, they don’t see anything to forgive. They simply notice that their
man is under attack, and they rise to defend him.” Adds Bruni, “Welcome to
political tribalism in America in 2018. ... I doubt that Democrats, faced
with a leader like Trump, would fall this pathetically into line. Bill
Clinton and his presidency foreshadowed without remotely matching this.”
Capito Willing To Support Spending Up To $5 Billion On Border Wall.

CQ Roll Call
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=074-ba5&t=c>
(7/24, Krawzak) reports Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, “the top Senate
appropriator with jurisdiction over Department of Homeland Security
funding,” said she could support spending up to $5 billion on President
Trump’s proposed wall along the US-Mexico border – three times the $1.6
billion her subcommittee’s fiscal 2019 spending bill would allocate –
although she added, “I’m not sure we can get there.” Capito said briefings
from federal agencies allayed previous concerns that the higher level of
spending could not be efficiently and effectively spent.

        DHS Secretary Nielsen was asked on Fox News’ Special Report[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=075-df2&t=c>
(7/24) if there will be a government shutdown over wall funding or DACA.
Nielsen said, “I can’t speak to that in detail. I think there will be a
fight. I think the President has been very clear actually on both issues,
but I think different parts of Congress have also been clear. So we will
continue to work with them hand in glove to find a package that will work.
I think what’s really important for Congress to continue to do, however, is
to look at how to fix the immigration system.”

        *Scientists Express Concern About Border Wall Expansion. *The
Washington
Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=076-8d6&t=c>
(7/24, Furby) reports thousands of scientists signed on to a report in
BioScience that “outlined the dangers of building a continuous and
impermeable border wall, saying it would harm animals and plants in this
sensitive region.” Concerns expressed in the report include “bypassed
environmental laws, habitat destruction, and losses to conservation and
scientific research as the primary areas of concern.” The area is home to
several endangered species.

        *Trump: Democrats’ Call To Abolish ICE Will Boost Republicans In
Midterms. *Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=077-f58&t=c>
(7/24, Holland) reports President Trump said yesterday he believes that the
demands by some Democrats that ICE be abolished “will help Republicans” in
the upcoming midterm elections. In a speech to the VFW in Kansas City,
Trump “defended” ICE from calls by “some Democrats...for the abolishment of
the agency.” Said Trump, “The Democrats want to abandon ICE. They want to
end ICE. When you hear some of the things they are proposing you can’t even
understand it. I hope they [Democrats] keep at it because we’re going to
have a lot of fun in four months and we’re going to have a lot of fun in
2020.”

        *House Republicans Backing Away From Pledge To Hold Immigration
Vote Before Recess. *According to Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=078-867&t=c>
(7/24, Bade), House GOP leaders are “reneging on a vow to hold an
immigration vote before the August recess, a move that puts House Majority
Leader Kevin McCarthy in a particularly awkward spot as he seeks to become
the next speaker.” In June, McCarthy “personally promised several
rank-and-file members a vote on a new guest-worker program for farmers” in
a bid to persuade Reps. Dan Newhouse (R) and Dennis Ross (R) “not to sign
on to an effort – which Republican leaders were desperately trying to stop
– to force a vote on legislation creating a pathway to citizenship for
Dreamers.” Now, however, Republican leaders “have no plans to take up the
guest-worker program before the summer break, according to four sources in
leadership.”

        *Media Research Center: 92% Of Network Coverage Of Trump On
Immigration Negative. *The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=079-309&t=c>
(7/24, Dinan) reports conservative group Media Research Center said that a
review of ABC, CBS, and NBC nightly newscast segments on immigration “found
a staggering 92 percent of them were hostile to the president.”
Additionally, the study found that “administration opponents and ‘victims’
of the policies [received] the vast majority of the” air time.

        *CBP’s McAleenan: Prosecutions Of Single Adults At Highest Rate
Ever. *CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said on Fox News’ Fox & Friends[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=07a-dd8&t=c>
(7/24), “We’re still seeing about 1,000 a day crossing illegally between
ports of entry and another 200-300 arriving without documents at the ports
of entry. So the numbers are still significant. ... Our Border Patrol
agents are working very hard in south Texas, as well as in Arizona, across
the whole border.” Asked what is happening to those that are detained,
McAleenan said, “For the single adults, we’re prosecuting at a higher level
are than we’ve ever done before. We’ve more than quadrupled prosecutions
from the prior Administration right now with the Department of Justice
support. So we’re doing about 55% of all single adults are being prosecuted
right now. That’s an extra sanction that provides a deterrent for future
crossing.”

