Subject: FW: Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing for Wednesday, February 20, 2019
From: "Kathy Chung" <[email-masked]>
To: "Ashley Blazer Biden" <[email-masked]>, "Hunter Biden" <[email-masked]>, "Jill Tracy Biden" <[email-masked]>, "Jimmy Biden" <[email-masked]>, "Valerie Biden Owens" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2019 08:05:46 -0500

Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing

*From:* Bulletin Intelligence <[email-masked]>
*Sent:* Wednesday, February 20, 2019 7:57 AM
*To:* [email-masked]
*Subject:* Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing for
Wednesday, February 20, 2019

*Click to access
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=000-cff&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=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=001-bc5&t=c>

*To: Vice President Joe Biden*

*Wednesday, February 20, 2019 8:00 AM EST*
Today's Table of Contents

*Biden in the News* <#SECTION_1>

• Appearing At University Of Pennsylvania, Biden Slams Trump Policies, Mum
On 2020 Plans. <#S1>

• ABC News: Sources Say Biden Likely To Run. <#S2>

• Poll: Biden, Obama Tied Atop Hypothetical 2020 Democratic Field. <#S3>

• As Biden Mulls 2020 Run, Rivals Busy Wooing Voters. <#S4>

• Media Analyses: Age Could Be An Issue For Biden, Sanders, Some Other
Democratic Hopefuls. <#S5>

• GQ Identifies “Tough Questions” Biden Would Face In A 2020 Bid. <#S6>

• Article Criticizes Biden Over $150K Paid Speech In Broward County. <#S7>

• Jill Biden To Give Commencement Address For Huntington Ingalls
Industries’ Apprentice School Feb. 23. <#S8>

• WPost A1: As Base Pushes 2020 Democrats Leftward, Trump Casts Candidates
As Socialists. <#S9>

• Trump Welcomes Sanders To Race, But Says, “I Think He Missed His Time.”
<#S10>

• Warren Proposes Universal Childcare. <#S11>

• Politico: Harris Unlikely To Make Strong Play For New Hampshire In
Democratic Race. <#S12>

• O’Rourke Mulling Possible White House, Senate Bids. <#S13>

*Leading the News* <#SECTION_2>

• House Panel: Kushner Tied To Plan To Sell Nuclear Reactor Technology To
Saudis. <#S14>

*Foreign Policy* <#SECTION_3>

• Trump: No Hurry To See North Korea Denuclearize As Long As There Are No
Tests. <#S15>

• Trump: March 1 Deadline For China Trade Talks Not “Magical” Date. <#S16>

• MBS Arrives In India For Meetings With Modi After Visiting Pakistan.
<#S17>

• Media Analyses: Administration Failing To Respond Adequately To Kashmir
Tensions. <#S18>

• Airstrikes Continue To Pound Last ISIS Stronghold. <#S19>

• State Dept. Says American ISIS Fighters Should Be Prosecuted. <#S20>

• Grenell Leading US Effort To Pressure Countries To Decriminalize
Homosexuality. <#S21>

*Domestic Policy* <#SECTION_4>

• Trump Defends His Border Wall Declaration In Wake Of States’ Suit. <#S22>

• Trump Denies NYTimes Report About Cohen Probe, Lavishes Praise On
Whitaker. <#S23>

• Trump Denies Ever Calling McCabe’s Wife A “Loser.” <#S24>

• Trump Taps Transportation Official To Replace Rosenstein. <#S25>

• Sources: Trump Growing Increasing Frustrated With Coats. <#S26>

• Amid Ethics Probe, Ross Says Inaccurate Financial Disclosures Were
Unintentional. <#S27>

• Trump Signs Directive Launching Plans For New Space Force. <#S28>

*Cancer Research* <#SECTION_5>

• HPV Vaccine Scale-Up Could Eliminate Most Cervical Cancer In Wealthy
Countries Within Three Decades, Study Suggests. <#S29>

• Surveys Find Cancer Patients Face Barriers To Joining Clinical Trials.
<#S30>

*Editorials/Op-Eds* <#SECTION_6>

• New York Times. <#S31>

• Washington Post. <#S32>
Biden in the News
Appearing At University Of Pennsylvania, Biden Slams Trump Policies, Mum On
2020 Plans.

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=002-bba&t=c>
(2/19, Scherer) reports that former Vice President Joe Biden, speaking on
Tuesday at the University of Pennsylvania, “sure sounded like a
presidential candidate,” saying “he was more optimistic about the country
than ever.” Biden laid “out a vision for reversing President Trump’s
foreign policy” and demanded “new worker protections to build up the middle
class.” However, Biden “would not address the one thing on everyone’s mind:
Would he throw his hat in the ring to challenge [President] Trump” in 2020.
Instead, Biden “continued an act he has practiced for more than a year,
teasing his own credentials and road-testing the messages that would form
his campaign before a friendly audience in an unobtrusive setting.”

        Philly (PA)
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=003-1e7&t=c>
(2/19, Brennan) reports that Biden “didn’t shed any light on” whether he’ll
enter the 2020 race for president, but “instead offered his signature mix
of caution and courage, repeatedly warning about xenophobia taking hold
here and America’s declining reputation among allies abroad, while
insisting this country can accomplish anything. ‘It’s time to get up. Get
off our knees. Remember who we are,’ Biden told a packed Irvine Auditorium
at the close of more than an hour of remarks. ‘Name me another country that
has the capacity and the ability to do what we can do.’”

        The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=004-134&t=c>
(2/19, Frazin) reported that Biden blasted “Trump’s immigration policies”
during his appearance “at the University of Pennsylvania. ‘It’s about
xenophobia,’ he said. ‘This is not healthy.’ He particularly criticized the
administration’s end to a program that allowed minors from Guatemala,
Honduras and El Salvador to file asylum claims from their own countries.”
In an online article, NBC News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=005-f2f&t=c>
(2/19, Memoli) reported, “Days after he attended a major international
summit in Germany, Biden noted the deep concern among allies about the
United States and blasted the Trump administration for in his view
‘rooting’ for the demise of the European Union and diminishment of NATO. It
‘is the dumbest thing in the world,’ Biden said.”

        On its website, CBS News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=006-e27&t=c>
(2/19) reported that Biden said Vice President Mike Pence’s “recent chilly
reception at [the] global security conference in Munich was an indication
that ‘the United States cannot be counted on any longer’ under...Trump’s
leadership.” In a brief, online article, KYW-TV
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=007-58e&t=c>
Philadelphia (2/19) reported that Biden was asked by University of
Pennsylvania President Amy Gutman, “As young voters, what important
political issues might we overlook but should actually pay more attention
to?” Biden replied, “You cannot overlook global warming, you cannot
overlook racism, you cannot overlook the xenophobia that exists in this
country, [and] you can’t overlook those things that are basic, basic
American values.” Among the local TV stations which broadcast reports on
Biden’s appearance are KYW-TV
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=008-dfa&t=c>
Philadelphia (2/20), WCAU-TV
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=009-1d3&t=c>
Philadelphia (2/19), and WPSG-TV
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=00a-63e&t=c>
Philadelphia (2/19).
ABC News: Sources Say Biden Likely To Run.

ABC World News Tonight
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=00b-0c1&t=c>
(2/19, story 8, 0:40, Muir) reported there is “a lot of talk about” whether
former Vice President Joe Biden will run for president, with a video
“getting a lot of attention.” In the video, the President of Armenia asks
Biden about it and “it was really hard to sort of lip read for Joe Biden’s
answer there.” ABC (Bruce) added that Biden “will have a decision to
announce, soon. And sources close to the former Vice President tell us they
get a sense that he is likely to run.”

        In an online article, ABC News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=00c-d7b&t=c>
(2/19, Nagle) also reported that Biden “has said publicly he hasn’t made up
his mind on pursuing a presidential run in 2020,” but “sources close to the
politician, who have spoken with him in private, say they believe he will
mount a bid. Robert Wolf, a top Democratic donor and former economic
adviser to former President Barack Obama who has known Biden for over a
decade, spoke with him last week and believes Biden is ‘90 percent there’
on a run.” The Daily Mail (UK)
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=00d-991&t=c>
(2/20, Zilber) highlights Wolf’s “90 per cent there” remark about Biden
featured in ABC News story.

        *FiveThirtyEight: Statistically, It Wouldn’t Be A Huge Surprise If
Biden Didn’t Run. *Writing for FiveThirtyEight
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=00e-e84&t=c>
(2/19), Geoffrey Skelley said Biden “has led or tied for the lead in almost
every Democratic presidential primary poll he’s appeared in so far,” but
he’s yet to enter the 2020 contest. Skelley asked, “How common is it for
candidates to lead in the polls and never enter the race? We found 10
politicians since 1972 who didn’t end up running but who, like Biden, led
the field in at least one question in a national poll conducted one to two
years before the New Hampshire primary.” Consequently, “it wouldn’t be that
shocking if Biden decided against waging a 2020 campaign.”

        *Playboy’s Carson Weighs In On Biden’s “Hesitation” About Launching
2020 Bid. *Under the headline “The Futility Of Joe Biden’s Long Game,” Tom
Carson writes in a piece for Playboy
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=00f-9b4&t=c>
(2/19) about Biden’s ongoing ruminations on a possible presidential bid,
saying that with a number of contenders already in the race, Biden’s
“belief that he can operate on his own, more traditional schedule risks
making him look less like the heavyweight whose entry everyone is clamoring
for than a latecomer who’s sorely bereft of the requisite sense of
urgency.” Carson adds, “You can’t help suspecting that the real explanation
for Biden’s hesitation about entering the race – whether it’s genuine, he’s
just playing coy, or he’s buffeted by some combination of the two – is
simply that he hates the thought of being rejected for his ultimate dream
job yet again.”
Poll: Biden, Obama Tied Atop Hypothetical 2020 Democratic Field.

The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=010-fee&t=c>
(2/19, Sheffield) reported that a The Hill-HarrisX poll of Democratic
voters, taken Feb. 17-18, shows former Vice President Joe Biden and former
first lady Michelle Obama tied at 25% each in a hypothetical 2020
Democratic presidential primary, followed by Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) at
12%, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) at 11%, and a raft of other candidates
lagging in the low-to-middle single digits. When independents are included
in the poll results, Biden leads with 23%, followed by Obama at 22%,
Sanders at 12%, Harris at 8%, and others lagging further behind. The report
did not indicate how many Democratic and independent voters were surveyed.
The Hill added that Obama “has said she is not running, and Biden has not
announced whether he will launch another White House bid.” Breitbart
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=011-f83&t=c>
(2/19, Moran) also reported on the results of the poll.
As Biden Mulls 2020 Run, Rivals Busy Wooing Voters.

In an online article, CBS News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=012-451&t=c>
(2/19, Huey-Burns, Erickson) reports that former Vice President Joe Biden
“leads most Democratic primary polls and is so revered in the party that
many voters who have never met him in person refer to him as they would a
longtime friend.” However, as Biden continues to mull a 2020 run,
“Democratic primary voters are getting busy meeting all of the candidates
who have already declared. And the energy surrounding this new crop of
contenders – campaign events in South Carolina and New Hampshire over
Presidents Day weekend drew thousands – is making” Biden “appear more like
a relic than a real contender in the minds of some Democrats.” Amid “one of
the largest and most diverse presidential fields the party has seen, voters
are already measuring up their ‘love for Joe’ against an array of new
options.”
Media Analyses: Age Could Be An Issue For Biden, Sanders, Some Other
Democratic Hopefuls.

In his Dallas Morning News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=013-d00&t=c>
(2/19) column, Carl Leubsdorf writes that Democrats would be better off if
Former Vice President Joe Biden, ex-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg
(D) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) didn’t run for president in 2020, saying
that all three “would be close to 80 if elected. Given a choice, Americans
tend to opt for younger candidates; in five of the six presidential
elections before 2016, the younger candidate won.” Leubsdorf also says that
Biden has political baggage, citing “his strong advocacy of some of the
harsher anti-crime legislation of the 1990s and his mishandling of Anita
Hill’s testimony in the 1991 Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination
hearings.” Leubsdorf adds, “Democrats need to draw stylistic, as well as
policy, contrasts with [President] Trump. Picking a nominee who is even
older than the oldest person ever elected to the presidency seems like the
wrong way to do it.”

