Subject: FW: Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing for Thursday, December 13, 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: Thu, 13 Dec 2018 10:24:08 -0500

Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing

*From:* Bulletin Intelligence <[email-masked]>
*Sent:* Thursday, December 13, 2018 7:56 AM
*To:* [email-masked]
*Subject:* Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing for
Thursday, December 13, 2018

*Click to access
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=000-f81&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=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=001-b8e&t=c>

*To: Vice President Joe Biden*

*Thursday, December 13, 2018 8:00 AM EST*
Today's Table of Contents

*Biden in the News* <#SECTION_1>

• NYTimes Details Chinese Tycoon’s Meetings With Biden Family, Woolsey.
<#S1>

• Poll: 39% Of Voters Think Trump Will Win Reelection; Biden Highest Rated
Among Democrats. <#S2>

• 2020 Poll: Biden Leads Sanders 26%-22%; O’Rourke In Third At 15%. <#S3>

• CNN 2020 Democratic Power Rankings: 1) Harris, 2) O’Rourke, 3) Biden.
<#S4>

• Ex-HUD Secretary Castro Forms Presidential Exploratory Committee. <#S5>

• Will: Brown Could Be Democrats’ “Optimum Challenger To Trump” In 2020.
<#S6>

• “Never Trump” Activists To Poll 2020 Third-Party Establishment Ticket
Against Trump, Democrats. <#S7>

• Biden Foundation’s “As You Are” Campaign Releases Hundreds Of LGBT
Acceptance Stories. <#S8>

*Leading the News* <#SECTION_2>

• Media Analyses: Cohen Sentencing, AMI Deal With Prosecutors Pose Legal,
Political Threats To Trump. <#S9>

*Foreign Policy* <#SECTION_3>

• Pompeo: Reports CIA Concluded MBS Ordered Khashoggi Murder Are
“Inaccurate.” <#S10>

• Pompeo Urges UN To Impose Strong Restrictions On Iran. <#S11>

• Pompeo: China Behind Cyber Attack On Marriott Hotels. <#S12>

• Erdoğan Says Turkey Will Strike US-Backed Kurds In Syria Within Days.
<#S13>

• WPost Analysis: Israel Strengthening Ties With Far-Right Nations. <#S14>

• British Prime Minister May Survives No Confidence Vote. <#S15>

• Maduro Claims Bolton Plotting To Invade Venezuela. <#S16>

*Domestic Policy* <#SECTION_4>

• Trump Links “Very Bad Terror Attack In France” To Border Security. <#S17>

• Meadows Will Not Become Chief Of Staff After Trump Tells Him He Needs Him
In Congress. <#S18>

• Kushner Set To Benefit From Opportunity Zone Program. <#S19>

• US Debt On Track To Rise At Fastest Pace Since 2012. <#S20>

• House Passes Bipartisan Farm Bill Without Republican SNAP Reforms. <#S21>

• Senate Narrowly Passes Measure Requiring Political Nonprofits To Disclose
Donors. <#S22>

• Pelosi Brokers Deal With “Dissident Democrats” To Return To Speakership.
<#S23>

*Cancer Research* <#SECTION_5>

• Debate Ensues After HHS Directs NIH To Cease Procuring Tissue From
Aborted Fetuses. <#S24>

• Excess Body Weight Was Responsible For Nearly Four Percent Of Cancer
Globally In 2012, Report Indicates. <#S25>

*Editorials/Op-Eds* <#SECTION_6>

• New York Times. <#S26>

• Washington Post. <#S27>
Biden in the News
NYTimes Details Chinese Tycoon’s Meetings With Biden Family, Woolsey.

The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=002-da9&t=c>
(12/12, Stevenson, Barboza, Goldstein, Mozur) reports that Ye Jianming, “a
fast-rising Chinese oil tycoon,” sought “access to the corridors of power
in Washington,” and ultimately met “with the family of Joseph R. Biden Jr.,
who was then the vice president,” and “dined with R. James Woolsey Jr., a
former Central Intelligence Agency director and later a senior adviser to
President Trump.” Ye now is “in Chinese custody and...under investigation
for unspecified crimes.” The Times says “the trial and conviction in New
York last week of one of his top lieutenants, Patrick Ho, showed that
company officials used bribery to win oil and energy contracts in Africa.”
The Times adds, “Last year, as American authorities closed in on Mr. Ye’s
company, the first call made by one of his emissaries in custody was to Mr.
Biden’s brother.”
Poll: 39% Of Voters Think Trump Will Win Reelection; Biden Highest Rated
Among Democrats.

In an online article, Fox News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=003-7b3&t=c>
(12/12, Blanton) reported that in a Fox News poll
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=004-27a&t=c>
of 1,006 US voters, taken Dec. 9-11, 39% of respondents said they think
President Donald Trump (R) will win reelection in 2020, while 52% think he
won’t be reelected. In addition, 38% said they’d “vote to re-elect...Trump
if the election were today, up” three points from a similar poll taken in
January. However, 55% of respondents said “they would vote for someone else
over Trump.” Fox News added, “Most Democrats say former Vice President Joe
Biden (D) (70 percent excellent or good) and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders
(I-VT) (63 percent) would be excellent or good as president,” according to
the poll. Approximately “38 percent of Democrats feel that way about
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), while about a third thinks
Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) (36 percent), New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker
(D-NJ) (34 percent), and California Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) (33 percent)
would be excellent or good.”

        *Trump Posts His “Strongest” Numbers Since February 2017. *The
Washington
Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=005-aa1&t=c>
(12/12, Bedard) reported, “Despite the thumping Republicans took in”
November’s “elections, President Trump’s popularity is gaining strength as
are expectations for 2019, according to” an Emerson College poll of 800
registered voters conducted over December 6-9. The report said, “For the
first time since February 2017, Trump’s ‘disapproval rating’ has dropped to
below 50 percent, a significant achievement considering the recent GOP
elections and wildly swinging stock market.” According to the poll, Trump’s
“disapproval rating is at 47 percent,” with 43 percent approving. An
analysis accompanying the poll said, “These are his strongest job numbers
for the president in an Emerson Poll since February 2017, when Trump had a
48 percent approval/47 percent disapproval.”
2020 Poll: Biden Leads Sanders 26%-22%; O’Rourke In Third At 15%.

Breitbart
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=006-0dc&t=c>
(12/12, Boyle) reported that an Emerson College poll
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=007-c2f&t=c>
of “800 registered voters,” taken Dec. 6-9, shows that Rep. Beto O’Rourke
(D-TX) “has surged into the top tier of Democrat presidential candidates in
2020.” In the poll, former Vice President Joe Biden leads a hypothetical
field with 26%, followed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) at 22%, O’Rourke at
15%, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) at 9%, and Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and
Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) each at 7%.
CNN 2020 Democratic Power Rankings: 1) Harris, 2) O’Rourke, 3) Biden.

In an “analysis” on the website of CNN
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=008-adb&t=c>
(12/13), Chris Cillizza and Harry Enten offer “the sixth edition of our
monthly power rankings of Democrats most likely to get their party’s
presidential nomination in 2020.” Topping the list again is Sen Kamala
Harris (D-CA), followed by Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) – up from 10th in the
previous rankings. Former Vice President Joe Biden again remains in 3rd,
followed by Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
rounding out the top five.
Ex-HUD Secretary Castro Forms Presidential Exploratory Committee.

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=009-dd7&t=c>
(12/12, Wagner) reports that ex-HUD Secretary Julián Castro (D-TX) on
Wednesday said that he is “forming a presidential exploratory committee.”
The Post adds, “An exploratory committee is typically a formality before
the launch of a presidential campaign,” and Castro “says...he plans an
announcement in Texas on Jan. 12 about whether he will move forward with a
White House bid.”

        The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=00a-077&t=c>
(12/13, Weber) reports, “The move Wednesday gives the 44-year-old former
San Antonio mayor an early start to what’s shaping up as a crowded
Democratic field without a clear front-runner to challenge President Donald
Trump.” The AP adds that Castro “would be among the youngest candidates in
the field and the most prominent Latino.” The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=00b-d40&t=c>
(12/12, Fernandez) reports, “In a video on the website, Mr. Castro” linked
“his potential presidential candidacy to his Mexican-American family’s
humble roots on the West Side of San Antonio. Mr. Castro was raised by a
single mother, Rosie Castro, a San Antonio political activist in the 1970s
whose other son, Joaquin, is a Texas congressman.”

        Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=00c-d78&t=c>
(12/12, Choi) reported, “The video also mentioned a number of potential
policy priorities, from affordable housing and education to increased
healthcare and improved safety for racial and religious minorities. Though
Castro didn’t name President Donald Trump, several of” his “priorities
appeared as direct rebukes to Trump’s rhetoric on immigration, as he evoked
his grandmother’s journey as an immigrant to the United States with little
education.”

        The Dallas Morning News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=00d-2a0&t=c>
(12/12, Gillman) reports, “Castro’s twin brother, Rep. Joaquin Castro of
San Antonio, newly elected chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus,
is likely to have a central role in the campaign effort. ‘I wholeheartedly
support my brother and will do everything I can for him,’ he said
Wednesday. ... The brothers are booked to appear Thursday night on The Late
Show with Stephen Colbert.” The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=00e-9e6&t=c>
(12/12, Dinan) reports that Castro “has been seen as a rising star in
Democratic circles, delivering a much-anticipated and well-received keynote
speech at the 2012 nominating convention on behalf of then-Sen. Barack
Obama.” The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=00f-448&t=c>
(12/12, Greenwood) also reported on Castro’s announcement.

        *Castro: Americans Pining For “A New Generation Of Leadership.” *In
an online article, Fox News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=010-d36&t=c>
(12/12, Steinhauser) reported that while Castro “isn’t writing off some of
the older potential Democratic” hopefuls, “like former Vice President Joe
Biden and Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren,” he “clearly likes to
highlight that Americans are hungering for ‘a new generation of
leadership.’” Responding to a question from reporters “about potential
candidates in their 70s or late 60s, such as Biden, Sanders and Warren,
Castro said they ‘bring a lot to the table’ and are ‘very talented, very
accomplished, very important voices in the party. I hope they run.’”
However, “he emphasized: ‘I think you always need a mix of folks who have a
lot of experience and then also folks who are bringing a fresh perspective.
And I’m going to try and bring a fresh perspective.’”
Will: Brown Could Be Democrats’ “Optimum Challenger To Trump” In 2020.

In his Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=011-7ea&t=c>
(12/12) column, George Will says that Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) “must
decide how ardently he wants the presidency; Democrats must decide how
single-minded they are about defeating [President] Trump. Were Brown not a
white male, he might be the likely Democratic nominee because, to minds
unclouded by the Democratic activists’ superstitions of identity politics,
he might look like the optimum challenger to Trump.” In making that
assertion, Will cites, among other things, Ohio’s key role in deciding
presidential races and “Brown’s muscular progressivism,” which “should
alarm conservatives wary of interventionist government and therefore should
thrill progressives with fresh reasons to enlarge the administrative
state.”
“Never Trump” Activists To Poll 2020 Third-Party Establishment Ticket
Against Trump, Democrats.

Breitbart
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=012-1c8&t=c>
(12/12, Munro) reported, “A group of Never Trump activists will soon
poll-test a third-party establishment challenge to President Donald Trump
and the Democratic candidate in 2020,” according to “GOP-aligned activist
and establishment lobbyist Juleanna Glover, who told a day-long meeting of
anti-Trumpers that the ‘path to 270 [electoral votes] might not be that
hard.’” Glover has floated the possibility of ex-Vice President Joe Biden
(D) and Sen.-elect Mitt Romney (R-UT) running on an independent “unity
party ticket,” which she says “is needed...because Trump’s populist faction
dominates the GOP. ‘This is Trump’s toy now. ... I don’t see a path to
reclaim it,’ she said” during an event “held by the Niskanen Center, a
libertarian, business-funded advocacy group. The event was titled ‘Starting
Over: The Center-Right After Trump.’”
Biden Foundation’s “As You Are” Campaign Releases Hundreds Of LGBT
Acceptance Stories.

South Florida Gay News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=013-dd3&t=c>
(12/13, Long) reports, “The Biden Foundation’s As You Are awareness
campaign released its first set of collected personal stories Tuesday
morning – in map format. With more than 500 stories spread across the
northern continent (with a few in Mexico), it’s clear most stories came
from the coastal US.” The report adds, “Along with the map comes a video
interview with the parents of Rio, whose last name and age aren’t provided
and who transitioned while her dad Steve Bennet was away on a rugby trip.”
Leading the News
Media Analyses: Cohen Sentencing, AMI Deal With Prosecutors Pose Legal,
Political Threats To Trump.

President Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen was sentenced Wednesday to
three years in prison for a range of crimes including lying to Congress,
bank fraud and campaign finance violations related to arranging hush
payments to women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump. Cohen’s
sentencing came on the same day prosecutors announced that American Media
Inc., publisher of the National Enquirer, has reached a deal with
prosecutors to avoid charges over its role in paying hush money to a former
Playboy model who said she had an affair with Trump. The stories receive
extensive print and television coverage, much of which casts the
developments as a potential legal and political threat to Trump, who CNN’s
Jim Acosta said on CNN’s Situation Room[image: Image removed by sender.
Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=014-a6f&t=c>
(12/12) is privately “seething, furious about Cohen’s case and referring to
his former fixer behind the scenes as a, quote, ‘liar.’”

        The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=015-055&t=c>
(12/12, Mordock) says Cohen “owned up to his crimes, while simultaneously
blaming the president.” The Times says Cohen “unloaded on his ex-boss,” and
the New York Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=016-98f&t=c>
(12/12, Whitehouse, Degregory, Golding) says Cohen told the judge Trump
caused him “to choose a path of darkness over light.” Cohen said,
“Recently, the President tweeted a statement calling me weak, and he was
correct – but for a much different reason. ... Time and again I felt it was
my duty to cover up his dirty deeds rather than listen to my own voice.”
The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=017-9d6&t=c>
(12/12, Barrett) reports Cohen’s attorney’s wrote in a court filing “asking
for no jail time” that “their client’s misdeeds were a product of his
‘fierce loyalty’ to Trump and put the wrongdoing squarely at the feet of
the president and his close advisers.”

        Paula Reid said in the lead story for the CBS Evening News[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=018-e96&t=c>
(12/12, lead story, 2:30, Glor) that Cohen “has provided the most-direct
evidence to date that ties the President to criminal activity,” but the AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=019-1e5&t=c>
(12/12, Neumeister, Hays) says “it is unclear exactly what Cohen has told
prosecutors, and it remains to be seen how much damage Cohen’s cooperation
will do to Trump.” The Washington Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=01a-a83&t=c>
(12/12, Yilek) reports that Cohen’s attorney and adviser Lanny Davis
“suggested” that his client “has more to reveal about President Trump,”
saying, “Trump’s repeated lies cannot contradict stubborn facts.”

        Pierre Thomas said in the lead story for ABC World News Tonight[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=01b-c5f&t=c>
(12/12, lead story, 3:05, Muir) that Cohen “spent more than 70 hours with
Robert Mueller’s investigators, and today, the special counsel’s
prosecutors told the court he offered them substantial assistance,
including credible and valuable information. And they said they expect him
to continue to do so.” Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=01c-8a8&t=c>
(12/12, Van Voris, Nasiripour, Dolmetsch, Hurtado) reports Cohen is
“pledging he will continue to spill potentially damaging information to
Special Counsel Robert Mueller and other prosecutors,”

        The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=01d-f23&t=c>
(12/12, Weiser, Rashbaum) says Cohen “could threaten Mr. Trump’s presidency
by implicating him in a scheme to buy the silence of two women who said
they had affairs with him.” While Trump “at first denied knowing anything
about the payments,” he “then acknowledged that he had known about them,”
and now “insist[s] that the payments were ‘a simple private transaction’ –
not election-related spending subject to campaign-finance laws.”

        Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=01e-980&t=c>
(12/12, Pierson, Layne, Freifeld) says Cohen’s plea “pos[es] potential
legal and political risks to Trump.” Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) said on CNN’s
Situation Room
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=01f-b65&t=c>
(12/12), “It seems to me that the walls are closing in on the President as
we see those who lied for him, his former campaign chair, his former
lawyer, Mr. Cohen, his National Security Adviser are now all telling the
truth about him. The question that is left is does the fish rot from the
head down.”

        Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=020-920&t=c>
(12/12) that Cohen’s sentence “sends a couple messages. First of all, the
judge indicated that the crime justified this three years, a significant
sentence, because it was serious and sophisticated. Second, there were
statements in court and there’s other evidence that Donald Trump directed
the crime. And third, the term, co-conspirator is beginning to fit Donald
Trump like a well-tailored suit. It may be unindicted co-conspirator. He
hasn’t been formally charged, but he has been directly implicated in court
and in charging documents from the Southern District of New York
prosecutor’s office that put him at the center of a criminal conspiracy.”

        Peter Alexander said on NBC Nightly News[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=021-3a6&t=c>
(12/12, story 2, 1:50, Holt) that while Democrats, “gearing up to take over
House investigations in January, quickly pounced,” Republicans “argue
Cohen’s crimes, including campaign finance violations, have little to do
with Russia.” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said, “Any time a former lawyer of
yours goes to jail, it’s probably not a good day. But I have yet to see any
evidence coming from Mr. Cohen of collusion, and that’s what started the
Mueller investigation to begin with.”

        USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=022-30e&t=c>
(12/12, McCoy, Heath) reports Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani “dismissed
Cohen,” calling him a “complete liar” and a “scoundrel.” Giuliani “said
that what the president’s former associate has told prosecutors doesn’t
matter.” Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=023-f6f&t=c>
(12/12, Nahmias, Samuelsohn) says Giuliani “took a swing” at Cohen by
“noting the size of his sentence compared to others in the special
counsel’s 19-month old investigation.” Giuliani told Politico, “This is the
real criminal sentence. ... I have no idea if it’s the right one or not,
but I do know he’s proven to be a consummate liar who has lied at all
stages of his situation.” The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=024-197&t=c>
(12/12, Hong, O'Brien) reports Giuliani said Cohen lied about being
“blindly loyal” to the President, citing the fact that he secretly recorded
a conversation with Trump during which they discussed one of the hush-money
payments.

        *Cohen’s Sentence Is Longest Handed Out In Mueller Probe So Far. *The
Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=025-86d&t=c>
(12/12, Birnbaum) reports US District Judge William H. Pauley III said
Cohen pleaded guilty to a “veritable smorgasbord of fraudulent conduct.”
The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=026-47a&t=c>
(12/12) says in an editorial that Pauley said Cohen’s violation of campaign
finance laws created “insidious harm to our democratic institutions,” and
in “so ruling, he demonstrated that those institutions have some life in
them yet.” The Los Angeles Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=027-e60&t=c>
(12/12, Megerian) says Pauley imposed a sentence that “fell short of the
four years recommended by prosecutors in New York, but it still shook Cohen
and members of his family who crowded into the packed courtroom.” The
Washington
Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=028-fbc&t=c>
(12/12, Cohen) says Cohen’s sentence “is the longest handed out yet related
to Mueller’s ongoing investigation.”

        The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=029-b7c&t=c>
(12/12, Bump) calls is “surprising” that Cohen “is going to jail for three
years – nearly as long as Trump himself will serve following his 2016
election.” The Post adds that “including the three other individuals who’ve
already been sentenced to or served prison time, the cumulative sentences
obtained by SDNY or the office of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III
makes up 90 percent of Trump’s term in office.” To “extend longer than
Trump’s term in office, the sentences for former national security adviser
Michael Flynn, former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former deputy
campaign chairman Rick Gates need only extend beyond months in total.”

        *Roll Call Analysis: Cohen Sentence Could Hang Over Trump’s Chief
Of Staff Search. *A CQ Roll Call
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=02a-182&t=c>
(12/12, Bennett) analysis says Cohen’s sentencing “could hang over the
president’s search for a new White House chief of staff.” Although
“cleaning up a president’s ‘dirty deeds’ is not exactly in the chief of
staff’s job description, the person Trump chooses to replace the
soon-to-depart John Kelly will have to be loyal to the president and follow
his orders.”

        *Analysis: Trump Defense Could Depend On Whether Cohen Was Acting
As His Lawyer Of “Fixer.” *A Washington Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=02b-222&t=c>
(12/12, Quinn)analysis says “Trump’s ability to blame” Cohen “for campaign
finance violations may depend on whether Cohen was acting as a lawyer for
Trump or as his ‘fixer.’” Trump “can claim he relied on his attorney and
believed his actions were legal,” but “it is unclear whether that strategy
will be successful.” The Examiner adds that “questions remain as to what
Cohen’s relationship with the president was when the two discussed the
possible payments.”

        *AMI Admits Making Hush Money Payments To Conceal Allegations
Against Trump. *Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=02c-2fb&t=c>
(12/12, Pierson) reports prosecutors said Wednesday that American Media Inc
(AMI) the publisher of the National Enquirer, “has struck a deal with U.S.
prosecutors to avoid charges over its role in paying hush money before the
2016 U.S. presidential election to a former Playboy model who said she had
an affair with President Donald Trump.” As part of the agreement, AMI
“admitted that it made the $150,000 payment to the woman, Karen McDougal,
‘in concert’ with Trump’s presidential campaign and agreed to cooperate
with prosecutors.”

        Cecilia Vega reported on ABC World News Tonight[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=02d-716&t=c>
(12/12, story 2, 2:15, Muir) that AMI acknowledges buying McDougal’s story
“in order to bury it, a practice known as catch and kill.” The New York Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=02e-02b&t=c>
(12/12, Whitehouse, Golding) says that under the terms of the deal, AMI
“admitted that the payment to McDougal should have been reported to the
Federal Election Commission” because it was “made for purposes of
influencing an election and in coordination or at the request of a
candidate or campaign.”

        Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=02f-a57&t=c>
(12/12) says AMI “killed damaging stories about Donald Trump,” and
prosecutors say that “at least one unidentified campaign member
joined...Michael Cohen in an August 2015 meeting with David Pecker, the
publisher of the National Enquirer, to discuss suppressing negative news
stories during the election.” According to Bloomberg News, the “reference
to unidentified campaign staff suggests that the number of Trump associates
in legal trouble is still expanding.” The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=030-5b7&t=c>
(12/12, Ruiz, Protess) says Cohen “initially denied having any connection
to the A.M.I. payment, though The New York Times reported in February that
he had been in contact with Ms. McDougal’s lawyer as it was being
negotiated.”

        Paula Reid said on the CBS Evening News[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=031-de0&t=c>
(12/12, story 2, 0:35, Glor), “What’s most problematic for President Trump
is this news about the deal with AMI, the publisher of the National
Enquirer, because the President and his attorneys have been insisting these
payments to alleged mistresses had nothing to do with the election. But
here you have AMI admitting that its chairman was meeting with the
campaign, promising to help suppress these stories about affairs in order
to help the President in the election.” Chuck Rosenberg said in the lead
story for NBC Nightly News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=032-b1c&t=c>
(12/12, lead story, 2:50, Holt), “The weight of the evidence against Mr.
Trump is starting to build. It’s not just Mr. Cohen, it’s also this
company. They agreed the President directed these payments and did so to
influence the election.” The Los Angeles Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=033-0c6&t=c>
(12/12, Dolmetsch) also reports on the AMI agreement.

        Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) said on CNN’s Situation Room[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=034-6a9&t=c>
(12/12), “I think the more significant development in the case today than
the sentence that Michael Cohen received was the fact that there is this
non-prosecution agreement with AMI...because what that means is, this is
not simply Michael Cohen’s word against Donald Trump’s. It is now Donald
Trump’s word against everyone else, that there are witnesses at AMI who
will testify these payments were made for the express purpose of
influencing the election by depriving voters of knowledge of these stories
of women coming forward to say they had affairs with the candidate for the
President. That is powerful corroboration.”

        Jim Sciutto said on CNN’s Situation Room[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=035-8da&t=c>
(12/12), “Michael Cohen is going to prison for a crime in which he
implicates the President. He said he did this at the direction of
then-candidate Trump, and AMI...as part of its cooperation agreement, says
that it helped facilitate this payment to Karen McDougal in concert with
the Trump campaign and with the intention of influencing the election.
That’s one of the standards for breaking these campaign finance laws.”

        *Napolitano: New York Prosecutors Have Evidence Trump Committed A
Felony. *The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=036-d6c&t=c>
(12/12, Morton) reports Fox News senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano
said Wednesday that Cohen’s sentencing “makes it clear that prosecutors in
New York think they can prove President Trump has committed a felony.”
Napolitano told Fox News’ Shepard Smith Reporting[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=037-f2b&t=c>
(12/12), “We’ve learned that federal prosecutors here in New York
City...have evidence that the President of the United States committed a
felony by ordering and paying Michael Cohen to break the law. ... How do we
know that? They told that to a federal judge. ... Under the rules, they
can’t tell that to a federal judge unless they actually have that hardcore
evidence. ... Under the rules, they can’t tell that to a federal judge
unless they intend to do something with that evidence.”

