Subject: FW: Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing for Monday, March 11, 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: Mon, 11 Mar 2019 09:43:55 -0400

Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing

*From:* Bulletin Intelligence <[email-masked]>
*Sent:* Monday, March 11, 2019 7:54 AM
*To:* [email-masked]
*Subject:* Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing for Monday,
March 11, 2019

*Click to access
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=000-b4a&t=c>
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[image: Image removed by sender. Office of Vice President Biden
Intelligence Briefing]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=001-4e3&t=c>

*To: Vice President Joe Biden*

*Monday, March 11, 2019 8:00 AM EDT*
Today's Table of Contents

*Biden in the News* <#SECTION_1>

• 2020 Iowa Poll: Biden 27%; Sanders 25%; Warren 9%; Harris 7%; O’Rourke 5%.
<#S1>

• CBS News: Among Democratic Contenders, Biden “Looms Over Field.” <#S2>

• Buzz About Possible Biden Bid Continues To Build. <#S3>

• Media Analyses: Biden Would Bring Potentially Problematic Baggage To A
2020 Run. <#S4>

• AP Analysis: Biden Would Face Fundraising Challenge In A 2020 Bid. <#S5>

• De Blasio Dings Bloomberg, Says Biden Too “Moderate” To Win Democratic
Nomination. <#S6>

• WPost’s Scott: Biden’s Appeals To Bipartisanship Find Traction Because
He’s A White Male. <#S7>

• CNBC: Sources Say Biden May Emphasize Infrastructure Plans In A 2020 Run.
<#S8>

• If He Wins In 2020, Biden Would Become Oldest Person To Win US Presidency.
<#S9>

• Virginia GOP Chief Rips Biden For Hiring Creator Of “Despicable” Latino
Victory Fund Ad. <#S10>

• Penn Democrats Won’t Endorse A Candidate Until March 2020. <#S11>

• Brown Says Potential Biden Bid Had “Zero” Influence On His Decision To
Skip 2020 Race. <#S12>

• NYTimes A1: Democratic Moderates Increasingly Concerned By “Sharp Left
Turn” Of 2020 Field. <#S13>

• 2020 Democrats Focus Early Efforts On Building Black Support. <#S14>

• Sanders Seeks To Shore Up 2020 Support In Early States Amid Threat From
Rivals. <#S15>

• Warren Proposes Break-Up Of Large Tech Companies. <#S16>

• O’Rourke Continues “To Tease His Plans For 2020.” <#S17>

• Castro: I Am “The Antithesis Of Donald Trump.” <#S18>

• Inslee Emphasizes Climate Change In Presidential Run. <#S19>

• Booker Makes Case For Next Step Act. <#S20>

• 2020 Democrats Make Pitch At SXSW. <#S21>

• WPost Examines Schultz’s Turbulent Ownership Of NBA Team. <#S22>

• WPost Analysis: Trump’s “Behemoth” Reelection Campaign Has 2016 Populist
Themes. <#S23>

*Leading the News* <#SECTION_2>

• Trump To Seek $8.6B For Border Wall In Budget Proposal To Be Released
Today. <#S24>

*Foreign Policy* <#SECTION_3>

• Bolton Addresses Reports Suggesting North Korea May Be Resuming Missile
Tests. <#S25>

• Kudlow: US-China Talks Making “Great Progress.” <#S26>

• Bolton Says Momentum In Venezuela Is On Guaidó’s Side. <#S27>

• Bolton: US Presence In Syria To Prevent ISIS Resurgence. <#S28>

• NYTimes Analysis: Netanyahu-Trump Ties “Stronger Than Ever” Ahead Of
Israeli Election. <#S29>

• US Airstrikes In Afghanistan Reportedly Kill 13 Civilians. <#S30>

• NYTimes Analysis: US Escalating Campaign Against Al Shabab In Somalia.
<#S31>

*Domestic Policy* <#SECTION_4>

• Barrasso Says He Is “Going To Support The President” On Emergency
Declaration. <#S32>

• Schiff: It’s A “Mistake” For Mueller Not To Interview Trump. <#S33>

• Axios: Trump Told RNC Donors That Democrats “Hate Jewish People.” <#S34>

• Kudlow: Growing Trade Deficit Is Neither Good Nor Bad. <#S35>

• Powell Expects Slower Growth This Year. <#S36>

• Powell: Fed Not In A Hurry To Change Interest Rate Policy. <#S37>

• Central Banks Adjust Policies To Reduce Odds Of Recession. <#S38>

*Cancer Research* <#SECTION_5>

• NCI’s Sharpless Talks President’s Childhood Cancer Initiative In
Interview. <#S39>

• Columnist: Too Many People Are Dying From Colorectal Cancer Because They
Weren’t Screened. <#S40>

*Editorials/Op-Eds* <#SECTION_6>

• Washington Post. <#S41>
Biden in the News
2020 Iowa Poll: Biden 27%; Sanders 25%; Warren 9%; Harris 7%; O’Rourke 5%.

The Des Moines (IA) Register
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=002-2d1&t=c>
(3/10, Pfannenstiel) reported that while former Vice President Joe Biden
“has yet to enter the 2020” battle for the Democratic presidential
nomination, he “still leads the pack in Iowa.” The article said that a Des
Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom Iowa Poll of 401 likely Democratic
caucusgoers, taken March 3-6, shows Biden leading with 27%, followed by
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) at 25%, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) at 9%, Sen.
Kamala Harris (D-CA) at 7%, ex-Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) at 5%, and a raft
of contenders lagging further behind. The Register said that Biden’s
support is down five points from a similar poll taken in December.

        In an online article, CNN
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=003-2eb&t=c>
(3/9) reported, “Likely caucusgoers continued to be divided along two key
lines in assessing their choices for president: age and ideology. Among
those under age 45, Sanders has a 9-point edge over Biden, 32% to 23%, with
Warren at 10% and Harris at 9%. Among older likely caucusgoers, Biden
stands 15 points ahead of Sanders, 32% to 17%, with no other candidate in
double digits. The ideological divide is similar. Among liberals, 30% back
Sanders, 21% Biden, 11% Warren and 7% each Harris and O’Rourke. Moderate or
conservative likely caucusgoers, however, give Biden a wide edge: 36% to
Sanders’ 18%, with the rest below 10%.”

        In another online article, CNN
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=004-04a&t=c>
(3/10, Sparks) reported that Biden’s favorability rating is pegged at 81%
in the poll. In addition, “64% of the likely Democratic caucusgoers said
that Biden has more experience than any other candidate and want him to get
in the race. Only three-in-ten said that the time for him as a candidate
has passed and he should stay out. Biden’s political views are “about
right” for most caucusgoers (70%), with fewer who thought he was too
liberal (6%) or too conservative (14%).”

        The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=005-156&t=c>
(3/10, Herndon) reports, “The results signal how Mr. Biden and Mr. Sanders,
two longtime politicians on opposite ends of the party’s ideological
spectrum, are entering the race with great familiarity to voters. It
remains to be seen if that will translate to hardened support, particularly
in one of the largest, most wide-open and diverse Democratic primary fields
in history.” Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=006-a85&t=c>
(3/9, Korecki), The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=007-df7&t=c>
(3/9, Axelrod), Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=008-e77&t=c>
(3/10, Gardner), the Daily Caller
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=009-930&t=c>
(3/10, White), and Vox
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=00a-db4&t=c>
(3/10, Shah) also report on the poll results.
CBS News: Among Democratic Contenders, Biden “Looms Over Field.”

The CBS Weekend News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=00b-fd3&t=c>
(3/10, story 3, 1:30, Quijano) reported, “Several Democrats hoping to carry
the party’s flag into the next presidential election tested their ideas
this weekend at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas.” CBS (Morgan) added,
“At least ten Democrats and Republicans who want to be president came to
the Texas state capital this weekend,” but “it was one other potential
contender who still looms over the field: former Vice President Joe Biden,”
who is “expected to launch his presidential campaign next month.” Aides
told CBS “Biden will be putting the finishing touches on his campaign team
and strategy, and he’s set to make public appearances this coming week in
Washington and his home base of Delaware.”

        Philly (PA)
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=00c-3bf&t=c>
(3/8, Tamari) reported, “As the Democratic presidential primary unfolds, a
network of Pennsylvania donors and political officials is waiting on one
man: Joe Biden. A cadre of old-guard fund-raisers and insiders view” Biden
“as a familiar and safe choice against President Donald Trump, especially
given his deep ties to Pennsylvania, likely to be a crucial swing state in
2020. Many have vowed to support Biden if he announces a run in the coming
days, as party insiders increasingly expect.” For example, Philadelphia
Democratic Party chief Bob Brady (D) “said that Biden ‘keeps telling me to
keep my powder dry,’ and that he is ready to back his longtime friend.”

        Writing for the Baton Rouge (LA) Advocate
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=00d-ed0&t=c>
(3/8), Stephanie Grace said that if Biden runs, “it’s already clear that”
he “can count on some high-level support from Louisiana.” Ex-New Orleans
Mayor Mitch Landrieu (D) has long argued that Biden “would be the party’s
best hope for success in next year’s general election,” and Rep. Cedric
Richmond (D-LA) concurs. Richmond, “who spent time with Biden when he
passed through New Orleans last year, told The New York Times this week
that he too thinks the former veep is the party’s ‘best candidate to beat
(President Donald) Trump.’”
Buzz About Possible Biden Bid Continues To Build.

Writing for Axios
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=00e-61e&t=c>
(3/11) this morning, Mike Allen reports that advisers to Biden “say it will
be apparent within days whether he has decided to activate a presidential
campaign that would likely launch by early April. Between the lines: A
Biden insider tells me the ‘final, final’ decision is now ‘imminent.’”
Allen adds, “The Smart Brevity from Bidenworld: The former vice president
is highly likely – but not absolutely certain – to announce soon (by early
April).”