        *Administration: Over 450 Immigrant Parents May Have Been Deported
Without Their Children. *The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=07b-eae&t=c>
(7/24, Caldwell) reports In a court filing, Justice Department attorneys
said that immigration authority case notes indicate that 463 parents who
were separated from their children at the border are no longer in the
country, a concern long expressed by the American Civil Liberties Union,
which sued the government over its practice of separating families. DOJ
attorneys also objected to Judge Dana Sabraw’s order temporarily halting
the deportation of families that had been reunited in response to ACLU
concerns they could be removed prior to the full completion of their
immigration cases.

        *Nielsen: Administration On Track To Meet Reunification Deadline. *DHS
Secretary Nielsen was asked on Fox News’ Special Report[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=07c-5c9&t=c>
(7/24) if the Administration will meet the court’s deadline to reunite
separated families. Nielsen said, “We are on track to do it. We are working
hand in glove with HHS. It is certainly our intention to reunify all
families that are suitable.” Asked if the plan was set up as a deterrent,
Nielsen said, “It wasn’t. It was set up for the sole purpose of enforcing
the law. It’s against the law to come to the United States between ports of
entry. So what this President said is, ‘I don’t want you to exempt class.
... I want the law to apply equally. ... Anyone that comes across that
border illegally needs to have consequences for that illegal entry.”

        *DOJ Instructs US Attorneys To Not Use Term “Undocumented”
Immigrant. *CNN
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=07d-e46&t=c>
(7/24, Kopan) reports that, according to a copy of an agency-wide email
obtained by CNN, the Justice Department “instructed US attorneys offices
not to use the term ‘undocumented’ immigrants” in favor of the term
“illegal alien.” The email states, “The word ‘undocumented’ is not based in
US code and should not be used to describe someone’s illegal presence in
the country.” The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=07e-d26&t=c>
(7/24, Morton) reports that while “the term ‘undocumented’ has gained
increasing currency in...the stylebooks of U.S. media outlets,”
conservatives “generally dismissed the term as a politically correct
euphemism designed to distort public debate.”

        *Documents Contradict Ross Narrative On Adding Citizenship Question
To 2020 Census. *The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=07f-d01&t=c>
(7/24, Bahrampour) reports that a “cache of documents released by the
Commerce Department overnight provides further evidence that Secretary
Wilbur Ross was pushing to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census
far more actively, and much earlier, than his later sworn testimony
indicated.” The documents, “released as part of a multi-state lawsuit
against the addition of the question, also reveal deeper involvement of
senior administration officials in pushing for the question than earlier
indicated, and attempts to drum up support from experts in the face of
overwhelming criticism from former Census Bureau directors and the bureau’s
own chief statistician.” According to the Post, the documents appear to
“contradict Ross’s testimony in March before the House Ways and Means
Committee saying that the Justice Department had initiated the request for
the question.”

        The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=080-c09&t=c>
(7/24, Wines) reports the emails “cast further doubt on the
administration’s initial explanation that the citizenship question was
added at the request of the Justice Department,” showing that within months
of Trump taking office, his “chief strategist at the time, Steve Bannon,
requested that Commerce Secretary Wilbur L. Ross ‘talk to someone about the
census.’” A month later, “Ross began demanding that the question be added,
and a top aide pledged to press Justice Department officials to say they
needed better citizenship data for law enforcement.”

        *Washington-Area ICE Operation Nets 132 Undocumented Immigrants. *The
Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=081-fe6&t=c>
(7/24, Dinan) reports Operation Eagle’s Shield, an ICE enforcement sweep
from July 9 to 20 in the Washington area, led to the detention of 132
undocumented immigrants, 37 of which will face criminal charges Russell
Hott, director of ICE’s Washington deportation field office, said, “Today’s
announcement is the result of the absolutely essential work our ICE
officers perform to identify the worst of the worst and ensure they have no
refuge here.”