        *AP Analysis: Trump Campaign Appears To Have Been Targeted By A
Russian Intelligence Operation. *The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=038-1fe&t=c>
(12/12, George) reports that “Russian outreach to the Trump campaign has a
familiar and alarming pattern to experts in the intelligence field.” The AP
adds, “The attempts by Russians to establish contact, which were laid out
in the latest court filings by special counsel Robert Mueller, were
persistent, apparently targeted and more frequent than would be expected
during a typical presidential campaign.” According to the AP, “Former
intelligence officials say the pattern of Russian outreach emerging is
similar to the early stage of a Russian intelligence operation.”

        USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=039-3d2&t=c>
(12/12) says in an editorial that the President’s “mantra about the Russia
investigation has been ‘NO COLLUSION,’” but “so many people in Trump’s
orbit had so many contacts with so many Russians, and told so many lies to
hide those contacts, it’s increasingly difficult to ignore the connecting
thread.” USA Today adds that while Mueller’s team will determine “whether
all this adds up to a criminal conspiracy,” one has to “wonder why, if
everything was so innocuous, so many people committed crimes to hide their
dealings with Russian emissaries.”

        *Judge Wants Records Of Flynn’s January 2017 Interview With FBI. *The
Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=03a-91b&t=c>
(12/12, Leonnig) reports US District Judge Emmet Sullivan on Wednesday
ordered former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and the special
counsel “to turn over additional investigative records describing his
January 2017 interview with FBI agents – a conversation in which Flynn
later admitted he lied.” Sullivan “demanded to see the formal FBI records
and all other relevant documents detailing Flynn’s interview with the
agents in 2017 and agreed to review them under seal.” Sullivan’s order
“could delay Flynn’s sentencing, which had been scheduled for Tuesday. He
asked for documents to be turned over by Friday at 3 p.m.”

        *Miller: Despite Flynn’s Claims, He Was Not Ambushed By FBI. *Greg
Miller reports in the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=03b-095&t=c>
(12/12, Miller) that attorneys for former national security adviser Michael
Flynn “suggested that Flynn had been duped by the FBI.” In a pre-sentencing
filing, they said agents who questioned Flynn at the White House in January
2017 “did not provide General Flynn with a warning of the penalties for
making a false statement. Flynn, they said, was “unguarded,” and mistakenly
“saw the FBI agents as allies.” However, “there was no ambush. Flynn knew
the FBI was investigating his secret conversations with Russian Ambassador
Sergey Kislyak in the final days of 2016” and his deceit was more extensive
than an isolated ‘error in judgment.’”

        Citing Flynn’s court filing, the Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=03c-01d&t=c>
(12/12) argues in an editorial that senior FBI officials acted to entrap
him.

        *Group Investigating Trump Has Ties To Fusion GPS. *The Daily Caller
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=03d-47c&t=c>
(12/12, Ross) reports on the board of directors of the Democracy Integrity
Project, a nonprofit organization which opened in Washington soon after the
President’s inauguration “to continue a private investigation into the
president’s possible ties to Russia.” The group, which is “backed in part
by George Soros and linked to Fusion GPS,” was founded by “a former Senate
Intelligence Committee staffer named Daniel J. Jones,” who “hired
opposition research firm Fusion GPS and dossier author Christopher Steele
as part of the initiative.” Board members include Adam Kaufmann, “an
attorney who has worked closely with Fusion GPS in the past,” and has
“worked for Derwick Associates, a Venezuelan power company accused of
bribery and money laundering.”

        *House Democrats Talking More About Impeachment, But Say Time Is
Not Right. *The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=03e-386&t=c>
(12/12, Zanona) reports there is increased talk among House Democrats about
impeachment “following a new round of allegations against President Trump,
but they make clear that the time is not right – at least not yet.”
Democratic leaders “say they want to wait for special counsel Robert
Mueller’s final report,” but “they will likely come under enormous pressure
from the left to move forward with impeachment proceedings at some point in
2019.”

        *Schiff, Menendez Suggest DOJ Should Reexamine OLC Opinion On
Indicting A Sitting President. *Schiff said on CNN’s Situation Room[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=03f-bb6&t=c>
(12/12), “I think the justice department needs to reexamine that OLC
opinion, Office Of Legal Counsel, opinion, that you cannot indict a sitting
President, under circumstances in which the failure to do so may mean that
person escapes justice. Because if it were the case that it was now or
never that if you wait until after the President leaves office they can no
longer be brought to justice, that ought to create certainly an exception
to that OLC rule, if not mean revisiting and revising the rule all
together.”

        Menendez said on CNN’s Situation Room[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=040-457&t=c>
(12/12), “At the end of the day how far would you allow a President of the
United States, whether it be this one or any other, to commit serious
violations of the law and continue to stay in office simply because they’re
the President? If that was the case, then Richard Nixon would have stayed
in the White House and the list goes on in history. So I think that the
[Justice] Department has to consider at what point are there serious enough
violations of the law that even a President must ultimately come forth and
have to respond to it in a court of law.”

        *Giuliani’s International Business Interests Draw Scrutiny. *The New
York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=041-510&t=c>
(12/12, Vogel) reports that President Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy
Giuliani, “was in Manama, Bahrain, on Tuesday, meeting with the king and
the interior minister” as part of an effort to secure “a lucrative security
consulting contract with the government.” According to the Times, “The trip
was part of a concerted push Mr. Giuliani has undertaken in the last few
weeks to win business from governments around the world – including in
Africa and South America – for a firm he owns called Giuliani Security and
Safety.” The Times says “foreign officials who have reason to want to get
in or stay in the Trump administration’s good graces could view hiring Mr.
Giuliani’s firm as a good way of doing so.”

        *Haley Claims She Has Not Been Paying Attention To Mueller
Investigation. *In an interview shown on NBC’s Today[image: Image removed
by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=042-41f&t=c>
(12/12), UN Ambassador Haley denied that she is leaving her post because
she is concerned that special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation is
“growing close to the President.” Haley said, “I have not had time to pay
attention to the Mueller investigation. ... I tuned it out. I can’t do
anything about it. The one thing I said publicly and I strongly believe, is
I think the investigation, if it’s going forward, should go forward. But
they need to hurry up, for the good of the country. They need to hurry up
and let us know what they know.”
Foreign Policy
Pompeo: Reports CIA Concluded MBS Ordered Khashoggi Murder Are “Inaccurate.”

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=043-9d1&t=c>
(12/12, Gearan) reports that in an appearance Wednesday morning on Fox
News’ Fox & Friends
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=044-f90&t=c>
(12/12), Secretary of State Pompeo “declined to directly answer...whether
he believes the denials from Saudi Arabia’s crown prince of involvement in
the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and he repudiated part of the
reported findings of the CIA, the agency Pompeo led until earlier this
year.” Pompeo said “some of the CIA findings in the Khashoggi case are
‘inaccurate.’” The Post says the CIA “has concluded with ‘high confidence’
that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was behind the killing of
Khashoggi,” and “the Fox hosts challenged Pompeo about that finding, and
the Trump administration’s position that there is no direct evidence
proving the guilt of the young prince, the kingdom’s heir to the throne and
de facto ruler.” During the interview, the Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=045-a76&t=c>
(12/12, Muñoz) says Pompeo “defended the administration’s response” to
Khashoggi’s murder and “refused to comment on whether or not the
intelligence community found Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
responsible.”

        Pompeo told Fox News’ Fox & Friends[image: Image removed by sender.
Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=046-2b1&t=c>
(12/12), “Some of the reporting that you have seen on that has been
inaccurate. ... They are still working on this. This is still developing
set of facts with respect to Jamal Khashoggi. The intelligence community is
working diligently on that. The direct evidence, this is what I said
before, the direct evidence isn’t yet available.”

