Subject: FW: Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing for Thursday, February 28, 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: Thu, 28 Feb 2019 09:30:26 -0500

Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing

*From:* Bulletin Intelligence <[email-masked]>
*Sent:* Thursday, February 28, 2019 7:58 AM
*To:* [email-masked]
*Subject:* Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing for
Thursday, February 28, 2019

*Click to access
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[image: Image removed by sender. Office of Vice President Biden
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<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=001-a84&t=c>

*To: Vice President Joe Biden*

*Thursday, February 28, 2019 8:00 AM EST*
Today's Table of Contents

*Biden in the News* <#SECTION_1>

• With Democrats Sporting Large, Diverse Field, “Clamor For Biden” To Run
Has Subsided. <#S1>

• Boston Herald: Sanders-Warren Clash In New Hampshire Could Open Door For
Biden. <#S2>

• CNBC: Social Media Executives Offering Biden Advice On Appealing To Young
Voters. <#S3>

• WSJournal’s Freeman: 2020 Rivals’ Extreme Stances Present Opportunity For
Biden. <#S4>

• RNC Chief, Conway Pan Potential Biden Candidacy. <#S5>

• Author Out With A Second Obama-Biden Detective Novel. <#S6>

• Puerto Rico A Key Focus In 2020 Democratic Presidential Primary. <#S7>

• O’Rourke Has Reached Decision On 2020 Race, To Announce Plans “Soon.”
<#S8>

• CNN Failed To Disclose Democratic Ties Of Sanders’ Town Hall Questioners.
<#S9>

• Inslee Expected To Announce 2020 Bid This Week. <#S10>

• Una Nation Offers Warren Enrollment In Its “Mixed-Blood” Tribe. <#S11>

• Stephens Advises Klobuchar To Apologize To Aides. <#S12>

• Media Analyses: Governors Face Hurdles In 2020 Democratic Race. <#S13>

• All Democratic Senators In 2020 Race Received Perfect Scores From
Environmentalists Last Year. <#S14>

*Leading the News* <#SECTION_2>

• Trump-Kim Summit Comes To Abrupt End Over Lack Of Agreement On Sanctions.
<#S15>

*Foreign Policy* <#SECTION_3>

• US Urges Calm After India, Pakistan Claim To Down Each Other’s Jets.
<#S16>

• USTR To Suspend China Tariff Hike “Until Further Notice.” <#S17>

• Trump Signs Boeing Trade Agreement With Vietnam. <#S18>

• Sources: Kushner Faces Resistance To Peace Plan On Mideast Tour. <#S19>

• Administration Preparing Sanctions On Cuba Over Support For Maduro. <#S20>

• Rouhani Rejects Zarif’s Resignation As “Against National Interests.”
<#S21>

• Trudeau’s Ex-AG Says PM, Others Pressured Her To Drop Case Against
SNC-Lavalin. <#S22>

*Domestic Policy* <#SECTION_4>

• Cohen Says Trump Broke Law While In Office, Knew In Advance About
WikiLeaks DNC Email Release. <#S23>

• Pelosi: Trump Emergency Declaration Sets Precedent For Next Democratic
President. <#S24>

• Pelosi: Impeachment Should Not Be Used Unless It Is Unavoidable. <#S25>

• Travel Ban Ends Most Immigration From Countries Sponsoring Terrorism.
<#S26>

• House Passes Bill Requiring Background Checks For All Gun Sales. <#S27>

• House Democrats Offer Single-Payer Healthcare Bill. <#S28>

• Collins To Oppose Wheeler Nomination. <#S29>

*Cancer Research* <#SECTION_5>

• Trump’s $500M Pediatric Cancer Initiative To Include Focus On Data
Sharing. <#S30>

• Guardant Study Shows Blood Test As Effective At Detecting Lung Cancer As
Biopsy. <#S31>

*Editorials/Op-Eds* <#SECTION_6>

• New York Times. <#S32>

• Washington Post. <#S33>
Biden in the News
With Democrats Sporting Large, Diverse Field, “Clamor For Biden” To Run Has
Subsided.

Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=002-a6a&t=c>
(2/28, Gibson, Oliphant) reports that former Vice President Joe Biden “said
this week he was ‘very close’ to deciding whether to make a 2020 White
House bid and will run only if he thinks he can win the Democratic Party’s
nomination. He is not alone in questioning if he is the man for the moment.
The clamor for Biden to” enter the race “has quieted as the Democratic
field has grown more crowded and diverse, according to interviews with more
than two dozen strategists, activists, party organizers and voters.”
Reuters says that polling shows Biden “remains popular. But the Democratic
Party may no longer need him in order to be competitive against [President]
Trump.” Reuters adds that Biden “will be more likely to remain on the
sidelines if he feels a strong candidate capable of beating Trump is
emerging. But a source close to Biden said: ‘If I had to guess, he’s
probably going to do it.’”

        *Some Political Observers Skeptical Goodwill Toward Biden Would
Boost Him To Nomination. *The Boston Herald
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=003-43e&t=c>
(2/27, Kashinsky) reports, “Name recognition would catapult former Vice
President Joe Biden to the front of the Democratic pack should he” enter
the 2020 White House race, “but local politicos wondered if lingering
goodwill toward ‘Uncle Joe’ would translate to votes.” For example,
University of New Hampshire political scientist Dante Scala said that Biden
“would ‘start as the front-runner based on name identification and the
reservoir of goodwill he enjoys among Democrats,.’” However, Scala added
that “he’s ‘not convinced that voters’ good feelings for Biden will convert
to their loyalty in next year’s primary.’ Biden is ‘not a prohibitive
favorite,’ Scala said.”
Boston Herald: Sanders-Warren Clash In New Hampshire Could Open Door For
Biden.

The Boston Herald
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=004-cc4&t=c>
(2/27, Chabot) reports that former Vice President Joe Biden’s “best shot at
winning the 2020 New Hampshire presidential primary could depend on just
how big the clash gets between two local progressive titans” – Sens. Bernie
Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). The Herald says that Sanders,
“who won the state’s primary in 2016, and Warren’s politically plugged-in
campaign could very well split liberal voters in the Granite State, paving
the way for a seasoned centrist like Biden.” The Herald adds that Biden
“was the top choice for 28 percent of Granite State Democratic Primary
voters, according to a University of Massachusetts Amherst poll released
last week, with Sanders coming in at 20 percent and Warren at 9 percent.”

        *NH Political Observers Doubt Biden Bid Would Prompt Any Candidates
To Drop Out. *Writing on the website of WMUR-TV
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=005-ca3&t=c>
Manchester, NH (2/28), John DiStaso highlights Biden’s Tuesday remarks
“that his family is behind him running,” for president in 2020. DiStaso
then asks “how would his entrance affect the race for the Democratic
presidential nomination, especially in New Hampshire? New Hampshire’s
Democratic National Committeeman and Committeewoman say they do not expect
Biden to prompt anyone who’s already in from getting out,” but “said he
will change the trajectory of anyone who’s thinking of running.” For
example, Democratic National Committeewoman Kathy Sullivan said, “The
people who are in will stay in, and it’s just adding one more candidate to
the mix.”
CNBC: Social Media Executives Offering Biden Advice On Appealing To Young
Voters.

In an online article, CNBC
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=006-f35&t=c>
(2/27, Schwartz) reported that former Vice President Joe Biden “has been
receiving regular briefings from executives at digital and social media
companies in order to learn strategies for appealing to young voters if he
were to run for president again. Biden has gotten advice from an executive
at Twitter, according to a” source. CNBC said, “Critics of a potential
Biden run have suggested that Democratic voters – and the electorate in
general – may prefer a fresh face to take on President Donald Trump, who is
72, in 2020.” CNN said that if Biden, 76, enters the race, he “would have
to cultivate a digital operation to keep pace with rivals who have had a
head start in developing a vast reach on social media. People familiar with
the matter also said that Biden’s team is prepared to hire at least 20
social media experts who would advise him if he were to” run. The Daily
Caller
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=007-e6e&t=c>
(2/27, White) reported on the CNBC story under the headline “Biden Asks
Twitter Execs About What Youngsters Like Nowadays As He Considers POTUS
Bid.”
WSJournal’s Freeman: 2020 Rivals’ Extreme Stances Present Opportunity For
Biden.

In his Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=008-4ba&t=c>
(2/27) column, James Freeman says that former Vice President Joe Biden, if
he enters the 2020 presidential race, has room to run to the right of a
number of announced Democratic hopefuls on issues such as abortion and the
Green New Deal. Freeman paints the Green New Deal – backed by a number of
2020 Democrats – as appealing to the far left, and says Biden could address
the issue of combating climate change without embracing such an extreme
proposal. Freeman makes a similar argument regarding legislation requiring
medical care for infants who survive abortion – a bill a number of 2020
Democrats have opposed.
RNC Chief, Conway Pan Potential Biden Candidacy.

In an online article, Fox Business
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=009-afc&t=c>
(2/27, Stone) reported that RNC chief Ronna McDaniel Romney on Wednesday
“told FOX Business that former Vice President Joe Biden doesn’t have the
necessary accomplishments needed to run for president of the United States
in 2020.” Said McDaniel, “What’s he going to run on? Let me take you back
to the stagnant wages we had under the Obama administration. Let me take
you back to jobs being lost. But great, let’s run up Biden’s record against
the president.”

        The Independent Journal Review
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=00a-5f8&t=c>
(2/27, Dibble) reported that during a Wednesday appearance on Fox News,
White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway indicated she’s not concerned about
a possible Biden bid, saying that “he’s going to have to be held to account
for the Obama-Biden economy, the Obama-Biden foreign policy national
security failures, the Obama-Biden appropriation of our nation’s healthcare
where nine years after Obamacare, Bidencare was passed, about 28 million
Americans still don’t have care. He’s going to be held to account for all
the things that did not happen while he was vice president.”
Author Out With A Second Obama-Biden Detective Novel.

Entertainment Weekly
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=00b-914&t=c>
(2/27, Canfield) reports, “Literature’s hottest detective team – Barack
Obama and Joe Biden – is back in action. After reimagining the” pair “to
critical acclaim and a spot on the New York Times best-seller list in Hope
Never Dies, author Andrew Shaffer is back with an anticipated follow-up:
Hope Rides Again. This novel finds Biden recovering from a long, successful
book tour, and Obama working behind the scenes to position his former
deputy for a shot at the presidency. They reunite, but it’s innocent only
for so long: Obama’s Blackberry is stolen, and he and Biden quickly start
sniffing out a larger conspiracy.”
Puerto Rico A Key Focus In 2020 Democratic Presidential Primary.

Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=00c-ce7&t=c>
(2/27, Caputo) reported that in the race for the 2020 Democratic
nomination, “Puerto Rico has vaulted into the presidential primary
limelight like never before, both as a campaign stop and a campaign issue.
Between the well-publicized ravages of Hurricane Maria, loud criticisms of
President Donald Trump’s disaster response and the delegate yield from the
commonwealth’s primary, Puerto Rico is now something close to a must-stop
for Democratic White House hopefuls.” Politico added, “With 64 delegates at
stake and a population of about 3.2 million, Puerto Rico is larger than 21
other states.”
O’Rourke Has Reached Decision On 2020 Race, To Announce Plans “Soon.”

The Dallas Morning News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=00d-bd1&t=c>
(2/27, Jeffers) reports that ex-Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) “has decided not
to” mount a 2020 challenge to Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) “and likely will
announce a campaign for president soon,” according to “people close to the”
Democrat. The Morning News adds, “Numerous people close to O’Rourke said
they expect him to announce his presidential campaign within weeks.
O’Rourke on Wednesday wouldn’t reveal his political plans except to say he
has made up his mind. ‘Amy and I have made a decision about how we can best
serve our country,’ he said in an exclusive statement to The Dallas Morning
News. ‘We are excited to share it with everyone soon.’”

        The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=00e-47e&t=c>
(2/27, Weissert) reports that O’Rourke’s statement increased “anticipation
that one of the most buzzed-about candidates in the already crowded
Democratic field may finally be ready to formally join the race.” The Houston
Chronicle
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=00f-fa0&t=c>
(2/27, Diaz) reports that O’Rourke, who narrowly lost to Sen. Ted Cruz
(R-TX) last year, “has been riding on a wave of national publicity ever
since.” The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=010-4ca&t=c>
(2/27, Astor) reports that O’Rourke’s spokesperson Chris Evans “would not
comment on whether the former congressman had decided to forgo a 2020
Senate run. But since almost the moment he conceded” to Cruz, “the larger
speculation has been whether he will try to translate his appeal in Texas,
where he presented himself as a unifier, to a national primary.”

        In an online article, CNN
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=011-cdf&t=c>
(2/27, Bradner) reported, “As he arrived at a Moms Demand Action for Gun
Sense in America event in El Paso, O’Rourke told CNN that an announcement
on his plans is coming ‘soon’ but wouldn’t go into any more detail. ‘I’m
going to make an announcement soon. I’m going to be making the same
announcement to everyone at the same time,’ he said. ‘That’s all I can say
at this time.’” Breitbart
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=012-5df&t=c>
(2/27, Caplan) also reported on the story.
CNN Failed To Disclose Democratic Ties Of Sanders’ Town Hall Questioners.

The New York Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=013-482&t=c>
(2/27, Brown) reports that CNN admitted Wednesday that “it failed to
disclose the Democratic Party ties of audience members who asked questions
during its recent...town hall” event featuring Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
CNN said in a statement, “Though we said at the beginning of the Town Hall
that the audience was made up of Democrats and Independents, we should have
more fully identified any political affiliations.” CNN has faced criticism
“for presenting the questioners on Monday’s episode as everyday voters,
without mentioning that some are local party officials or work for
politically-connected firms.”

        *Sanders To Hold His First 2020 Campaign Rally In Brooklyn. *The
Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=014-52b&t=c>
(2/27, Bowden) reported that Sanders on Wednesday announced that he “will
hold his first campaign rally of the 2020 cycle in his home town of
Brooklyn, New York.” Sanders tweeted, “On Saturday I’m going back to
Brooklyn, where I was born and raised, for the first rally of our campaign.
Let’s show Trump and the powerful special interests what they’re up
against.”
Inslee Expected To Announce 2020 Bid This Week.

The Seattle Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=015-f7d&t=c>
(2/27, Brunner) reports that Gov. Jay Inslee (D-WA) “is preparing to launch
a” 2020 White House run, “with an announcement expected this week. Inslee
has foreshadowed his plans to run as a climate hawk in a recent round of
national media interviews, saying he’s made a decision and could announce
his intentions within days. Multiple sources in Washington politics said
Inslee intends to roll out his campaign by the end of the week, testing his
viability as a 2020 Democratic nominee while leaving open the option of
seeking” reelection “if his national candidacy flames out.” In an online
article, KIRO-TV
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=016-ca2&t=c>
Seattle (2/27, Porter) reported that Inslee’s “announcement will come
Friday,” according to “sources.”
Una Nation Offers Warren Enrollment In Its “Mixed-Blood” Tribe.

The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=017-7ec&t=c>
(2/27, Richardson) reports that presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth
Warren (D-MA) “may lack the heritage necessary to qualify for membership in
the Cherokee Nation, but she’s got what it takes to become a Una. The Una
Nation of Oregon, founded in 2009, has granted” Warren “enrollment in its
unrecognized ‘mixed-blood’ tribe, which only requires would-be members to
show one Native American ancestor.” Warren “released a DNA test in October
showing that she had an indigenous ancestor dating back six to 10
generations – meaning she’s between 1/64th and 1/1024th Native American –
after years of criticism over her claims of Cherokee ancestry.”
Stephens Advises Klobuchar To Apologize To Aides.

Bret Stephens writes in his New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=018-e24&t=c>
(2/27) column about Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), citing a recent Times
article about her “horrible” behavior towards employees. Regarding her
presidential candidacy, Stephens writes, “Whatever else Americans may need
in our next commander in chief, what we don’t need is an irascible
executive.” Stephens says that “calming the country requires calm at the
top.” He advises Klobuchar “to make amends” with former aides who’ve
alleged mistreatment, concluding, “The statute of limitations on apologies
never expires.”
Media Analyses: Governors Face Hurdles In 2020 Democratic Race.

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=019-23c&t=c>
(2/27, Slodysko) reported that Democratic governors running for president
in 2020 “are likely to run into a major hurdle: money, or rather, a lack
thereof. Of the current and former governors who are considering a
presidential campaign” – among them Govs. Steve Bullock (D-MT) and Jay
Inslee (D-WA) and ex-Gov. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) – “none have the name
recognition enjoyed by a pack of senators who are already in the race. They
risk being further overshadowed if a heavyweight such as former Vice
President Joe Biden jumps in, as he strongly suggested on Tuesday that he
would.” With the lack of “name recognition, attracting small, online”
donations “could be difficult as could convincing big donors to invest.”

        The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=01a-f75&t=c>
(2/27, Wilson) reported, “In different times, successful governors would
rocket to the top of the Democratic field, with clear resumes of
accomplishments to contrast with senators more accustomed to talking than
passing bills. But this year, the four governors likely to enter the race
for president in the coming days and weeks” – Bullock, Hickenlooper,
Inslee, and ex-Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D-VA) – “begin as distinct long shots
against rising rock stars already in the race.” The Hill added, “Making
matters more complex for those governors is the fact that they are straight
white men running against the most diverse field ever to seek the
presidency.”
All Democratic Senators In 2020 Race Received Perfect Scores From
Environmentalists Last Year.

In an online article, the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=01b-ad1&t=c>
(2/27, Grandoni) asked that among the candidates running in the 2020 race
for the White House, “which Democratic senator had the best environmental
voting record in Congress last year? The answer: all of them. Each senator
who has announced their candidacy for president received perfect scores in
an annual voting scorecard kept by the League of Conservation Voters.” The
Post added that Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Kamala
Harris (D-CA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Elizabeth
Warren (D-MA) “always aligned with positions the environmental organization
deemed ‘pro-environment.’ So too did a handful of Senate Democrats thought
to be considering” bids: Sens. Michael Bennet (D-CO), Sherrod Brown (D-OH),
and Jeff Merkley (D-OR). Bloomberg Environment
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=01c-49e&t=c>
(2/27, Stecker) also reports on the story.
Leading the News
Trump-Kim Summit Comes To Abrupt End Over Lack Of Agreement On Sanctions.

President Trump’s summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un came
to what multiple outlets call an “abrupt” end several hours earlier than
expected on Thursday after the two sides were unable to reach agreement on
the lifting of US sanctions. The collapse of the talks was in contrast with
upbeat earlier coverage as the two leaders began their second summit over
North Korea’s nuclear program.

        The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=01d-a61&t=c>
(2/28, Riechmann, Lemire, Klug) reports the summit “collapsed Thursday
after the two sides failed to reach a deal due to a standoff over U.S.
sanctions on the reclusive nation, a stunning end to high-stakes meetings
meant to disarm a global threat.” At a new conference “after the abrupt end
to the talks,” Trump “said the breakdown occurred over North Korea’s
insistence that all punishing sanctions the U.S. had imposed on North Korea
be lifted without Pyongyang committing to eliminate its entire nuclear
arsenal.” The President said, “Sometimes you have to walk.” Bloomberg
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=01e-c98&t=c>
(2/28) reports Trump said he “can’t say when another meeting might happen
with Kim.” He said “it could be soon or ‘it may not be for a long time.’”

        USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=01f-fda&t=c>
(2/28, Jackson) reports Trump and Kim “abruptly ended summit talks earlier
than scheduled.” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said, “No
agreement was reached at this time, but their respective teams look forward
to meeting in the future.” USA Today says the “stunning announcement came
after Trump and Kim tamped down expectations for the two-day summit that
played out amid ceremony in Vietnam and political turmoil in the United
States.” The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=020-8bf&t=c>
(2/27) reports, “A day that started with the promise of a denuclearization
deal and talks of an official declaration to the end the Korean War, ended
abruptly without a deal.”

        The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=021-3d4&t=c>
(2/28, Rucker, Nakamura, Denyer) reports that though Kim “said he was ready
in principle to denuclearize, his talks with Trump collapsed unexpectedly
as the two men and their delegations departed their meeting site in
Vietnam’s capital city without sitting for a planned lunch and or
participating in a signing ceremony.” The President “said he felt he had to
‘walk’ from the negotiating table, in part because Kim wanted the United
States to lift economic sanctions on North Korea in their entirety.”

        The Los Angeles Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=022-6a8&t=c>
(2/28, Bengali) reports the summit was “cut short” in “a setback to Trump’s
high-profile diplomatic outreach to the reclusive nation.” Fox News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=023-551&t=c>
(2/28, Re) reports on its website that the talks “wrapped up significantly
earlier than expected.” Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=024-64b&t=c>
(2/27, Oprysko) reports that “after several hours of meetings, it appeared
that talks might be falling apart.” The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=025-830&t=c>
(2/28, Kheel) reports, “Despite the outcome, Trump said his second summit
with North Korean leader Kim was ‘very productive,’” and Secretary of State
Pompeo “expressed hope talks would continue in the ‘days and weeks ahead.’”

        Eli Stokols of the Los Angeles Times tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=026-97e&t=c>,
“Trump says Kim agreed to dismantle Yongbyon but that it wasn’t enough:
‘That facility, while very big, it wasn’t enough to do what we were doing.
We had to have more than that.’” David Nakamura of the Washington Post
tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=027-b06&t=c>,
“Trump says Kim told him last night he will maintain moratorium on nuclear
weapons and missiles. ‘I trust him. I take him at his word.’”