        *Judge Orders Release Of Detained Pizza Delivery Man. *The New York
Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=082-be1&t=c>
(7/24, Robbins) reports federal Judge Paul A. Crotty “ordered the immediate
release of Pablo Villavicencio Calderon, an undocumented pizza delivery
man” arrested while dropping off food at a Brooklyn army base, after a
hearing in which Crotty “pointedly questioned the government about why it
had detained Mr. Villavicencio and planned to deport him.” The judge
granted a stay of deportation while Villavicencio pursues permanent
residency. During the hearing Judge Crotty said, “The powerful are doing
what they want,” adding, “and the poor are suffering what they must.”
Villavicencio was ordered to be deported in 2010, but remained in the
country married a naturalized citizen in 2013, and applied for permanent
residency.

        *Officials Concerned About Illegal Crossings At US-Canada Border. *The
AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=083-801&t=c>
(7/24, Ring) reports on the “growing concern over the number of foreigners
entering the country illegally” from Canada. US Border Patrol Agent Richard
Ross said that smugglers “are very well organized. They have scouted the
area. They have scouted us.” The increase in border crossings appears to be
confined to Vermont, with at least 267 apprehensions along the state’s
border with Canada this fiscal year, compared to the previous year’s 132,
according to statistics compiled by federal prosecutors. However, “the
number of arrests is tiny compared with the southern border.” Officials
attribute the increase to visa-less travel to Canada for Mexicans, and to
the northern border’s relatively reduced scrutiny compared to the US-Mexico
border. Meanwhile, US Customs and Border Protection set up highway
checkpoints in Maine, New Hampshire, and upstate New York as part of an
“immigration crackdown.”

        *WPost Editorial Blasts Administration On Immigration Policy
Effects On LGBTQ Asylum Seekers. *In an editorial, the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=084-882&t=c>
(7/24) criticizes the Administration as being “increasingly complicit in”
the mistreatment of LGBTQ refugees and asylum seekers. Administration
“efforts to hollow out the asylum system” have caused LGBTQ individuals to
suffer “inordinately.” In Central America and Mexico, LGBTQ individuals are
usually victims of sexual and gender-based violence, and law enforcement
authorities “are often indifferent, and frequently overtly hostile” to
them. Identification with a persecuted social group and a government
“either complicit in their mistreatment or powerless to stop it” qualifies
a migrant for asylum in the United States, and, “by any reasonable
assessment, many or most LGBTQ asylum seekers meet those criteria.”
Administration Restores ACA Risk Adjustment Program.

The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=085-8c4&t=c>
(7/24, Pear) reports that, “in an abrupt reversal,” Centers for Medicare
and Medicaid Services Administration Seema Verma issued a new rule
restoring the Affordable Care Act’s risk adjustment program, which “pays
billions of dollars to insurers to stabilize health insurance markets.” The
Administration said, in the Times’ words, that if the program remained
suspended, “health plans could become insolvent or withdraw from the
market, causing chaos for consumers,” which the Times casts as
“essentially” accepting “the arguments of critics, including consumer
groups, health insurance companies and Democrats in Congress.” Due to fears
they would be “blamed in the midterm elections this year for even higher
premiums,” Republicans in Congress advocated restoring the payments.

        *NYTimes: Medicaid Expansion A Potent Issue In Midterm Elections. *The
New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=086-27f&t=c>
(7/24, A1, Goodnough) reports on tensions “in a number of
Republican-controlled states that have resisted expanding Medicaid under
the Affordable Care Act.” Advocacy groups in Idaho, Nebraska, and Utah
“gathered enough signatures to get Medicaid expansion measures on their
state ballots this November,” and “Medicaid expansion is also emerging as a
potent issue in gubernatorial and congressional races in Florida, Georgia
and Kansas, among others.” On “the extreme end” of the conflict is the
“rancorous, drawn-out battle over whether” thousands of Maine residents
will receive coverage under a Medicaid expansion the state’s voters
approved last fall. Gov. Paul LePage, in defiance of the binding vote,
refused to expand the program, and the issue is now before the state’s
Supreme Court. Meanwhile, “the legal conflict has spilled into the race to
replace Mr. LePage, who is finishing his second term.”
McConnell Says Kavanaugh Will Get Vote Before Midterm Elections.

The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=087-6d6&t=c>
(7/24, Dinan) reports that Senate Majority Leader McConnell “vowed Tuesday”
that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh “will get a vote on the Senate
floor before this year’s congressional elections...insisting there’s a
limit to how long Democrats will be allowed to delay.” McConnell said that
while “they’re trying to reach an agreement with Democrats over access to
documents from Judge Kavanaugh’s extensive government service,” he “won’t
allow the feud to derail the nomination.” Said McConnell, “We’re going to
finish this nomination this fall, and so let there be no misunderstanding
that there would be any kind of delaying tactic that would take us past the
first Tuesday in November.”