        *Brzezinski Apologizes For Vulgar Comment About Pompeo. *The Washington
Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=047-4c9&t=c>
(12/12, Caralle) reports MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski said Pompeo acted “like a
‘wannabe dictator’s butt boy’ during his interview with ‘Fox & Friends’
Wednesday morning.” She said, “Of the pathetic deflections that we just
heard when he appeared on ‘Fox & Friends,’ was that a patriot speaking? Or
a wannabe dictator’s butt boy?” She was referring to Pompeo’s echoing of
President Trump’s “comments on journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder.”
Townhall
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=048-36f&t=c>
(12/12) reports, “Critics were quick to condemn Brzezinski because she had
apparently used a homophobic slur.” She “later issued a statement about her
unfortunate remark,” and also tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=049-367&t=c>,
“SUPER BAD choice of words .. I should have said ‘water boy’... like for
football teams or something like that.”

        *Durbin: CIA Showed Senate Overwhelming Evidence That MBS Ordered
Khashoggi’s Murder. *Responding to Pompeo’s comments on MSNBC’s
Morning Joe[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=04a-e16&t=c>
(12/12), Senate Minority Whip Durbin said Pompeo “discredits himself, the
State Department and out nation with these statements. ... This goes all
the way to the top, and to argue the crown prince was not involved in this,
or at least not aware of it...is to obviously ignore the obvious
intelligence we have collected.” Durbin said that when CIA Director Haspel
briefed senators, she “brought in...two analysts with Central Intelligence
Agency...and within minutes they brought us timelines and information which
made it abundantly clear to Democrats and Republicans in the room that that
statement just made by Secretary Pompeo is false.” Durbin added, “I believe
what everyone in the room believed – Democrats and Republicans – the crown
prince either directed this, he managed it, it was reported to him. He was
part of this start to finish.”

        *Haspel Briefs House Leaders On Khashoggi Murder. *The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=04b-ef1&t=c>
(12/12, Jalonick) reports that Haspel “briefed House leaders on Wednesday
on the killing of...Khashoggi as the Senate prepared for a possible vote on
two resolutions that would rebuke Saudi Arabia for its role in the
slaying.” House leaders were briefed by Haspel a day before Pompeo and
Defense Secretary Mattis “are to brief the full House on the killing.”
The Washington
Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=04c-ed2&t=c>
(12/12, Demirjian) notes that “it was the second time in as many weeks that
[Haspel] has given lawmakers a closed-door look at the CIA’s classified
examination of Khashoggi’s death.” The Post adds, “After Haspel briefed
senators last week, they accused Mohammed of complicity in the death of
Khashoggi.” However, this time, “senior members were tight-lipped when they
emerged from the briefing, offering none of the condemnation of Mohammed
that followed the Senate meeting.”

        *WPost Calls Administration To Condemn Jailing Of Female Saudi
Activists. *In an editorial, the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=04d-76d&t=c>
(12/12) says the Administration continues “to doggedly defend Saudi
Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman,” which it calls “not only a
moral failing; it is also a missed opportunity. Even if they judge it
necessary to maintain close relations with Mohammed bin Salman – a dubious
proposition – Mr. Trump and his advisers ought to be demanding tangible
concessions in exchange.” In particular, they cite the case of “the Saudi
women jailed and reportedly tortured for advocating civil rights, including
permission to drive.” The Post argues that if the Administration “seemingly
cannot bring itself to seek justice for Mr. Khashoggi,” it “could, at
least, intervene on behalf of the living and demand that Mohammed bin
Salman release the female activists.”

        *Senate Votes To Advance Bill Ending US Support For War In
Yemen. *CNN’s
Situation Room
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=04e-6db&t=c>
(12/12) reports the Senate on Wednesday voted 60-39
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=04f-780&t=c>
“to advance a bill that would end US support for the war in Yemen, defying
President Trump and his refusal to punish Saudi Arabia for its involvement
in the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.” However, in the House,
Republicans are “siding with the White House, moving to gut a similar
measure against the Saudi-led war.” Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=050-1ba&t=c>
(12/12, Zengerle) says in Wednesday’s vote, “several...Republicans joined
Democrats to give the measure the 60 votes needed to advance.”

        The Washington Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=051-02c&t=c>
(12/12, Ferrechio) reports House Speaker Ryan on Wednesday “pushed language
through the House that will prevent lawmakers from taking up any resolution
to end US support for the war in Yemen this year.” On CNN’s Situation
Room[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=052-6a7&t=c>
(12/12), Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) was asked about the resolution. While the
House has taken action to make it easier to block the resolution, Menendez
was confident that the measure would receive enough bipartisan votes to
proceed in the Senate. If the House does not pass the measure, Menendez
said the next Congress could do “something more significant.” On Fox News’
Special Report
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=053-ac6&t=c>
(12/12), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) asserted, “The Saudi government...is a
despotic government, which allows no consents, which treats women as third
class citizens. We will not follow their military adventurism into Yemen.”

        *UN Envoy Presents Draft Peace Deal For Yemen. *The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=054-407&t=c>
(12/12, Keyton, Magdy) reports that in Sweden on Wednesday, UN special
envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths “gave the country’s warring sides...a
draft agreement they need to consider before this round of negotiations
wraps up the following day.” According to the AP, the document “consists of
a set of proposals, including one for a political framework for a post-war
Yemen, the reopening of the airport in the capital, Sanaa, and a proposal
for the contested Red Sea port city of Hodeida, a lifeline for millions of
Yemenis dependent on international aid.”
Pompeo Urges UN To Impose Strong Restrictions On Iran.

Fox News’ Special Report
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=055-8ba&t=c>
(12/12) reports that in a speech to the UN Security Council on Wednesday,
Secretary of State Pompeo “told world leaders the Iran nuclear deal
shielded that country from accountability” and urged the Council “to
restore stronger restrictions against Iran’s ballistic missile program.”
Pompeo “also advised against lifting an embargo on Iran and recommended the
Security Council establish inspections at port and at sea to thwart Iranian
arms exports.” To the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=056-4bb&t=c>
(12/12, Morello), Pompeo “ramped up the campaign against Iran another
notch.” Pompeo, it reports, “trained his criticism on Iran’s ballistic
missile activity, saying it had increased since the nuclear deal took force
in 2016.” Said Pompeo, “Our goodwill gestures have been futile correctives
to the Iranian regime’s reckless missile activity, and all other
destructive behaviors. ... Iran has been on a testing spree and a
proliferation spree, and this must come to an end.”

        Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=057-046&t=c>
(12/12, Wadhams, Wainer) reports Pompeo also “reiterated support for
President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the nuclear
deal...despite widespread opposition to the move from other signatories to
the agreement and the rest of the Security Council.” Said Pompeo, “The
United States will continue to be relentless in building a coalition of
responsible nations who are serious about confronting the Iranian regime’s
reckless ballistic missile activity – and all other malign activities.”

        In what the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=058-638&t=c>
(12/12, Schwirtz) calls a “rare appearance at the United Nations Security
Council,” Pompeo put “aside his publicly stated skepticism of the
organization as he sought to broaden support for the hard-line American
stance on Iran.” According to the Times, Pompeo was “treated cordially by
Security Council envoys, even though a week earlier he had used a major
foreign policy speech to disparage the United Nations and question its
value.” But while European ambassadors “echoed Mr. Pompeo’s concerns about
Iran’s ballistic missile activities...one after another reaffirmed their
support for the Iran nuclear deal, which they say is working as designed.”
Pompeo: China Behind Cyber Attack On Marriott Hotels.

NBC Nightly News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=059-3e1&t=c>
(12/12, story 5, 1:40, Holt) reported, “The US says Chinese intelligence
agencies were likely responsible” for the cyber attack on Marriott hotels,
“the latest effort in what appears to an massive move to collect
information on every single American.” Secretary of State *Pompeo* said,
“They’re conducting espionage and influence operations here in the United
States.” NBC’s Tom Costello added, “The goal, say intelligence veterans, to
collect data and build a file on nearly every single American, identifying
then spying on Americans working for corporations, the government, or
military.” The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=05a-d70&t=c>
(12/12, Muñoz) reports Pompeo “revealed Wednesday that China was behind the
massive security breach in Marriott’s guest system” during an interview
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=05b-dc3&t=c>
with Fox News Wednesday morning. Said Pompeo, “They have committed cyber
attacks across the world. Our effort, from Department of Homeland Security
and the FBI and the State Department, is to push back against these threats
to America from China. Trade is a component of that to be sure.”