        James Hohmann of the Washington Post tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=028-929&t=c>,
“Donald Trump’s presser summed up in one sentence: ‘When we walked away, it
was a very friendly walk.’” CNBC’s Christina Wilkie tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=029-2b8&t=c>,
“Trump ends the Hanoi presser, says he’s flying home now. A stunning 24
hours covering this administration.”

        *Trump And Kim Had Both Expressed Optimism About Meetings. *Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=02a-841&t=c>
(2/27, Mason, Kim) reported earlier that Trump tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=02b-67f&t=c>
after a dinner with Kim at Hanoi’s Metropole hotel that they had had “Great
meetings” and a “Very good dialogue,” while “the White House said the two
planned to sign a ‘joint agreement’ after further talks on Thursday.” As
the two leaders shook hands before heading to dinner, “Trump told reporters
he thought the talks would be very successful, and when asked if he was
‘walking back’ on denuclearization demands, said, ‘No.’” For his part, Kim
said, “Now that we’re meeting here again like this, I’m confident that
there will be an excellent outcome that everyone welcomes, and I’ll do my
best to make it happen.”

        NBC Nightly News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=02c-679&t=c>
(2/27, story 4, 3:10, Holt) showed Trump saying, “A lot of things are going
to be solved, I hope.” The New York Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=02d-420&t=c>
(2/27, Lapin), however, reports Trump indicated “he wasn’t in a hurry” to
make a deal, saying, “We are going to see, there is no rush, we want to do
the right deal.” ABC World News Tonight[image: Image removed by sender.
Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=02e-c18&t=c>
(2/27, story 3, 2:00, Muir) reported Kim also “talked of patience,” saying,
“Here we are today, sitting next to each other, and that gives us a hope
that we’ll be successful this time.”

        AFP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=02f-9eb&t=c>
(2/27) says the two “shook hands and dined...expressing optimism that their
highly personal brand of diplomacy will lead to a deal,” and Bloomberg
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=030-280&t=c>
(2/27, Sink, Lee, Talev) likewise reports they “sounded an optimistic note
at the start of their second set of face-to-face meetings.” At a dinner
that included Pompeo and “Kim’s No. 2, Kim Yong Chol,” Trump called their
first summit in Singapore “very successful” and said, “I think this one
will hopefully be equal or greater.” He said North Korea “has tremendous
economic potential. I look forward to watching it happen.” Kim “smiled
throughout Trump’s remarks,” and said the leaders are meeting despite “eyes
of distrust and misunderstanding everywhere and hostile old practices” that
have tried to stop them since their last meeting.

        The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=031-4ce&t=c>
(2/27, Wong, Sanger) quotes Trump as telling Kim after the two shook hands,
“I think you will have a tremendous future with your country – a great
leader. And I look forward to watching it happen and helping it to happen.”
To the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=032-f53&t=c>
(2/27, Denyer), “Trump opened two days of summits Wednesday by offering a
public embrace of [Kim], referring to the brutal authoritarian ruler as ‘my
friend’ and holding up Vietnam as a model for economic growth for Kim’s
nation if he pursues steps to denuclearize.”

        The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=033-9db&t=c>
(2/27, Boyer, Taylor) reports that the two leaders “then, with no aides and
only interpreters present...huddled in a conference room in their first
face-to-face meeting since their breakthrough summit in Singapore eight
months ago. They later ate dinner together, joined by two key advisers from
each side.” The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=034-087&t=c>
(2/27, Riechmann, Klug) reports that “only four other ears on the planet
heard” what Trump and Kim “said to each other Wednesday during a one-on-one
chat that began their second nuclear summit. The two leaders’ interpreters
were the only others privy to their conversation, raising concerns about
why Trump would risk meeting Kim, who has threatened the US with nuclear
strikes and has a dismal human rights record, without staff to take notes.”
The AP warns that “absent a detailed historical record and corroborating
witnesses, the leaders could potentially leave a meeting and misrepresent
what transpired, prompting a kind of he said-he said showdown of words.”

        Major Garrett reported on the CBS Evening News[image: Image removed
by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=035-0ef&t=c>
(2/27, story 3, 1:45, Glor) that “the top US goal” is “concrete steps from
the North to dismantle its nuclear program,” while North Korea “wants
relief from economic sanctions.” A signing ceremony has been scheduled to
follow “a morning full of meetings,” and President Trump is expected to
hold a news conference. However, Hallie Jackson reported on NBC
Nightly News[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=036-937&t=c>
(2/27, story 5, 0:40, Holt) that this second summit will probably not
result in “an earth-shattering breakthrough, based on what we’re hearing
from our sources and the way the White House is working to downplay
expectations.” Jackson added that, according to “multiple officials
familiar with the process,” “the US plans to drop a demand for now that
North Korea share a full list of all its nuclear weapons and ballistic
missile programs.” However, “if the US can get Pyongyang to agree to
dismantle parts of a key nuclear facility, experts say that would be a
significant step toward denuclearization.”

        Margaret Brennan reported on the CBS Evening News[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=037-b64&t=c>
(2/27, story 4, 1:20, Glor) that the meeting has diplomats “nervous” after
what happened after the first summit in Singapore, “when the President
announced something negotiators had not agreed to, which is a suspension of
military exercises.” According to Brennan, “The concern is this time that
the President could agreed to something that’s a short-term win with no
long-term benefits.” Martha Raddatz reported on ABC World News Tonight[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=038-de0&t=c>
(2/27, story 4, 0:30, Muir) that “everybody is going to be looking at
President Trump,” waiting to see if he will “back off some of those demands
they made last June.”

        Bret Baier said on Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=039-27e&t=c>
(2/27), “This is different than other summits where teams of diplomats go
in and kind of iron out all the details and minutiae and then the
principles come in and sign the paper. This has to do with the one-on-one
personalities of President Trump and Kim Jong-un about what Kim is going to
agree to or not and whether the US is going to hold the line on
denuclearization. Everything I’m hearing is, they want to define success as
getting Kim to give up his nuclear weapons to see the economic success of a
place like here in Vietnam or Singapore the site of the first summit.”

        Alex Wayne of Bloomberg said on Fox News Special Report[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=03a-619&t=c>
(2/27), “I would be surprised if Kim is as eager for Western economic
development in his country as the President seems to think he is. I think
Kim would regard Western development, fast food restaurants, and US
clothing stores, and Hollywood movies in North Korea as a threat to his
regime. When people start seeing those sorts of luxuries, they begin to
wonder why the regime has been withholding the stuff from us for so long.”

        *White House Bans Four US Journalists From Trump-Kim Dinner.
*The Washington
Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=03b-a87&t=c>
(2/27, Dawsey) reports the White House “abruptly banned four US journalists
from covering President Trump’s dinner...Wednesday with North Korean
dictator Kim Jong Un after some of them shouted questions at the leaders
during their earlier meetings.” Reporters from the Associated Press,
Bloomberg, the Los Angeles Times and Reuters were “excluded from covering
the dinner” because of what White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said
were “sensitivities over shouted questions in the previous sprays.” The
Post calls the “move to restrict press access...an extraordinary act of
retaliation by the US government. ... It was especially remarkable because
it came during Trump’s meeting with the leader of a totalitarian state that
does not have a free press.”

        Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=03c-d2c&t=c>
(2/27, Holland) says “reporters in the pool regularly shout out questions
to leaders and on Wednesday they asked Trump about the summit and the
testimony in Congress of his former attorney” Michael Cohen. According to
Reuters, “the pool was present when Trump and Kim first met and shook
hands.” At the conclusion of the spray, “the AP’s Lemire asked Trump if he
had a reaction to Cohen’s testimony due to take place later on Wednesday,”
Trump “scowled and shook his head.” After the interaction, Sanders
“expressed concern about the questions asked and announced that the third
‘pool spray’ would be limited to photographers.”

        The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=03d-464&t=c>
(2/27, Lemire, Colvin) reports Sanders released a statement saying that due
to the “sensitive nature of the meetings we have limited the pool for
dinner to a smaller group.” The AP says “the decision to bar reporters
Wednesday was an abrupt change of plans.” In a statement, White House
Correspondents’ Association president Olivier Knox said the organization
“strenuously objects” to the restrictions. Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=03e-9cf&t=c>
(2/27, Restuccia, Galioto) likewise reports the “decision to clamp down on
media coverage of the historic summit sparked outrage among the White House
press corps and prompted immediate accusations that the White House was
punishing journalists for asking the president uncomfortable questions.”

        The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=03f-a57&t=c>
(2/27, Grynbaum, Rogers) says it is “highly unusual for a presidential
administration to retaliate against reporters by restricting their access,
particularly at a closely scrutinized foreign summit meeting.”

        *Graham: Kim Is Talking To Trump Because He Believed Trump Would
Use Force. *Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said on Fox News’ Hannity[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=040-e62&t=c>
(2/27), “Why is Trump meeting with North Korea when North Korea wouldn’t
meet with anybody else? I think President Trump rattled North Korea. I
think they believed that President Trump would use military force to stop
their nuclear missile program if he had to. He took them seriously and
Trump’s giving them a way out. Chairman Kim, if you’re smart, you’ll take
the way out given to you by President Trump. If you’re actually trying to
play the guy, you’re going to regret this effort.”

        Ed Henry said on Fox News’ Hannity[image: Image removed by sender.
Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=041-61d&t=c>
(2/27), “What Democrats don’t want to admit is there’s been progress
already and that President Trump inherited this problem from Barack Obama.
When President Trump came to office, the threshold that was crossed by the
North Koreans that led President Trump to take all this heat, for talking
about ‘Little Rocket Man’ and ‘fire and fury’ raining down from the US
military was because Kim Jong-un had passed the threshold of getting a
miniaturized nuclear weapon and putting it in a missile and...could
potentially reach Boston, New York, Chicago. That’s real. That is
remarkable.”

        Sean Hannity said on Fox News’ Hannity[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=042-055&t=c>
(2/27), “Can you imagine if the President gets this accomplished? Wow. Some
people might say he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize more than Obama.”

        *Missing American’s Family Hopes Trump Will Raise Case With Kim. *The
Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=043-913&t=c>
(2/27, Fifield) reports the family of David Sneddon, a Brigham Young
University student who went missing while hiking in China 14 years ago,
hopes Trump will ask Kim about their son when the two meet. According to
the Post, “one theory is that North Korea could have been involved in his
disappearance.” A year after Sneddon went missing, “a Japanese group that
works on abduction cases said it had Chinese documents proving that a 23-
or 24-year-old American man had been arrested in Yunnan. Then, it said,
North Korean agents had taken him away.”