        Writing for Talking Points Memo
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=00f-61c&t=c>
(3/11), Cameron Joseph says that Biden “will return to the stage for his
first explicitly political speeches since last fall’s midterms, with a pair
of high-profile events bringing him back into the national political
spotlight. Biden will headline the International Association of Fire
Fighters’ annual conference on Tuesday morning in Washington, D.C. The
union stands ready to endorse him as soon as he jumps into the campaign,
should he decide on a bid. Then on Saturday, Biden will head home to
headline the Delaware Democratic Party’s annual fundraising dinner.” Joseph
says those “speeches to friendly audiences” offer Biden “a chance to tune
up for 2020, test out key campaign themes and potentially make a big
announcement, though that seems less than likely to happen.”

        Writing for the Delaware State News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=010-adf&t=c>
(3/9), Andrew West said, “All signs appear to point to a Joe Biden run for
president in 2020. And, we might just know the answer Saturday night when”
he “speaks at his state’s Democratic Party dinner at Dover Downs Hotel and
Casino. The event is sold out.”

        The Wilmington (DE) News Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=011-cf3&t=c>
(3/8) reports that Ashley Biden “is leaving the Delaware Center for Justice
at the end of this month, increasing speculation her father, former Vice
President Joe Biden, is getting closer to entering the 2020 presidential
campaign.” Ashley Biden’s exit “as executive director of the Delaware
Center for Justice was announced Friday morning.” In a brief, online
article, WPVI-TV
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=012-e74&t=c>
Philadelphia (3/8) reported that Ashley Biden’s departure “is fueling
speculation about her father’s potential 2020 presidential run.”

        The Wilmington (DE) News Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=013-e16&t=c>
(3/8, Jedra) ran a piece looking back at the reasons given by Biden about
why he didn’t enter the 2016 race for president. The article added that
Biden “has been teasing for months that he is close to making a decision
for the 2020 election.”

        Hometown Life (MI)
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=014-8e4&t=c>
(3/8) reported that ex-South Lyon Mayor Tedd Wallace “had just picked up
some baked goods and was heading to the cashier at about 5 p.m. Wednesday
at the Seaside Market and Deli in Christiansted, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin
Islands, when he” came across former Vice President Joe Biden, who “was
weaving in and out of the aisles, searching for spaghetti sauce for his
wife, Jill, who was already in line. ‘I knew he had come to the island
before, they have a house on the ocean here and I walked up to him,’
Wallace said. ‘He was very gracious, very nice.’”

        Drawing from the Hometown Life story, The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=015-698&t=c>
(3/8, Axelrod) reported that Biden “was spotted traveling in the Caribbean
this week as” he “weighs potentially launching a 2020 White House bid.” The
Hill added, “The Associated Press reported Friday that Biden was on the
island to work through remaining concerns with his wife, Jill, before he is
expected to announce a bid.” Breitbart
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=016-ddc&t=c>
(3/9, Starr) highlighted the AP report on Biden visiting St. Croix.
Media Analyses: Biden Would Bring Potentially Problematic Baggage To A 2020
Run.

In a blog post on the website of the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=017-d0b&t=c>
(3/10), Jennifer Rubin said that if Joe Biden runs, his “challenge is
four-fold: Mastering online fundraising; coming to terms with his record on
race; maintaining self-discipline; and setting out a vision that is more
than a defense of the Obama years.” Rubin adds that Biden’s “decades-old
remarks about segregation and his championing of the crime bill in the
1990′s (which led to mass incarceration of African Americans)” could hurt
him with black voters. So, Biden “will need to take this issue head-on,
right up front, express remorse and explain how he has learned about racial
injustice over the years.”

        On its website, ABC News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=018-b68&t=c>
(3/8, Klein, Parks) reported that “potential holes and pitfalls in Biden’s
own history are already on display, amid scrutiny that reveals no shortage
of targets. Consider that while other Democratic candidates debate
reparations for descendants of slaves and Native Americans, The Washington
Post unearthed
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=019-292&t=c>
this Biden quote from 1975, when Biden already was a senator: ‘I feel
responsible for what the situation is today, for the sins of my own
generation. And I’ll be damned if I feel responsible to pay for what
happened 300 years ago.’” Biden “might yet be the Democrats’ answer for the
future. But first he may have to prove that his past is compatible with the
party’s present.”

        Writing on the website of the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=01a-47f&t=c>
(3/8), Philip Bump said that “there’s certainly a case to be made that the
popular, front-running Biden of the moment could quickly transform into a
less-popular, middle-of-the-pack Biden once Democratic voters contrast his
track record with candidates who have embraced positions that are more in
step with where the party is today.” Bump highlighted the aforementioned
Washington Post story about Biden’s opposition to “a school desegregation
plan in the 1970s,” and added that his record on the 1990s crime bill and
the handling of the Thomas/Hill hearings could also be problematic for
Biden.

        In an online analysis, NBC News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=01b-2f0&t=c>
(3/8, Todd, Murray, Dann) highlighted the same Washington Post story, and
added that Biden’s “greatest strength is that he’s been in the mainstream
of American politics for the last 50 years. And that’s his greatest
weakness, too. It raises the question: Can the Democratic Party we saw
nearly melt down this week over Ilhan Omar handle Biden’s past – whether
it’s busing, race or Anita Hill?” Writing for Business Insider
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=01c-4b6&t=c>
(3/8), Joe Perticone said that ahead of a likely 2020 bid, Biden “has a lot
going for him,” but he “has several flaws in key areas as well,” including
the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill hearings and the 1990s Crime Bill, among
other things.

        Under the heading “Joe Biden’s 1993 Crime Bill Speech Is Worse Than
You Think,” Paste Magazine
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=01d-e68&t=c>
(3/8, Ryan) highlighted CNN story
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=01e-b96&t=c>
(3/7, Kaczynski) (covered in Friday’s briefing) on a 1993 speech Biden
delivered advocating for the 1994 Crime Bill, and added, “Polls today
indicate he’s the frontrunner, narrowly, but the reaction to videos like
these will determine whether that support is ironclad, or whether it’s
vulnerable to eroding when he’s fully vetted.”

        Writing for Forbes
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=01f-8af&t=c>
(3/10), Bill Whalen highlights what he sees as potential “problem[s] or a
Biden candidacy,” saying that Biden “voted for NAFTA and opposed Bush 43’s
Peru Free Trade Agreement (that was in 2007, when he was competing against
[Hillary] Clinton and [Barack] Obama).” Biden also “voted in favor of the
2005 bankruptcy bill (it was backed by credit-card lenders, many of which
are based in Biden’s Delaware), a detail that [Sen. Elizabeth] Warren
pointed out in the run-up to the last presidential election.” Whalen also
said that Biden would face challenges in fundraising.

        Writing for Salon
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=020-902&t=c>
(3/10), Matthew Rozsa said, “While the idea of Biden is no doubt quite
electable both in the primaries and general, the reality of Biden may prove
to be a very different story. For one thing, there is the problem of
Biden’s political past. As the Democratic Party moves farther to the left,
Biden has a legislative record” that includes, among other things, “his
support of Bill Clinton’s now-vilified 1993 crime bill”; backing “a freeze
on Social Security spending; opposing antitrust legislation; backing former
Bill Clinton’s controversial financial deregulatory policies, which
contributed to the Wall Street crash; denouncing the Roe v. Wade decision
as having gone ‘too far’; and opposing school busing as a means of
desegregation.”

        Writing for Washington Monthly
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=021-56b&t=c>
(3/8), Martin Longman said, “The Democratic Party is already on our
antitrust bus, and” Biden “needs to get on board too, because his record as
a senator on these issues is woeful.” As an example, Longman highlighted “a
recent Huffington Post piece
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=022-8b3&t=c>”
by Zach Carter that said when Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) in 1979 tried to pass
some anti-trust legislation, he “almost immediately ran into problems with
Biden. When Coca-Cola urged Congress to exempt the soft drink industry from
these antitrust regulations, Biden joined Republicans to pass such a bill
over the objections of Kennedy and Department of Justice antitrust expert
Ky Ewing. ... As Biden fought Kennedy on the Coca-Cola bill, he was also
trying to thwart a Kennedy effort that would have empowered consumers to
sue over a broader swath of antitrust violations.”

        In an online article, NPR
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=023-bff&t=c>
(3/9, Taylor) reported that veteran Democratic pollster Peter Hart “is
skeptical of early surveys that show Biden with a lead, given the type of
change the party base seems hungriest for. The gaffe-prone politician will
also face questions about his background on civil rights, criminal justice
issues and more. ‘If he thinks of himself as the Colossus of Rhodes and
everyone sort of has to maneuver around him or through him, I think he will
get off to the wrong start,’ Hart cautioned.”

        *CNN’s Enten: Biden Should Focus On His Record As Obama’s Vice
President. *In an online “analysis” for CNN
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=024-daa&t=c>
(3/9), Harry Enten said, “Not surprisingly, a statistical analysis of”
Biden’s “congressional voting record suggests” he “is among the most
moderate in the 2020 field. The problem for Biden is obvious: the
Democratic electorate is moving to the left.” However, Enten said “I would
argue that looking at ideology through the normal left-right spectrum
doesn’t get at Biden’s appeal. Voters like Biden not because they don’t
know or don’t understand his left-right ideology,” but “because he was the
vice president to the most popular Democrat in the country, Barack Obama.
Biden’s best chance of winning is not to run from his record. It’s merely
to focus on his most recent record...as Obama’s number two. It’s far from a
guarantee that it will work, though it really could help ameliorate the
potential flaws of his past record in the Senate.”