        Writing for the Daily Intelligencer (NY)
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=014-1dd&t=c>
(2/19), Ed Kilgore highlighted the ages of Biden, Sanders, and Sen.
Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), the latter approaching 70, and Kilgore then asked,
“Will our budding gerontocracy be an issue during the nominating or general
election stages of the 2020 campaign? The very idea seems to infuriate fans
of Biden and Sanders.” However, “it was an issue in the presidential
campaigns of the two nonincumbent septuagenarian major-party nominees
before Trump (Bob Dole in 1996 and John McCain in 2008 – both younger than
Biden and Sanders will be in 2020), whose other unusual features
overshadowed his age. So it cannot just be waved away as somehow
irrelevant.” Kilgore added that “if a 77- or 79-year-old candidate suffers
from any real or perceived impairment, the issue could take over the
campaign to an extent that makes Hillary Clinton’s email problem look
minor. Do Democrats really want to take that chance given the existential
threat of a second Trump term?”

        Under the headline “How Old Is Too Old? Joe Biden And Bernie
Sanders Vie For The Oval Office,” Global News (CAN)
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=015-dc0&t=c>
(2/19, Gerster) highlighted the ages of Biden and Sanders, before adding,
“Advisers, past and present, as well as prospective voters, have raised
concerns about the age of presidential hopefuls. They worry over a
candidate’s energy and vitality, whether a septuagenarian can appear fresh
and connect with younger voters.”
GQ Identifies “Tough Questions” Biden Would Face In A 2020 Bid.

GQ
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=016-be0&t=c>
(2/19, Willis) identifies what it describes as “tough questions” former
Vice President Joe Biden would face in a quest for the 2020 Democratic
presidential nominations: “Has the moment passed?”; “Does he have too much
history?”; “When the other party has no interest in civility, would having
a champion of civility in the White House matter?”; “What does
‘electability’ even mean anymore?”; and “How will President Obama factor in
to all of this (if at all)?”
Article Criticizes Biden Over $150K Paid Speech In Broward County.

In a very negative article, the Miami New Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=017-4bd&t=c>
(2/18, Iannelli) reported that former Vice President Joe Biden “pocketed a
$150,000 speaking fee for a January trip to the Broward Center for the
Performing Arts.” During his Jan. 28 appearance, said the New Times, Biden
“danced around whether he was going to run for the White House.” However,
Biden’s “hosts knew ahead of time that the former VP wasn’t going to say
anything controversial. That’s because, according to copies of Biden’s
contract and rider obtained by MapLight, a nonprofit that tracks money in
politics, the questions in Biden’s ‘Q&A’ session were actually approved in
advance.” The article added, “The contracts yet again raise questions about
Biden’s morals and alleged self-obsession. He is apparently happy to fly
around the country making huge chunks of change off people who are likely
coming to see him because he might be the nation’s next president.”
Jill Biden To Give Commencement Address For Huntington Ingalls Industries’
Apprentice School Feb. 23.

In an online article, WVEC-TV
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=018-ae2&t=c>
Hampton Roads, VA (2/19) reported that Dr. Jill Biden “will be visiting
Hampton to give a commencement address for The Apprentice School at
Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding division. The
address will take place at Liberty Baptist Church at 1021 Big Bethel Road
on Saturday, February 23 at 11 a.m. Biden, the sponsor of Virginia-class
submarine Delaware (SSN 791), will be introduced by U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott,
the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee.”
WPost A1: As Base Pushes 2020 Democrats Leftward, Trump Casts Candidates As
Socialists.

On its front page, the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=019-921&t=c>
(2/19, A1, Sullivan, Linskey) reports that the field of 2020 Democratic
White House hopefuls “is fighting two simultaneous battles: a chaotic
intraparty primary struggle over how far left to push their policies and a
broader question of how to confront the challenge posed by President Trump,
who has already begun casting the Democrats as socialists.” Consequently,
the Democratic hopefuls find themselves “being pressed from one side by
core Democratic voters hungry for leftist policies favored by the most
energized activists and, from the other, by the need to court centrist
voters who could be alienated by the party’s turn to the left. Trump’s
opportunity to define the Democratic field could be long-lasting: The
president will have more than a year to portray the opposing party as
radical before a Democratic nominee is selected.”
Trump Welcomes Sanders To Race, But Says, “I Think He Missed His Time.”

USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=01a-a6e&t=c>
(2/19, Fritze, Jackson, Collins) reports President Trump, speaking to
reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday, responded to Sen. Bernie Sanders’
(I-VT) announcement of his presidential candidacy. Said Trump, “Personally,
I think he missed his time. I wish Bernie well. It will be interesting to
see how he does.” Trump also said, “You have a lot of people running. But
only one person is going to win,” and added, “I hope you know who that
person is.” Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=01b-e30&t=c>
(2/19, Oprysko) reported Trump “welcomed” Sanders to the campaign. Trump
said, “I like Bernie because he is one person that you know on trade, he
sort of would agree on trade, I’m being very tough on trade, he was tough
on trade, the problem is, he doesn’t know what to do about it.” Trump
added, “He ran great four years ago. ... And he was not treated with
respect by [Hillary] Clinton, and that was too bad.”

        ABC World News Tonight
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=01c-bc9&t=c>
(2/19, story 7, 2:10, Muir) concluded its story with “the President saying,
quote, ‘Personally, I think he’s missed his time, but I like Bernie,’ is
what the President said.” The CBS Evening News[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=01d-37f&t=c>
(2/19, lead story, 2:25, Glor) similarly concluded its story showing Trump
saying, “Personally, I think he missed his time, but I like Bernie, because
he is one person that on trade, he sort of would agree on trade.” NBC
Nightly News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=01e-bf6&t=c>
(2/19, story 4, 0:45, Holt) reported, “Trump wishing Sanders well,” and
showed the President saying, “You got a lot of people running, but only one
person’s going to win. I hope you know who that person is.”

        The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=01f-230&t=c>
(2/19, Samuels) reported that Trump campaign national press secretary
Kayleigh McEnany on Tuesday said that Sanders “‘has already won’ the
Democratic primary debate ‘because every candidate is embracing his brand
of socialism.’” McEnany added, “But the American people will reject an
agenda of sky-high tax rates, government-run health care and coddling
dictators like those in Venezuela. Only President Trump will keep America
free, prosperous and safe.”

        *Media Analyses: Sanders Faces More Competition On His Left Flank
This Time. *Media coverage of Sanders’ announcement was uniform in saying
that he will face a different challenge than in the 2016 campaign, because
of the number of Democratic candidates also taking up his positions, though
reports also said the candidate has the advantage of a strong small-donor
network and high name recognition. Media also mention accusations of sexual
harassment by women who worked on his campaign against male staff.

        ABC World News Tonight
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=020-e9b&t=c>
(2/19, story 7, 2:10, Muir) reported, “Bernie is back.” He “joins a growing
field, 11 other candidates already in the race on the Democratic side.” ABC
(Bruce) added, “Tonight, Bernie is back.” He “sparked a progressive
movement in 2016, taking on the establishment and Hillary Clinton. ... But
this time around, he’s got more competition. Some who also support his old
rallying cries, like Medicare for all and free college tuition.”

        The CBS Evening News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=021-75e&t=c>
(2/19, lead story, 2:25, Glor) reported that Sanders is “the only candidate
calling himself a democratic socialist, and his entry stirs new discussion
about whether the country is heading his way or the other.” CBS (Cordes)
added, “In an interview with John Dickerson, and a video online...Sanders
said he’s picking up where he left off three years ago.” And “within four
hours, he had already raised $1 million.” CBS added that “his more moderate
opponents...think some of his plans, like free, four-year college for all,
are a pipe dream.” The segment showed Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) saying, “If
I was a magic genie and could give that to everyone and we could afford it,
I would.”

        NBC Nightly News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=022-fed&t=c>
(2/19, story 4, 0:45, Holt) broadcast a clip of Sanders saying, “We have a
President who is a racist, who is a sexist, who is a xenophobe.” NBC added
that Sanders “isn’t the only one pushing progressive policies like Medicare
for all and free public college.” The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=023-78f&t=c>
(2/19, Summers) reports that Sanders in 2016 “reshaped Democratic politics”
and helped “lay the groundwork for the leftward lurch that has dominated
Democratic politics in the Trump era.” But, the AP questions whether
Sanders can “stand out in a crowded field of Democratic presidential
candidates who also embrace many of his policy ideas.”

        The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=024-6a8&t=c>
(2/19, Ember) reports that Sanders’ “populist agenda has helped push the
party to the left,” but his candidacy “will test whether he retains his
anti-establishment appeal or loses ground to newer faces who have adopted
many of his ideas.” Sanders begins “with stronger support from small-dollar
donors and liberal voters than most other candidates,” but “much of his
populist agenda has been embraced by other Democrats.” Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=025-4f4&t=c>
(2/19, Whitesides) reports Sanders “will have to fight to stand out in a
crowded field of progressives touting issues he brought into the Democratic
Party” and he “will face questions about his age and relevance in a party
increasingly embracing more diverse and fresh voices.”

        Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=026-61a&t=c>
(2/19, Otterbein) reported that in this race, Sanders is “a heavyweight
candidate against a crowded field of liberals, instead of the passionate
underdog taking on the anointed nominee.” The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=027-d5d&t=c>
(2/19, McLaughlin) reports Sanders has “hopes that the party hasn’t left
him behind,” but the large 2020 Democratic field “is far different from
what Mr. Sanders faced in his 2016 bid, when a few less-than-compelling
candidates quickly dropped out, leaving the race to Mr. Sanders and Hillary
Clinton.” This time, Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Kamala Harris (D-CA),
and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) “are running on like-minded populist agendas.”

        McClatchy
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=028-d3b&t=c>
(2/19, Roarty) reports, “The party’s lurch to the left might make a 2020
campaign easier for Sanders, but he must now also face a bevy of new,
liberal Democratic candidates who will claim the mantle of progressive
champion.” The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=029-688&t=c>
(2/19, Schor) reports that “the tension between supporters of Bernie
Sanders and Hillary Clinton resurfaced on Tuesday” with “longtime Clinton
aide Philippe Reines tweet[ing] that the media had given Sanders a ‘WELCOME
BACK!’ reception despite his 2016 primary loss while telling Clinton to ‘go
away.’” Bloomberg
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=02a-989&t=c>
(2/19, John) reports, “Sanders starts his 2020 campaign with a long list of
potential advantages,” but “2020 will be a very different campaign” as
“several Democrats already are echoing his economic message”

        Dan Balz of the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=02b-ccd&t=c>
(2/19, Balz) writes, “Had [Sanders] been in New Hampshire over the
Presidents’ Day weekend and seen the energy and the crowds who turned out
to see some of his rivals, he would have recognized how much things have
changed.” CNN political commentator Karen Finney said on CNN’s The Lead[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=02c-62d&t=c>
(2/19), “It will be much harder for [Sanders than in 2016]. If you look at
how he runs, it is against the establishment. In this instance, you have 10
or 15 other people, all of whom represent different parts of some of these
ideas. ... I think he will have a hard time convincing voters that he is
the one to deliver versus others that can deliver.”

        NPR’s Mara Liasson said on Fox News’ Special Report[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=02d-0a1&t=c>
(2/19), “Why do you need a cranky old guy from Brooklyn when you can get
these young exciting people who agree with them on almost everything? I
think there is something to be said about Bernie at this moment. He did
shape the party and I think he certainly can be proud of that. ... The
point is that a lot of his ideas are being accepted widely and I think the
party does really want someone young and fresh.”