        *Hillary Clinton: Summit Is A “Fantasy.” *Axios
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=044-528&t=c>
(2/27, Lawler) reports Hillary Clinton said in an interview Wednesday “that
‘Trump’s fantasy about negotiating with the North Koreans’ is more a play
for positive headlines – or even a Nobel Prize – than national security.”
In an appearance on the TBD with Tina Brown podcast, Clinton said she
doesn’t know “whose national security interests Trump is either pursuing or
will actually try to defend” as he meets with Kim.

        *Rodman Offers Trump Help With North Korea Talks. *The New York Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=045-f2c&t=c>
(2/27, Moore) reports Dennis Rodman on Wednesday “offered to help President
Trump with the North Korea talks, saying his bromance with the dictator
could be useful in brokering peace, according to a letter exclusively
obtained by The Post.” In a letter to Trump, Rodman wrote, “As your staff
is aware, based on our discussions, you have my continued and strong
commitment to assisting in your talks with North Korea. My continued
friendship with Chairman Kim remains strong – a friendship I encourage you
to continue to use for our Nation’s benefit.”
Foreign Policy
US Urges Calm After India, Pakistan Claim To Down Each Other’s Jets.

Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=046-954&t=c>
(2/27, Mackenzie, Pal) reports India and Pakistan “both said they shot down
each other’s fighter jets on Wednesday, with Pakistan capturing an Indian
pilot a day after Indian warplanes struck inside Pakistan for the first
time since a 1971 war.” In addition, “both countries have ordered air
strikes over the last two days, the first time in history that two
nuclear-armed powers have done so, while ground forces have exchanged fire
in more than a dozen locations.” The White House “strongly condemned the
intensifying conflict” and called on “both sides to take immediate steps to
de-escalate the situation.”

        The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=047-c98&t=c>
(2/27, Mughal, Hussain) reports that “within hours” of the jets’ downings,
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan “went on television urging peace talks
with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying both countries needed to
step back from the brink and warning that ‘miscalculations’ could drag
their two countries into a war that neither side would benefit from.”
According to the AP, “there was no reply from Modi.” Bloomberg
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=048-360&t=c>
(2/27, Marlow, Haider, Pradhan, Mangi) likewise says “Modi has yet to
comment on the latest escalation.” Secretary of State Pompeo “called the
foreign ministers of both countries on Wednesday.” Pompeo told reporters,
“We encourage India and Pakistan to exercise restraint, and avoid
escalation at any cost.” The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=049-ad7&t=c>
(2/27, Wolfgang) quotes Pompeo as saying, “I also encouraged both ministers
to prioritize direct communication and avoid further military activity.”
The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=04a-b58&t=c>
(2/27, Shah) reports that the US and other governments urged the two
nations to refrain from escalating tensions.

        The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=04b-272&t=c>
(2/27, Abi-Habib, Kumar) reports Indian officials “confirmed that an Indian
Air Force pilot was in Pakistani custody, complicating an already tough
landscape for...Modi ahead of hotly contested elections.” The Times says
the “fate of the Indian Air Force pilot in Pakistani custody was likely to
further roil India ahead of the election, and New Delhi urged that he be
treated with respect under the Geneva Convention.” ABC World News
Tonight[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=04c-73b&t=c>
(2/27, story 8, 1:10, Muir) reported India is “demanding the safe and
immediate release of the fighter pilot seen here bloodied and blindfolded.”

        To the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=04d-622&t=c>
(2/27, Slater), the “tit-for-tat aerial strikes marked the first serious
military escalation between the two nuclear-armed rivals in two
decades.” A Washington
Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=04e-172&t=c>
(2/27, Masih) analysis says “as hostilities escalate between India and
Pakistan, the world is getting a taste of what a limited war between two
nuclear-armed rivals might look like.”
USTR To Suspend China Tariff Hike “Until Further Notice.”

Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=04f-a03&t=c>
(2/27, Lawder) reports the USTR’s office said Wednesday it would move to
“formally suspend a scheduled tariff increase on Chinese goods ‘until
further notice’ following President Donald Trump’s decision to delay his
Friday deadline for a US-China trade deal amid progress in their talks.” In
a statement, the office said, “In accordance with the President’s
direction, the Office of the United States Trade Representative will
publish a notice in the Federal Register this week to suspend the scheduled
tariff increase until further notice.” According to the Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=050-623&t=c>
(2/27, Davis, Mauldin), the move is the strongest sign yet that a deal
between the US and China is close.

        *Lighthizer: “Much Still Needs To Be Done” To Reach Trade Deal With
China. *The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=051-589&t=c>
(2/27, Rugaber, Wiseman) reports that in an appearance before the House
Ways and Means Committee Wednesday, USTR Lighthizer said “a US-China trade
agreement is far from completion and will require much more work,
particularly on enforcement.” Said Lighthizer, “Much still needs to be done
before an agreement can be reached. ... If we can complete this effort, and
again I say if, and can reach a satisfactory solution to the issue of
enforceability...we might have an agreement that turns the corner in our
economic relationship with China.” The AP says that while President Trump
“held out hope earlier this week that an agreement could be reached,”
Lighthizer’s testimony “suggested the two sides are still far apart.”

        According to Bloomberg
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=052-850&t=c>
(2/27, Mayeda, Leonard), Lighthizer said the US is pushing for a trade deal
with China that includes “significant structural changes” to China’s
“economic model, as well as provisions that ensure Beijing keeps its
promises.” Lighthizer, however, said “it’s still too early to tell if China
will concede to US demands,” but there are “plans underway for Trump to
invite his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping for a summit to finalize a
potential agreement.” Said Lighthizer, “This administration is pressing for
significant structural changes that would allow for a more level playing
field – especially when it comes to issues of intellectual property rights
and technology transfers.”

        Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=053-fcf&t=c>
(2/27, Lawder) reports Lighthizer said the Administration “wants meetings
as regularly as once a month to ensure enforcement of any potential trade
pact with China.” The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=054-b0d&t=c>
(2/27, Lynch) reports Lighthizer also said the Administration “wants to
reserve the right to act ‘unilaterally’ at the conclusion of that
months-long process by imposing tariffs or other punitive measures.”
Trump Signs Boeing Trade Agreement With Vietnam.

Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=055-2bd&t=c>
(2/27, Morin) reports President Trump on Wednesday signed a trade deal with
Vietnam “valued at more than $20 billion, with several of the country’s
airlines agreeing to buy Boeing jets and technology from the US.” Under the
deal, VietJet agreed to buy “100 Boeing 737-Max jets and 215 GE/CFM joint
venture engines, and Bamboo Airways is buying 10 Boeing 787-9 jets.” In
addition, Vietnam Airlines is buying “$100 million in services and
technology from Sabre Corp.” Trump “praised the trade agreements before
signing them.”
Sources: Kushner Faces Resistance To Peace Plan On Mideast Tour.

Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=056-f52&t=c>
(2/27, Kalin, Ghantous) reports White House senior adviser Jared Kushner
“made a whirlwind visit this week to rally US-allied Gulf Arab allies to
support his still- unannounced Middle East peace plan, the leaked contours
of which suggest little has been done to address Arab demands.” Two sources
“in the Gulf” told Reuters Kushner’s plan “does not appear to have
progressed since his last regional tour in June, focusing largely on
economic initiatives at the expense of a land-for-peace deal.” Kushner met
with leaders in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman, and “three
sources said Kushner had gone to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday although there was
no official statement on the visit or his meetings with King Salman and
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.”

        Bloomberg
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=057-7d0&t=c>
(2/27, Faries, Gallu) reports the White House, however, said in a statement
that Kushner “and two other senior administration officials” met with the
Crown Prince and King Salman to discuss “increasing cooperation between the
United States and Saudi Arabia, and the Trump Administration’s efforts to
facilitate peace between the Israelis and Palestinians.” Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=058-a9c&t=c>
(2/27, Galioto) notes the meeting marked the first time a US delegation met
with the Crown Prince “since the Saudi government’s murder of Washington
Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.” It was unclear whether Khashoggi was
discussed at the meeting. The Washington Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=059-b43&t=c>
(2/27, Halaschak) notes there was no mention of Khashoggi in the White
House readout of the meeting.

        The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=05a-76f&t=c>
(2/27), meanwhile, reports Kushner also met Wednesday with Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

        Another AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=05b-3cc&t=c>
(2/27) report says “senior Israeli Cabinet minister” Naftali Bennett is
calling on President Trump to reveal his Administration’s
“much-anticipated” peace plan before the upcoming Israeli election on April
9. Kushner, however, has said details of the plan would not be released
until after the election. Bennett said “Trump is leaving Israelis in the
dark before a crucial election and ‘friends do not keep secrets’ from each
other.”

        *NYTimes Criticizes Netanyahu Alliance With Right-Wing Party. *A New
York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=05c-217&t=c>
(2/27) editorial says that if Benjamin Netanyahu wins reelection in April,
“he is likely to become the longest-serving prime minister in Israeli
history. For that, he seems prepared to make a deal with the devil.”
Netanyahu, the Times says, apparently fears “he can’t afford to lose any of
the tiny right-wing parties vying for spots in the Knesset,” so he entered
into an alliance with Otzma Yehudit, or Jewish Power, which “is led by
followers of the extreme nationalist Meir Kahane, the Brooklyn-born rabbi
whose Kach party was outlawed in Israel in the 1980s and placed on the
American list of terrorist groups in 1997.”
Administration Preparing Sanctions On Cuba Over Support For Maduro.

Bloomberg
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=05d-ef5&t=c>
(2/27, Wicary) reports Cuba may be hit with new US sanctions over its
support for Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. According to Bloomberg,
President Trump “is expected to decide soon whether to activate a
controversial section of American law toward Cuba for the first time ever,
with other measures meant to tighten the screws on Havana likely to
follow.” Bloomberg cautions that “cracking down on Cuba is risky for Trump.
Unless he applies sanctions surgically, they could become headaches for
nations like Canada and the European Union, similar to his decision to
withdraw from the Iran nuclear accord last year.”

        *Venezuela Easing Blow Of US Sanctions With Non-US Oil Sales. *The Wall
Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=05e-dd9&t=c>
(2/27, Faucon, Said) reports that amid tightening US sanctions, Venezuela
has shifted some of its oil exports from American refiners to India and
Europe.

        *Diplomats Walk Out Of Venezuelan Envoy’s Speech To UN. *The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=05f-4c4&t=c>
(2/27) reports that “dozens of European and Latin American diplomats
abruptly walked out” of the UN Human Rights Council on Wednesday “to
protest an address by Venezuela’s foreign minister, where he floated the
idea of talks between President Nicolas Maduro and US President Donald
Trump.” Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza told the Council that the two
leaders could seek “common ground” even as he “blasted alleged US
‘aggression’ against his country.” The AP notes that “more than 50 other
countries have recognized opposition leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s
interim president,” and “many of their diplomats – admittedly low-level –
stormed out of the room just as Arreaza arrived to speak.”