        *Writer Highlights Biden’s Grilling Of Shultz On Reagan
Administration’s South Africa Policy. *Writing for Washington Monthly
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=025-e4a&t=c>
(3/8), Nancy LeTourneau said, “While it’s clear that Biden has many flaws,
he has also had moments of courage and brilliance.” As an example,
LeTourneau provides a clip of video showing Biden, as chair of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee, grilling then-US Secretary of State George
Shultz about the Reagan Administration’s “position on South Africa. That is
when Joe Biden had a defining moment of justified outrage.” LeTourneau
added that “if we are going to be subjected to reports about” Biden’s
“failures in the past (which are fair game), we need to balance that with
his successes. When someone needed to call out the Reagan administration
for their racist policy on South Africa, Joe Biden stepped up to the plate
in a profound way. That’s part of his legacy, too.”
AP Analysis: Biden Would Face Fundraising Challenge In A 2020 Bid.

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=026-871&t=c>
(3/8, Peoples, Pace) reported that “on the cusp of another” presidential
bid, former Vice President Joe Biden “faces a daunting challenge that could
complicate his path to the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination: money.”
The AP said that “those close to” Biden “believe he would start off at a
fundraising disadvantage compared to would-be rivals, whose campaigns have
benefited from an early flood of small-dollar donations from the most
liberal wing of the party.” A source told the AP that Biden has “decamped
this week to St. Croix, a favorite Biden family vacation spot in the
Caribbean, to discuss the remaining roadblocks with his wife, Jill.” The AP
added that “those close to Biden expect him to signal his decision – at
least internally – in the coming days to be followed by an intense period
of hiring ahead of an April announcement should he decide to run.”
De Blasio Dings Bloomberg, Says Biden Too “Moderate” To Win Democratic
Nomination.

The New York Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=027-967&t=c>
(3/10, Calder) reports that New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) “rubbed salt
on billionaire former Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s wounds Sunday night, saying he
agreed ‘110 percent’ with his predecessor’s decision to drop out of the
2020 presidential race because he had ‘no chance’ to capture the Democratic
nomination. ‘We are a progressive party more and more that is desperately
troubled by the wealth and power being concentrated in the hands of the one
percent,’ de Blasio said during an appearance on Showtime’s ‘The Circus:
Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth.’” De Blasio added, “I don’t
think we’re going to nominate one of the eighth richest men in the world.
That is not someone who is going to change that reality.” De Blasio “also
said former Vice President Joe Biden is too much of a ‘moderate’ Democrat
to win the party’s presidential primary.”
WPost’s Scott: Biden’s Appeals To Bipartisanship Find Traction Because He’s
A White Male.

Writing on the website of the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=028-718&t=c>
(3/8), Eugene Scott said that former Vice President Joe Biden “and others
describe him as a lawmaker with a bipartisan approach, one who can work
across the aisle to ‘get things done.’” However, said Scott, other
Democratic contenders like Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Amy Klobuchar
(D-MN) “are also emphasizing their ability to work with lawmakers across
the aisle,” but “haven’t been able to harness that message as effectively –
yet.” Scott said polling “data suggests that white, moderate Democrats
might be less interested in electing a person of color or a woman than the
party’s more liberal base. The same might be true for the white
working-class voters drawn to [President] Trump’s message in 2016. For
them, Biden may appeal because of his background in a way that a female
candidate or a person of color does not.”

        *Chait Dismisses Democrats’ Vow To Revive Bipartisanship As
“Harebrained.” *Writing for the Daily Intelligencer (NY)
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=029-9a3&t=c>
(3/8), Jonathan Chait dismissed “as harebrained [and] fantastical” the vow
“peddled by numerous leading Democrats that they will revive
bipartisanship.” Chait cited Biden, Booker, and ex-Gov. John Hickenlooper
(D-CO) as making such vows, then added, “The Obama presidency was an
eight-year experiment in the possibility of obtaining Republican support
for major initiatives. It is impossible to imagine a more conclusive
result,” as Republicans refused to work with President Obama.
CNBC: Sources Say Biden May Emphasize Infrastructure Plans In A 2020 Run.

In an online article, CNBC
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=02a-6b2&t=c>
(3/8, Schwartz) reported that former Vice President Joe Biden “has been
actively meeting with his closest advisors about his preferred economic
policies, including crafting an infrastructure reform package that could be
part of his 2020 campaign if he decides to run for president.” CNBC said,
“An emphasis on infrastructure would give Biden an opportunity to directly
challenge Donald Trump on a key aspect of the president’s ‘Make America
Great Again’ agenda. Trump ran on improving the nation’s roads, bridges and
tunnels, but those policies have yet to take shape.” CNBC quoted a person
“who has spoken to Biden about infrastructure” as saying, “This is going to
be a very important plank in what Joe’s going to be advocating.”
If He Wins In 2020, Biden Would Become Oldest Person To Win US Presidency.

The Wilmington (DE) News Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=02b-be1&t=c>
(3/8, Smith) reported, “If Delaware’s favorite son Joe Biden were to be
elected president in 2020, he would be the oldest person to become
president since Donald Trump took office in 2017. On inauguration day (Jan.
20, 2021), Biden would be 78 years, 61 days old.”

        *Writer: “Science On Aging” Shows Biden, Sanders, Trump, Warren
“Too Old To” Be President. *In a piece for the Boston Globe
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=02c-c73&t=c>
(3/8), freelance writer Linda Rodriguez McRobbie said, “The job of the
American president is one of the most difficult, mentally and physically,
in the world – even more so now that the planet is in peril. Age-related
decline is also real, backed not only by data and scientific evidence, but
by experience. Aging comes with physical and cognitive changes that affect
everything we do. Based on available science on aging, [Sen. Bernie]
Sanders, Biden, [ex-Gov. Bill] Weld, Trump, even [Sen. Elizabeth] Warren
are too old to lead this country. And with all the wisdom they’ve
ostensibly accrued over their years, they should probably know that.”
Virginia GOP Chief Rips Biden For Hiring Creator Of “Despicable” Latino
Victory Fund Ad.

Breitbart
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=02d-7d9&t=c>
(3/10, Moran) reported that Virginia GOP chief Jack Wilson on Sunday
“slammed former Vice President Joe Biden for hiring Cristobal Alex, the
creator of the ‘despicable’ 2017 Latino Victory Fund ad” that aired during
that year’s race for governor. The ad portrayed “a white Donald Trump and
Ed Gillespie supporter attempting to run down minority children.” In a
statement, Wilson said, “There is no question that the LVF fund ad was
despicable, and given current events, it was obviously targeted at the
wrong candidate for governor. We’re not surprised that someone like Joe
Biden would hire such a divisive figure. Biden is too out of touch with the
American people to even win the circus that is the Democrat 2020 primary.”
Penn Democrats Won’t Endorse A Candidate Until March 2020.

The University of Pennsylvania’s Daily Pennsylvanian
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=02e-159&t=c>
(3/11, Bianco) reports, “Penn Democrats are considering endorsing a wide
variety of candidates for political office, including a candidate for the
looming presidential primaries.” However, “Penn Dems plan to wait to
endorse a favored candidate until March 2020. The club wants to hear
firsthand from visiting candidates and conduct extensive research into the
potential Democratic nominees for president.” The article adds, “Former
Vice President and Penn Presidential Professor of Practice Joe Biden has
still yet to announce whether he will run.”
Brown Says Potential Biden Bid Had “Zero” Influence On His Decision To Skip
2020 Race.

The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=02f-c4f&t=c>
(3/10, Burke) reported that during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,”
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), “who announced last week that he won’t run for
president, said Sunday that former Vice President Joe Biden’s potential
2020 bid did not influence his decision not to launch his own campaign. ‘It
was none of that. I know it’s been reported, but people who reported that
never called me, never called [my wife] Connie. … I like Joe Biden. I just
haven’t talked to him,’ Brown said,” adding “that he was asked several
times on the campaign trail by voters what kind of influence Biden’s
decision would have on his own. ‘My answer was always, ‘Zero,’’ Brown
said.”
NYTimes A1: Democratic Moderates Increasingly Concerned By “Sharp Left
Turn” Of 2020 Field.

“The sharp left turn in the Democratic Party and the rise of progressive
presidential candidates are unnerving moderate Democrats who increasingly
fear that the party could fritter away its chances of beating President
Trump in 2020 by careening over a liberal cliff,” the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=030-662&t=c>
(3/9, A1, Martin, Ember) reported on its front page. The Times said that
led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), “a democratic socialist who is the top
candidate in the race at this early stage, many vocal leaders in the party
are choosing to draw lessons from liberal victories in 2018 rather than the
party’s breakthroughs in moderate suburban battlegrounds that delivered
Democratic control of the House. These progressive Democrats risk playing
into Mr. Trump’s hands – he has repeatedly branded them ‘socialists’ – yet
they argue that their ambitious agenda can inspire a voter revolt in 2020
that elects a left-wing president.”

        On NBC Nightly News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=031-f82&t=c>
(3/9, story 5, 2:05, Diaz-Balart), White House correspondent Kelly
O’Donnell reported that Democrats are “on the trail this weekend, from New
York to South Carolina, Iowa to a tech convention in Texas. But much of
this group has simply headed left.” According to O’Donnell, the candidates
are “staking out turf that is more politically progressive.”

        *NYTimes A1: Desire To Oust Trump Keeps Democratic Enthusiasm
“Surging.” *The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=032-50a&t=c>
(3/8, Ember) reported on its front page that “as the already large
presidential field grows by the week, the enthusiasm that propelled
Democrats to a decisive takeover of the House in the midterms is still
surging, driving crowd sizes and intensity typically seen in the days
before the first caucuses and primaries, not a year ahead of them.” The
Times said that “powered by an almost desperate yearning to oust President
Trump, and galvanized by the most diverse field in presidential primary
history, Democrats are packing into gymnasiums, churches and exhibition
halls to hear candidates speak – even if they are far from committed to
supporting the candidate they are showing up to see.” The Times added that
“the populist message many of the candidates have on offer is resonating.”
2020 Democrats Focus Early Efforts On Building Black Support.