        Meanwhile, the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=088-18a&t=c>
(7/24, Kim) reports that White House counsel Donald McGahn on Tuesday “met
privately with key Senate Republicans...to discuss how many of” Kavanaugh’s
“documents should be publicly released – a major point of contention in the
confirmation process.” While Democratic senators “are demanding that
Kavanaugh hand over any document he touched during his time at the George
W. Bush White House,” Republicans “have deemed the Democrats’ demand a
fishing expedition that will not be particularly revelatory.”

        *Booker: Kavanaugh Supporters Are “Complicit In The Evil.”
*The Washington
Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=089-821&t=c>
(7/24, Wegmann) reports that Sen. Cory Booker on Tuesday “delivered a
sermon better suited to stamping out sin than squashing a Supreme Court
nominee, condemning in the process any of his colleagues who would consider
voting for Brett Kavanaugh as being ‘complicit in the evil.’” Booker said,
“I’m here to call on folk to understand that in a moral moment there is no
neutral. In a moral moment there is no bystanders. ... You are either
complicit in the evil, you are either contributing to the wrong, or you are
fighting against it.”

        The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=08a-a82&t=c>
(7/24, Swoyer) says “liberal 2020 presidential hopefuls quoted from the
Bible,” arguing that “the responsibility of the Senate to fill the vacancy
on the Supreme Court is a moral choice.” Booker and Sen. Elizabeth Warren
“said the choice is between a pro-corporate court or one that sides with
minorities and people in need, claiming that since 2006 the court under
Chief Justice John G. Roberts has sided with the pro-business Chamber of
Commerce 70 percent of the time.” Warren said, “Corporations have won 62%
of the cases they’ve been in whenever they are up against workers,
shareholders, people who represent the public interest. ... This moment is
crystallized in Matthew 25. ... It is not enough to have a good heart … We
are called to act. ... We are on the moral side of history.”

        *Coons Will Meet With Kavanaugh If Documents From Bush, Starr Work
Released. *Asked on CNN’s New Day
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=08b-a9c&t=c>
(7/24) if he will meet with President Trump’s nominee for the Supreme
Court, Brett Kavanaugh, Sen. Chris Coons said, “I will. I first want an
agreement about the release of the documents relating to his five years of
service in the Bush Administration and his time serving with Judge Starr’s
independent counsel team. He has a very long and detailed record. Much of
it is public...but much of it is not.”
Ryan Downplays Trump’s Threat To Revoke Security Clearances Of Former
Officials.

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=08c-326&t=c>
(7/24, Wagner) reports House Speaker Ryan on Tuesday “played down”
President Trump’s threat to revoke security clearances of former top
intelligence officials, saying he thinks Trump is merely “trolling people.”
Asked about the possible White House action, Ryan told reporters, “I think
he’s trolling people, honestly.” USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=08d-c48&t=c>
(7/24, Shesgreen) similarly says Ryan “downplayed...Trump’s threat,” but
“declined to say whether such a move would be appropriate, arguing that
it’s under the purview of the White House, not Congress.” To the AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=08e-045&t=c>
(7/24, Colvin), the Speaker “dismiss[ed]...Trump’s threat,” while The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=08f-6b8&t=c>
(7/24, Wong) and CQ Roll Call
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=090-83d&t=c>
(7/24, Elkhatib), among other sources, also report his comments.

        *Corker Compares Revoking Clearances To Venezuela’s Dictatorship. *
Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=091-c6f&t=c>
(7/24, Morin) reports Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker
criticized Trump’s threat, saying it’s “the kind of thing that happens in
Venezuela.” Corker told MSNBC, “I can’t even believe that somebody at the
White House thought up something like this. I mean, when you’re going to
start taking retribution against people who are your political enemies in
this manner, that’s the kind of thing that happens in Venezuela. So you
just don’t do that. I can’t believe they even allowed it to be aired, to be
honest.”
Sessions Joins “Lock Her Up!” Chant During High School Event.