        *Guaidó To Visit Brazil Thursday. *Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=060-8e8&t=c>
(2/27, Boadle) reports Guaidó will visit Brazil on Thursday to meet with
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and “other government officials, his
envoy in Brasilia, Maria Teresa Belandria, said by telephone on Wednesday.”
The visit was “first reported by Venezuela’s El Nacional newspaper, which
said Guaidó will visit several Latin American nations to discuss the crisis
in his country.”
Rouhani Rejects Zarif’s Resignation As “Against National Interests.”

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=061-de8&t=c>
(2/27, Cunningham) reports Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday
“formally rejected the resignation of his Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad
Zarif, and the two appeared together” to greet Armenian Prime Minister
Nikol Pashinyan in Tehran. In a letter published by state media, Rouhani
said accepting Zarif’s resignation would be “against national interests,”
and called him a “honest, brave and pious person.” The rejection, says the
Post, “ended, at least temporarily, a high-stakes political drama that
consumed” Tehran this week.

        The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=062-81c&t=c>
(2/27, Karimi) quotes Rouhani’s letter as saying, “Since I consider you in
the front line of resistance against broad pressures by the US, I consider
acceptance of your resignation against the expedience of the country and I
do not agree with it.”

        Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=063-05b&t=c>
(2/27, Hafezi, Sharafedin) reports Zarif’s “sudden resignation” earlier
this week “was prompted by his indignation of being excluded from meetings
in Tehran between top Iranian officials and Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad, an aide said.” In what Reuters calls a “sign Zarif is firmly back
in the job, Assad invited Zarif to visit Damascus, state news agency IRNA
reported.”
Trudeau’s Ex-AG Says PM, Others Pressured Her To Drop Case Against
SNC-Lavalin.

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=064-3cb&t=c>
(2/27, Coletta) reports Jody Wilson-Raybould, Canada’s former attorney
general and justice minister, in a “fiery testimony delivered before a
parliamentary justice committee” Wednesday, “accused Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau’s office and other public servants of applying ‘consistent and
sustained’ political pressure to halt the criminal fraud and bribery
prosecution of...Quebec-based construction and engineering giant”
SNC-Lavalin. Wilson-Raybould said 11 people were involved in what she
described as an “inappropriate” pressure campaign. According to the Post,
“Trudeau initially dismissed the allegations as ‘false’ but has since said
that, while he did discuss the SNC-Lavalin prosecution with
Wilson-Raybould, the decision on the prosecution of the company was ‘hers
alone’ to make. He added that if she at any time felt she was being
improperly pressured, she should have raised it with him directly.”

        The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=065-305&t=c>
(2/27, Austen) reports Wilson-Raybould’s “often inflammatory and defiant
testimony...is likely to provide ample fuel for opposition politicians as
campaigning for the general election in October gears up,” but as her
testimony lacked a “smoking gun,” any “damage to Mr. Trudeau may ultimately
be contained. In the short term, however, the testimony has put his
government firmly into damage control mode.” Indeed, shortly after
Wilson-Raybould’s testimony ended, “Andrew Scheer, the leader of the
opposition Conservative Party, called on Mr. Trudeau to resign immediately”
and “on the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to open an obstruction of justice
investigation.”
Domestic Policy
Cohen Says Trump Broke Law While In Office, Knew In Advance About WikiLeaks
DNC Email Release.

Coverage of the appearance of President Trump’s former attorney Michael
Cohen before the House Oversight and Reform Committee eclipsed reporting on
the President’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. All three
broadcast networks opened with reports on the hearing that ran from six to
nine minutes, and their total coverage topped 27 minutes between them. By
contrast, they spent less than 10 minutes on the summit. Reports describe
the Cohen hearing as a high-profile event full of quotable moments, but
there is no consensus on the ongoing impact of his remarks. Analyses say
Democrats seemed most interested in getting damning words about the
President on the record, while Republicans tried to discredit Cohen but
offered no substantive defense of the President against Cohen’s
allegations.

        On ABC World News Tonight
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=066-4c2&t=c>
(2/27, lead story, 6:50), David Muir said Cohen opened “by calling the
President ‘a racist, a con man, and a cheat,’ who allegedly said of his run
for President, ‘This will be the greatest infomercial in political
history.’” ABC’s Mary Bruce: “The hearing room chaotic and intense as
Michael Cohen, the man once trusted to keep the President’s secrets, took
the oath and then delivered blow after blow. ... It was a high stakes
do-over for Cohen, who has pleaded guilty to lying to Congress.” Cohen:
“The last time I appeared before Congress, I came to protect Mr. Trump.
Today, I am here to tell the truth about Mr. Trump.” Bruce: “He came armed
with a long list of accusations. He says the President knew ahead of time
that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was going to release hacked DNC
e-mails that were damaging to Hillary Clinton, because he heard Trump talk
about it in a 2016 call with his adviser, Roger Stone. ... Cohen also
claims Trump expected him to lie to Congress about a Trump Tower Moscow
project, a deal Cohen now admits Trump’s team was negotiating with Russia
well into the campaign.” Bruce reported Cohen also “told Congress the
President ordered him to pay off porn star Stormy Daniels just before the
election.” Cohen: “Mr. Trump directed me to use my own personal funds from
a home equity line of credit to avoid any money being traced back to him
that could negatively impact his campaign.” Bruce: “He produced a check he
says the President gave him to repay that money.” Cohen: “You don’t have to
take my word for it. I don’t want you to. I want you to look at the
documents.”

        Jeff Glor reported on the CBS Evening News[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=067-353&t=c>
(2/27, lead story, 5:50) that as Trump and Kim prepared to meet, “at the
same time half a world away, the President’s former lawyer told Congress
today that Mr. Trump broke the law while in office. Republicans have fired
back at Michael Cohen, who has pleaded guilty to lying to Congress in the
past. So there you have it: the future of nuclear weapons and sensational
criminal allegations colliding on one unprecedented afternoon.” CBS’ Nancy
Cordes: “Like a witness for the prosecution, the President’s former fixer
and lawyer said he and Mr. Trump committed crimes together.” Cohen: “I am
ashamed that I chose to take part in concealing Mr. Trump’s illicit acts
rather than listening to my own conscience.” Cordes: “Cohen told the 42
members of the House Oversight Committee that the President broke federal
campaign finance laws from the Oval Office.”

        Lester Holt said on NBC Nightly News[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=068-b78&t=c>
(2/27, lead story, 8:30) that Wednesday saw “an explosive split screen
without precedent in modern American history: the President of the United
States overseas here in Vietnam in the midst of a critical summit with the
leader of the most secretive nation on earth, trying to convince him to
give up his nuclear arsenal and change the course of history. At the same
time that plays out here, back home, the President’s former lawyer and
fixer, Michael Cohen, delivering a withering public takedown of his ex-boss
before Congress.” NBC’s Kristen Welker: “Cohen’s dramatic array of
allegations against the President included accusing him of committing a
criminal act in office, directing Cohen to make hush money payments to
Stormy Daniels. ... Another charge, Cohen said, without offering proof,
that candidate Trump was told about embarrassing hacked Democratic e-mails
before they were dumped by WikiLeaks and founder Julian Assange, insisting
he was in the room when Roger Stone, now facing multiple felony charges
himself, called the candidate.” White House correspondent John Roberts said
on Fox News Special Report
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=069-2ba&t=c>
(2/27) that there is “no question...that Cohen’s testimony left the
President fighting to keep his summit with Kim Jong-un in the news
spotlight.”

        John King said on CNN
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=06a-67b&t=c>
(2/27) that Republicans “are not defending the President. They’re attacking
Michael Cohen. You don’t hear any of them saying, ‘There’s no way Donald
Trump paid this money,’ or, ‘There’s no way Donald Trump was breaking the
law when he paid this money,’ or any of the other things he said.” Gloria
Borger said on CNN
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=06b-5ae&t=c>
(2/27), “Not one Republican today was interested in addressing any
questions of potential criminality about the President. They were only
interested in taking down Cohen.” Chris Christie said on ABC News[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=06c-595&t=c>
(2/27), “There hasn’t been one Republican yet who has tried to defend the
President on the substance, and I think that’s something that should be
concerning to the White House. Why are no Republicans standing up and
defending the President on the substance?”

        David Gregory said on CNN
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=06d-6c4&t=c>
(2/27), “What I think is devastating about Cohen’s testimony is that he did
the President’s bidding long before he was the President. For a decade,
knew how he operated, knew how he operated privately as a businessman.
There was a code and he executed on that. He was the fixer, the guy who
said he’d take a bullet for the President. And he was willing to stand up
today and say some of these outrageous things that have been claimed
against the President were not true. All the while, Republicans said that
he couldn’t be believed about anything, he was actually doing things that
were helping their line of argument.” Legal analyst Mimi Roach said on NBC
News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=06e-428&t=c>
(2/27) that Cohen “seems to be really stating what he knows and not trying
to go beyond that.”

        Chris Wallace said on Fox News[image: Image removed by sender.
Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=06f-7bd&t=c>
(2/27), “The most explosive piece of information was the fact that there is
an ongoing criminal investigation by the Southern District of New York.
Those are the local prosecutors in Manhattan, not the Special Counsel,
about possible crimes involving President Trump and that Michael Cohen is
participating under that investigation and in fact has been told by
prosecutors there are certain things he can’t discuss. So that raises the
real possibility of criminal exposure – not to say that he’s been indicted
or charged with anything – but the potential of criminal exposure for
President Trump in the Southern District of New York.”

        Legal analyst Dan Abrams said on ABC World News Tonight[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=070-10b&t=c>
(2/27, story 2, 1:10, Muir), “There is some other crime or wrongdoing that
Michael Cohen says he knows about with regard to President Trump. But just
as important, it’s the Southern District of New York that’s investigating,
not the special counsel. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s mandate is
limited. They’re going away in the relatively near future. The Southern
District of New York isn’t going anywhere.”

        According to the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=071-c14&t=c>
(2/27, Shear), “legal experts said that several of the specific
allegations...could be relevant to questions about whether Mr. Trump
participated in a conspiracy to affect the 2016 election, violated campaign
finance laws and obstructed justice in an effort to deflect
investigations.” However, the Times says “the experts cautioned that
nothing Mr. Cohen said in his prepared remarks drastically altered what is
known about any legal case against the president.” Michael Shear of the New
York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=072-464&t=c>
(2/27) writes in an additional analysis that Cohen “ripped away the veneer
of loyalty that he had maintained for more than a decade and further
imperiled the president by offering an insider account at the heart of the
criminal investigations that have consumed Washington for nearly two
years.”