“The annals of Democratic presidential primaries are littered with white
liberals who couldn’t win over black voters and lost the nomination because
of it,” Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=033-950&t=c>
(3/9, Cadelago, Strauss) reported, adding that “this year’s contestants are
all too aware of that history.” Politico said that the 2020 Democratic
hopefuls’ “efforts are scrambling the usual early primary state-centric
rhythms of the presidential campaign, instead bringing candidates to other
states with large black populations.” Politico highlighted that Sen.
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) “became the first non-Texan 2020 candidate to
visit the state when she spoke with students at historically black Paul
Quinn College in Dallas.” And Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) “will soon make
a campaign swing through Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi, where the
Democratic vote is heavily black.” Politico added that Warren and Sen. Amy
Klobuchar (D-MN) “have already made stops in Atlanta and its suburbs, where
Klobuchar held a voting-rights roundtable with local leaders and Warren
spoke at a high school.”
Sanders Seeks To Shore Up 2020 Support In Early States Amid Threat From
Rivals.

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=034-da2&t=c>
(3/8, Sullivan) reported that as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) this weekend
has made his first visits to “Iowa and New Hampshire since launching
another run for the Democratic [presidential] nomination, the army of
staffers, surrogates and supporters that propelled him to a strong 2016
showing in the early states has shown signs of splintering,” even though he
“begins as well positioned as any candidate to compete in the first two
Democratic contests, registering strong numbers in early polls, raising
heaps of cash and drawing an estimated 2,000 people to his debut here
Thursday night.” The Post added that Sanders “already trails the
competition in some respects,” as Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Elizabeth
Warren (D-MA) “have established the largest ground operations in Iowa,
according to interviews with local Democrats monitoring the activity.
Sanders, who launched his campaign after both, has yet to establish a major
presence, the Democrats said.”

        The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=035-961&t=c>
(3/10, Linskey) reports that Sanders “swept through New Hampshire on
Sunday, making his first stops as a 2020 presidential candidate in the
state that established him as a force in Democratic politics in 2016 – and
could play an outsize role in his ambitions next year.” His two rallies on
Sunday “were throwbacks to the events he became known for in 2016,” and,
according to the Post, Sanders “hopes to recapture that spirit, and those
votes, in his second presidential bid.”

        *In Second Presidential Bid, Sanders Receiving “Warmer Reception”
From Democratic Senators. *Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=036-815&t=c>
(3/10, Everett, Levine) reported that in is first White House bid, Sanders
“was treated like a pariah within the Senate Democratic Caucus: His
colleagues thought his campaign was a liberal fantasy that served only to
damage Hillary Clinton. This time, though,” Sanders is receiving “a warmer
reception from the senators who constitute much of the Democratic
establishment he’s railed against. Senate Democrats say they’re open to
getting behind Sanders if he appears the strongest candidate a year from
now. And there’s no whiff of an effort to deny him the nomination,
according to interviews with more than 20 Democratic senators.”

        *Unlike Most Other 2020 Contenders, Sanders Often Calling Out Trump
By Name. *The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=037-4b2&t=c>
(3/10, Wootson) reports, “In his first swing through Iowa and New
Hampshire” in his second bid for president, Sanders “has been an anomaly
among the Democrats vying for the White House, as he routinely uttered two
words that other candidates have often avoided: ‘Donald Trump.’” Other
“Democrats are strategizing about how or whether to attack Trump
explicitly, and in a twist, many are uttering his name rarely if at all,”
making Sanders’ “approach stand out. His statement that ‘we must defeat
Donald Trump’ garnered sustained applause during a speech at the Iowa
Fairgrounds on Saturday, suggesting it’s a line many Democrats – at least
Sanders’s crowd – want to hear.”
Warren Proposes Break-Up Of Large Tech Companies.

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=038-705&t=c>
(3/8, Schor) reported that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has unveiled “a
proposal to break up the biggest US technology companies, saying they have
too much control over the economy and Americans’ lives.” The presidential
candidate suggested “legislation targeting companies with annual worldwide
revenue of $25 billion or more, limiting their ability to expand and
forcing parts of Google and Amazon’s current business structure to operate
as separate entities.” She also said that as president she would choose
“regulators who would seek to break up what she called ‘anti-competitive
mergers’ such as Facebook’s recent purchase of Instagram and Amazon’s
acquisition of Whole Foods.” A spokeswoman for Warren said that legislation
“was not imminent.”

        The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=039-5c5&t=c>
(3/8, Herndon) reported that Warren “will hold a rally in Long Island City,
the Queens neighborhood that was to be home to a major new Amazon campus.”
Her proposal, added the Times, “would prohibit platforms from both offering
a marketplace for commerce and participating in that marketplace.” The Wall
Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=03a-782&t=c>
(3/8, Kendall, Schlesinger) reported that Warren’s proposal could elevate
antitrust rules as an issue in the campaign.

        The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=03b-db7&t=c>
(3/8, Romm, Fung) called it “the most ambitious and aggressive effort
targeting the tech industry offered by any Democratic contender for the
White House.” USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=03c-cd5&t=c>
(3/8, Snider) reported the proposal “was quickly met with criticism,” but
her “supporters agreed with Warren that legislation is needed.” Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=03d-794&t=c>
(3/8, Bartz) reported that Warren “is seeking to stand out in a Democratic
field,” and “investors shrugged off her comments, with shares in the three
companies barely affected.”

        *The Hill Analysis: With Sanders Running Strong, Warren Struggling
To Gain Traction. *The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=03e-941&t=c>
(3/9, Parnes) reported that Warren “is struggling to gain traction in her
bid for the White House as she faces stiff competition from” Sen. Bernie
Sanders (I-VT) in the battle “for the hearts, minds and support of the
progressive lane in the contest.” Warren’s “poll numbers have lagged behind
not only Sanders but Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.).” And while Warren “has
been a stellar fundraiser in her relatively short political career,” she
“has seen Sanders steal headlines by raising $10 million in his first week
on the campaign trail. That compared to the $300,000 Warren pulled in
during her first 24 hours.” Now, “Democrats say Sanders’s candidacy – which
shows no sign of slowing down – is her biggest obstacle at the moment.”

        *Warren: “Just Wrong” To Label Me A Socialist. *The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=03f-00f&t=c>
(3/10, Sherfinski) reports that Warren on Sunday said it would be “just
wrong” to label her a socialist and she believes in “markets that work.”
Appearing on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Warren said, “I believe in markets.
Markets that work. Markets that have a cop on the beat and have real rules
and everybody follows them.” She said she believes in a “level playing
field. And as long as we’ve got that then we will get the best out of
markets because it means the people who come up with great ideas, who work
hard are the ones who will prosper, not simply those who were born into
wealth.”
O’Rourke Continues “To Tease His Plans For 2020.”

The Dallas Morning News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=040-d99&t=c>
(3/9, Jeffers) reported that ex-Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) on Saturday “said
he was still working on a potential presidential roll-out as he continued
to tease his plans for 2020. ‘We’ll be announcing something soon,’” he
“said after the premiere of a documentary of his campaign for US Senate
called Running With Beto.” O’Rourke, who lost to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in
2018, has ruled out a 2020 challenge to Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) “and will
likely run for the Democratic nomination for president. ‘I want to make
sure I do it the right way and tell everyone at the same time,’ O’Rourke
said. ‘I got to be on the timeline that works for my family and the
country.’”

        The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=041-504&t=c>
(3/11, Flegenheimer, Lerer) reports that O’Rourke “seems inclined to” run
for president in 2020, “according to interviews with people who have spoken
to him and other top Democrats,” though he “has done little to demonstrate
the kind of intensive preparation – building national political
infrastructure, projecting a signature policy rationale for a candidacy –
typically associated with a top-flight presidential campaign.” The Times
adds that “perhaps no major 2020 player invites as many question marks as
Mr. O’Rourke, and his drawn-out non-candidacy has provided few answers.”

        The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=042-6d1&t=c>
(3/9, Axelrod) reported that O’Rourke “teased a ‘big announcement’ [about
his] political future as speculation grows that the former senate candidate
has his sights set on the White House in 2020. His camp sent out an email
blast to supporters inviting them to be the first to know about O’Rourke’s
next move but did not clarify the date when the announcement will be made.”

        The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=043-e53&t=c>
(3/10, Weissert) reports that “Running With Beto” the documentary “will air
on HBO this Spring and illustrates how O’Rourke rose from a virtual unknown
– his first events attracted fewer than a dozen attendees, while his early
Facebook Live sessions don’t crack double digit viewers – to a national
Democratic star.” The documentary “is unfailingly sympathetic to and
positive about its candidate, but it also shows O’Rourke occasionally
lashing out at staff members – especially Cynthia Cano, his road manager –
for failing to ensure he arrives at events early enough to spend more time
with local reporters and for not fully preparing him to ‘dance’ during
interviews with members of the national media.”

        *Conservative Group To Release Ad Targeting O’Rourke In Iowa. *
Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=044-61d&t=c>
(3/10, Isenstadt) reported that “prominent conservative group” Club for
Growth is “thrusting itself into the Democratic primary with a TV ad”
targeting O’Rourke – “a move that comes as Republicans consider a broader
campaign to meddle in the opposing party’s contest to take on President
Donald Trump.” The group is “expected to begin airing a two-minute
commercial in Iowa this week aimed at dampening liberal support for
O’Rourke, who’s expected to enter the race any day.”
Castro: I Am “The Antithesis Of Donald Trump.”

Ex-HUD Secretary Julian Castro, a presidential hopeful, on Sunday said
on MSNBC’s
Politics Nation
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=045-a1e&t=c>
(3/9), “I see myself as the antithesis of Donald Trump. He is trying to
tear this nation apart. He has been the most divisive President that we’ve
had in quite a while. I’d like to bring the country together. I’ve
demonstrated integrity and honesty in my public service versus the
corruption that we have seen in this Administration. I want to be a
President for all Americans and not just a President for 37 percent that he
sees as his base. I’m fundamentally focused on the future. I don’t want to
make this country anything again, I want to make our country better than
ever for all Americans.”