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=092-109&t=c>
(7/24, Bump) reports Attorney General Sessions “was speaking at an event
hosted by the conservative group Turning Point USA on Tuesday when the
crowd began to chant, ‘Lock her up.’” According to the Post, Sessions
“chuckled,” and then joined in the chant, saying, “Lock her up.” In his
address to TPUSA’s High School Leadership Summit, Sessions said, “Too many
schools are coddling our young people and actively preventing them from
scrutinizing the validity of their beliefs and the issues of the day. That
is the exact opposite of what we expect from universities in our country.”
Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=093-9d0&t=c>
(7/24, Martinez) similarly says Sessions “briefly joined in during a ‘Lock
her up!’ chant while delivering a speech to a group of conservative high
school students on Tuesday.”

        NBC Nightly News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=094-c74&t=c>
(7/24, story 4, 2:40, Jackson) briefly mentioned the story, saying, “That
is the top law enforcement official in the country official appearing to be
amused by that ‘lock her up’ chant, a familiar ring from the campaign about
jailing a political rival never charged with a crime.” The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=095-f8d&t=c>
(7/24, Jacobs) also reports Sessions’ comments, adding that “law
enforcement officials are expected to maintain political objectivity with
regard to issues that could be investigated by agencies under their
purview.”

        The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=096-90d&t=c>
(7/24, Tucker) indicates “the interaction came as Sessions lamented that
college campuses were ‘coddling’ students by encouraging them to shield
themselves from, rather than engage with, speech or points of view they
disagree with.” That, according to Sessions, is “the exact opposite of what
we expect of our universities in this country.” The New York Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=097-75f&t=c>
(7/24, Schwab) notes “Sessions quoted Kanye West” and “whacked liberal
‘snowflakes.’” The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=098-a29&t=c>
(7/24, Mordock) quotes Sessions as saying, “Rather than molding a
generation of mature, well-informed adults, some schools are doing
everything they can to create a generation of sanctimonious, sensitive,
supercilious snowflakes.”

        Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D) said on CNN’s Situation Room[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=099-3b9&t=c>
(7/24), “Sessions is an embarrassment. He is a disgrace. He should be
ashamed of himself and he’s not fit to continue to be the attorney general
of the United States of America. ... Those folks need to get over the fact
that the presidential race in 2016 is over and perhaps with Russia’s
assistance, Donald Trump is the President of the United States of America.
They should be more concerned about the illegal activity, the conspiracy,
the collusion, the aberrant behavior that was taken place by Paul Manafort
and Michael Flynn and Papadopoulos, Carter Page and all of the other
individuals who have either plead guilty, have been indicted or continue to
be under investigation.”
Trump Discussed McDougal Payment With Cohen In Secretly Taped 2016
Conversation.

CNN
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=09a-bf4&t=c>
(7/24, Cuomo, Scannell, Watkins) reports that an audio recording of
then-candidate Donald Trump discussing with his attorney Michael Cohen “how
they would buy the rights to a Playboy model’s story about an alleged
affair Trump had with her years earlier” was aired exclusively on CNN’s
Cuomo Prime Time
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=09b-b1f&t=c>
(7/24) Tuesday evening. The recording “confirms the man who now occupies
the Oval Office had contemporaneous knowledge of a proposal to buy the
rights to the story of Karen McDougal.” According to CNN, “Cohen told Trump
about his plans to set up a company and finance the purchase of the rights
from American Media, which publishes the National Enquirer. When Cohen told
Trump, ‘We’ll have to pay,’ Trump is heard saying, ‘pay with cash,’ but the
audio is muddled and it’s unclear whether he suggests paying with cash or
not paying.” Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani said no payment was ever made from
Trump.

        The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=09c-d00&t=c>
(7/24, Balsamo) reports that the audio, “which was secretly recorded in
2016, was provided to CNN by Lanny Davis,” who represents Cohen. The New
York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=09d-10d&t=c>
(7/25, Schmidt, Haberman, Rutenberg) reports that in the recording, Trump
“shows some familiarity with a deal between Ms. McDougal and American
Media...and does not act as if he is only learning about it then.” McDougal
was paid $150,000 by the Enquirer “for her story in summer 2016. The
tabloid, which has often given Mr. Trump favorable coverage, then did not
publish the story.”