        The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=073-7a2&t=c>
(2/27, Mordock) says Cohen “could not deliver the ultimate prize to the
Democrats – he said he didn’t know whether Mr. Trump colluded with Russia
to subvert the 2016 election – but he did substantiate a number of claims,
and provided check stubs, financial records and dates to back up his
allegation that Mr. Trump orchestrated the payment” to Daniels. Susan Page
of USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=074-c12&t=c>
(2/27) writes, “It’s not clear whether the litany of lies and unsavory
behavior – some of it criminal, if true – will significantly sway voters’
attitudes toward Trump, including whether he deserves to be impeached now,
say, or re-elected next year. Because up until now, nothing has.”

        Bloomberg
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=075-9ff&t=c>
(2/27, Feldman) says Cohen’s “explanation of how Donald Trump operates was
a devastating account of how the president of the United States knowingly
distorts the truth in the service of his personal goals. Trump doesn’t tell
people to lie, as Cohen, his former lawyer and fixer, went on to explain.
Rather, Trump directly lies to their faces and expects them to follow the
false course he has set.” But that “made it clearer than ever just how
difficult it would be to convict Trump of high crimes and misdemeanors and
to remove him from office.”

        Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=076-f48&t=c>
(2/27, Layne, Gibson) reports Cohen “said Trump approved hush payments to
cover up extra-marital sexual relationships in violation of campaign
finance laws,” but said he “had no direct evidence that Trump or his
campaign colluded with Moscow during the election campaign.” USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=077-ba5&t=c>
(2/27, Jansen, Johnson, Heath) reports Cohen “said the president indirectly
encouraged him to lie to Congress about his pursuit of a potentially
lucrative Trump Tower development in Moscow, even as Trump repeatedly
denied any business interests in Russia throughout the 2016 campaign.”
The Washington
Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=078-6c9&t=c>
(2/27, Vogt, Mordock) reports Cohen said he “has no evidence suggesting his
former boss colluded with Russia...but that he has his ‘suspicions.’”

        The Los Angeles Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=079-884&t=c>
(2/27, Megerian) reports Cohen, “who worked at Trump’s side as his personal
lawyer for more than a decade, suggested Trump had skirted or violated
federal banking, tax and campaign finance laws, and indicated that some are
already under investigation.” The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=07a-e76&t=c>
(2/27, Zapotosky, Demirjian, Helderman, Bade, Harris) says Cohen “sparred
aggressively with GOP lawmakers, who questioned his credibility and motives
for coming forward,” and “described how he, like many in Trump’s orbit, had
long sought to protect the president, but made clear: ‘I am not protecting
Mr. Trump anymore.’ He suggested that federal prosecutors are investigating
unspecified criminal allegations involving the president that have not been
made public.”

        The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=07b-9e4&t=c>
(2/27, Baker, Fandos) reports, “Cohen laid out a series of actions by Mr.
Trump that bolster previous accusations and news stories, presenting
documents to corroborate his account.” Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=07c-7bc&t=c>
(2/27, Desiderio, Samuelsohn) reports Cohen offered “evidence of alleged
lies and criminal conduct. ... The explosive comments from Cohen during a
sharply partisan House hearing contradict Trump’s previous claims and
expose Trump and some of his closest advisers to new legal and political
trouble, potentially including impeachment.” Chuck Todd said on NBC Nightly
News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=07d-588&t=c>
(2/27, story 2, 1:35, Holt), “The Michael Cohen hearing is essentially the
first hearing of impeachment. We’re not in an impeachment procedure, but at
some point, House Democrats are likely to go there. History may look back
on this moment as sort of the opening salvo of that.”

        Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) said on CNN’s Situation Room[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=07e-a81&t=c>
(2/27), “It certainly looks like [the President has] committed crimes. ...
The two crimes that he likely committed, one is subordinating perjury. We
know the White House lawyers were helping craft Michael Cohen’s testimony.
I think that was a big admission. And second, Cohen testified and had proof
with a smoking gun document that Trump was involved in the payments of the
Trump Organization to him. And here’s what’s relevant: It happened while
he’s President. This is not acts that happened during the campaign. These
are crimes he may have committed as President.”

        Rep. Katie Hill (D-CA) was asked on CNN’s Situation Room[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=07f-469&t=c>
(2/27) if “Cohen’s testimony and the documentary evidence he presented
amounts to solid proof that President Trump did participate in a criminal
scheme to violate campaign finance laws.” Hill said, “I certainly think it
is compelling proof. I don’t think that this is the end-all, be-all. ...
This is the start, right? This isn’t the finish. This is where we have
opened up a lot of doors in terms of the further investigation that needs
to happen.”

        Rep. Mark Green (R-TN) said on Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=080-cfd&t=c>
(2/27), “The Democrats are trying to begin an impeachment process. They
started with a fake dossier to get an FBI investigation and now they are
starting with a fake witness to get the impeachment going. That is their
agenda and this is the best they’ve got.” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) said on Fox
News Special Report
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=081-693&t=c>
(2/27), “What I do think was going on today is I think this was the first
step in the Democrats’ crazy impeachment plan.”

        Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=082-989&t=c>,
“Just to be clear, in today’s #CohenHearing, we learned that
@realDonaldTrump and @MichaelCohen212 discussed – in the Oval Office! –
covering up a criminal conspiracy to commit crimes during the 2016
campaign.” Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=083-952&t=c>,
“Republicans ran away from the truth, and now Democrats are trying to bring
the truth to the American people.” Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=084-e05&t=c>,
“I hope my GOP colleagues heard this from #CohenTestimony: ‘I did the same
thing that you’re doing now for ten years…The more people that follow Mr.
Trump as I did blindly are going to suffer the same consequences that I’m
suffering.’” Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=085-116&t=c>,
“Individual-1 is setting a precedent that the highest office can be
attained through intentional illegal activity, cover up and to hold onto
business assets to break finance laws and constitutional clauses.”

        The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=086-638&t=c>
(2/27) editorializes, “According to Mr. Cohen, the president’s record of
lies and concealment is substantial, and on far weightier issues than
misstating a fact here or there. This is not the truth-bending that used to
pass as normal for Washington politicians, but dishonesty that is far more
breathtaking.” Cohen also “offered a dishearteningly believable account of
Mr. Trump’s character. ... Rather than ignore Mr. Cohen’s allegations,
House Republicans might have taken his warning, learned over a decade
carrying water for the president: ‘The more people that follow Mr. Trump,
as I did blindly are going to suffer the same consequences that I’m
suffering.’”

        USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=087-31e&t=c>
(2/27) calls Cohen’s testimony “the most damning about a sitting president
since White House counsel John Dean testified about President Richard Nixon
in 1973” and says House Republicans “seemed intent on taking over [Cohen’s]
old job. ... What kind of Republicans would rush blindly to protect such a
legally and morally troubled president, one with a history of shady
dealings who won’t release his tax returns, who has his people pay hush
money to a porn actress, who does the bidding of an adversarial government
he sought to do business with, and who repeatedly attacks law enforcement?
The president’s new fixers, that’s who.”

        The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=088-0c7&t=c>
(2/27) says in an editorial that the hearing offered few new details.
Cohen’s allegation that Trump knew in advance about the WikiLeaks dump is
significant, the Journal writes, but still unconfirmed.

        Marc Thiessen of the Washington Post said on Fox News Special
Report[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=089-4fc&t=c>
(2/27), “This testimony was the bombshell that didn’t explode. There was a
lot of stuff that was embarrassing for Donald Trump, and most embarrassing
was his association with Michael Cohen.” Charles Hurt of the Washington
Times said on Fox News Special Report
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=08a-456&t=c>
(2/27), “This is a guy who says Donald Trump is a racist, is a con man, he
hates America, and yet he worked for him for 10 years? Obviously, his whole
record for veracity around here is not all that great.”

        Henry Olsen writes in his Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=08b-853&t=c>
(2/27) column that Cohen’s testimony “was explosive and raw. But the
verdict is nonetheless clear: lots of political smoke, little impeachable
fire.” Former Democratic Rep. Donna Edwards writes in a Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=08c-c40&t=c>
(2/27) op-ed, “With any other president or public figure, foul, racist
language or further evidence of lying and cheating would be its own
headline. At this stage, I just want to know whether President Trump is a
criminal.” Former GOP Rep. Joe Walsh tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=08d-9a4&t=c>,
“If Cohen had spent 10 years being a fixer for a Democrat president and
then decided to testify about the nefarious things that Democrat president
did and had him do, Republicans would be applauding him and calling him a
hero.”

        The Daily Caller
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=08e-23a&t=c>
(2/27, White) reports Cohen “admitted” that he “is unable to corroborate
allegations that the president discussed elements of WikiLeaks’ email hacks
with Roger Stone.” Breitbart
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=08f-3d7&t=c>
(2/27, Klein) calls Cohen “a convicted criminal.” The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=090-71a&t=c>
(2/27, Ballhaus, Palazzolo) and the New York Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=091-fb0&t=c>
(2/27, Moore) also have coverage of his testimony.

        *Cohen: “There Will Never Be A Peaceful Transition Of Power” If
Trump Loses In 2020. *Vox’s Aaron Rupar tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=092-2c0&t=c>,
“COHEN closes with this disconcerting thought: ‘Given my experience working
for Mr. Trump, I fear that if he loses the election in 2020, that there
will never be a peaceful transition of power.’”

        *Cohen Says Trump Asked Him To Make Threats Around 500 Times. *Axios
tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=093-601&t=c>
that Cohen “says Trump asked him to threaten an individual or entity on his
behalf around 500 times over the ten years he worked for him.” Preet
Bharara tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=094-a91&t=c>,
“Anyone else want Michael Cohen to compile and release a list of the 500
times he says Trump asked him to threaten someone?”

        *Cohen Says Trump Exaggerated His Wealth In 2014 Loan Bid. *The New
York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=095-636&t=c>
(2/27, Enrich, Goldstein, Drucker) reports Cohen told the committee that in
2014, Trump exaggerated his wealth when seeking a loan for a planned bid
for the NFL’s Buffalo Bills. Deutsche Bank officials “viewed some of the
values Mr. Trump assigned to specific assets as based on wildly optimistic
assumptions, according to a person familiar with the bank’s deliberations.”

        *Trump Says Cohen “Lied A Lot,” But Not About “No Collusion.” *
Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=096-8b1&t=c>
(2/28) reports that at a news conference in Hanoi, Trump criticized Cohen
“for lying in testimony to Congress but found reason to praise him, too,
for not alleging Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia in 2016.” The
President said, “He lied a lot. He didn’t lie about one thing, he said ‘no
collusion.’” CNN
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=097-ee7&t=c>
(2/28, Diamond) reports on its website that Trump also “slammed
Democrats...for having scheduled the damning testimony of his former
attorney” during his summit with Kim. Trump said, “I think having a fake
hearing like that and having it in the middle of this very important summit
is really a terrible thing. They could’ve made it two days later or next
week. But having it during this very important summit is sort of
incredible.”