        The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=05c-f50&t=c>
(12/13, Balsamo) reports “a US official” said Wednesday that “investigators
believe hackers working on behalf of China’s main intelligence agency are
responsible” for the massive breach involving “the theft of personal
information from as many as 500 million guests of the Marriott hotel
chain.” To the AP, the “revelation of suspected involvement by China comes
amid heightened tension with the US over trade; the arrest in Canada on an
American warrant of a top executive of Chinese electronics giant Huawei;
and alarm among law enforcement officials about Chinese efforts to steal
technology to bolster its growing economy.”
Erdoğan Says Turkey Will Strike US-Backed Kurds In Syria Within Days.

The Los Angeles Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=05d-3e5&t=c>
(12/12, Farooq) reports Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said
Wednesday that Turkey “will launch a military operation against U.S.-backed
Kurdish fighters in northern Syria ‘within a matter of days’...prompting
warnings from the Pentagon and State Department.” Pentagon spokesman Cmdr.
Sean Robertson “said such a move would be ‘unacceptable’ and would
undermine shared interests in the border area.”
WPost Analysis: Israel Strengthening Ties With Far-Right Nations.

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=05e-e43&t=c>
(12/12, Tharoor) reports that “there was a time when politicians like
Italy’s Matteo Salvini would have been shunned in Israel. But that time is
not now.” Under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s watch, the Post says
Israel has “amassed a conspicuous crop of illiberal allies. Some, like
Salvini and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, represent political
movements with histories of neofascism and anti-Semitism. Others, like
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and Brazilian President-elect Jair
Bolsonaro, espouse the agenda and rhetoric of would-be strongmen, promising
the destruction of their enemies while scoffing at pearl-clutching human
rights activists.”
British Prime Minister May Survives No Confidence Vote.

The CBS Evening News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=05f-b3f&t=c>
(12/12, story 4, 0:30, Glor) reported British Prime Minister Theresa May
survived a no confidence vote on Wednesday. Many of the lawmakers from her
conservative party were “unhappy with the deal she worked out on Britain’s
withdrawal from the European Union.” Fox News’ Special Report[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=060-7f6&t=c>
(12/12) senior foreign affairs correspondent Greg Palkot said “200
lawmakers voted to keep May in office; 117 to kick her out.”

        On ABC World News Tonight
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=061-5ca&t=c>
(12/12, story 8, 0:55, Muir), James Longman said that while May
“survived...this attempt to push her out of power,” her “long-term future
is anything but certain, and so is the future Brexit.” On CNN’s Situation
Room
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=062-dca&t=c>
(12/12), Matthew Chance similarly said that the prospect of May “bringing
her party back together looks very bleak, indeed.”

        On NBC Nightly News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=063-dea&t=c>
(12/12, story 4, 1:10, Holt), Kelly Cobiella reported, “Lawmakers and the
public remain deeply divided after the UK voted to divorce from the
European Union, Brexit. Some still want to have close ties with Europe,
while some who support Brexit are unhappy with the separation deal the
Prime Minister negotiated with European leaders. Yesterday, the Prime
Minister admitted she doesn’t have the votes in Parliament to pass that
Brexit deal, and the deadline is now three months away.” Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=064-2f7&t=c>
(12/12, Maclellan, Piper, James) reports the “hardline Brexit supporters
who triggered the vote because they saw her deal as a betrayal of the 2016
referendum said she should now quit.” MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, described as the
“leader of a hard Brexit faction in the party,” said, “The prime minister
must realise that, under all constitutional norms, she ought to go and see
the queen urgently and resign.”

        To USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=065-658&t=c>
(12/12, Hjelmgaard), “May’s victory increases the likelihood of an orderly
British exit from the EU in March next year, although she still needs to
get the deal approved by Parliament,” but the Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=066-ac5&t=c>
(12/12, Colchester) says the path forward in not clear. The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=067-b40&t=c>
(12/12, Lawless), however, notes that “under party rules, May cannot be
challenged again for a year.” May, “who spent Tuesday touring European
Union capitals to appeal for changes to sweeten her divorce deal for
reluctant UK lawmakers, has until Jan. 21 to hold a vote on the agreement
in Parliament.” The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=068-b2f&t=c>
(12/12, Booth, Adam) says “the result offered measured relief in the rest
of the European Union, where leaders have little option other than to hope
May can hold on and deliver the Brexit deal by March 29.”

        The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=069-652&t=c>
(12/12, Castle) reports that “a defiant Mrs. May appeared Wednesday morning
outside 10 Downing Street, the prime minister’s official residence, to
argue that the only beneficiaries of a vote of no confidence would be the
opposition Labour Party.” Nevertheless, “before Wednesday’s vote, Mrs. May
promised fellow Tories that she would step aside soon after the Brexit
difficulties were over,” which “removed the generally unwelcome possibility
that she would stand as party leader in the next general election.” The Wall
Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=06a-d55&t=c>
(12/12) says in an editorial that the Wednesday’s vote paves the way for
the resolution of some policy disputes surrounding the Brexit plan.
Maduro Claims Bolton Plotting To Invade Venezuela.

Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=06b-342&t=c>
(12/12) reports Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, “without providing
evidence,” alleged Wednesday that National Security Adviser Bolton has “a
plan to invade” Venezuela. Said Maduro, “Mr. John Bolton has been assigned,
once again, as the chief of a plot to fill Venezuela with violence and to
seek a foreign military intervention.” Reuters notes Maduro “made his
accusation just days after Russian bombers landed in Venezuela to carry out
joint military exercises, sparking a war of words between Moscow and
Washington.”

        *Russia To Withdraw Jets From Venezuela Amid US Objections. *The Wall
Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=06c-ac3&t=c>
(12/12, Gordon) reports that two Russian bombers that flew to Venezuela on
Monday to participate in drills in the Caribbean will return home to Russia
on Friday, the White House said, after the Administration raises objections
to the deployment. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a
statement that the departure came after the Administration spoke with
Russian officials. The Journal notes Secretary of State Pompeo tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=06d-e7a&t=c>
earlier this week that the deployment was a case of “two corrupt
governments squandering public funds, and squelching liberty and freedom
while their people suffer.”
Domestic Policy
Trump Links “Very Bad Terror Attack In France” To Border Security.

President Trump tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=06e-059&t=c>
Wednesday morning, “Another very bad terror attack in France. We are going
to strengthen our borders even more. Chuck and Nancy must give us the votes
to get additional Border Security!” The Daily Caller
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=06f-a90&t=c>
(12/12, Enjeti) covers the tweet under the headline “Trump Points To
Strasbourg Christmas Attack On Need For Border Wall.” The President
followed up 16 minutes later, tweeting
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=070-cf6&t=c>,
“The Democrats and President Obama gave Iran 150 Billion Dollars and got
nothing, but they can’t give 5 Billion Dollars for National Security and a
Wall?”

        Fox News’ Special Report
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=071-19b&t=c>
(12/12) reports Secretary of State Pompeo “used the Strasbourg attack, an
apparent act of homegrown terror, to push for border security.” Pompeo
said, “Border security matters too. These are related issues, in the sense
of, we need to know who’s coming in and out of our country.”

        *Schumer: McConnell Should Tell Trump There Will Be No Additional
Border Wall Funding. *The New York Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=072-ed9&t=c>
(12/12, Fredericks) reports Senate Minority Leader Schumer said on the
Senate floor on Wednesday, “[Senate Majority] Leader McConnell says he
doesn’t want a shutdown, but he refuses to engage with the President to
tell him what is transparently obvious to everyone else – there will be no
additional money for the wall.”

        Hugh Hewitt writes in the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=073-fef&t=c>
(12/12) that Democrats “think they framed the Oval Office confrontation on
Tuesday pretty neatly. But Republicans are not so sure. Indeed, some are
quietly clapping.” While “most Beltway Republicans aren’t spoiling for a
shutdown...out in Trump Country, the idea of fighting to keep fentanyl out
of the country and the cartels at bay – well, Schumer and [House Minority
Leader] Pelosi can be against that for the next 23 straight months if
they’d like. It’s not a winning issue.”

        Marc Thiessen writes in his Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=074-dd3&t=c>
(12/12) column, “In a fit of pique, Democrats are throwing away their
leverage, insisting that they will never – under any circumstances – give
Trump the wall he so desperately wants. The reason? Because he wants it and
they despise him.”