        Emily Jane Fox of Vanity Fair
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=09e-8a9&t=c>
(7/24) writes, “Giuliani asserted that the recording confirms that Trump
did not know about the McDougal arrangement beforehand (a claim that
Cohen’s camp has denied).” Giuliani said, “People always wondered how he
could make the Stormy [Daniels] payment without permission, and this shows
that Cohen had the authority to do things like that.” But “people close to
Cohen have disputed some of Giuliani’s characterization of the
conversation, such as his claim that Trump suggested he make the payment
with a check, rather than cash, so that it could be documented.” The Washington
Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=09f-ab2&t=c>
(7/24, Leonnig, Costa) headlines its report “Transcript Of Cohen Tape
Suggests Trump Knew About Model’s Deal To Sell Story Of Alleged Affair.”
Trump-Backed Kemp Wins Georgia GOP Gubernatorial Primary Runoff By 39
Points.

Secretary of State Brian Kemp (R), who had the endorsement of President
Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, on Tuesday defeated
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=0a0-293&t=c>
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle (R) 69.5%-30.5% in Georgia’s GOP gubernatorial primary
runoff. Kemp will now face off against ex-state House Minority Leader
Stacey Abrams (D) in the general election. Gov. Nathan Deal (R), who backed
Cagle in the runoff, is term-limited this year.

        The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=0a1-e68&t=c>
(7/24, Nadler, Barrow) reports that Kemp rode “a damning secret recording
of” Cagle “and a late Trump-Pence endorsement” to what he described as “a
‘clear, convincing victory’” in the GOP runoff. In his victory speech, Kemp
“credited the White House’s backing for sealing his win. ‘They poured
gasoline in the fire and fueled the Kemp surge to victory,’ Kemp said.” His
win, adds the AP, “is likely to embolden Trump to become even more engaged
in shaping the Republican Party in the final months of the primary season.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=0a2-9da&t=c>
(7/24, Bluestein) reports that Kemp “decisively won the” runoff, beating
Cagle “after a grueling runoff shaped by secret recordings, provocative ads
and the late intervention of...Trump.” While Cagle “was the heavy favorite
when he entered the race last year,” he “was hobbled by damaging audio
covertly recorded by a former GOP rival, and any chance of his victory
slipped away after Trump endorsed Kemp.” On Tuesday night, Kemp thanked
“both Trump and Pence. In a reference to the president’s endorsement,
delivered by social media, Kemp told his supporters, ‘We cannot forget that
tweet that we heard around Georgia.’”

        The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=0a3-38e&t=c>
(7/24, Blinder, Martin) reports that Kemp “easily” won “after a series of
provocative ads that evoked...Trump’s incendiary politics and a well-timed
endorsement from the president himself.” However, the Times says that “what
alarms Republican officials in Washington and” Georgia, “is that Mr.
Trump’s endorsement of Mr. Kemp may have made it harder to defeat Ms.
Abrams in November. Large swaths of suburban Atlanta swung away from the
Republicans in 2016, recoiling from Mr. Trump’s divisive and racially
tinged appeals. And Mr. Kemp has adopted the same approach, but even more
vividly.” Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=0a4-345&t=c>
(7/24, Ax) reports that Abrams “is vying to become the first black woman to
serve as a US state governor in what is expected to be one of the most
hotly contested races in November’s midterm elections. Trump carried
Georgia by 5 percentage points in 2016.”

        In an online article, Fox News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=0a5-7a9&t=c>
(7/24, Re) reported, “After conceding the GOP runoff to Kemp on Tuesday,
Cagle told supporters that Kemp was ‘undeniably ready to lead this state.’
The praise was a swift reversal after a nine-week runoff that saw Cagle and
Kemp attack each other on multiple fronts.”

        Breitbart
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=0a6-265&t=c>
(7/24, Caplan) headlines its story “Blowout MAGA Victory: Trump-Backed
Brian Kemp Crushes Establishment-Backed Casey Cagle In Georgia GOP Runoff,”
and reports that Trump “on Tuesday urged Georgia voters to support for
Kemp.” Trump tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=0a7-a83&t=c>,
“Today is the day to vote for Brian Kemp. Will be great for Georgia, full
Endorsement!” The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=0a8-51d&t=c>
(7/24, Bauerlein) is among the media outlets also reporting on Kemp’s win.

        *Abrams-Kemp Battle To “Highlight The Widening Gulf Between” Both
Parties. *The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=0a9-85e&t=c>
(7/24, Barrow, Nadler) reports that the Abrams-Kemp general election battle
“will test history and highlight the widening gulf between two major
parties moving further apart in style and substance in the era of...Trump.”
The AP asks, “Will a Deep South state – led by white, male governors since
1776 and not long removed from having Confederate insignia on its flag –
elect as governor a self-declared progressive black woman from Atlanta as
its chief executive? Or will an increasingly urban, diversifying state –
now the eighth most populous and home to The Coca-Cola Company, Delta, Home
Depot, UPS and the 1996 Summer Olympics – embrace the brash, gun-wielding,
chain saw-cranking Republican who says he’ll ‘round up criminal illegals’
in his own pickup truck?”