        *Trump’s Sons Say Cohen Wanted To Be Chief Of Staff. *The Washington
Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=098-e9e&t=c>
(2/27, Correll) reports, “President Trump’s sons cast doubt on Michael
Cohen’s public testimony Wednesday, alleging their father’s former personal
attorney Michael Cohen was once ‘lobbying’ for the White House chief of
staff position.” Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump “made the claim in a
volley of tweets after Cohen told lawmakers he wasn’t interested in a White
House job.”

        Townhall
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=099-c75&t=c>
(2/27, Brown) reports a CNN panel says Cohen “was likely lying in his
Congressional testimony Wednesday when he told Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) that
he had not wanted a job with the White House.” CNN’s Dana Bash said, “Our
reporting...by people in and around the process real time, he very much
wanted a job in the White House.” Jake Tapper added, “I think a lot of us
here raised our eyebrows because we knew it to not be true.”

        The Huffington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=09a-991&t=c>
(2/27, Moye) reports Trump Jr. also “inexplicably retweeted a post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=09b-b45&t=c>
from journalist Garrett M. Graff that suggested Cohen was telling the
truth.”

        *Trump Campaign Spokeswoman Calls Cohen A “Felon” And “Convicted
Perjurer.” *The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=09c-48e&t=c>
(2/27, Mordock) reports, “Trump’s reelection campaign spokeswoman blasted
Michael Cohen Wednesday in a fiery statement released during the former
attorney’s congressional testimony.” Kayleigh McEnany “eviscerated Cohen as
a ‘felon, disbarred lawyer and a convicted perjurer who lied to both
Congress and the special counsel.’” Breitbart
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=09d-add&t=c>
(2/27, Spiering) also covers the statement.

        *Meadows’ Introduction Of Patton Leads To Argument About Racism. *The
Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=09e-b96&t=c>
(2/27, Vogt) reports Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) “brought in a former Trump
staffer as a guest to refute the claims of racism” by Cohen. Lynne Patton
is a former staffer and current HUD official. Cohen “said he helped Ms.
Patton get her current decision in HUD.” The Detroit Free Press
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=09f-5f0&t=c>
(2/27, Spangler) reports Tlaib “said she thought it was ‘insensitive...that
someone would actually use [as] a prop a black woman in this chamber’ and
said such an act ‘is alone racist in itself.’” Tlaib said she “was ‘not
calling the gentleman, Mr. Meadows, a racist’ but that she felt his act was
racist.” Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-MI) “scolded Meadows as well for
suggesting that just because Trump has employed Patton that he may not be
racist.”

        The CBS Evening News tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0a0-838&t=c>
that Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) asked Cohen, “Would you agree that someone
could deny rental units to African-Americans, lead the birther movement,
refer to the diaspora as ‘s---hole countries,’ and refer to white
supremacists as ‘fine people,’ have a black friend and still be racist?”
Cohen replied, “Yes.” Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0a1-211&t=c>
(2/27) theatre critic Peter Marks calls it “the proceeding’s lowest moment:
the jaw-droppingly offensive sight of a white Republican...using a black
woman as a prop.”

        *Florida Bar Investigating Gaetz Over Tweet To Cohen. *USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0a2-8b0&t=c>
(2/27, Hayes) reports the Florida Bar opened an investigation into Rep.
Matt Gaetz (R-FL) after he “posted what was viewed as a threat” to Cohen on
the day before his testimony. Gaetz, “a fierce defender of Trump from
Florida, posted an apology on Twitter hours after his viral tweet alleged
Cohen had cheated on his wife. The tweet sparked calls for an ethics
investigation and concerns that he was attempting to intimidate a witness.”

        The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0a3-f01&t=c>
(2/27, Fandos) reports Democrats said Gaetz’s “remarks might amount to
witness intimidation, and several lawmakers called for his comments to be
investigated by the House Ethics Committee.” Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0a4-d3a&t=c>
(2/26, Restuccia, Samuelsohn) reports, “Some raised the prospect that Gaetz
could be in legal trouble, while others warned he could face serious
backlash from his colleagues in Congress.”

        *Daniels Praises Cohen For “Trying To Repair Some Of The Harm You
Have Caused.” *The New York Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0a5-ad4&t=c>
(2/27, Eustachewich) reports Daniels “cheered Michael Cohen for speaking
‘the truth’ about his dealings with President Trump on Wednesday – but
threw his own words back in his face by reminding him how he threatened her
and her family.” In a statement, she wrote, “I’m proud of you for finally
beginning to tell the truth about what you did, and trying to repair some
of the harm you have caused. ... Do you believe now that when you and the
president called me a liar, when you were his attorney and you insulted me,
threatened to bankrupt me and worse, that you put me and my family in
danger?”

        *Need To Impeach Launches Ad Buy Highlighting Cohen Testimony. *The
AP’s Steve Peoples tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0a6-9b7&t=c>,
“Tom Steyer’s Need to Impeach is out with a new ad highlighting Cohen’s
testimony: ‘Individual No. 1 is President Donald J. Trump.’ I’m told it’s a
$250k buy to run nationally for next week on CNN and MSNBC.”

        *House Oversight Committee Seeks Testimony On Trump Financial
Disclosures. *Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0a7-ff3&t=c>
(2/27, Gibson) reports House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings has written
to “Trump’s long-time tax lawyer Sheri Dillon, as well as Stefan
Passantino, former deputy White House Counsel in charge of compliance and
ethics,” to ask them to testify “about Trump’s legally mandated financial
ethics disclosures” specifically regarding payments “to buy the silence of
women who claimed they had affairs with the married Trump.”

        *DC Attorney General Subpoenas Documents From Trump Inaugural
Committee. *The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0a8-5dc&t=c>
(2/27, Lafraniere, Haberman) reports Karl A. Racine, attorney general for
the District of Columbia, “has subpoenaed documents from President Trump’s
inaugural committee,” following “similar demands for documents by federal
prosecutors in Manhattan and by New Jersey’s attorney general.” The Times
says that “federal prosecutors are examining whether foreigners illegally
contributed to events using Americans as straw donors,” while New Jersey’s
AG is reportedly “examining whether the committee obeyed civil statutes
governing how nonprofit organizations raise funds,” and Racine “appears to
be looking for any evidence of self-dealing.”

        *Rove Argues Against Releasing Special Counsel’s Report In Full. *Karl
Rove argues in his Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0a9-146&t=c>
(2/27) column against calls to release Mueller’s report in its entirety,
arguing that to do so could harm people who were not charged with crimes,
using as an example then-FBI Director James Comey’s public announcements
regarding investigations related to Hillary Clinton.
Pelosi: Trump Emergency Declaration Sets Precedent For Next Democratic
President.

In an interview with Rolling Stone
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0aa-6db&t=c>
(2/27, Stuart, Wenner)that was conducted before President Trump declared a
national emergency at the US border, House Speaker Pelosi said, “The
national emergency has its critics on the Republican side. If [Trump] does
it, then the next president – whom, we predict, will be a Democrat – can
also do it, and they don’t want to establish a precedent that a President
can do this, because that really totally usurps the power of the
government.”

        *Conway: House Republicans “Lied” To Trump About Border Wall
Funding. *The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0ab-715&t=c>
(2/27, Wagner) reports that in an appearance on Fox News’ Fox & Friends[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0ac-5a9&t=c>
(2/27) Wednesday, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway “sharply
criticized House Republicans for failing to deliver sufficient border wall
funding to President Trump when they controlled the chamber and cited that
as a justification for his emergency declaration.” Conway said, “There’s no
question the Republican House failed, and they failed us in securing the
border, but they also failed to make good on the promise to him that we
would get that money for the wall. They completely lied about that.”

        *Pentagon Says It Will Not Cancel Construction Projects To Build
Wall. *The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0ad-6f5&t=c>
(2/27, Sonne) reports Assistant Secretary of Defense for Sustainment Robert
McMahon told a House Appropriations subcommittee Wednesday “that the
Pentagon will not cancel any approved military construction projects to get
money for President Trump’s border wall.” McMahon told the panel that while
the Pentagon could delay certain projects, it will seek new funding for
them in the President’s next budget request. The Post says McMahon’s
remarks “failed to convince Democrats, who approved a resolution Tuesday to
overturn the emergency declaration, which they call an unconstitutional
power grab by Trump.”

        The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0ae-f63&t=c>
(2/27, Meier) reports Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), chair of the
subcommittee on military construction, “grilled” McMahon and “repeatedly
pressed him on a plan to effectively circumvent Congress to fund the
southern border wall.” Wasserman Schultz said, “You’re fooling no one,
really. ... I’m not sure what kind of chumps you think my colleagues and I
are.” USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0af-d24&t=c>
(2/27, Brook) says Wasserman Schultz argued that “adding money to future
budgets to pay for the delayed projects amounts to funding the wall without
approval from Congress.”

        *Border Wall Prototypes Demolished. *The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0b0-64a&t=c>
(2/27, Dinan) reports border wall prototypes built as part of the
President’s wall competition were demolished Wednesday “after officials
said they’d served their purpose and were standing in the way of building a
new section of actual border fencing.” The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0b1-a9e&t=c>
(2/27, Spagat) says the demolition “made way to extend a second-layer
barrier of steel poles topped by a metal plate rising 30 feet (9.1 meters)
from the ground, the same design being used elsewhere on the border.”
Pelosi: Impeachment Should Not Be Used Unless It Is Unavoidable.

In an interview with Rolling Stone
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0b2-2ca&t=c>
(2/27, Stuart, Wenner), House Speaker Pelosi was asked if a “damning
report” from special counsel Robert Mueller would lead to the impeachment
of the President. Pelosi said impeachment is “a very disruptive process to
put the country through, and it’s an opportunity cost in terms of time and
resources. You don’t want to go down that path unless it is unavoidable. We
have no idea – nor should we – what Mueller may have, if it involves the
President or his campaign. I don’t know how bad it would have to be for
them to do something, but the Republicans in Congress have ignored a great
deal. You have a Cabinet that is a partially ‘acting Cabinet’ because
people have left in disgrace or dismay. You have a White House which is a
fact-free zone. They have no interest in evidence, data, science or truth
when it comes to making decisions.”
Travel Ban Ends Most Immigration From Countries Sponsoring Terrorism.

Citing “newly released data from the State Department,” Breitbart
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0b3-80a&t=c>
(2/27, Binder) reports that the President’s “constitutional travel ban on
eight foreign countries, designated as either dangerous or sponsors of
terrorism, has warranted big results.” The ban “has reduced legal
immigration from the eight foreign countries by about 80 percent, compared
to 2016 when the ban had not been implemented yet.” The statistics show
that “more than 37,000 visas were denied in 2018 thanks to the travel ban –
including about 15,400 foreign nationals seeking to permanently resettle in
the U.S. and 21,645 foreign nationals wanting non-immigrant visas.”