        However, writing for The Atlantic
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=02e-6dc&t=c>
(2/19), Edward-Isaac Dovere says that Sanders is “a 77-year-old socialist
who’s abrasive when he’s in a good mood, and who’s still blamed by many
Democrats for Hillary Clinton losing to Donald Trump. But go ahead, try to
argue that” he “isn’t the front-runner in the 2020 Democratic race right
now.” Sanders’ Democratic rivals “assume that this won’t last. But he’ll
raise millions, get 20,000 people at his rallies, and make them all look
junior varsity in comparison. Still, they’re confident that he won’t be
able to maintain that over the next year.”

        *Sanders’ Camp Says It Raised Over $4M In 10 Hours. *Business
Insider
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=02f-0de&t=c>
(2/19, Choi) reported, “Ten hours after announcing” his bid, Sanders had
“raised more than $4 million from nearly 150,000 individual donors, the
campaign said in an email on Tuesday.”

        *Boston Globe: For Sanders And Warren, It’s “Win Or Die” In New
Hampshire Primary. *Writing for the Boston Globe
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=030-9cb&t=c>
(2/19), James Pindell says that Sanders “enters the 2020 presidential race
with political advantages that his rivals could only dream of having. But
he also has one major obstacle” in the form of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
– “and specifically, her candidacy in the New Hampshire primary. Sanders,
after all, won the New Hampshire primary with more than 60 percent of the
vote in 2016 over the national front-runner, Hillary Clinton.” This time
around, Sanders “only has two options: win or drop out. Warren faces the
same ‘win or die’ proposition in New Hampshire.”

        *Pollster Maintains Sanders Can Beat Trump In Red States And
Battlegrounds. *Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=031-dae&t=c>
(2/19, Otterbein) reported that Sanders’ pollster Ben Tulchin has
“circulated a memo about an online survey he conducted in late 2017” in
West Virginia. The survey found “Sanders would beat Trump by 2 percentage
points in the state – despite the fact that Trump won West Virginia,
69-27.” Politico said that “the Sanders team is convinced” his “appeal to
independent voters, the white working class, and people of color is
underestimated – and could pay dividends in unexpected places in a general
election.” Politico added, “Some in the Sanders camp envision possibly
making a play for Iowa, Ohio, and Indiana, as well as states such as
Kansas, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Montana – six states
that, together, have voted for the Democratic nominee just twice in the
past half-century.”

        The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=032-f3e&t=c>
(2/19, Weigel) says that “in early polls of Iowa and New Hampshire, where
he won 50 percent and 60 percent of the vote, support for” Sanders “has
ranged from the low teens to 30 percent.”

        *Sanders Indicates He’ll Seek A Younger, Female Running Mate.
*The Washington
Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=033-f4b&t=c>
(2/19, Lim) reported that Sanders on Tuesday indicated “he would consider a
woman running mate should he win the party’s nomination. ‘I think we would
look for somebody who is maybe not of the same gender that I am, and maybe
someone who might be a couple of years younger than me, and somebody who
can take the progressive banner as vice president and carry it all over
this county to help us with our agenda, and help us to rally the American
people,’ Sanders told The Young Turks, a left-leaning media organization.”

        *Conservative Commentators Hit Sanders For His Avowed Socialism. *Sean
Hannity said on Fox News’ Hannity
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=034-512&t=c>
(2/19), “Just today, crazy Bernie Sanders threw his hat into the ring
promising even more far-left extreme radical socialism.” He added, “We know
Bernie is nuts, and a socialist. The problem is, his ideas are gaining a
foothold as like the majority of the Democratic Socialist Party.”

        Laura Ingraham said on Fox News The Ingraham Angle[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=035-d23&t=c>
(2/19), “It wasn’t any real surprise when Vermont socialist Bernie Sanders
decided to formally enter the race. It is always stunning to hear what the
Muppet-like lefty actually believes.” She added, “Bernie thinks the second
time’s the charm. After all, he was socialist before socialism was cool.”
Ingraham also said, “I will translate for you: Bernie is coming for your
money, and there aren’t enough billionaires to pay for the trillions in
spending he has in mind. And he’s not exactly being revolutionary with this
tired trope.”

        *Carlson: Sanders Has Embraced Identity Politics. *Tucker Carlson,
in his opening monologue on Fox News Tucker Carlson Tonight[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=036-904&t=c>
(2/19), said that Sanders in 2016 campaigned on the themes that got Trump
elected president: concerns about trade, growing division between rich and
poor, and the need for broad-based prosperity. Now, said Carlson, Sanders
is embracing identity politics. Rather than “saving America from predatory
global capitalism, Sanders plans to save us from Donald Trump’s racism and
sexism.” However, Carlson said those aren’t “the biggest problems America
faces, sorry, not even close actually. Growing economic stratification and
a dying middle-class, those are the biggest problems, but nobody in
Washington wants to talk about those things and why would they? People in
Washington are richer than ever.”

        *WSJournal Urges Greater Scrutiny Of Sanders And His Wife. *The Wall
Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=037-f3e&t=c>
(2/19) says in an editorial that Sanders succeeded in moving the Democratic
Party to the left, with the result that he now faces a number of candidates
running on the issues he used in 2016. The Journal urges greater attention
to Sanders’ wife, Jane O’Meara Sanders, particularly her time as president
of Burlington College in Vermont, which closed a few years after she left,
chiefly, according to the Journal, because of the debt she had accumulated
as president.
Warren Proposes Universal Childcare.

The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=038-fe4&t=c>
(2/19, Astor) reports that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) on Tuesday proposed
universal childcare through “a network of government-funded care centers
based partly on the existing Head Start network.” Care would be free for
families earning less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level and the
cost would be set on sliding scale for others, with a cap of seven percent
of income. The Times says Warren “framed the issue broadly,” in terms of
access to education, promoting economic growth, and addressing gender
inequality in the work force. The proposal “would be funded by Ms. Warren’s
proposed wealth tax on households with more than $50 million in assets,”
which Mark Zandi and Sophia Koropeckyj, economists at Moody’s Analytics,
say would fully cover the cost of the plan.

        The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=039-6fc&t=c>
(2/19, Stein) reports that “some critics on the right argued that Warren’s
plan would exacerbate already rising costs and represent an enormous
government intrusion in private life in America, while some on the left
argue that it does not go far enough. Others note that the plan may
engender a backlash from social conservatives, noting that the details of
‘national standards’ for Warren’s plan remain vague.”
Politico: Harris Unlikely To Make Strong Play For New Hampshire In
Democratic Race.

Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=03a-703&t=c>
(2/19, Cadelago) reported, “The question of whether” Sen. Kamala Harris
(D-CA) “will genuinely compete in” New Hampshire’s “primary hung over her
President’s Day town hall in Portsmouth – even after 1,000 people packed
the church to see her, and 500 more were turned away because the space was
too full. Harris, at the event, went out of her way in pledging to be
active in the state.” However, “history is not on her side.” The state “has
been the province of New Englanders back to John F. Kennedy – with the
notable exception of Ted Kennedy in 1980.”
O’Rourke Mulling Possible White House, Senate Bids.

On its website, CNN
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=03b-812&t=c>
(2/19, Bradner) reported that ex-Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) on Tuesday
confirmed “he is considering runs for president and the Senate in 2020 and
said he plans to decide on ‘what it is we do next’ by the end of February.”
Asked by reporters if he was considering a 2020 bid to unseat Sen. John
Cornyn (R-TX), O’Rourke said, “I’m trying to figure out how I can best
serve this country – where I can do the greatest good for the United States
of America. So, yeah, I’m thinking through that and it, you know, may
involve running for the presidency. It may involve something else.” His
remarks “came after a luncheon, during which El Paso Inc. named O’Rourke
the ‘El Pasoan of the Year.’”

        The Texas Tribune
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=03c-4c0&t=c>
(2/19, Svitek) reports that O’Rourke “repeatedly expressed hope he could
reach a decision by Feb. 28 but noted he would not be ‘limited by the end
of this month.’” Though O’Rourke “has shown little outward interest in”
challenging “Cornyn next year, some Democrats remain hopeful that he will
ultimately see it as a more winnable race. A recent poll commissioned by
Dallas Democratic consultant Jeff Dalton found O’Rourke trailing Cornyn by
just 2 percentage points in a hypothetical matchup.”

        The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=03d-ff6&t=c>
(2/19, Weissert) reports that O’Rourke also said “that he hasn’t ruled out
being a 2020 vice presidential candidate – even as he plans to decide in
the next 10 days if he’ll seek the presidency. Answering a question in
Spanish about the possibility of being another candidate’s running mate,”
O’Rourke “answered in Spanish: ‘I’m going to consider every way to serve
this country. And, yes, that will include anything.’”
Leading the News
House Panel: Kushner Tied To Plan To Sell Nuclear Reactor Technology To
Saudis.

Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=03e-9c3&t=c>
(2/19, Landay, Layne) says Democrats on the House Oversight Committee are
claiming in a new report that “top White House aides ignored repeated
warnings they could be breaking the law as they worked with...a close
friend of” President Trump “to advance a multi-billion-dollar plan to build
nuclear reactors” in Saudi Arabia. The House panel’s report details an
“effort...[that] began before Trump took office and continued after his
inauguration...despite National Security Council staff warnings that a
proposed transfer of US nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia was being
fast-tracked around a mandatory approval process in possible breach of the
Atomic Energy Act.” According to the report, former national security
adviser Michael Flynn “promoted the plan with Tom Barrack, the chairman of
Trump’s inaugural committee, and a consortium of US firms.”

        The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=03f-a7a&t=c>
(2/19, Hamburger, Mufson Nakashima) reports that there were “repeated
objections from members of the National Security Council and other senior
White House officials,” including H.R. McMaster, “then the chief of the
National Security Council.” However, the Post says, “the effort to promote
nuclear sales persisted, led by” Flynn and “more recently by Energy
Secretary Rick Perry” and “was discussed in the Oval Office as recently as
last week.” The House report “notes that one of the power plant
manufacturers that could benefit from a nuclear deal, Westinghouse
Electric, is a subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management, the company that
provided financial relief to the family of Jared Kushner, the president’s
son-in-law and senior adviser.”

        The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=040-5db&t=c>
(2/19, Fandos) says the report claims “the company backing the nuclear
plan, IP3 International, and its allies in the White House were working so
closely that the company sent a draft memo to...Flynn, to circulate just
days after the inauguration.” According to the report, “at a March 2017
meeting, a National Security Council aide tried to revive the IP3 plan ‘so
that Jared Kushner can present it to the President for approval.’” Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=041-40e&t=c>
(2/19, Colman) reports “IP3 organized a meeting with Trump last week where
executives from companies such as Westinghouse, General Electric, Exelon,
Centrus Energy, NuScale, TerraPower and LightBridge pitched the president
to help them win contracts in the Middle East and elsewhere.”

        According to the Los Angeles Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=042-224&t=c>
(2/19, Hamburger), the committee’s report said “unnamed whistle-blowers
inside the White House came forward because they were distressed at the
continued effort to sell the power plants.” Committee Republicans,
meanwhile, “said Tuesday they were not included in the drafting of the
detailed report and had not received a copy until Monday night.” To the AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=043-61c&t=c>
(2/19, Day), the report “raises concerns about whether some in a White
House marked by ‘chaos, dysfunction and backbiting’ sought to circumvent
national security procedures to push a Saudi deal that could financially
benefit close supporters of the president.”

        Bloomberg
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=044-9a2&t=c>
(2/19, House) reports the release of the House panel’s report “coincides
with rising bipartisan concerns over the US-Saudi relationship in general
and, more specifically, about whether nuclear technology transfer would add
to an already unstable Middle East.” According to Bloomberg, “Tension has
centered on whether a nuclear technology sharing agreement would strictly
prohibit Saudi Arabia from enriching and reprocessing spent fuel, which
could be used in weapons production.”