        *Castro Optimistic Favorability Will Improve. *Castro, on CNN’s
State of the Union
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=046-870&t=c>
(3/10), discussed how he plans to improve his favorability ratings. He
said, “My favorability, the last month and a half, went up by six points.
I’m articulating a strong vision to make this country the smartest, the
healthiest, the fairest, and the most prosperous nation on earth. I can
tell that as I spend time in Iowa I’m going to gain traction. As you know
if we look at any presidential cycle, oftentimes it’s people who have
started off at three percent, one percent, two percent, including Donald
Trump that can win the nomination. So it is a long road, a long journey.”

        *Castro: Sanders Hypocritical For Balking At “Big Check” For
Reparations. *The Washington Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=047-c93&t=c>
(3/10, Halaschak) reports Castro “suggested Sunday fellow primary
contender, Sen. Bernie Sanders was hypocritical for his comments on
reparations.” Castro, speaking on CNN’s State of the Union[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=048-481&t=c>,
said Sanders supports writing “big checks” for a number of issues, “but
found it unusual that Sanders hasn’t spoken in support of compensating the
descendants of slaves.” Said Castro, “It’s interesting to me that when it
comes to ‘Medicare for All,’ healthcare, you know, the response there has
been we need to write a big check. … So, if the issue is compensating the
descendants of slaves, I don’t think the argument about writing a big check
ought to be the argument that you make if you’re making an argument that a
big check needs to be written for a whole bunch of other stuff.”
Inslee Emphasizes Climate Change In Presidential Run.

Gov. Jay Inslee (D-WA), a presidential candidate, on Sunday appeared on CNN’s
State of the Union
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=049-50d&t=c>
(3/10), where he discussed why climate change is central to his campaign.
Said Inslee, “We are the first generation to feel the sting of climate
change and we’re the last generation that can do something about. We have
one shot, that’s the next administration. The world is on fire. We have to
act. Second, if you care about climate change you’re not alone. A poll came
out saying it’s the top priority tied with health care. The third is this
is not a single issue. If you care about the economy, the economy is being
ravaged by climate change. I’ve been on a tour looking at the job creation
going on, solar power in Iowa, batteries in Nevada, wind power in
Washington, so I’ve been looking at what a tremendous job-creating
opportunity it is. It’s also a national security issue.”
Booker Makes Case For Next Step Act.

In a Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=04a-6fd&t=c>
(3/10), Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) writes that while the First Step Act made
“thousands of Americans who were sentenced under unjust
guidelines...eligible for immediate freedom,” the “momentous” law is “just
what its name suggests: one step on a long road toward fixing this broken
system.” Booker adds that “far too many Americans” are “unjustly stuck
behind bars,” and he has introduced the Next Step Act, which would “make
serious and substantial reforms to sentencing guidelines, prison
conditions, law enforcement training and re-entry efforts.” Booker says the
measure is “the most comprehensive, ambitious criminal justice bill to be
introduced in Congress in a generation.”
2020 Democrats Make Pitch At SXSW.

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=04b-f40&t=c>
(3/9, Weber) reported that “a big chunk of the 2020 Democratic field began
making Texas an unlikely early-state stop Saturday and pushed back on big
tech in front of young, social-media savvy crowds in a city where companies
including Google and Apple have big footprints.” The AP said that Texas “is
an early primary state, but the real draw of the South by Southwest
Festival in Austin for Democrats is face time with the party’s ascendant
young and liberal wing.” On the CBS Weekend News[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=04c-fe4&t=c>
(3/9, story 3, 2:30, Ninan), Ed O’Keefe similarly reported that the event
has been “giving candidates an excuse to talk up ideas on how to regulate
big tech companies and protect Americans’ privacy on line.” He added, “The
conversations with presidential candidates continue on Sunday. One of the
reasons the Democrats, especially, are eager to be here: A recent poll of
Texas voters found that President Trump is essentially tied with a
hypothetical Democratic opponent in 2020.”

        In an interview with the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=04d-1fb&t=c>
(3/9, Astor) at SXSW, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) spoke about “health care,
technology, foreign policy and other issues.” Klobuchar “expressed support
for several policies to lower drug prices,” and “criticized the relatively
short sentence given to the former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort in
his financial fraud case this week, citing her experience prosecuting
white-collar crime.” She also “denounced President Trump for his attacks on
the news media,” and “said she disagreed with” Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN)
“recent comments about American politicians’ support for Israel, ‘because I
believe you can be true to your country and advocate for another country,
whether it is Israel or Canada or Ethiopia’ – but condemned Mr. Trump for
emboldening intolerance, including anti-Semitism, and noted Ms. Omar’s own
background as a refugee.”

        Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=04e-097&t=c>
(3/9, Siders) reported that ex-Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) “took his 2020
campaign tease to South by Southwest on Saturday – and even by this city’s
eccentric standards, the act was getting weird.” Politico added that while
“he once again refused to discuss his 2020 plans,” what is “unusual is not
that O’Rourke hasn’t said yet if he is running,” but instead that he
“confirmed more than a week ago that he made his decision. He just won’t
say what it is.” Politico added that O’Rourke, “who sowed his entire
persona on a thread of authenticity – crisscrossing Texas while eschewing
pollsters and political consultants in his Senate run last year – is now
manufacturing suspense.”

        Meanwhile, The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=04f-38e&t=c>
(3/9, Frazin) reported that ex-Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, “who is
mulling launching a 2020 independent presidential bid, went after members
of both parties Saturday during a talk at the South by Southwest (SXSW)
festival in Texas.” Schultz said, “We’re living in a society right now
where you can send a tweet about anything...and all of a sudden you’re an
iconic celebrity. ... But that’s not going to solve the issues that we’re
facing.” The Hill said Schultz “sought to leverage his decades of
experience in business and years running a global corporation to make the
case that he could successfully lead the country if elected.”
WPost Examines Schultz’s Turbulent Ownership Of NBA Team.

In a more than 2,400-word, front-page article, the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=050-138&t=c>
(3/8, A1, Siegel) compared former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz’s failed
effort to turn around the Seattle SuperSonics with him “seriously exploring
an independent bid for president, promoting himself as a problem solver who
can use his business experience to fix the nation’s politics.” The Post
highlighted how Schultz’s “tenure with the Sonics was marred by conflict
with star players, fraught negotiations with lawmakers and private
outbursts at low-level employees, according to interviews with more than
two dozen former Sonics employees, co-owners and players, as well as
current and former Seattle city council members and Washington state
lawmakers.” The Post added that “the episode lingers as a stain on a
sterling business career – and it hangs over Schultz’s launch into national
politics.”
WPost Analysis: Trump’s “Behemoth” Reelection Campaign Has 2016 Populist
Themes.

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=051-82f&t=c>
(3/10, Dawsey) reports President Trump and his advisers are launching “a
behemoth 2020 campaign operation combining his raw populist message from
2016 with a massive data-gathering and get-out-the-vote push aimed at
dwarfing any previous presidential reelection effort, according to campaign
advisers, White House aides, Republican officials and others briefed on the
emerging strategy.” Trump’s advisers “also believe the Democratic Party’s
recent shift to the left on a host of issues, from the push for
Medicare-for-all to a proposed Green New Deal, will help the president and
other Republicans focus on a Trumpian message of strong economic growth,
nationalist border restrictions and ‘America First’ trade policies.”
However, the Post says the President’s strategy “relies on a risky and
relatively narrow path for victory, hinged on demonizing Trump’s eventual
opponent and juicing turnout among his most avid supporters in Florida,
Pennsylvania and the Upper Midwest.”

        *Trump: I Have Accomplished More In “First Two Years Than Any Other
Administration.” *Trump took to Twitter
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=052-c8c&t=c>
on Sunday to write, “Despite the most hostile and corrupt media in the
history of American politics, the Trump Administration has accomplished
more in its first two years than any other Administration. Judges, biggest
Tax & Regulation Cuts, V.A. Choice, Best Economy, Lowest Unemployment &
much more!”
Leading the News
Trump To Seek $8.6B For Border Wall In Budget Proposal To Be Released Today.

Coverage of the President’s FY 2020 budget proposal, to be released Monday,
focuses primarily on the planned request for $8.6 billion for construction
of a US-Mexico border wall. ABC World News Tonight[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=053-533&t=c>
(3/10, story 7, 1:50, Llamas) reported that with a “new border wall
showdown brewing, the price tag [is] growing. The White House says that
President Trump will request $8.6 billion to fund the wall when he releases
details of the proposed budget plan tomorrow.” Democrats are saying Trump
“is risking yet another government shutdown.” ABC’s Tara Palmeri: “The
President’s latest ask is billions above what he requested months ago,
sparking the longest government shutdown in US history.” In a joint
statement, House Speaker Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Schumer “smacked
down the President’s funding attempt.”

        In a briefer item, Errol Barnett of the CBS Weekend News[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=054-95e&t=c>
(3/10, story 5, 0:50, Quijano) reported Trump is “preparing to announce his
new budget proposal Monday, which will include an increase in defense
spending, and five percent cuts across the board in domestic expenditures.
Democrats are already resisting the President’s effort to include border
wall funding as well.”

        The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=055-246&t=c>
(3/11, Mascaro) reports, “Trump is reviving his border wall fight,
preparing a new budget that will seek $8.6 billion for the U.S-Mexico
barrier while imposing steep spending cuts to other domestic programs and
setting the stage for another fiscal battle.” While budget documents “are
often seen as just a starting point” of negotiation, “fresh off the longest
government shutdown in history Trump’s 2020 proposal shows he is eager to
confront Congress again to reduce domestic spending and refocus money on
his priorities.” Bloomberg
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=056-b0b&t=c>
(3/10, Sink) reports, “The request is in addition to the funds that Trump
is hoping to allocate through executive action after declaring a national
emergency in February over the situation on the border.”