        *Bourdeaux, McBath Win GA6, GA7 Democratic Primary Runoffs.
*The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=0aa-fc1&t=c>
(7/24, Hallerman, Redmon) reports that “prominent gun control activist”
Lucy McBath (D) on Tuesday defeated businessman Kevin Abel (D) in the GA6
Democratic primary runoff. McBath will now face off against GA6 Rep. Karen
Handel (R) in the general election. Also on Tuesday, college professor
Carolyn Bourdeaux defeated businessman David Kim (D) in the GA7 Democratic
primary runoff. Bourdeaux will take on GA7 Rep. Rob Woodall (R) this fall. CQ
Roll Call (DC)
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=0ab-383&t=c>
(7/24, Pathé) reported, “Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rates
both races Likely Republican. President Donald Trump carried the 6th by
less than 2 points in 2016, and the 7th by 6 points.” The Huffington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=0ac-370&t=c>
(7/24, Ruiz-Grossman) reported that McBath,” a national spokeswoman for gun
control group Moms Demand Action...was spurred into activism by the 2012
death of her son, Jordan Davis, a black 17-year-old who was shot dead at a
Florida gas station by a white man complaining about loud music.”

        *Trump Touts Hawley, Raps McCaskill During Missouri Visit. *The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=0ad-e39&t=c>
(7/24) reports that President Trump, visiting Missouri on Tuesday, lauded
state Attorney General Josh Hawley (R), who is expected to face off against
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) this fall. The AP says that Trump “called Hawley
a ‘special man’” during a speech “at the national convention of the
Veterans of Foreign Wars in Kansas City. He said ‘we need Josh badly,’ then
called Hawley on stage to speak to the veterans and national television
audience. Hawley said the word that comes to mind when he thinks of Trump
is ‘courage,’” citing Trump’s “work to move the US embassy in Israel to
Jerusalem and his appointment of conservatives to the US Supreme Court.”

        The St. Louis Post-Dispatch
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=0ae-c31&t=c>
(7/24, Erickson) reports that “with McCaskill considered one of the most
endangered Democrats seeking reelection, the White House and national
Republicans have gone all-in for Hawley over 10 of his GOP” primary foes.
Vice President Mike Pence last week “was in St. Louis to raise money for
Hawley, who has lagged behind McCaskill in fundraising.” Trump “drew boos
from the audience when he mentioned McCaskill, criticizing her for voting
against last year’s GOP-sponsored tax cuts.” KMBC-TV[image: Image removed
by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=0af-c1d&t=c>
Kansas City, MO (7/24, 5:59 p.m. CDT) reported that Trump “brought
out...Hawley,” and “took a swipe at...McCaskill on his tax reform bill.”
Trump said, “We had tremendous opposition to lowering your taxes from
Claire McCaskill. she voted against. Unbelievable.”

        CQ Roll Call (DC)
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=0b0-2c3&t=c>
(7/24, Bennett) also reported that Trump called McCaskill’s “vote against
the Republican tax law ‘unbelievable.’ ‘You figure that one out,’ he said
of her vote dismissively minutes after he called” Hawley “to the stage and
turned over the presidential podium to him.” Hawley “lavished the president
with praise – as do many GOP candidates at such events – and told the
audience Trump ‘needs reinforcements in Washington, DC,’ apparently
plugging his own candidacy.” The Dairy Herd Management
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=0b1-720&t=c>
(7/24, Brown) reported that “Trump’s nearly four-hour visit to the city
also included a fundraising event for...Hawley, who is running for US
Senate.”
Cancer Research
FDA Issues Warning Against “Alternative Cancer Treatment” Cesium Chloride.

The Springfield (MA) Republican
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=0b2-670&t=c>
(7/24, Flynn) reports the FDA on Monday issued “what it calls a compounding
risk alert involving cesium chloride that has been promoted as an
alternative cancer treatment.” The FDA release says the alert is to “warn
health care providers, compounders and patients of the dangers of using the
bulk drug substance” that it says has never “been proven safe and effective
for any use.” The alert also said it considers two of six deaths reported
with the use of the substance to be “possibly associated with cesium
chloride.”
Massachusetts Governor Tours Law Covering Cancer Costs For Firefighters.