        The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=045-6f5&t=c>
(2/19, Muñoz) reports Rep. Adam Schiff, who heads the House Intelligence
Committee, “said his panel will work in conjunction” with Oversight
Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings to investigate whether the
Administration “broke federal mandates under the Atomic Energy Act in its
dealings with the Saudis.” Said Schiff, “If the allegations are borne out,
such an effort…is precisely the type of dangerous conflict of interest,
serious compromise, and danger to national security that Congress has a
duty to expose and root out.” The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=046-30c&t=c>
(2/19, Strobel) reports that a spokesman for Barrack said he is willing to
cooperate with the House Oversight Committee.

        *Bob Graham, UN Official: Saudi Arabia Still Isn’t Doing Enough To
Fight Terror Financing. *Former Sen. Bob Graham and Fionnuala Ni Aolain,
the UN special rapporteur on the promotion of human rights and fundamental
freedoms while countering terrorism, write in the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=047-af9&t=c>
(2/19) that a recent review of Saudi Arabia’s efforts to combat terrorism
financing “identified a number of serious deficiencies.” They argue that if
Saudi Arabia wants “to appropriately address the risk of terrorist
financing, it must prosecute not just the foot soldiers but also the
financiers who fuel terrorism around the world.”
Foreign Policy
Trump: No Hurry To See North Korea Denuclearize As Long As There Are No
Tests.

Ahead of his summit next week in Vietnam with North Korean leader Kim Jon
Un, President Trump yesterday spoke to reporters at the White House about
his expectations for the talks. The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=048-969&t=c>
(2/19, Riechmann) reports Trump said “he wants to see North Korea
eventually give up its nuclear weapons program, but adds he’s not in any
rush.” Said Trump, “I have no pressing time schedule.” Trump also told
reporters that next week’s summit would be “very exciting,” and said he
discussed it during a phone call earlier in the day with South Korean
President Moon Jae-in and will speak on Wednesday with Japanese Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe.

        Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=049-6f3&t=c>
(2/19, Mason, Smith) quotes the President as saying, “I’m in no rush.
There’s no testing. As long as there is no testing, I’m in no rush. If
there’s testing, that’s another deal. I’d just like to see ultimately
denuclearization of North Korea.” The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=04a-fc3&t=c>
(2/19, Samuels) reports Trump added, “I think we will see that ultimately.”
Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=04b-b54&t=c>
(2/19, Morin) reports Trump told reporters he believed “that North Korea
and Chairman Kim have some very positive things in mind” about getting rid
of nuclear weapons and “we’ll soon find out” what it is.

        USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=04c-436&t=c>
(2/19, Jackson) reports that during his call with Trump, Moon said he hopes
the summit “will provide a ‘critical turning point’ to accomplish complete
de-nuclearization, a peace regime on the peninsula and development of NK-US
relations,” according to a statement from his office. Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=04d-f11&t=c>
(2/19, Shin, Smith) reports Moon also told Trump “that his country is
willing to open economic engagement with North Korea as a ‘concession’ if
it will hasten Pyongyang’s denuclearization, Moon’s office said.” Bloomberg
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=04e-e8f&t=c>
(2/19, Sebenius), among other outlets, similarly report Trump’s comments.

        *North Korea Predicts “Major Breakthrough” At Summit. *Breitbart
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=04f-a41&t=c>
(2/18, Martel) reports that “an article at a North Korean government
propaganda site predicted a ‘major breakthrough’ in upcoming talks” between
Trump and Kim. Meari, “a North Korean government propaganda website, posted
an article Sunday claiming that North Korea is seeking ‘to build a
permanent and stable peace regime,’ not to develop more nuclear weapons.”
South Korea’s Yonhap quotes the report as saying, “There’s no reason North
Korea-US relations can’t have a major breakthrough, as we have seen in
inter-Korean relations.”

        *Biegun Heads To Vietnam For Pre-Summit Talks. *Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=050-245&t=c>
(2/19, Brunnstrom) reports US special envoy Stephen Biegun traveled to
Hanoi on Tuesday to continue preparations for a second summit between Trump
and Kim next week, the State Department said. State Department spokesman
Robert Palladino told reporters “he had no details of the meetings Stephen
Biegun would have in Hanoi.”

        *Kim Purges Opponents Of US Outreach. *The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=051-98f&t=c>
(2/19, Jeong, Martin) reports North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has purged or
executed 50-70 suspected opponents of his diplomatic outreach to the US and
South Korea, according to a new report. Authors of the report from the
North Korea Strategy Center, a Seoul-based think tank founded by a North
Korean defector, the purge suggests Kim is trying to silence critics as he
prepares to meet President Trump in Hanoi next week.

        *Former Diplomat: North Korea Won’t Give Up Nuclear Weapons. *USA
Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=052-465&t=c>
(2/19, Maresca) reports a former North Korean diplomat warned Tuesday that
North Korea has no intention of giving up its nuclear weapons. Thae Yong
Ho, Pyongyang’s former deputy ambassador to the United Kingdom, told
reporters, “No money in the world will convince North Korea to give up its
nuclear weapons.” Thae, USA Today notes, fled his post in 2016 and is the
“highest-ranking North Korean diplomat to defect to South Korea.”

        *North Korean Envoy In China Ahead Of Summit. *AFP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=053-e1a&t=c>
(2/19) reports that North Korea’s “special representative for the US
arrived in Beijing on Tuesday, apparently en route to Vietnam to meet his
Washington counterpart” ahead of next week’s summit between Trump and Kim.
Kim Hyok Chol “arrived in the Chinese capital at around 10 am (0200 GMT)
and was expected to board a plane bound for Hanoi later in the day.”

        *Vietnamese Barber Offers Free Trump-Kim Haircuts Ahead Of Summit. *
Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=054-43f&t=c>
(2/19, Nguyen) reports that in honor of the upcoming summit between Trump
and Kim, “a Hanoi barber is offering free haircuts to anyone wanting to
copy their distinctive locks.”
Trump: March 1 Deadline For China Trade Talks Not “Magical” Date.

Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=055-caa&t=c>
(2/19, Mason, Lawder) reports President Trump said Tuesday that trade talks
with China “were going well and suggested he was open to pushing off the
deadline to complete negotiations,” saying March 1 was not a “magical”
date. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said, “They are very
complex talks. They’re going very well. I can’t tell you exactly about
timing, but the date is not a magical date. A lot of things can happen.”
Referring to the new tariffs, Trump added, “I know that China would like
not for that to happen, so I think they’re trying to move fast so that
doesn’t happen.”

        *US Negotiators Ask China To Commit To Stable Yuan As Part Of Trade
Deal. *Bloomberg
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=056-d1c&t=c>
(2/19) reports the Administration is “asking China to keep the value of the
yuan stable as part of trade negotiations,” which Bloomberg says is “a move
aimed at neutralizing any effort by Beijing to devalue its currency to
counter American tariffs.” According to Bloomberg, “Officials from the two
countries are discussing how to address currency policy in a ‘Memorandum of
Understanding’ that would form the basis of a deal that ultimately will
have to be approved by” President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Bloomberg adds, “While the precise wording remains unresolved, a pledge of
yuan stability has been discussed in multiple rounds of talks in recent
months and both sides have tentatively agreed it will be part of the
framework of any final deal.”

        Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=057-178&t=c>
(2/19, Lambert, Lawder) reports Treasury Secretary Mnuchin said in October
“that currency issues must be part of US-China trade negotiations and that
Chinese officials told him that further depreciation of the yuan was not in
their interests.”

        *China Has Reportedly Stopped Complying With “Hacking Truce” With
US. *Bloomberg
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=058-e58&t=c>
(2/19, Sebenius) reports that, according to the cybersecurity firm
Crowdstrike, China “largely abandoned a hacking truce negotiated by” the
Obama Administration as President Trump “embarked on a trade war with
Beijing last year.” Bloomberg reports Crowdstrike says “a slowdown in
Chinese hacking following the cybersecurity agreement Obama’s
administration secured in 2015 appears to have been reversed. ... ‘By 2017
they started coming back and throughout 2018 they were back in full force,’
said Adam Meyers, vice president of intelligence at Crowdstrike.”
MBS Arrives In India For Meetings With Modi After Visiting Pakistan.

Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=059-0ae&t=c>
(2/19, Bhardwaj) reports Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi “broke with
government protocol to personally welcome Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman to New Delhi on Tuesday.” According to Reuters,
“Ordinarily, the prime minister would not receive a foreign dignitary at
the airport, but instead send an official or a junior government minister.”
Reuters says Modi is “due to hold talks on Wednesday with the crown prince,
who has already visited Pakistan, where he also received a lavish
reception.” Reuters adds that MBS’s trip “has taken on extra dimension
after a bombing in the disputed Kashmir region on Thursday that India
blamed on Pakistan.” According to Reuters, both countries are “keen to
cement ties with Saudi Arabia.”
Media Analyses: Administration Failing To Respond Adequately To Kashmir
Tensions.

The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=05a-7a9&t=c>
(2/19, Masood) reports that Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has
“offered...to investigate allegations by New Delhi that a Pakistan-based
militant group was behind a deadly suicide attack on Indian troops in
Kashmir,” but also “warned that his country would retaliate against any
Indian military action.” According to the Times, “Khan’s comments were the
first formal response by the Pakistani leader since the bombing on
Thursday, the worst in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir in 30
years.” The Ties says Jaish-e-Muhammad, “a Pakistan-based militant group,
claimed responsibility for the attack.”

        Emily Tamkin of the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=05b-faa&t=c>
(2/19) writes, “The fraught situation...does not seem to have generated
much concern in...Washington.” However, Tamkin adds, “The Trump
administration, however, has not been entirely silent. Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo tweeted his condemnation of the attack and said Pakistan cannot
‘provide safe haven for terrorists.’” Nevertheless, Tamkin says “the lack
of greater public involvement from foreign policy officials in the Trump
administration and from foreign policy experts in Washington more broadly
could signal a worrying lack of attention.”

        *WPost: Pakistan’s Nuclear-Armed Status Limits US-India Response To
Kashmir Attack. *A Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=05c-def&t=c>
(2/19) editorial says the “bloody suicide bombing in Kashmir last week has
confronted the Indian government with a dilemma that both it and the United
States have repeatedly faced: what to do about the sponsorship of Islamist
terrorist groups by Pakistan, a nuclear-armed state.” While diplomacy,
targeted military strikes, and sanctions have not worked, “the failure to
impose accountability or establish deterrence only encourages the Pakistani
military and its intelligence service to continue a policy of backing
extremists in both India and Afghanistan.” Indian Prime Minister Narendra
Modi “has vowed ‘a befitting reply’ to the attack,” but the Post says
India’s options are ultimately “limited.” The Post argues that “Modi’s best
course, however unsatisfactory, may be to avoid overreaction – including
against the Muslim population of Kashmir and those in India who speak out
on its behalf.”
Airstrikes Continue To Pound Last ISIS Stronghold.

Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=05d-e07&t=c>
(2/19, Said) reports that “air strikes targeted Islamic State’s last pocket
in eastern Syria” today “as US-backed fighters pressed for a victory that
would bring the jihadists’ self-proclaimed caliphate to its bloody end.”
According to Reuters, “Dozens of trucks earlier headed toward Baghouz, a
village on the banks of the Euphrates at the Iraqi border where hundreds of
Islamic State militants were making their last stand.” Reuters says the
trucks “were going to evacuate the remaining civilians,” which Reuters
describes as “a crucial step toward taking control of the area.”

        The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=05e-89c&t=c>
(2/19, El Deeb) also reports on the “renewed efforts to evacuate hundreds
of civilians trapped in the militants’ last patch of territory along the
Euphrates River.” According to the AP, “A spokesman for the US-backed
Syrian militia that is spearheading the fight against IS said a military
operation aimed at ousting the extremists from the enclave will begin if
they don’t surrender.”