        *Thousands Of Immigrant Children Report Being Sexually Abused In US
Custody. *The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0b4-2c7&t=c>
(2/27, Haag) reports the Justice Department this week revealed that the
federal government “received more than 4,500 complaints in four years about
the sexual abuse of immigrant children who were being held at
government-funded detention facilities, including an increase in complaints
while the Trump administration’s policy of separating migrant families at
the border was in place.” From October 2014 to July 2018, the HHS Office of
Refugee Resettlement “received a total of 4,556 allegations of sexual abuse
or sexual harassment, 1,303 of which were referred to the Justice
Department. Of those 1,303 cases deemed the most serious, 178 were
accusations that adult staff members had sexually assaulted immigrant
children, while the rest were allegations of minors assaulting other
minors, the report said.”

        *CBP Arrests 180 Migrants At New Mexico Border. *The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0b5-47f&t=c>
(2/27) reports US Customs and Border Protection said Wednesday that “180
migrants have been arrested for illegally crossing into the United States
near a border community in southern New Mexico.” The AP says the group,
which marks “the latest wave of Central Americans to arrive in the state in
recent months,” included “families and unaccompanied juveniles.”

        *Aryan Brotherhood Working With Mexican Cartels To Smuggle
Immigrants Into US. *The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0b6-9d7&t=c>
(2/27, Dinan) reports some members of the Aryan Brotherhood are “apparently
in cahoots with Mexican smuggling cartels to make money off bringing
illegal immigrants into the U.S.” After “an ingenious smuggling attempt was
foiled in south Texas earlier this month,” officials described “an alien
smuggling organization involving members of the Aryan Brotherhood and other
individuals who were from the [Texas City] and Galveston area.”
House Passes Bill Requiring Background Checks For All Gun Sales.

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0b7-6c6&t=c>
(2/27, Daly) reports “the Democratic-controlled House on Wednesday approved
a measure requiring federal background checks for all firearms sales and
transfers, the first major gun control legislation considered by Congress
in nearly 25 years.” Democrats “called the 240-190
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0b8-de1&t=c>
vote a major step to end the gun lobby’s grip on Washington and begin to
address an epidemic of gun violence, including 17 people who were killed at
a Florida high school last year.” Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0b9-aa0&t=c>
(2/27, Becker) points out “the bill is likely to face opposition when it
goes to the Republican-controlled Senate,” and “would also need President
Donald Trump’s signature in order to become law.”

        Axios
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0ba-ab2&t=c>
(2/27, Axios) reports “gun control has been near the top of the Democratic
agenda since the party took back control of the House in November’s
midterms, galvanized by recent mass shootings and student-led activism.”
The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0bb-18f&t=c>
(2/27, Sherfinski) quotes House Speaker Pelosi as saying, “Gun violence
does not discriminate by party or politics. ... It reaches into all of our
communities, into our schools, our places of worship, our workplaces and
our streets, and it will require all of our courage to defeat it.”

        *Amendment Requires ICE To Be Notified If Illegal Immigrant Seeks
To Buy Gun. *USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0bc-784&t=c>
(2/27, Groppe, Collins) reports “Republicans scored a small victory by
amending the bill to require US Immigration and Customs Enforcement be
notified if someone fails a background check because he’s in the country
illegally.” Democrats “called the amendment a red herring to mix up the
immigration issue with the gun issue.” USA Today adds “26 Democrats crossed
party lines to back the change, a sign of their fear of being accused of
being lax on illegal immigration.” The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0bd-af1&t=c>
(2/27, Debonis) calls the vote on the amendment “an embarrassment for
Democratic leaders.” Said Pelosi, “It’s a surprise, but it’s not to eclipse
a tremendous victory today.” To the Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0be-e8f&t=c>
(2/27, Sherfinski, Dinan), meanwhile, “Republicans scored a rare victory in
the Democrat-controlled House Wednesday.”

        *NYTimes Analysis: Congressional Democratic Leaders Taking Cautious
Approach To Gun Control. *The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0bf-5e8&t=c>
(2/27, Debonis) reports “Democrats’ sweeping 40-seat pickup in the November
election has paved the way for the first House votes on substantial
firearms legislation in more than a decade this week.” However, “top
leaders are determined to move cautiously” and “have not announced firm
plans for further gun votes, and prominent voices on the issue are hardly
talking about action on aggressive measures such as an assault weapons ban
that have long been liberal lodestars.” The Post adds “their
caution...stands in sharp contrast to other pockets of the Democratic
caucus,” and that “Democrats on the presidential campaign trail are being
less cautious” than Hill leaders.
House Democrats Offer Single-Payer Healthcare Bill.

The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0c0-965&t=c>
(2/27, Howell) reports more than 100 House Democrats filed a bill Wednesday
“that would replace private insurance with a nationwide program that covers
all Americans.” The Times calls the measure “an aggressive marker...for
what ‘Medicare for all’” means to the Democrats “ahead of the 2020
campaign.” The legislation’s lead sponsor, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA),
“says Americans are spending through the nose on premiums and deductibles
but seeing poor health outcomes, while others struggle to hold onto
coverage at all, so big changes are needed.” She “wants to dole out
government insurance cards within two years.”

        The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0c1-e64&t=c>
(2/27, Pear) reports the bill would provide healthcare “to all Americans
without premiums, co-payments, deductibles or ‘similar charges,’” but “did
not say how much it would cost or how they would pay for it.” Other
Democrats, in “a more centrist group known as the New Democrat Coalition
said Congress should initially focus on shoring up the Affordable Care
Act.”

        *Pelosi: ACA Provides Better Benefit Than Medicare For All. *In an
interview with Rolling Stone
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0c2-01a&t=c>
(2/27, Stuart, Wenner), House Speaker Pelosi was asked about the idea of
Medicare for All. Pelosi said, “When they say Medicare for All, people have
to understand this: Medicare for All is not as good a benefit as the
Affordable Care Act. It doesn’t have catastrophic [coverage] – you have to
go buy it. It doesn’t have dental. It’s not as good as the plans that you
can buy under the Affordable Care Act. So I say to them, come in with your
ideas, but understand that we’re either gonna have to improve Medicare –
for all, including seniors – or else people are not gonna get what they
think they’re gonna get. And by the way, how’s it gonna be paid for?”
Collins To Oppose Wheeler Nomination.

Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0c3-a2f&t=c>
(2/27, Gardner) reports Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said on Wednesday “she
will oppose Andrew Wheeler, President Donald Trump’s pick to head the
Environmental Protection Agency, complicating the nominee’s path to
approval by the Senate.” Collins “said Wheeler’s efforts to roll back
standards on emissions blamed for climate change takes the country in the
wrong direction.” The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0c4-0f4&t=c>
(2/27) also notes “the Maine Republican said Wednesday she has ‘too many
concerns with the actions’...Wheeler has taken as acting EPA
administrator.”
Cancer Research
Trump’s $500M Pediatric Cancer Initiative To Include Focus On Data Sharing.

Science Magazine
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0c5-338&t=c>
(2/27, Kaiser) reports the President’s announced $500 million funding to
research childhood cancer “will begin in 2020 with a focus on sharing
patients’ data, federal officials say.” Meanwhile, NCI Director Ned
Sharpless “has made ‘big data’ part of his agenda,” and “said data sharing
will be a major initial thrust of the initiative.” Furthermore, “an NCI
spokesperson explains to ScienceInsider that $50 million in 2020 ‘would
afford a unique opportunity to leverage the power of existing data and
develop new knowledge that will drive discovery and development of new
approaches to treat childhood cancers.’” The spokesperson also said that
the NCI does not plan “to form a blue-ribbon planning committee, as it did
for the moonshot,” but said, “We look forward to working with the cancer
community and we will continue engaging them in the coming months.”
Guardant Study Shows Blood Test As Effective At Detecting Lung Cancer As
Biopsy.

Bloomberg
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(2/27, Flanagan) reports that a study
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0c7-c44&t=c>
from Guardant Health showed that the company’s Guardant360 sequencing
technology “is as accurate as a standard biopsy in identifying biomarkers”
of lung cancer. The study found that among 282 newly diagnosed patients,
the technology identified cancer biomarkers in 77 of them, while tissue
biopsies were only able to identify 60. The results were completed in
around nine days, as compared to 15 days with the tissue-based tests.

        TIME
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019022801biden&r=email-34a7&l=0c8-5f9&t=c>
(2/27, Park) reports that test is not currently approved by the FDA, but
“last year, the agency put it on the Expedited Access Pathway that would
speed up approval, based on 20 studies the company has submitted.” The
company is also seeking FDA approval to diagnose cancer in people in early
stages of the disease, and “is conducting other studies to explore how
effectively the liquid biopsy can do that in a number of different solid
cancers.”
Editorials/Op-Eds
New York Times.

*“Netanyahu Stoops To Survive.”* A New York Times
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(2/27) editorial says that if Benjamin Netanyahu wins reelection in April,
“he is likely to become the longest-serving prime minister in Israeli
history. For that, he seems prepared to make a deal with the devil.”
Netanyahu, the Times says, apparently fears “he can’t afford to lose any of
the tiny right-wing parties vying for spots in the Knesset,” so he entered
into an alliance with Otzma Yehudit, or Jewish Power, which “is led by
followers of the extreme nationalist Meir Kahane, the Brooklyn-born rabbi
whose Kach party was outlawed in Israel in the 1980s and placed on the
American list of terrorist groups in 1997.”
Washington Post.

*“The Supreme Court’s Struggles On The Peace Cross Case Reflect A Bigger
Challenge.”* The Washington Post
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(2/27) editorializes that “the Latin cross symbolizes Christianity,” and
“the fact...is that the Supreme Court’s struggles reflect not intellectual
failure but the actual difficulty of balancing all the legitimate interests
of a religiously diverse nation. Frustrating as it might be to purists,
muddling through remains the court’s best option.”

        *“Michael Cohen’s Hearing Was Explosive – But Not For What Was
New.” *The Washington Post
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(2/27) editorializes, “According to [Michael] Cohen, the president’s record
of lies and concealment is substantial, and on far weightier issues than
misstating a fact here or there. This is not the truth-bending that used to
pass as normal for Washington politicians, but dishonesty that is far more
breathtaking.” Cohen also “offered a dishearteningly believable account of
Mr. Trump’s character. ... Rather than ignore Mr. Cohen’s allegations,
House Republicans might have taken his warning, learned over a decade
carrying water for the president: ‘The more people that follow Mr. Trump,
as I did blindly are going to suffer the same consequences that I’m
suffering.’”

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