        *House GOP “At A Standstill” Over Avoiding Border Wall Shutdown. *
Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=075-8be&t=c>
(12/12, Ferris, Bresnahan) reports, “Top House Republicans are at a
standstill on exactly how to keep the government open next week” as the
impasse over President Trump’s demand for $5 billion in funding for a
border wall continues. The House is scheduled “to leave town Thursday for
five days without offering a clue to how it would avoid” a shutdown, and
House Majority Leader McCarthy “has cautioned members that they may need to
come back Monday and Tuesday for a last-minute session on funding bills.”
The Hill’s Scott Wong tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=076-7af&t=c>,
“There were some rumors House might stay til Friday but as of now,
@GOPLeader says first and last votes of week between 10:45 & 11:45
Thursday. No CR w/$5B in wall funding on agenda.”

        The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=077-b9b&t=c>
(12/12, Lucey, Daly) reports, “Congressional leaders on Wednesday were
digging in for a fight over government funding, a day after” Trump, “who
for months had suggested he’d be willing to force a shutdown over wall
funding, dashed hopes for a quick resolution.” Carl Hulse of the New York
Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=078-054&t=c>
(12/12) writes, “The trick in Washington has always been to make sure a
government shutdown is pinned on the other guy. President Trump is the
first to ever pin one on himself.” According to Hulse, Trump “was
essentially goaded” by Schumer and Pelosi “into embracing ownership of a
shutdown yet to come if Democrats do not accede to his request for $5
billion to build a wall on the southern border with Mexico.”

        Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=079-3d8&t=c>,
“The most unequivocal promise from his campaign as that he would build a
wall and that Mexico would pay for it. We should simply go home and let him
deliver on his unequivocal, often repeated campaign promise.” Rep. Debbie
Dingell (D-MI) tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=07a-399&t=c>,
“The safety and security our country is our top priority. We need real
solutions to border security, not a $21 billion wall that is only a symbol
of division and hatred.” Rep. Robin Kelly (D-IL) tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=07b-baf&t=c>,
“[PARAPHRASED] .@realDonaldTrump in 2016: ‘Mexico will pay for the wall.’
.@realDonaldTrump in 2018: ‘I will shut down the government if American
taxpayers don’t pay for MY wall.’” Rep. Kenny Marchant (R-TX) tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=07c-d05&t=c>,
“I support President Trump building the border wall to protect America’s
citizens and sovereignty. Border security must be a top priority for
Congress.”

        Guy Benson of Townhall
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=07d-4ed&t=c>
(12/12) urges the House GOP to “just pass Trump’s $5 billion wall funding
request,” or at least “approve the other six [spending] bills, undercutting
the typical ‘shutdown’ fear-mongering talking points by making this an
isolated fight over one department’s funding.”

        *Pompeo: Wall Is Necessary To Protect Americans. *Appearing on Fox
News’ Fox & Friends
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=07e-578&t=c>
(12/12), Pompeo said, “I try stay away from the domestic US politics, but
this much is sure: We have to have the capacity to control entry into our
country everywhere, through our airports and ports, but most importantly at
the southern border. A wall is a vital component of that. ... We need to
know who is coming in and out of our country.”

        *SpaceX South Texas Site Could Impede Border Wall. *The New York
Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=07f-f89&t=c>
(12/12, Nixon, Ferman) reports under the headline “SpaceX May Be New
Barrier For Trump’s Border Wall” that Elon Musk’s private rocket company
has purchased land near the US-Mexico border in Texas that could impede
construction of a border wall. A SpaceX spokesman said DHS and CBP
“recently asked to conduct a survey on the property,” but the company has
yet to agree.

        *WPost Proposes Border Wall Compromise. *The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=080-522&t=c>
(12/12) proposes a compromise in an editorial, writing that Trump “should
offer a path to legal status or citizenship for more than 1 million
‘dreamers’” and “continued safe harbor in the United States for some
300,000 Hondurans, Haitians and Salvadorans who have already been living
here for years, legally,” in exchange for increased border wall funding.
Meadows Will Not Become Chief Of Staff After Trump Tells Him He Needs Him
In Congress.

The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=081-2d6&t=c>
(12/12, Fabian) reports Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) “is out of the running as
a candidate to become President Trump’s next chief of staff,” according to
a White House official. The President “discussed the position with the
outgoing House Freedom Caucus chairman but told him he needs him to remain
in Congress to continue to defend the administration, according to the
official.” The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=082-6fb&t=c>
(12/12, Nicholas) also reports that Trump has told Meadows that he will not
be his pick.

        *Politico Analysis: Kushner And Ivanka Trump Have Veto Power Over
COS Pick. *Under the headline “What Does It Take To Become Trump’s Chief Of
Staff? Jared And Ivanka’s Approval,” Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=083-908&t=c>
(12/12, Orr) reports that the President’s “son-in-law and daughter...want a
political ally in the chief of staff job, and they are using their
unrivaled influence to ensure they get one.” According to Politico they are
“opposed to the prospect of former Trump deputy campaign manager David
Bossie taking on the role,” and are unlikely to back ex-New Jersey Gov.
Chris Christie because he “put Kushner’s father behind bars as a federal
prosecutor in New Jersey.” The Atlantic’s Elaina Plott tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=084-9a2&t=c>
that Bossie is scheduled to meet with the President on Thursday.

        *Author Of Book On Chiefs Of Staff Wonders Why Anyone Would Want
Trump Posting. *Chris Whipple, the author of “The Gatekeepers: How the
White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency,” writes in the Washington
Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=085-8f0&t=c>
(12/12), “Given the nature of the chief of staff’s position in the Trump
White House, what may be truly stunning is that anyone would agree to take
it.” Even under “the best of times for chiefs of staff, under presidents
who both understood and valued the position,” the job is extremely
challenging. Under Trump, “the job is exponentially more difficult –
perhaps impossible.”
Kushner Set To Benefit From Opportunity Zone Program.

The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=086-488&t=c>
(12/12, Tankersley) reports this afternoon, President Trump “directed
federal agencies...to steer spending toward certain distressed communities
across the country – part of his administration’s push to turn a tax break
included in last year’s $1.5 trillion tax package into a broader effort to
combat poverty and geographic inequality.” The Times says the President
“signed an executive order at the White House to push federal resources to
so-called opportunity zones – a small but lucrative provision tucked into
his signature tax cut that in recent months has vaulted to prominence among
real estate developers and other investors.” According to the Times, Trump
said the zones will “receive ‘massive incentives’ for private-sector
investment.”

        The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=087-b61&t=c>
(12/12, Jagoda) reports that Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), who attended the
signing ceremony, “championed” the opportunity zone program
“heavily...while the tax law was being written.” The Hill also says that
“the idea has some bipartisan support.”

        Under the headline “Ivanka, Kushner Could Profit From Tax Break
They Pushed,” the AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=088-565&t=c>
(12/12, Braun, Horwitz, Condon) reports, “The Opportunity Zone program
promoted by Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner...could...benefit
them financially.” According to the AP, “Government watchdogs say the case
underscores the ethical minefield they created two years ago when they
became two of the closest advisers to the president without divesting from
their extensive real estate investments.” The AP goes on to report that
Kushner “holds a big stake in a real estate investment firm, Cadre, that
recently announced it is launching a series of Opportunity Zone funds that
seek to build major projects under the program from Miami to Los Angeles.
Separately, the couple has interests in at least 13 properties held by
Kushner’s family firm that could qualify for the tax breaks because they
are in Opportunity Zones.”
US Debt On Track To Rise At Fastest Pace Since 2012.

Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=089-b66&t=c>
(12/12, Tanzi) reports the government’s debt is on pace “to rise at the
fastest pace since 2012, as a stronger economy fails to keep pace with the
wave of red ink that’s rising under the Trump administration.” According to
Treasury Department figures, “total public debt outstanding has jumped by
$1.36 trillion, or 6.6 percent, since the start of 2018, and by $1.9
trillion since President Donald Trump took office.” Bloomberg News adds
that by the end of the President’s first term, “the debt is expected to
rise by $4.4 trillion despite historically low unemployment, and relatively
low interest rates and robust growth.”
House Passes Bipartisan Farm Bill Without Republican SNAP Reforms.

Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=08a-f96&t=c>
(12/12, Evich, Boudreau) reports, “The House on Wednesday easily passed the
compromise farm bill by a vote of 369-47
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=08b-db3&t=c>,
sending the sweeping agriculture and nutrition measure to” President Trump
to sign following “an eight-month fight over the legislation” designed to
resolve “a dispute over food stamps.” House Agriculture Chairman Mike
Conaway said, “I have all the confidence in the world” Trump “will sign
it.” The compromise measure “was stripped of every controversial House GOP
proposal on SNAP, thwarting” House Speaker Ryan’s “quest to secure a
portion of his welfare-reform agenda.”
Senate Narrowly Passes Measure Requiring Political Nonprofits To Disclose
Donors.