        The Los Angeles Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=05f-d44&t=c>
(2/19, Bulos) reports that roughly “200 families remain trapped in Islamic
State’s last remaining slice of territory in eastern Syria, the United
Nations said Tuesday.” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle
Bachelet “expressed concern for the families,” saying in a statement that
many “are apparently being actively prevented from leaving” by ISIS. She
added, “Civilians continue to be used as pawns by the various parties.…
They should not be sacrificed to ideology on the one hand, or military
expediency on the other.”
State Dept. Says American ISIS Fighters Should Be Prosecuted.

The New York Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=060-cc4&t=c>
(2/19, Schwab, Brown) reports State Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert
Palladino “on Tuesday outlined the government’s position on American ISIS
members who’ve been captured in Syria – saying they should be brought back
to the US and prosecuted.” Asked about American “ISIS bride” Hoda Muthana,
Palladino told reporters: “Our policy in this regard would be to repatriate
them – and that’s what we call on all countries to do who have [ISIS]
fighters in Syria.” NBC Nightly News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=061-f0e&t=c>
(2/19, story 8, 1:35, Holt) broadcast Palladino saying, “Repatriating these
foreign terrorist fighters to their countries of origin, ensuring that
they’re prosecuted and detained, that’s the best solution.”

        *“ISIS Brides” Discuss Push For Repatriation. *In a more than
2,550-word piece, the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=062-6f1&t=c>
(2/19, Callimachi, Porter) interviews Muthana and “Kimberly Gwen Polman,
46, who had studied legal administration in Canada before joining the
caliphate and who possesses dual United States and Canadian citizenship.”
The two women are currently detained in a northeastern Syrian refugee camp.
Both women said “they were trying to figure out how to have their passports
reissued, and how to win the sympathy of the two nations they scorned.”
They also “said they had not been visited by American officials since their
capture last month.” A “small number of Americans – as few as 59, according
to data tracked by the George Washington University Program on Extremism –
are known to have traveled to Syria to join ISIS.” While nearly all of “the
American men captured in battle have been repatriated,” it is “unclear why
some of the American women and their children – at least 13 known to The
Times – have not been.”

        In a letter obtained by the New York Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=063-21e&t=c>
(2/19, Musumeci, Brown), “Muthana claims becoming a mother while in Syria
as a member of the terror group ‘changed’ her – and she now appreciates the
‘freedoms we have in America.’” James Longman reported on ABC World News
Tonight
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=064-e7b&t=c>
(2/19, story 9, 2:15, Muir) that Muthana says that, once in Syria, her only
choice was marriage. When asked what kind of punishment she deserves for
what she did, Muthana said, “Maybe therapy lessons? Maybe a process that
will ensure us that we’ll never do this again.” Muthana added that she
knows therapy is not enough, and that she is “definitely planning” to speak
out against ISIS and warn people not to make her same mistakes.

        Holly Williams reported for the CBS Evening News[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=065-0bf&t=c>
(2/19, story 7, 2:35, Glor) that while “the US government hasn’t said what
will happen to Hoda Muthana...America takes its nationals home from Syria,
where they can be arrested and charged.” President Trump has asked
America’s European allies to do the same, but Williams reported “some
governments are reluctant,” including the French government, which “has
reason to be worried about taking back a man like Adrien Guihal,” who was
“convicted of plotting to attack a police station before he even went to
Syria.”

        Meanwhile, the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=066-73b&t=c>
(2/19, Mueller) reports, Britain’s “government has told the family of
Shamima Begum, a 19-year-old woman who traveled to Syria to marry an
Islamic State fighter four years ago, that it intends to revoke her
citizenship, according to a family lawyer.” According to the Times,
“British law prevents the government from stripping someone’s citizenship
if doing so would render the person stateless,” but “British news outlets
reported that because Ms. Begum’s mother has a Bangladeshi passport, the
Home Office decided that it could remove her British citizenship.”

        Brian Todd reported on CNN’s Special Report[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=067-2d5&t=c>
(2/19, 5:51 p.m. EST) that “these women are clearly traumatized by their
experiences.” Meanwhile, on Fox News’ Special Report[image: Image removed
by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=068-aa2&t=c>
(2/19, 6:10 p.m. EST), Trey Yingst reported “people like Muthana pose a
difficult question for the international community to answer. Should those
who helped ISIS be allowed to return home and how should they be
prosecuted?”
Grenell Leading US Effort To Pressure Countries To Decriminalize
Homosexuality.

NBC News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=069-444&t=c>
(2/19, Lederman) reports the Administration is “launching a global campaign
to end the criminalization of homosexuality in dozens of nations where it’s
still illegal to be gay.” According to NBC News, the campaign is “aimed in
part at denouncing Iran over its human rights record.” US Ambassador to
Germany Richard Grenell, described as “the highest-profile openly gay
person in the Trump administration,” is “leading the effort, which kicks
off Tuesday evening in Berlin.” According to NBC News, “Although the
decriminalization strategy is still being hashed out, officials say it’s
likely to include working with global organizations like the United
Nations, the European Union and the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe, as well as other countries whose laws already allow
for gay rights.”

        The Daily Caller
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=06a-5e2&t=c>
(2/19, Athey) reports that last year, Grenell “called out the United
Nations General Assembly for overwhelmingly voting to accuse Israel of
human rights violations, suggesting the assembly should instead vote on
whether or not being gay is a crime.” He tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=06b-e1d&t=c>
at the time, “It will out the human rights hypocrites.” According to
Breitbart
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=06c-d5e&t=c>
(2/19, Pollak), “narrowly focused on criminalization, rather than broader
LGBT issues like same-sex marriage, the campaign was conceived partly in
response to the recent reported execution by hanging of a young gay man in
Iran,.”
Domestic Policy
Trump Defends His Border Wall Declaration In Wake Of States’ Suit.

President Trump took to Twitter
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=06d-daf&t=c>
yesterday to write, “As I predicted, 16 states, led mostly by Open Border
Democrats and the Radical Left, have filed a lawsuit in, of course, the 9th
Circuit! California, the state that has wasted billions of dollars on their
out of control Fast Train, with no hope of completion, seems in charge! ...
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=06e-b07&t=c>
The failed Fast Train project in California, where the cost overruns are
becoming world record setting, is hundreds of times more expensive than the
desperately needed Wall!” McClatchy
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=06f-0d2&t=c>
(2/19, Irby) points out “the price of the rail has drastically increased,
from an originally estimated $45 billion to $77 billion.”

        The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=070-86b&t=c>
(2/19) reports Trump later told reporters that he will “prevail over” the
“multistate lawsuit,” and that he has “an ‘absolute right’ to make the
declaration.” The President also “argued...that the wall was needed to
‘stop drugs and crime and criminals and human trafficking.’” NBC Nightly
News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=071-cc1&t=c>
(2/19, story 3, 1:00, Jackson) showed Trump saying, “It’s an open and
closed case,” and described him as “a confident commander in chief.”

        The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=072-5cc&t=c>
(2/19, Wagner) indicates that the President said the states involved in the
suit are governed by “mostly by Open Border Democrats and the Radical
Left,” and “also noted that he had predicted during an event in the Rose
Garden last week that an action would be brought in the federal judiciary’s
9th Circuit, where courts have often ruled against the administration.”
Along those lines, Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=073-b30&t=c>
(2/19, Galioto) reports “the West Coast court is home to some of the
country’s most left-leaning jurists and a strategic spot for cases against
the Trump administration.”

        *WPost Analysis: Experts Believe Trump May Win Court Cases Over
Declaration. *The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=074-b91&t=c>
(2/19, Sacchetti) reports on the lawsuits “challenging” President Trump’s
“declaration of a national emergency to pay for a border wall.” The Post
adds that judges will face “sweeping constitutional questions” as well as
“what – if any – evidence Trump needs to support his claims.” The suits
allege that “there is no evidence of an emergency,” argue that his
declaration is unconstitutional, “and accuse him of manufacturing a
crisis.” The action was taken under the National Emergencies Act, which,
according to “constitutional law expert” Stephen I. Vladeck of the
University of Texas, “does not specifically say what constitutes an
emergency.” John Yoo, law professor at the University of California at
Berkeley, said that “the Supreme Court will uphold the emergency
declaration.” The Post states that “Trump’s claims about the situation at
the border are at odds with the facts on the ground.”

        *Professor: Past Decisions Suggest High Court Will Uphold Emergency
Declaration. *In an op-ed, in Politico Magazine
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=075-ba8&t=c>
(2/19) University of Chicago law professor Aziz Huq predicts that, based on
similarities to the litigation over President Trump’s travel ban, lawsuits
over his proclamation of emergency to redirect funds to a southern border
wall will be decided in the President’s favor. He predicts that “the fact
that the president’s aim of circumventing Congress’s control of
appropriations is arguably unconstitutional matters no more than the
president’s expressions of animus mattered in the travel ban case.” The
decisions won’t favor future Democratic presidents, as the Roberts Court
showed itself “capable of intense skepticism of” President Obama’s DAPA
immigration initiative. Results “speak louder than casuistry,” and Huq
predicts “that the Roberts court, and future courts, will continue to find
in the case reports enough material to uphold policies perceived as
desirable, while invalidating policies perceived to be undesirable.”

        *WPost Also Concerned Declaration “Might Actually Pass Legal
Muster,” Urges Congress To Act. *The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=076-63a&t=c>
(2/19) editorializes that “though Mr. Trump’s emergency declaration flunks
the common-sense test, it might actually pass legal muster, because the
relevant law – the National Emergencies Act of 1976 – includes no
definition of ‘emergency,’ and courts might be loath to second-guess this
president for fear of limiting the discretion of future ones.” The Post
says that “the aforementioned National Emergencies Act” allows for “the
termination of a declared emergency by a simple majority vote of both
chambers,” though “Congress could terminate the emergency only by
overriding his veto, with a two-thirds vote of both houses.” The Post adds
that “no one in the House or Senate should be allowed to avoid voting on
this presidential power grab, and being held accountable for it by the
voters.”

        Evan Thomas similarly argues in the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=077-930&t=c>
(2/19) that Trump “may persuade the Supreme Court to take his side. But
that is hardly the end of it.” Congress “can amend the National Emergencies
Act, to limit the executive’s authority under the act. The lawmakers may
have to override a presidential veto to get that done,” and “at the next
election, the voters, if they choose, can remove Trump from office. That is
the way the system is supposed to work.”

        *Trump To Use Other Military Money For Wall Prior To Energy Funds. *The
New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=078-6f0&t=c>
(2/19, Savage) reports that before President Trump plans to use emergency
powers to redirect military construction funds towards building his border
wall, he “first intends to tap $2.5 billion in other Defense Department
funds under a different claim of executive authority.” The money would flow
from a military counterdrug account used “as a temporary way station for
more than $2 billion in funds taken from unrelated military programs.”
Acting Defense Secretary Shanahan said the decision on which programs would
be affected had not been made. While Congress, having given the executive
branch the authority to redirect the funds, could veto the use of that
power, “as a matter of political reality, executive branch officials
generally heed [appropriations] committee objections,” as appropriators
“could slash their next budget.” However, with Democratic control of the
House, “this norm appears likely to put the Pentagon in a bind.”

        *Scalise Defends Trump’s Order. *House Minority Whip Scalise said
on Fox News’ Hannity
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=079-0ac&t=c>
(2/19), “Anybody who tries to claim it is a manufactured crisis ought to
first go out and apologize to every one of those angel moms, the parents
who have lost loved ones. ... We have a serious crisis at our border. You
can’t have such an open border where you literally have people who were
deported for being child molesters that are able to come right back into
this country unchecked, and Democrats are okay with that and call it a
manufactured crisis.” He added, “This has become a real problem for the
Democratic Party. When you see this denial – look, Americans across the
board believe in national security and border security. They know what’s
going on. They know President Trump said he would secure the border, and
he’s following through on that promise.”