        The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=057-fa0&t=c>
(3/10, Baker, Tankersley) says the President, “undaunted by perhaps the
most bruising legislative defeat of his tenure, plans to kick off a fresh
effort on Monday to pressure Congress to pay for a wall along the
southwestern border, most likely setting up another showdown with
Democrats.” The Times says the President “failed to extract even a single
extra dollar for his wall during [the] winter battle” that led to the
shutdown. In their statement, USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=058-d55&t=c>
(3/10, Cummings) reports, Pelosi and Schumer said, “Congress refused to
fund his wall and he was forced to admit defeat and reopen the government.
The same thing will repeat itself if he tries this again. We hope he
learned his lesson.”

        The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=059-401&t=c>
(3/10, Sherfinski) reports NEC Director Kudlow said the President’s
“‘tough’ 2020 budget blueprint...could trigger a new fight over the his
desired U.S.-Mexico border wall.” Kudlow said on Fox News Sunday, “The
whole issue of the wall and border security is of paramount importance. We
have a crisis down there. I think the President has made that case very
effectively.” The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=05a-4f9&t=c>
(3/10, Samuels) reports Kudlow also said Trump “will call for an
across-the-board domestic spending cut of 5 percent in his budget proposal,
even as he asks for an increase in funding for a wall along the southern
border.”

        Kudlow said on Fox News Sunday[image: Image removed by sender.
Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=05b-7e5&t=c>
(3/10), “We believe the 3 percent growth rate of 2018 will continue in 2019
and beyond 2020, so I think the other element is always to limit spending,
and the President is proposing roughly a 5 percent across-the-board
reduction in domestic spending accounts. It will be a tough budget. We are
doing our own caps this year, and I think it’s long overdue. Some of these
recent budgets have not been favorable toward spending, so I think it’s
exactly the right prescription.” The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=05c-6c8&t=c>
(3/11, Mascaro) reports OMB Acting Director Russ Voight said the proposal
“embodies fiscal responsibility.”

        The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=05d-ab9&t=c>
(3/10, Davidson, Radnofsky) reports the budget document will propose $2.7
trillion in cuts to nondefense discretionary spending over the next 10
years, according to Kudlow. He did not offer specifics on the cuts. Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=05e-c90&t=c>
(3/10, Scholtes, Emma) calls it “an audacious plan for sucking 5 percent
from the budgets of nonmilitary arms of the federal government, while using
an accounting trick to bust beyond set spending limits for defense
programs.”

        Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=05f-f83&t=c>,
“Let’s get this straight: billions of dollars for a border wall is a waste
of money. American taxpayers shouldn’t foot the bill for the President’s
vanity project. We simply don’t need it.” Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=060-061&t=c>,
“Democrats oppose both more funding for the wall and President Trump’s
attempt to backfill funding he is stealing from military construction
projects. This ridiculous request, like the rest of the Trump budget, is
not even worth the paper it’s written on.” Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard
(D-CA) tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=061-6a3&t=c>,
“As DHS Appropriations chair, I am fighting to ensure our funding targets
areas that will truly protect our country and keep us safe, and not waste
taxpayer dollars on Trump’s ineffective border wall.”

        Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=062-e46&t=c>,
“Fighting against border security will be a losing issue for Democrats. I’m
looking forward to the debate.” Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY) tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=063-76f&t=c>,
“We should not let politics over the word ‘wall’ drive this debate. We have
been presented the facts regarding the crisis at the border. It is time for
Congress to do its job.”

        Jim Tankersley of the New York Times tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=064-108&t=c>,
“The White House budget forecasts 3.2% growth this year, per
@WhiteHouseCEA. The Fed forecasts 2.3%. Big difference for workers, for
wages, for the budget deficit, depending on who’s right.” Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=065-305&t=c>
(3/10, Rampton), AFP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=066-632&t=c>
(3/10, News), and The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=067-c43&t=c>
(3/10, Samuels) also report on the budget, focusing on the expected border
security request.
Foreign Policy
Bolton Addresses Reports Suggesting North Korea May Be Resuming Missile
Tests.

The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=068-711&t=c>
(3/10, Taylor) reports National Security Adviser Bolton on Sunday “tried to
tamp down speculation about prospect of North Korea test-launching a
missile after recent commercial satellite imagery appearing to show cranes
rebuilding a key launch site that Pyongyang had vowed to destroy.” In a
series of interviews, Bolton, “who has advocated for regime change in
Pyongyang and is known as the administration official with perhaps the most
hard-line views on North Korea, stuck broadly to a message President Trump
himself has pushed in recent days.” According to the Times, the President
“responded cautiously Wednesday to reports that North Korea has been
restoring its long-range Tongchang-ri rocket launch site, which it had
promised to dismantle following the President’s first summit with North
Korean leader Kim Jong-un in June.”

        Speaking on ABC’s This Week
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=069-875&t=c>
(3/10), Bolton told Martha Raddatz, “I don’t really want to get into
speculation about what they’re doing. The particular site in question has
two facilities. There is one that Kim Jong-un had told us earlier that he
would dismantle. This is the static engine test site. There is also a
launch site there that he promised to give up to Moon Jae-in, the President
of South Korea. So it’s actually two different parts of the same facility.”
On Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=06a-4ce&t=c>
(3/10), Bolton said, “I don’t think we can really judge from what we can
see and you’re describing commercial satellite imagery, it’s been in the
press. We have a lot of other ways of learning what they’re doing as well.
I think it’s important to get all the evidence before we make a decision.
The President has obviously said he would be very disappointed if that’s
the direction North Korea were going in, but I don’t want to get out in
front of the facts we actually know at this point.” Bolton added that in
the wake of Trump’s second summit meeting with Kim, the US “would see
whether Pyongyang was committed to giving up its ‘nuclear weapons program
and everything associated with it.’” If not, Bolton added, “then I think
President Trump has been very clear ... they’re not going to get relief
from the crushing economic sanctions that have been imposed on them and
we’ll look at ramping those sanctions up in fact.”

        Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=06b-895&t=c>
(3/10, Cornwell) reports that in both interviews, Bolton also “appeared to
rule out any partial deal with North Korea and said Trump had proposed a
‘big deal’ at the Hanoi summit under which North Korea would completely
denuclearize and also give up its chemical and biological weapons.” Calling
“the incremental approach North Korea has sought a ‘ploy’ to obtain
sanctions relief,” Bolton told Fox News, “It’s possible that North Korea
will go back and rethink the position they came in with and come back to
talk to the President about the big deal.”

        On NBC’s Meet The Press
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=06c-264&t=c>
(3/10), host Chuck Todd asked Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) whether the President
should trust Kim’s remarks on reducing North Korea’s weapons program.
Cheney responded, “We have, we have watched Kim Jong-un, and his father,
and his grandfather operate the same way now for decades. And I would say
that Republican and Democratic administrations got taken by him. I hope
this President won’t. I think that, you know, their efforts are absolutely
clear.” She added, “I think the fact that the President walked away from
the summit in Vietnam is a very positive thing. I think that that was the
right thing to do. We don’t want a bad deal that makes us less safe.”

        The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=06d-8d4&t=c>
(3/10, Taylor) reports that at a round-table discussion at the US Institute
of Peace on Friday, former US Special Representative for North Korea Policy
Joseph Yun, “who had a instrumental role in opening the current nuclear
diplomacy with Pyongyang,” said Trump and Kim’s “failure to reach an
agreement in their second summit was ‘really bad news’ for the North Korean
leader.” He said of Kim, “He’s stuck, doesn’t have any sanctions relief,”
and “doesn’t know where this is going. So, I think this really does change
the power dynamics of negotiations.” Yun “also suggested that the generally
warm reception of Mr. Trump’s handling of the summit received from both
sides of the political aisle in Washington may have added to the North
Korean leader’s frustration.”
Kudlow: US-China Talks Making “Great Progress.”

On the Sunday talk shows, Administration officials sounded positive notes
about the ongoing US-China trade negotiations. On Fox News Sunday[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=06e-4cc&t=c>
(3/10), NEC Director Kudlow said, “I think we’re making great progress. As
the President said, an across-the-board the deal has to be good for the
United States and for our workers and our farmers and our manufacturers.
It’s got to be good. It’s got to be fair and reciprocal and it has to be
enforceable. That’s an important point. Secondly, we made great headway
when the Chinese were here two weeks ago. In the past week, we spent in
communications with them every day by teleconferencing and so forth working
out some of the difficult final points. I think that’s where we are in the
successful negotiations. I don’t want to predict, it’s up to the President
and not to me but I think the headway has been good.”

        National Security Adviser Bolton said on Fox News’ Sunday Morning
Futures
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=06f-50a&t=c>
(3/10), “I think President Trump has identified exactly the structural
issues that you’ve referred to, the enormous damage, that’s been done to
the United States over a period of decades by Chinese stealing intellectual
property and forced technology transfers. This is critical, to reversing
the pattern to get this right in the negotiations. So I don’t think it
should be surprising that it’s complex and that China is faced with some
very difficult choices here that’s what our negotiators have been pursuing
and that’s really much of the work that remains to be done. Not only how to
reach an agreement on these issues but how to enforce them over the long
term.”

        *Deal Will Put Few Restrictions On China’s Control Over Currency’s
Strength. *The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=070-52e&t=c>
(3/10, Bradsher) says the pending trade agreement “could put few
restrictions on Beijing’s control over the strength of its currency,
potentially inflaming trade hawks in Congress and within the Trump
administration itself.” The currency provisions of the trade agreement “are
essentially a reaffirmation of the statement that the G-20 economies,
including China, issued when the group’s finance ministers gathered in
Shanghai in February 2016.” In that agreement “all the group’s finance
ministers agreed that they would not deliberately devalue their currencies
with the purpose of achieving a competitive advantage for their exports.”
But the accord “still allowed currencies to move up and down for lots of
other reasons.” The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=071-3f3&t=c>
(3/10, Wei, Deng) reports People’s Bank of China Gov. Yi Gang said at a
news conference Sunday that as part of the deal the US and China are
currently negotiating, China will not devalue its currency to gain a
competitive advantage. However, the Journal says it is still not clear how
the agreement will be enforced.