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=0b3-958&t=c>
(7/24) reports that Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) “is hailing” a new
law that allows firefighters who are temporarily incapacitated due to
certain forms of cancer receive full pay while they recuperate. According
to the AP, “Baker said that under the new law certain cancers sustained by
firefighters will be presumed to be a disabling condition sustained in the
line of duty unless there’s evidence that the cancer originated from
another cause.”
Editorials/Op-Eds
New York Times.

*“R.I.P. Ivanka Inc.”* In an editorial, the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=0b4-d3d&t=c>
(7/24) writes, “As a starting point, we’d like to suggest that [Ivanka
Trump] refrain from telling everyone what a great champion of women she is
and instead commit to actually promoting women’s interests in any of a
number of tangible ways.” Ms. Trump “needs to hunker down and focus if she
wants to get anything accomplished on her much-ballyhooed pet project of
paid family leave. ... Also in the category of family life, Ms. Trump might
consider taking a stand on key women’s health issues.” The Times concludes
that “admittedly, some of these issues would put Ms. Trump in an awkward
situation, considering her father’s own colorful history with women,” but
“no one said being a senior White House adviser would be easy. If a
self-proclaimed champion of female empowerment like Ivanka Trump can’t
speak out on these most basic of issues, how can she expect anyone to take
her seriously?”

        *“So Now Trump Wants To Protect Farmers From Trump’s Trade War.” *The
New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=0b5-355&t=c>
(7/24) editorializes that the Administration’s “farm bailout will not undo
the damage the administration’s incoherent policies are doing to American
industry and workers.” Adds the Times, “The plan to help farmers reveals
instead that trade wars are complicated and difficult. Yes, the American
piggy bank is now being robbed – but it’s the president and his aides who
are raiding it, to cover up the costs of policies they still show little
sign of understanding.”
Washington Post.

*“Trump Is Sending LGBTQ Migrants ‘Back To Hell.’”* In an editorial,
the Washington
Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=0b6-08c&t=c>
(7/24) criticizes the Administration as being “increasingly complicit in”
the mistreatment of LGBTQ refugees and asylum seekers. Administration
“efforts to hollow out the asylum system” have caused LGBTQ individuals to
suffer “inordinately.” In Central America and Mexico LGBTQ individuals are
usually victims of sexual and gender-based violence and law enforcement
authorities “are often indifferent, and frequently overtly hostile” to
them. Identification with a persecuted social group and a government
“either complicit in their mistreatment or powerless to stop it” qualifies
a migrant for asylum in the United States, and, “by any reasonable
assessment, many or most LGBTQ asylum seekers meet those criteria.”

        *“Emmett Till Deserves Justice. Let’s Hope This New Look At The
Case Brings Some.” *In an editorial, the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=0b7-c7b&t=c>
(7/24) welcomes the Justice Department’s reopening the case of Emmett Till,
a 14-year-old African American child who was abducted, beaten, shot in the
head, and thrown into a river. After two white men were acquitted by an
all-white, all-male jury and protected by double jeopardy, they confessed
their guilt. However, as “it is unclear what charges could now be brought,”
some are questioning “what the government is up to,” as President Trump and
Attorney General Sessions “never seem to see the need to address the
inequalities that exist today in the justice system and that victimize
black people.” Still, the Post hopes “this new look at the case brings some
measure of justice for a crime that must never be forgotten.”

        *“If NATO Is Obsolete, Why Is Putin Fighting It So Hard?” *In an
editorial, the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018072501biden&r=email-1c49&l=0b8-6d8&t=c>
(7/24) writes that, despite President Trump’s belief that NATO is obsolete,
Russian President Vladimir Putin “clearly doesn’t,” taking “extreme and
sometimes self-defeating measures to stop any expansion of the alliance.”
The latest incident is Russia’s “ugly campaign of bribery and subterfuge to
stop” a deal resolving Greece’s issues with Macedonia’s name, which
prevented the small country from entering NATO. This lead to “an unlikely
spat between the Kremlin and the normally Russophilic government of
Greece.” The Post concludes, “despite the machinations of Mr. Putin and his
White House friend, our bet is that the alliance will outlast both of
them.”

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