        *WPost A1 Analysis: Border Agents Increasingly Playing Humanitarian
Role. *The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=07a-7c3&t=c>
(2/19, A1, Sacchetti) reports on its front page that the “deaths of two
Guatemalan children in December and the massive groups of Central American
families crossing the border are increasingly transforming the Border
Patrol’s role from national security to humanitarian relief, even as
President Trump declares the situation a national emergency.” According to
the Post, “Well over half the people taken into custody in recent months
have been parents and children, with hundreds surrendering at a time, often
in isolated locations.” Following the two children’s deaths, “medical teams
from the Coast Guard, the Department of Health and Human Services, and new
private contractors have been triaging and examining migrant children on
the border.”
Trump Denies NYTimes Report About Cohen Probe, Lavishes Praise On Whitaker.

CQ Roll Call
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=07b-8f3&t=c>
(2/19, Bennett) reports President Trump yesterday “denied a report that he
asked then-Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker if an ally,” Geoffrey
Berman, “could undo his recusal in an investigation of his former personal
attorney and fixer, Michael Cohen.” Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=07c-f4b&t=c>
(2/19, Choi) notes Trump “flatly denied making any such inquiry,” saying,
“No, not at all, I don’t know who gave you that. ... That’s more fake news.
There’s a lot of fake news out there.”

        The story was first reported by New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=07d-360&t=c>
(2/19, Mazzetti, Haberman, Fandos, Schmidt), citing “several American
officials with direct knowledge of the call.” According to the Times,
Whitaker “knew he could not put Mr. Berman in charge because Mr. Berman had
already recused himself from the investigation.” The Times says the
President “soon soured on Mr. Whitaker...and complained about his inability
to pull levers at the Justice Department that could make the president’s
many legal problems go away.” The CBS Evening News[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=07e-d09&t=c>
(2/19, story 4, 1:25, Glor) pointed out, however, that the President
yesterday “praised Whitaker,” saying, “I have a lot of respect for Mr.
Whitaker. I think he’s done a great job. He’s a very, very straight
shooter.” The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=07f-b60&t=c>
(2/19, Samuels) quotes Trump as further saying yesterday, “He’s
exceptional. He’s a very fine man and he should be given a lot of thanks by
the nation.”

        ABC World News Tonight
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=080-e56&t=c>
(2/19, story 3, 2:15, Karl) reported “the President’s appointment of
Whitaker as acting attorney general was controversial for from the start.”
Whitaker “was a staunch Trump supporter and harsh critic of special counsel
Robert Mueller.” Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=081-27f&t=c>
(2/19, Sullivan) says “Whitaker remains at the Justice Department for now,
serving as an adviser to the Associate Attorney General, the Justice
Department’s No. 3 post, which is currently being filled on a temporary
basis by Jesse Panuccio.”

        One of the New York Times reporters behind the article, CNN
contributor Mark Mazetti, said on CNN’s Situation Room[image: Image removed
by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=082-e8f&t=c>
(2/19), “We don’t exactly have details about what he did inside the Justice
Department. We do know that this was sort of part of just this general
pattern of the cavalier attitude Trump had towards his prosecutors, trying
to change the course of investigations, trying to influence investigations,
that’s gone over two years.” He added, “The scope involved getting senior
officials inside the White House to try to lean on investigators. It had a
very detailed account of his actions with congressional Republicans to try
to – basically derail the Mueller investigation, to try to show that the
Mueller investigation is, quote, a witch hunt. This is a very comprehensive
strategy that took place over some period of time.”

        Counselor to President Trump Kellyanne Conway said on CNN’s Cuomo
Prime Time
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=083-527&t=c>
(2/19), “I don’t believe [the report] because he was already recused and
the President knew that.” She added that Trump “was asked a question by
colleagues and yours in the press today and said, ‘no, that’s more fake
news.’”

        Legal Analyst and former US Attorney for the Southern District of
New York Preet Bharara, when asked about his reaction on CNN’s The Lead[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=084-820&t=c>
(2/19), said, “I will join the people saying that it is outrageous.” He
added, “It is part of the pattern,” adding, “you see case after case after
case of the President trying in some way, whether directly or indirectly,
to interfere with an investigation, a lawful ongoing nature of an
investigation, because it might touch upon him or an associate of his.” He
added, “The devil is also in the details. You know, even according to
Maggie and her colleagues, they were careful to say in the lead of their
story not that it was a direction or an order, but asked whether it was
possible or whether it was okay. That is wiggle room. You and I know that a
polite question can have the force of an order if it is coming from the
President of the United States.”

        Political Commentator Karen Finney said on CNN’s The Lead[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=085-c70&t=c>
(2/19), “This is a pattern. Once again we have someone that works for the
Trump Administration lying in front of Congress to protect the President,
allegedly, if this conversation is true. We have the President, once again,
circumventing the rule of law, allegedly, deciding to do what he wants to
do. And again, it’s all about Trump. Every single action that he takes,
it’s all about protecting him. It’s about perceiving that all of the
branches of government are really supposed to exist to protect him. His
lawyer or his Treasury Department or his military to build his wall. I
think as a Democrat we would not have gotten to this point.”

        Jeffery Toobin said on CNN’s Situation Room[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=086-bc4&t=c>
(2/19), “In and of themselves I doubt you can make a criminal case out of
it even if you could prove that the overture to Whitaker took place.
However, this is not an isolated incident.”

        Political Correspondent Sara Murray said on CNN’s Situation Room[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=087-186&t=c>
(2/19), “I think this is a problem of the President’s own making. He has
this credibility problem because he so frequently said things in front of
the American people that have proven to be lies.”

        Fox News Senior Judicial Analyst Andrew Napolitano said on Fox
News’ Special Report
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=088-254&t=c>
(2/19), “If you try to interfere with a criminal prosecution that may knock
at your own door by putting your ally in there, that is clearly an attempt
to obstruct just justice.”

        The Washington Free Beacon’s Matthew Continetti said on Fox News’
Special Report
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=089-18f&t=c>
(2/19), “We need to find out what the facts are. I think the New York
Times’ story is indicative of a larger pattern, so many of the details and
the narratives that we’ve learned about are being told by self interested
parties, whether it’s James Comey, Andrew McCabe who gave this information
to the New York Times. We have yet to hear from a neutral arbiter.”

        *McCabe: Report “Consistent With Things I Experienced.” *Former
acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe said on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 (2/19),
“I am to the point in this entire experience where I don’t know that I can
be surprised any more than I have already been surprised. I wasn’t shocked
by anything I read in the report, much of it is consistent with things that
I experienced and saw while I was still at the FBI. So it is really a
remarkable account of everything that’s been going on and the FBI has been
struggling.”

        *Democrats Drop Suit Challenging Whitaker’s Appointment. *Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=08a-377&t=c>
(2/19, Sullivan) reports “three Democratic US senators on Tuesday dropped a
lawsuit that challenged the appointment of...Whitaker, who stepped down
from his post last week when the Senate confirmed William Barr to the
position.” Sens. Richard Blumenthal, Sheldon Whitehouse and Mazie Hirono
“had sought to bar Whitaker from serving as attorney general, arguing
that...Trump violated the US Constitution in November by depriving the
Senate of its power to act on such appointments.”
Trump Denies Ever Calling McCabe’s Wife A “Loser.”

President Trump took to Twitter
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=08b-ffa&t=c>
yesterday to write, “I never said anything bad about Andrew McCabe’s wife
other than she (they) should not have taken large amounts of campaign money
from a Crooked Hillary source when Clinton was under investigation by the
FBI. I never called his wife a loser to him (another McCabe made up lie)!” CQ
Roll Call
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=08c-6c7&t=c>
(2/19, Bennett) says that “as cable news continued showing tape of McCabe’s
morning show interviews, the president fixated on the former FBI man’s
accusation that Trump, during a private 2017 conversation, called his wife
‘a loser’ after she lost a bid for a Virginia state Senate seat.” Trump
“wanted his 58.4 million followers to know his side, contending he only
criticized Jill McCabe for accepting campaign donations from Bill and
Hillary Clinton.”

        The Washington Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=08d-efd&t=c>
(2/19, Yilek) reports “the president has accused McCabe of trying to plot a
coup to oust him from the White House,” while “McCabe, in response, said
it’s been ‘horrific’ having to ‘endure the threats, the taunts, the
bullying’ of Trump in public.” NBC Nightly News[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=08e-418&t=c>
(2/19, story 2, 1:10, Alexander) remarked on “the President overnight on
Twitter accusing McCabe of treason,” and showed McCabe saying, “I don’t
think really anybody takes those tweets by the President very seriously. I
certainly don’t at this point.”

        Meanwhile, the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=08f-0a9&t=c>
(2/19, Yourish) this morning runs a tally of all occasions in which Trump
has criticized the investigation under the headline “Trump Has Publicly
Attacked The Russia Investigation More Than 1,100 Times.”

        *McCabe Says He Told “Gang Of Eight” About Trump Probe In May Of
2017. *The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=090-5a6&t=c>
(2/19, Zapotosky) reports that McCabe said yesterday that “officials
briefed a bipartisan group of lawmakers after the bureau opened an
investigation into...Trump in May 2017, and that no one in the room pushed
back.” In an interview on NBC’s Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=091-6d6&t=c>
(2/19), McCabe said, “That’s the important part here. ... No one objected.
Not on legal grounds, not on constitutional grounds and not based on the
facts.” The Post adds “the comments seemed designed to rebut criticism that
McCabe has faced from Trump and other Republicans for initiating the
investigation into Trump and participating in conversations about other,
more dramatic steps against the president.”

        Bloomberg
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=092-73f&t=c>
(2/19, House) reports that McCabe “said he briefed those leaders – known as
the ‘Gang of Eight’ – about the Trump probe in the days after the president
fired FBI director James Comey in May of 2017.” Bloomberg notes that “at
that time, it included Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell,
Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Republican House Speaker Paul
Ryan, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. It also included the top
Republicans and Democrats on the House and Senate Intelligence
panels.” The Wall
Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=093-12d&t=c>
(2/19, Gurman), among other news outlets, also reports the story. The CBS
Evening News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=094-83a&t=c>
(2/19, story 5, 0:35, Reid) reported that “Republicans in that briefing
included close allies of the President,” and adds that “the fact that they
did not object undercuts the Republican talking point that the Russia
investigation is a partisan effort to unseat an elected President.”

        In an interview with Savannah Guthrie for NBC’s Today[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=095-d6b&t=c>
(2/19), former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe was asked, “Do you think
the President is a threat?” McCabe answered: “I think it’s entirely
possible. I think that’s one of the reasons why we opened the case against
him.” McCabe went on to say, “I want Americans to understand how the FBI
makes these decisions on when to open cases and who to investigate. It’s
not because we...don’t like a person or are supporting one political
direction or the other. ... We had a number of very concerning things that
we were considering at the time. One of the them was the fact that the
President, in our view, had gone to extreme measures to potentially impact,
negatively impact, possibly turn off, our investigation of Russian meddling
into the election and Russian coordination with his campaign.” Asked, “Did
you suspect the President might actually be working for Russia?” McCabe
replied, “We thought that might be possible. Yes. We thought it might be
possible.”

        McCabe said on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=096-1b2&t=c>
(2/19), “It was my expectation that [information given to the Gang of
Eight] would likely be relaid back to the President, partially because of
the presence of Devin Nunes. His interactions with the White House and
impropriety of the information he exchanged with the White House was well
known. So as we began that briefing as we came into the room, it was a
situation I lay out in the book, I was concerned about being able to keep
that information that we were discussing confidential and close hold. And
it is my belief that that information got back to the President.”

        Appearing on Fox News’ Fox & Friends[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=097-11b&t=c>
(2/19), Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) noted that McCabe testified that the FBI had
found “no evidence of any type of coordination between the Trump Campaign
and Russia all the way up until May of 2017. Remember, they started this
investigation in July of 2016. ... He and four other top people at FBI in
that critical eight days in May were trying to put together this scheme to
go after the President, to remove him from office. That is scary.” Jordan
added that McCabe is “the third person who told us that Rod Rosenstein was
serious when he made the comments about wearing a wire and recording the
President and looking to work with members of the cabinet to invoke the
25th Amendment.”