        *Trump Has Kept European Allies At A Distance During China Talks. *The
Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=072-c7e&t=c>
(3/10, Salama, Mauldin) reports President Trump has kept European allies at
a distance during the talks with China. The Journal cites people briefed on
the matter, including European officials, who said Trump does not want
Europe to benefit from the US-China agreement.
Bolton Says Momentum In Venezuela Is On Guaidó’s Side.

Martha Raddatz of ABC’s This Week
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=073-4a6&t=c>
(3/10) on Sunday asked National Security Adviser Bolton whether Venezuela’s
embattled President Nicolas Maduro is “going anywhere,” as it has “been
about six weeks since the US-backed Juan Guaidó.” Bolton responded, “I
think momentum is on Guaidó’s side. Reports in the press that stress the
military hasn’t shifted miss the point entirely.” He explained, “The point
is that they have not sought to arrest Guaidó and the National Assembly and
the opposition. And I think one reason for that is that Maduro fears if he
gave that order, it would not be obeyed. The fact is, and the media don’t
know it because people don’t talk about this, there are countless
conversations going on between members of the National Assembly and members
of the military in Venezuela; talking about what might come, how they might
move to support the opposition.”

        The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=074-b07&t=c>
(3/10, Taylor) reports Bolton also told Raddatz “he feels ‘honored’” that
Maduro “recently named him among a list of Trump administration officials
that Mr. Maduro ‘fears.’” Bolton added that “it’s not just Maduro … It’s
the entire regime. It’s a group of kleptocrats who have plundered Venezuela
of its oil wealth, have impoverished the people.” According to the Times,
Bolton’s remarks “came after reports of expanding electricity and
communications outages in Venezuela, where an ongoing political and
humanitarian crisis saw the Guaido-aligned opposition and Maduro-loyalists
hold rival demonstrations over the weekend.” Those rallies and outages, the
Times adds, “are playing out against a backdrop in which both sides appear
to be preparing for what a growing number of experts predict will be a
protracted power struggle likely to deepen the hardship of national
economic paralysis already gripping Venezuela.”

        Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=075-40e&t=c>
(3/10, Ellsworth, Armas) reports that the country on Sunday “entered a
fourth day of a nationwide blackout that has left already-scarce food
rotting in shops, homes suffering for lack of water and cell phones without
reception.” Authorities “have managed to provide only patchy access to
power since the outage began on Thursday” in what Maduro deemed “an act of
US-backed sabotage, but critics insist it is the result of incompetence and
corruption.” ABC World News Tonight
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=076-6b0&t=c>
(3/10, story 6, 0:20, Llamas) reported that “at least 15 hospital deaths
are being blamed” on the blackout, which affected “more than 70 percent of
the country.” The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=077-b53&t=c>
(3/10, Dube, Castro) says the blackout has crippled the nation, wiping out
telecommunications networks and paralyzing the sale of basic goods. With
the food supply now at risk of collapsing, many analysts are cautioning
that widespread hunger and looting may follow.

        *NYTimes Analysis Suggests Maduro’s Security Forces Not Responsible
For Torched Aid. *A New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=078-9f8&t=c>
(3/10, Casey, Koettl, Acosta) analysis says Vice President Pence, the State
Department, and Venezuela’s opposition accused security forces, on the
order of Maduro, of torching “a convoy of humanitarian aid as millions in
his country were suffering from illness and hunger” Yet, unpublished
footage obtained by the Times “and previously released tapes – including
footage released by the Colombian government, which has blamed Mr. Maduro
for the fire – allowed for a reconstruction of the incident” suggests that
“opposition itself, not Mr. Maduro’s men, appears to have set the cargo
alight accidentally.” While many of “Maduro’s critics” also “claim that he
ordered medication set on fire during the border standoff,” that claim,
“too, appears to be unsubstantiated, according to videos and interviews.”
US officials “noted that, whatever the circumstances, they held Mr. Maduro
responsible because he blocked the aid trucks that day, punishing
Venezuelans in need.”

        *US Envoy: Administration Pushing India To Stop Buying Oil From
Venezuela’s Maduro. *The US “is pressing India to stop buying oil from
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government, Washington’s top envoy
for Venezuela,” Elliott Abrams, told Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=079-730&t=c>
(3/10, Wroughton, Cohen, Parraga) in an interview Sunday. Describing the US
approach as “arguing, cajoling, urging,” Abrams asserted, “We say you
should not be helping this regime. You should be on the side of the
Venezuelan people.” The Administration has delivered “the same message to
other governments, Abrams said, and has made a similar argument to foreign
banks and companies doing business with Maduro.” According to Reuters, “The
talks with India come as the United States and its regional allies”
threaten to impose “more sanctions to cut off revenue streams to Maduro’s
government and force him to step down.” The talks also “come as trade
tensions rise between Washington and New Delhi, and when the United States
is also pushing India to cease buying Iranian oil.”

        *US Presses Latin American Leaders To Turn China Against Maduro. *The
Miami Herald
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=07a-0fd&t=c>
(3/10, Ordoñez) reports that the US “is pressing Latin American leaders to
deliver a message to China: Beijing is damaging its image in the Western
Hemisphere and putting billions of its investment at risk by propping up
Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.” According to “diplomats and sources
familiar with the discussions between Trump’s national security team and
Latin American leaders, China has become a key part of the US-supported
international pressure campaign to isolate Maduro and remove him from
Venezuela.” The National Security Council’s Special Assistant to the
President and Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs, “Mauricio
Claver-Carone, and other senior officials” have in the last few weeks
“delivered the message to regional ambassadors and mission chiefs.” The
Herald says China, like Russia, has “invested tens of billions of dollars
in Venezuela.” In turn, the country has “received cheap oil and a foothold
in the United States’ sphere of influence.”
Bolton: US Presence In Syria To Prevent ISIS Resurgence.

In an appearance on ABC’s This Week
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=07b-21c&t=c>
(3/10), National Security Adviser Bolton said of the situation in Syria,
“The President has been I think as clear as clear can be when he talks
about the defeat of the ISIS territorial caliphate. He has never said that
the elimination of the territorial caliphate means the end of ISIS in
total. We know that’s not the case. We know right now that there are ISIS
fighters scattered still around Syria and Iraq, and that ISIS itself is
growing in other parts of the world. The ISIS threat will remain.” Bolton
continued, “But one reason that the President has committed to keeping an
American presence in Iraq and a small part of an observer force in Syria,
is against the possibility that there would be a real resurgence of ISIS,
and we would then have the ability to deal with that if that arose.”

        On Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures[image: Image removed by sender.
Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=07c-524&t=c>
(3/10), Bolton said, “I can tell you I’ve spoken to my British and French
counterparts this past week and they are looking to try and participate. We
haven’t formalized it yet,” and “a lot of work remains to be done. Chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joe Dunford and his colleagues at the Pentagon
have been moving heaven and earth to try and get this accomplished. We’re
still optimistic we can do it, but it’s still moving in the right
direction. We think it’s very important that we get this right.”

        *US-Backed Troops Making Final Push Against ISIS In Syria. *ABC
World News Tonight
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=07d-08b&t=c>
(3/10, story 8, 1:45, Llamas) reported that while “thousands of women and
children have been evacuated” from ISIS’ last foothold in Syria, many
families are “refusing to leave town.” According to ABC, “Around 1,500
jihadis are still inside the tiny town” of Baghouz and the battle is
beginning “even though not all civilians are clear of the danger zone.” ABC
added that “no one knows how long it will take” to defeat ISIS, but
“reclaiming ISIS territory is only part of the fight. Defeating their
ideology, that’s the real war.”

        Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=07e-5cb&t=c>
(3/10, Said) likewise says that “while the Baghouz enclave represents the
last shred of populated land held by the jihadists, the group is still
widely seen as a big security threat operating in remote territory
elsewhere and able to launch guerrilla attacks.”

        *CBS News Analysis: Rebuilding Syria “Will Be A Massive Task.” *The CBS
Weekend News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=07f-9c6&t=c>
(3/10, story 8, 2:30, Quijano) reported “civil war has left Syria in ruins”
and “rebuilding will be a massive task.” Jonathan Vigiliotti reported from
Homs that “it is estimated that more than half a million people have been
killed in this war.” Meanwhile, many “Syrians have yet to see the full
scale of loss” after fleeing the fighting. Vigiliotti reported that “it
could take six years just to clear the debris” in Aleppo, while just 35
families have returned to Palmyra, where 80,000 people lived before the
war. Vigiliotti concluded, “With an estimated $250 billion price tag and no
commitment from the cash strapped government, stability, and Syria’s
future, remain buried under millions of tons of rubble.”

        *Gabbard Declines To Say Whether Assad Is A War Criminal. *Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=080-87b&t=c>
(3/10, Forgey) reports presidential candidate Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI)
“declined Sunday to say whether Syrian President Bashar Assad is a war
criminal.” During a CNN town hall in Austin, Gabbard said, “I think that
the evidence needs to be gathered, and as I have said before, if there is
evidence that he has committed war crimes, he should be prosecuted as
such.”

        *Ireland Seeks Repatriation Of Woman Who Joined ISIS. *The Washington
Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=081-779&t=c>
(3/10, Tamkin) reports Irish Minister for Justice and Equality Charlie
Flanagan “said Sunday that ‘every effort’ would be made to bring an Irish
woman believed to be detained in northern Syria back to Ireland.” The
woman, Lisa Smyth, “formerly of the Irish Defense Forces, is believed to
have been radicalized and gone to Syria a few years ago” and “she allegedly
has ties to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. She is also believed to
have a young son.” The Post writes that “Flanagan’s initial reaction stands
in contrast to many high-profile cases in Europe and the United States
regarding Islamic State fighters and their families,” in which officials
have been less sympathetic to returning citizens who had previously joined
foreign fighters.
NYTimes Analysis: Netanyahu-Trump Ties “Stronger Than Ever” Ahead Of
Israeli Election.