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=08c-b64&t=c>
(12/12, Lee) reports the Senate voted 50-49
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=08d-178&t=c>
on Wednesday to overturn an Administration “policy that allows politically
active nonprofits to withhold from the government the identities of their
donors, underscoring a growing unease among Democrats over the influence of
wealthy donors and foreign actors in US elections.” However, the rule “is
unlikely to survive the GOP-led House, which must vote on the resolution
before the end of the year, or receive the support of President Trump,
whose Treasury Department enacted the rule earlier this year.” Sen. Jon
Tester (D-MT), who pushed the legislation, said, “These dark money forces
are a threat to our democracy and they must be reined in. Today’s action
sheds more light on the wealthy few who are trying to buy our elections and
drown out the voices of regular folks.”
Pelosi Brokers Deal With “Dissident Democrats” To Return To Speakership.

The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=08e-582&t=c>
(12/12, Davis) reports House Minority Leader Pelosi said Wednesday “that
she had reached a deal with dissident Democrats to limit herself to four
years as speaker, her most consequential move to date to put down a
rebellion in her ranks and clinch the votes she needs to be elected to the
post in January.” The Times called Pelosi’s gambit “the ultimate power move
of a master tactician who has spent the past several weeks courting and
wearing down skeptics in her ranks. She has traded committee assignments,
attention to lawmakers’ pet issues and ultimately a pledge to surrender the
speakership before her 83rd birthday in exchange for commitments to vote
for her.”

        The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=08f-7bd&t=c>
(12/12, DeBonis) reports, “Almost immediately, seven Democratic holdouts
said
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=090-388&t=c>
they would back Pelosi. Their support would be enough to secure the House
majority that she needs” to win the speakership. The Post says “the deal
with the rebels was a capstone to a remarkable 48 hours for Pelosi, who
sparred with President Trump on Tuesday at the White House” over US-Mexico
border wall funding. The Los Angeles Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=091-2df&t=c>
(12/12, Haberkorn) reports, “A source close to Pelosi said she didn’t need
the deal to obtain the speakership but wanted to secure the biggest vote
and have as much unity as possible.” Roll Call’s Walter Shapiro tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=092-0cd&t=c>,
“About the only ‘no’ votes on Pelosi will come from Democrats in tough
districts (mostly freshmen) who had pledged to oppose her for Speaker in
order to win in November. Virtually everyone with a safe district will cave
to give her the votes.”

        Monica Hesse of the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=093-db5&t=c>
(12/12) writes, “On Tuesday, after Nancy Pelosi dressed down President
Trump in a televised Oval Office meeting and sauntered out like she had to
get to a lunch date with Audrey Hepburn, being pro-Nancy suddenly became
cool again in certain liberal circles.” New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=094-50a&t=c>
(12/12) fashion writer Vanessa Friedman has a piece on “the autumn-leaf
orange funnel-necked piece of outerwear Nancy Pelosi tossed on like a
victor’s cloak” after the meeting.
Cancer Research
Debate Ensues After HHS Directs NIH To Cease Procuring Tissue From Aborted
Fetuses.

The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=095-e52&t=c>
(12/12, Grady) reports the National Institutes of Health warned the
University of California, San Francisco about the potential cancellation of
its research contract, sparking debate about whether the government should
fund “medical research that uses tissue from aborted fetuses.” The
potential cancellation follows HHS’ announcement it is leading a
“comprehensive review of all research involving fetal tissue.” HHS
instructed the FDA and NIH to stop acquiring the tissue amid letters from
groups opposing abortion to HHS Secretary Alex Azar and FDA Commissioner
Dr. Scott Gottlieb denouncing the research. However, several medical
organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, separately
wrote to congressional leaders defending the research. Additionally, the
NIH announced “it would spend $20 million over the next two years to fund
research seeking alternatives to fetal tissue.” Carrie Wolinetz, Associate
Director for Science Policy at the NIH, said the NIH “is very involved in
the whole issue of finding alternatives” but that currently, “we don’t have
a good alternative.”

        The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=096-d6b&t=c>
(12/12, Bernstein, Goldstein, Sun) reports the Trump Administration
described itself as being “pro-life and pro-science,” which scientists who
support the use of fetal tissue fear could jeopardize biomedical research.
However, HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir on Wednesday
emphasized that scientists should not “overreact,” adding, “We’ve met with
multiple groups. We are being transparent around this. The science part is
being run by scientific people.” Giroir added that HHS Secretary Azar
initiated the review of fetal tissue research. According to the article,
HHS also “‘paused’ the acquisition of fetal tissue at a National Institutes
of Health lab doing HIV research in Montana,” and that the postponement
impacts three research projects, including two at the National Eye
Institute and the National Cancer Institute.

        STAT
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=097-f36&t=c>
(12/12, Swetlitz) reports the “freeze on fetal tissue procurement is
threatening to hamper work at an agency lab conducting cancer research.”
NIH spokeswoman Renate Myles said, “If they don’t procure new fetal tissue
by, say, end of January, [there] will be an impact” on the unnamed lab’s
cancer immunotherapy research.
Excess Body Weight Was Responsible For Nearly Four Percent Of Cancer
Globally In 2012, Report Indicates.

According to CNN
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=098-e1a&t=c>
(12/12, Thomas), “Excess body weight was responsible for 3.9% of cancer
globally, or 544,300 cases, in 2012, according to a new report
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=099-22f&t=c>”
published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. This report “also
highlights a relationship between obesity and the risk of 13 cancers,
including postmenopausal breast cancer and liver cancer, and a probable
relationship with three others, including prostate cancer.”

        HealthDay
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=09a-d95&t=c>
(12/12, Preidt) reports, “Overweight and obesity has been linked to an
increased risk of a number of cancers: breast, colon, esophagus,
gallbladder, kidney, liver, ovary, pancreas, stomach, thyroid, meningioma
and multiple myeloma, according to the study.” Additionally, “piling on too
many pounds has...been linked to advanced prostate cancer and cancers of
the mouth, pharynx and larynx, the researchers said in a journal news
release.”

        HemOnc Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=09b-f1d&t=c>
(12/12, Byrne) also covers the story.
Editorials/Op-Eds
New York Times.

*“‘His Dirty Deeds.’”* The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=09c-2bf&t=c>
(12/12) says in editorial that United States District Judge William Pauley
said Michael Cohen’s violation of campaign finance laws created “insidious
harm to our democratic institutions,” and in “so ruling, he demonstrated
that those institutions have some life in them yet.”
Washington Post.

*“Trump And Democrats Can Reach A Deal On The Wall – If They Have The Spine
To Take It.”* The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=09d-f14&t=c>
(12/12) proposes a compromise on border wall funding in an editorial,
writing that President Trump “should offer a path to legal status or
citizenship for more than 1 million ‘dreamers’” and “continued safe harbor
in the United States for some 300,000 Hondurans, Haitians and Salvadorans
who have already been living here for years, legally,” in exchange for
increased border wall funding.

        *“The Trump Administration Won’t Stand For Khashoggi. It Could At
Least Stand For Jailed Saudi Women.” *In an editorial, the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=09e-e39&t=c>
(12/12) says the Administration continues “to doggedly defend Saudi
Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman,” which it calls “not only a
moral failing; it is also a missed opportunity. Even if they judge it
necessary to maintain close relations with Mohammed bin Salman – a dubious
proposition – Mr. Trump and his advisers ought to be demanding tangible
concessions in exchange.” In particular, the Post cites the case of “the
Saudi women jailed and reportedly tortured for advocating civil rights,
including permission to drive.” The Post argues that if the Administration
“seemingly cannot bring itself to seek justice for Mr. Khashoggi,” it
“could, at least, intervene on behalf of the living and demand that
Mohammed bin Salman release the female activists.”

        *“A Philippine News Outlet Is Exposing Duterte’s Abuses. He Calls
It Fake News.” *A Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018121301biden&r=email-a260&l=09f-642&t=c>
(12/12) editorial lauds Time Magazine’s choice of Philippine journalist
Maria Ressa and murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi as those included
in the magazine’s Person of the Year award. The Post says, “The accolade
was...well-earned,” and also especially “timely” in the case of Ressa, who
“was forced to meet bail to avoid being jailed on tax charges she says are
trumped up.”

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