        Brian Kilmeade, on Fox News’ Fox & Friends[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=098-8d3&t=c>
(2/19), said, “For McCabe to defend himself, and for Rosenstein, if he ever
shows up, to defend himself, they are going to have to go ahead and outline
the severity of the situation, as they viewed it,” just after Trump was
elected. According to Kilmeade, “They are going to actually do a
preliminary ‘Mueller report’ before the Mueller report because for them not
to be indicted for lying to Congress...they have to sit there and say why
they were so clear that the President of the United States was sold out to
Russia.”

        The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=099-dc0&t=c>
(2/19, Muñoz) reports, meanwhile, that interviewed on ABC’s “The View,”
McCabe “said Tuesday that he has spoken with special counsel Robert
Mueller.” Said
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=09a-b2c&t=c>
McCabe, “The information I have, including the memos that I wrote, I’ve
given all that to the special counsel team.”

        Responding to accusations he was part of the “deep state,” McCabe
said on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=09b-dcf&t=c>
(2/19), “I find that so incredibly offensive. I think that the millions of
men and women who serve this country every day in all kinds of roles across
the federal government would also find that offensive. People who say
things like that aren’t thinking about all of the things that this
government does to serve the society fairly and consistently every day. The
fact is, I, like all the men and women in the FBI, people across government
and the military, I did my job. I stood up to the obligations of my
office.”

        *Conway: Media Should Join In Outrage Over McCabe-Rosenstein
Plot. *Counselor
to President Trump Kellyanne Conway said on CNN’s Cuomo Prime Time[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=09c-8fb&t=c>
(2/19), “Here’s what is important: The number one and the number two at the
FBI and other people in the highest of the FBI thought so little of the
democratically elected President, thought so little that they needed a,
quote, insurance policy.” She added, “I’m disappointed but I’m not
surprised that most of the mainstream media tried to stop Donald Trump from
being president but we should all be outraged, you included, that people at
the highest level of the FBI tried to put their thumb on the scale to
prevent this man from being president.”

        *Judicial Watch Sues For Documents Regarding Alleged 25th Amendment
Plot. *Townhall
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=09d-e46&t=c>
(2/19, Pavlich) reports “government watchdog Judicial Watch has issued a
Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Department of Justice for
documents surrounding official efforts to oust President Trump through the
25th amendment.” Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton said in a statement,
“It is no surprise that we are facing an immense cover-up of senior FBI and
DOJ leadership discussions to pursue a seditious coup against President
Trump. ... This effort to overthrow President Trump is a fundamental threat
to our constitutional republic so Judicial Watch will do everything it can
in the courts to expose everything possible about this lawlessness.”

        *AP Report: McCabe Implemented Plan To Backup Investigation
Evidence After Comey Firing. *Citing “a person with knowledge of the
discussions,” the AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=09e-389&t=c>
(2/19, Tucker) reports that the FBI “developed a backup plan to protect
evidence in its Russia investigation soon after the firing of...Comey in
the event that other senior officials were dismissed as well.” According to
the AP, “The goal was to ensure that the information collected under the
investigations, which included probes of Trump associates and possible
coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign, would survive the
firings or reassignments of top law enforcement officials.” The AP says
McCabe “asked investigators to develop a plan to ensure evidence would be
protected.”

        *Stone Could Have His Bail Revoked Over Instagram Post. *The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=09f-742&t=c>
(2/19, Balsamo) reports that US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson has
“ordered Roger Stone to appear in court to consider whether to revoke his
bail after the longtime Donald Trump confidant posted a photo on Instagram
of the judge with what appeared to be crosshairs of a gun.” Jackson said
Stone “must show for a hearing Thursday afternoon and prove why she
shouldn’t modify or revoke his bail or implement a full gag order in his
case.” The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0a0-73a&t=c>
(2/18, Thebault, Roig-Franzia, Weiner) reports that “in an appearance
Monday on Infowars, the conspiracy-minded website, Stone described the
image in the photo he posted as an ‘occult symbol,’” but “he did not
explain what that supposed symbol might mean,” saying, “The fake news
continues to make me a favorite target. This latest tempest is a perfect
example about it.”

        ABC World News Tonight
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0a1-a81&t=c>
(2/19, story 4, 0:35, Karl) briefly mentioned that “Stone has now issued a
formal apology to the court.” The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0a2-fc6&t=c>
(2/19, Jacobs) recounts that “last week, Judge Jackson imposed a limited
gag order on Mr. Stone, ordering that he must refrain, in the vicinity of
the courthouse, from talking to the news media or making statements that
‘pose a substantial likelihood of material prejudice to this case.’”

        Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0a3-ade&t=c>
(2/19, Lynch) reports “Drew Wade, a spokesman for the US Marshals Service,
said in a statement that the law enforcement arm of the federal court
system is “aware of the social media post” allegedly directed at Jackson by
Stone, and the Marshals office conducts regular security assessments for
federal judges.” Wade “added that the Marshals Service never comments on
threats or measures it takes to protect judges.” Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0a4-f1f&t=c>
(2/19, Choi, Samuelsohn), The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0a5-5e0&t=c>
(2/19, Wheeler), Washington Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0a6-8b1&t=c>
(2/19, Yilek) and Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0a7-bf9&t=c>
(2/19, Viswanatha), among other news outlets, also report the story.

        Jeffery Toobin said on CNN’s Situation Room[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0a8-0fc&t=c>
(2/19), “This is really bad news for Roger Stone. It might not mean
catastrophic news, but it is certainly bad news. The question is will the
gag order be tightened so that he has even fewer free speech rights than he
had already? ... Then, of course, you have the issue of the threat. Is a
photograph with what appears to be a target by the judge some sort of
threat, which is far more serious than violating the gag order? That the
kind the thing that could get your bail pulled altogether; it could get you
locked up. What makes this situation even more perilous for Roger Stone is
this is the same judge, Amy Berman Jackson, who locked up Paul Manafort,
who pulled his bail when he was found to have contacted witnesses in his
case.”

        Shimon Prokupecz said on CNN’s Situation Room[image: Image removed
by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0a9-446&t=c>
(2/19), “It was a stupid thing to do. There is going to be – something is
going to happen, whether the judge institutes a more stricter gag order or
whether or not she jails him and seeing this as some kind of violation and
holds him in context as a result, who knows. This is a judge, as we know –
she’s the judge that’s been overseeing the Paul Manafort case, that is
strictly by the book, by the record. She will put everything out there. If
I was ROGER stone, I would be worried that when I appear in court on
Thursday, I may not be walking back out.”
Trump Taps Transportation Official To Replace Rosenstein.

USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0aa-8db&t=c>
(2/19, Johnson) reports President Trump selected “a top transportation
official” late Tuesday to replace Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
The nomination of Jeffrey Rosen, the Transportation Department’s deputy
secretary, “had been rumored since Attorney General William Barr took
office earlier this month.” USA Today notes that Rosen “has never worked at
Justice, making him an unusual choice to oversee the daily operations of a
sprawling federal law enforcement agency, particularly at a time when it is
carrying out such sensitive and closely watched investigations.”

        *WPost A1 Analysis: Barr Keeping Low Profile. *The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0ab-a01&t=c>
(2/19, A1, Rucker, Zapotosky) reports on its front page, that since taking
office as Attorney General, William P. Barr “has kept a low profile,
spending most of his time getting up to speed on how the department he led
more than 25 years ago, in the George H.W. Bush administration, operates
today.” The Post also notes that Barr “has not publicly addressed Trump’s
running commentary of the past few days,” and “some department employees
said Barr’s confirmation had buoyed spirits, which had sunk after Trump
asked [Jeff] Sessions to resign and replaced him with Matthew G. Whitaker,
whose qualifications to be acting attorney general were doubted by some in
the building.”
Sources: Trump Growing Increasing Frustrated With Coats.

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0ac-831&t=c>
(2/19, Harris, Dawsey, Nakashima) reports President Trump has “grown
increasingly disenchanted” with DNI Coats, “who has served as the nation’s
top intelligence official for nearly two years, leading some administration
officials to worry he will soon be dismissed, according to people familiar
with the matter.” The sources say Trump “has never seen Coats as a close or
trusted adviser...but he has become more frustrated with him in recent
weeks over public statements that Trump sees as undercutting his policy
goals, particularly with respect to reaching a disarmament agreement with
North Korea.” Sources do not believe “Coats would be fired immediately but
said that Trump is considering removing him. “
Amid Ethics Probe, Ross Says Inaccurate Financial Disclosures Were
Unintentional.

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0ad-63f&t=c>
(2/19, Thebault) reports the Office of Government Ethics has ruled that
Commerce Secretary Ross “violated his ethics agreement by inaccurately
reporting stock holdings in his 2018 financial disclosure form.” Ross “did
not sell stock he held in a bank despite reporting otherwise, said Emory
Rounds, director of the Office of Government Ethics.” In a letter dated
Feb. 15, Rounds wrote, “Therefore, OGE is declining to certify Secretary
Ross’s 2018 financial disclosure report. because that report was not
accurate and he was not in compliance with his ethics agreement at the time
of the report.” In a statement Tuesday, Ross “said he mistakenly believed
he had sold the assets in question — 100 shares of BankUnited stock — in
May 2017.” When he realized the error, Ross said, he sold the stock.
Trump Signs Directive Launching Plans For New Space Force.

President Trump yesterday signed a directive
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0ae-269&t=c>
laying out plans to launch a Space Force. Highlighting the historic nature
of the announcement, Stars And Stripes
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0af-7f2&t=c>
(2/19, Dickstein) pointed out that “if approved, Space Force would be the
first new US military branch since the Air Force was split from the Army in
1947.” The story did not garner any coverage on the major network newscasts
last night, however, and many reports are casting the President’s plan as
an effort to accommodate the objections of his Congressional critics. NPR
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0b0-c92&t=c>
(2/19, Kennedy) points out the military’s “new branch...would at first be
under the umbrella of the Air Force,” which “represents at least a
temporary shift” for Trump. The Los Angeles Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0b1-719&t=c>
(2/19, Cloud) describes Trump as “bowing to bipartisan concerns in
Congress,” and Defense News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0b2-34d&t=c>
(2/19, Insinna) says that “an Air Force-led space service is thought to be
more palatable to congressional critics.” The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0b3-874&t=c>
(2/19, Howell, Meier) reports, however, that the Administration “isn’t
letting go of its goal,” saying “Monday’s directive is the ‘first step
toward a future, separate, military department for space.’”

        MSNBC Live
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0b4-c1f&t=c>
(2/19) similarly reported “Space Force was controversial at first because
the Air Force already has the Air Force Space Command, and because early
estimates found a new branch would cost about $13 billion. Imagine how much
wall you could get for that?” On Tuesday, “the White House announced plans
to reduce the expense and the redundancy.” Fox News The Daily Briefing[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0b5-bdb&t=c>
(2/19) noted Gen. David Goldfein, Chief of Staff of the Air Force, “said
Space Force will look similar to the Marine Corps, an independent service
that falls under the Department of the Navy. This arrangement is seen as a
win for the Air Force, who didn’t want to give up complete control of its
space assets.” TechCrunch
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0b6-325&t=c>
(2/19, Shieber) reports that “significantly, the Trump administration is
reviving the US Space Command, which will be headed by a four-star officer
and will coordinate military operations in space.” The US “disestablished
the Space Command in 2002 under the George W. Bush administration.”

        The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0b7-0eb&t=c>
(2/19, Boyle) reports “the House has been supportive of creating a Space
Force within the Air Force, along the lines of what Trump proposed on
Tuesday.” While “Senate support is less clear” it also “seems likely to
swing in Trump’s favor.” Space News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0b8-0cd&t=c>
(2/19, Erwin) reports “a senior administration official said Trump believes
there is bipartisan support in Congress to do this,” stating, “Our
priorities are clear. ... I think there’s a lot of commonality on both
sides of the aisle. And I am hoping that this is not a very heavy lift for
everyone. It is an issue that has been around for a long while.” The Los
Angeles Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0b9-d73&t=c>
(2/19, Cloud), meanwhile, quotes an unnamed “senior administration
official” as saying, “I think it can get done this year, but Congress has a
lot to do and we defer to them.”

        The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0ba-c52&t=c>
(2/19, Lamothe) reports “a Pentagon spokesman, Charles E. Summers Jr., said
that in coming weeks the Defense Department will submit a legislative
proposal to Congress that authorizes the establishment of the Space Force
as the sixth branch of the US military.” Said Summers, “The United States
considers freedom to operate in space a vital national interest, one that
is fundamental to our prosperity and security. ... With Space Policy
Directive-4, President Trump is posturing the United States to compete,
deter, and win in a complex multi-domain environment characterized by great
power competition.”

        Axios
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0bb-a5f&t=c>
(2/19, Axios) says Trump’s directive “takes what was a rally slogan and
T-shirt and moves it toward becoming a real national security entity aimed
at blunting the rising power of China in particular,” and USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0bc-143&t=c>
(2/19, King) that “the Space Force moved closer to liftoff.” Trump “said he
views the new military branch as part of his responsibility to protect the
nation,” telling reporters, “I was put here for security, whether it’s
Space Force, which I’m doing today, or whether it’s borders.” CNN
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0bd-df4&t=c>
(2/19, Browne) notes the President also said yesterday, “With today’s
action we will ensure that our people are secure, our interests are
protected and our power continues to be unmatched. ... The Space Force is a
very important part of my administration.” NPR
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0be-889&t=c>
(2/19, Kennedy) quotes Trump as further stating, “America must be fully
equipped to defend our vital interests. Our adversaries are training forces
and developing technology to undermine our security in space.”

        Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0bf-40d&t=c>
(2/19, Stone, Mason) reports “Mac Thornberry, the top-ranked Republican on
the House Armed Services Committee, praised the initiative, saying in a
statement on Tuesday that it ‘is an important next step towards real reform
of national security space where we face real threats posed by Russia and
China.’” Business Insider
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0c0-e05&t=c>
(2/19, Mosher) indicates, however, that “not everybody is on board with a
Space Force,” as “retired NASA astronaut Mark Kelly has been vocal in his
opposition to the idea,” and has called the idea “dumb.” Business Insider
adds “some members Congress have also voiced their distaste for the idea of
a Space Force, and other critics question its utility, expense, and
potential role in weaponizing space, perhaps to disastrous effect.” Along
those lines, the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0c1-c33&t=c>
(2/19, Cooper) reports “critics said the move to create a Space Force could
end up militarizing space.” Said Laura Grego, a senior scientist with the
Union of Concerned Scientists, “If concentrating authority in a Space Force
creates an incentive for nations to build space weapons that increase the
likelihood of conflict, it would be a profoundly bad idea.”

        The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0c2-8c0&t=c>
(2/19, Leary, Youssef) runs a similar report, while SPACE
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0c3-c45&t=c>
(2/19, Wall) indicates that Trump’s Space Policy Directive-4 (SPD-4), “as
its name suggests,” is “Trump’s fourth space policy directive. The first
SPD directed NASA to get humans back to the moon as a stepping-stone to
Mars. The second streamlined regulations for the commercial space sector,
and the third dealt with management of space traffic.”

        *Governor, Lawmakers Ask Trump To Place Space Force HQ In Florida. *
WFOR-TV
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0c4-f36&t=c>
Miami (2/19, 7:28 p.m. EST) reported that “within minutes” of Trump’s
announcement, “the Florida Governor says he’s formally sending a request to
the White House to have the headquarters for Space Force in Florida at the
Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral.” WTVT-TV[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0c5-938&t=c>
Tampa, FL (2/19, 10:24 p.m. EST) reported, “Our governor wants our home to
be the home of the US Space Force,” and WKCF-TV[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0c6-188&t=c>
Orlando, FL (2/19, 10:10 p.m. EST) that “members of Florida’s congressional
delegation asked the acting Secretary of Defense to locate the headquarters
of a future US Space Command here in central Florida.” Stars And Stripes
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0c7-fc4&t=c>
(2/19, Dickstein) similarly reports that “Republican Reps. Michael Waltz
and Bill Posey, members of the House Armed Services Committee, and 11 other
Florida lawmakers” similarly “called their state ‘the epicenter of
America’s space program,’ in the note to the acting defense secretary.”

        The Tampa Bay (FL) Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0c8-e23&t=c>
(2/19, Contorno) reports that in a tweet
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0c9-b44&t=c>,
Gov. Ron DeSantis “said he is ‘formally sending a request’ to Trump to put
the headquarters in Cape Canaveral, home to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.” The
Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0ca-030&t=c>
(2/19, Axelrod) notes DeSantis also said in a statement, “As the most
military friendly state in the country with a fast-growing commercial
aerospace industry, Florida is the ideal location for USSPACECOM. In
addition to an already-existing infrastructure and a highly trained
workforce, Florida has enduring relationships with both the Air Force and
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.” The Miami Herald
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0cb-3f4&t=c>
(2/19, Turner) quotes DeSantis as also stating, “I think we have,
obviously, facilities such as Cape Canaveral where that would be a natural
fit. ... I think that would be very good for the state of Florida. But I
also think, given our history in space, given all the resources that are
now in Florida, I think it would make a lot of strategic sense to do that.”

        The Orlando (FL) Sentinel
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0cc-48f&t=c>
(2/19, Herrera) reports “Space Florida has already been pitching Florida as
a possible headquarters location for Space Force or US Space Command, the
nation’s 11th unified combatant command, which also is in the works, said
Dale Ketcham, vice president of government and external relations at the
agency.” Said Ketcham, “We have been working for a while with members of
the federal delegation about making a strong case that it come to Florida.
... Particularly given the fact that if it’s here, it’s near where the bulk
of the activity, the business end of the launch activity occurs and it’s in
a state with three other combatant commands.”
Cancer Research
HPV Vaccine Scale-Up Could Eliminate Most Cervical Cancer In Wealthy
Countries Within Three Decades, Study Suggests.

AFP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0cd-7af&t=c>
(2/20) reports a new study suggests that “the rapid scale-up of the human
papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine could virtually eliminate cervical cancer in a
handful of rich countries within three decades, and in most other nations
by century’s end.” Specifically, researches suggest that “the rapid
deployment starting in 2020 of screening and vaccination could prevent more
than 13 million cervical cancers by mid-century worldwide, and lower the
number of cases to below four-per-100,000 women, the study found.” The
findings
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0ce-8e9&t=c>
were published in The Lancet Oncology.
Surveys Find Cancer Patients Face Barriers To Joining Clinical Trials.

Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0cf-294&t=c>
(2/19, Carroll) reports an analysis of 13 surveys over 15 years suggests
cancer patients may want to volunteer for clinical trials, but face
barriers to doing so. Study lead author, Joseph Unger, of the Fred
Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, said, “The reason most patients don’t go
into clinical trials is not because of the patient, but because of all the
barriers in front of the patient, including structural and clinical
factors,” and “often there is no trial available for the patient,” as was
true for 55.6 percent of study patients. The report
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0d0-b56&t=c>
was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

        Contributor Victoria Forster writes in Forbes
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0d1-33a&t=c>
(2/19) almost one-fourth of study participants “were ultimately deemed
ineligible for a trial they applied for, but when patients were offered the
chance to participate in a clinical trial, about half did.”
Editorials/Op-Eds
New York Times.

*“Election Fraud The GOP Won’t Stress About.”* In an editorial, the New
York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0d2-13c&t=c>
(2/19) writes, “Memo to President Trump and the Republican Party:” the
situation in North Carolina “is what actual voting fraud looks like,” where
testimony shows “a devastating portrait of a political schemer intent on
undermining the electoral system,” working for GOP candidate Mark Harris,
“conspired to steal last year’s election for the state’s Ninth
Congressional District.” The Times says the situation “should prove
instructive for Mr. Trump and his party,” who have “have been unable to
scare up compelling evidence” of more than a handful of cases of voter
fraud by noncitizens. The Times concludes, “voting fraud is as real as
Russia’s crusade to put Mr. Trump in the White House” but “looks nothing
like what Republicans keep hitting the panic button over,” which “tells you
even more about Mr. Trump and his party than it does about the so-called
perils of voter fraud.”

        *“Venezuela’s Border Standoff.” *The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0d3-1e1&t=c>
(2/19) editorializes that Venezuela’s military should abandon President
Nicolás Maduro and join “opposition leader Juan Guaidó in trying to put
Venezuela back on track” – but “it should not be” President Trump “issuing
ultimatums, threatening the soldiers or telling them what to do.” To the
Times, the “chief motivation” behind Trump’s “saber-rattling” seems “to be
to rally his far-right base by proclaiming himself a warrior against
‘socialism’ – an evil he identifies not only with the radical policies of
Hugo Chávez, Mr. Maduro’s predecessor and mentor, but also in the platforms
of some Democratic presidential hopefuls.” The Times cautions that the
Administration’s approach is “a dangerous and potentially counterproductive
strategy for helping the Venezuelans,” whose “goal must be what serves the
Venezuelan people best, not an ideological coup.”
Washington Post.

*“No One In Congress Should Be Allowed To Avoid Voting On This Presidential
Power Grab.”* The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0d4-af8&t=c>
(2/19) editorializes that “though Mr. Trump’s emergency declaration flunks
the common-sense test, it might actually pass legal muster, because the
relevant law – the National Emergencies Act of 1976 – includes no
definition of ‘emergency,’ and courts might be loath to second-guess this
president for fear of limiting the discretion of future ones.” The Post
notes that “the aforementioned National Emergencies Act” allows for “the
termination of a declared emergency by a simple majority vote of both
chambers,” though “Congress could terminate the emergency only by
overriding his veto, with a two-thirds vote of both houses.” The Post adds
that “no one in the House or Senate should be allowed to avoid voting on
this presidential power grab, and being held accountable for it by the
voters.”

        *“The Kashmir Attack Leaves The US And India Facing A Dilemma About
Pakistan.” *A Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0d5-b13&t=c>
(2/19) editorial says the “bloody suicide bombing in Kashmir last week has
confronted the Indian government with a dilemma that both it and the United
States have repeatedly faced: what to do about the sponsorship of Islamist
terrorist groups by Pakistan, a nuclear-armed state.” While diplomacy,
targeted military strikes, and sanctions have not worked, “the failure to
impose accountability or establish deterrence only encourages the Pakistani
military and its intelligence service to continue a policy of backing
extremists in both India and Afghanistan.” Indian Prime Minister Narendra
Modi “has vowed ‘a befitting reply’ to the attack,” but the Post says
India’s options are ultimately “limited.” The Post argues that “Modi’s best
course, however unsatisfactory, may be to avoid overreaction – including
against the Muslim population of Kashmir and those in India who speak out
on its behalf.”

        *“Virginia Is On The Cusp Of Redistricting reform. Lawmakers Must
Get It Right.” *In an editorial, the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022001biden&r=email-d2c8&l=0d6-b21&t=c>
(2/19) writes that Virginia has “the best chance in years for genuine
redistricting reform,” which “would empower voters who have long been
manipulated and gerrymandered by self-interested politicians,” adding,
“It’s essential that lawmakers get it right.” The Post favors the state
Senate’s proposals for the bipartisan redistricting commission’s
composition as not favoring a single party and including non-lawmakers. The
Post also approves of the public having open access to the commission’s
meetings and to the data it uses. The Post concludes, “The status quo is
unfair and unworkable. Virginians deserve better.”

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