The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=082-ede&t=c>
(3/10, Halbfinger) reports that in “his increasingly uphill re-election
battle, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s secret weapon is no secret.
It’s President Trump.” The Times says that while “other presidents and
prime ministers have been close, the Trump-Netanyahu relationship has no
precedent in their countries’ history, veteran diplomats say, encompassing
deep parallels in their politics, similar struggles with scandals and
outright copycatting in how they denigrate opponents. And the relationship
has also benefited Mr. Trump, with Mr. Netanyahu’s policies alienating
Jewish Democrats and helping Mr. Trump depict the Republicans as Israel’s
only reliable source of unconditional American support.” However, the Times
says the “prelude to the April 9 election in Israel could well be their
last hurrah together,” with Netanyahu’s defeat “now a serious possibility.”

        *B’nai B’rith CEO: Iran’s Aggressive Stance Toward Israel Must Be
Addressed By World Leaders. *In an op-ed for The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=083-941&t=c>
(3/10), Daniel Mariaschin, CEO of B’nai B’rith International, writes that
for over four decades, “hardly a day has passed without” Iranian
politicians threatening Israel. Last June, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei called Israel a “cancerous tumor,” which “must be eradicated.” The
Iranian regime “for years” has “sponsored a cartoon contest focused on
Holocaust denial.” Mariaschin says that several years ago, “there was an
attempt by leading Western legal figures to bring Iran to the International
Court of Justice on the basis of the militant language against Israel,” but
that effort “seemed to have stalled.” Mariaschin said last month’s
gathering of “high ranking officials from 60 countries” in Warsaw to
address threats made by Tehran is an “important development in the campaign
to develop a consensus on the threat to the region.”
US Airstrikes In Afghanistan Reportedly Kill 13 Civilians.

The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=084-3b3&t=c>
(3/10, Ghazi, Abed) reports “at least 13 civilians, including several
children, were killed in American airstrikes in eastern Afghanistan that
were carried out in support of an Afghan-led operation against the Taliban,
local officials and tribal elders said on Sunday.” The Times states that
“members of a CIA-sponsored Afghan strike force called in air support after
coming under fire on Saturday as they mounted an assault on Taliban
fighters in the district of Hesarak in Nangarhar Province.” A spokesperson
for the NATO mission in Afghanistan “confirmed the airstrikes but did not
directly address the reports of civilian casualties.” The Times adds that
“in recent months, the American military has increased attacks against the
Taliban, seeking leverage as American negotiators hold peace talks with the
militants.”

        *Report Says Mullah Omar Lived In Afghanistan, Not Pakistan, Until
His Death. *The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=085-927&t=c>
(3/10, Donati) says a new report from the Zomia Center concludes that
Mullah Mohammad Omar, the Taliban founder, lived in hiding in southern
Afghanistan near a US base until his death. This new report contradicts the
prior consensus of experts, including those at the CIA, that Mullah Omar
fled to Pakistan following the US invasion and downfall of the Taliban. The
author of the report, Dutch journalist Bette Dam, argues that the report
shows how little the US understand the Taliban.
NYTimes Analysis: US Escalating Campaign Against Al Shabab In Somalia.

A New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=086-286&t=c>
(3/10, Schmitt, Savage) analysis says the US military “has escalated a
battle against the Shabab, an extremist group affiliated with Al Qaeda, in
Somalia even as President Trump seeks to scale back operations against
similar Islamist insurgencies elsewhere in the world, from Syria and
Afghanistan to West Africa.” The Times says this “intensifying bombing
campaign undercuts the Trump administration’s intended pivot to confront
threats from great powers like China and Russia, and away from long
counterinsurgency and counterterrorism campaigns that have been the
Pentagon’s focus since 2001.” Analysts suggested that the surge in US
airstrikes may also “reflect an unspoken effort by American commanders to
inflict as much punishment on the Shabab while they can.”
Domestic Policy
Barrasso Says He Is “Going To Support The President” On Emergency
Declaration.

On Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=087-e32&t=c>
(3/10), Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) said of the upcoming Senate vote on
President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency at the US-Mexico
border, “I’m going to support the President. I think the President is
absolutely right on declaring the emergency here. ... Today, 130 Americans
will die of drug overdoses in the United States. So much of that is coming
in from Mexico, we have a security issue and also a humanitarian issue.”

        However, on CNN’s State Of The Union[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=088-1fc&t=c>
(3/10), Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX), one of the 13 Republicans
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=089-048&t=c>
who voted last month to show disapproval of the declaration, said, “I have
multiple military bases in my district. There’s a plan to take about $4
billion away from construction at our military bases. ... We have, what,
six months, seven months left in the fiscal year we had a bill that funded
border security. ... We need to be focusing on things like fixing asylum.”

        The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=08a-e20&t=c>
(3/10, Demirjian) reports on the comments from both Barrasso and Hurd in a
story headlined “GOP Bracing For Trump To Veto Congress’s Rejection Of His
Emergency Declaration.” The Post says Barrasso’s statement that Trump will
veto the measure is “an effective admission that the GOP does not have the
votes to prevent the full Senate from voting to annul Trump’s order.”

        *Some Arizona Ranchers Who Backed Trump “Now Have Doubts” About
Border Policy. *The Los Angeles Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=08b-0e8&t=c>
(3/10, Hennessy-Fiske) reports under the headline “Arizona Ranchers Who
Supported Trump Wall Now Have Doubts About Border Plans” that some border
ranchers who voted for President Trump “say his ‘big, beautiful’ wall won’t
work without first improving how the Border Patrol monitors existing
barriers.” The President “sent active-duty U.S. troops to the border, and
worked with governors to send National Guard troops, but the guardsmen he’s
seen are not armed like they were under President Obama,” an “irony [that]
is not lost” on one rancher who expressed skepticism about the wall.

        *Julián Castro: “Administration Has Taken The Wrong Path” At
Border. *Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro said on CNN’s
State Of The Union
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=08c-d76&t=c>
(3/10), “Last year, the Administration said that they were taking little
children away from their parents because they wanted to deter other
families from coming. ... Instead of deterring these families, we see more
families coming. ... One of the problems is this Administration has taken
the wrong path. I think what we need to do in the long run really is to
engage” El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras “and figure out a way to work
with them so people can find safety and prosperity there instead of
knocking on the doorstep of the United States.”

        *WPost: Administration Has “Wrong Prescription” For “Crisis” At
Border. *The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=08d-276&t=c>
(3/10) editorializes, “A surge in illegal border crossings, especially by
Central American parents and children seeking asylum in the United States,
has been seized on by administration officials as justification for
President Trump’s emergency declaration and border wall.” But while it is
“a genuine humanitarian crisis,” the Post says it is “not one that would
best be addressed by adding more border barriers.” The Post says the
President’s “instinct to punish, not help, countries whose people leave is
the wrong prescription for a mounting problem at the border.”

        *Heritage’s Inserra: Administration Should Focus On Legal
Loopholes, Not Wall. *David Inserra of the Heritage Foundation’s Allison
Center for Foreign and National Security Policy writes in the Wall Street
Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=08e-d3b&t=c>
(3/10) that a border wall will not help with the crisis, and says the
larger issue are the loopholes in immigration law and asylum policy.
Schiff: It’s A “Mistake” For Mueller Not To Interview Trump.

Bloomberg
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=08f-481&t=c>
(3/10, Niquette) reports House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff told NBC’s
Meet The Press
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=090-f33&t=c>
(3/10) on Sunday that it would be a mistake for Special Counsel Robert
Mueller not to subpoena President Trump to appear before a grand jury in
the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Said
Schiff, “I do think ultimately it’s a mistake because probably the best way
to get the truth would be to put the President under oath. ... Because as
he’s made plain in the past, he feels it’s perfectly fine to lie to the
public.”

        The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=091-fed&t=c>
(3/10, Demirjian) reports Schiff “acknowledged that it might be expedient
for Mueller to avoid subpoenaing Trump’s testimony because the president
could fight it and Mueller’s new boss,” Attorney General Barr, “might
oppose such a move.” The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=092-2b6&t=c>
(3/10, Burke) quotes Schiff as saying, “I also think that the special
counsel feels some time pressure to conclude his work, and knowing that the
White House would drag out a fight over the subpoena, that may be an issue
as well.”

        Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=093-2d4&t=c>
(3/10, Weaver) reports Schiff said “that it’s equally important to be able
to ask follow-up questions in real-time.” The Washington Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=094-e3a&t=c>
(3/10, Halaschak), among other outlets, also reports Schiff’s comments.

        Meanwhile, Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), on Fox News’ Sunday Morning
Futures
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=095-7ea&t=c>
(3/10), said, “This has gone on too long. It is time to get the report. I
think the American people deserve transparency. We’ve heard from Attorney
General Barr in his testimony to Congress that he plans to do everything he
can to make sure the American public sees what’s in it. It’s time to get it
done. This has been going on way too long. It’s time to move on.”

        *Schiff: Cohen’s Lies About Moscow Trump Tower Raise Questions. *The
CBS Weekend News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=096-47b&t=c>
(3/10, story 4, 1:05, Quijano) reported on Sunday, Schiff “said Michael
Cohen’s lies about Trump Tower Moscow have raised questions about President
Trump’s intentions for the project.” Schiff said on NBC’s Meet The Press[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=097-c52&t=c>
(3/10), “He may believe that when he leaves office, that he still wants to
build this tower. And while that may not be criminal, it is nonetheless
corrupt.”

        *Hill: Cohen Likely To Face DOJ Perjury Probe. *Fox News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=098-ff2&t=c>
(3/10, Re) reports on its website that Rep. Katie Hill (D-CA) told Fox News
Sunday that she believes House Oversight and Reform Chairman Elijah
Cummings will “end up referring” former Trump attorney Michael Cohen to the
Department of Justice for a perjury investigation, “after numerous
contradictions and inconsistencies have surfaced” in his testimony last
month. Said Hill, “I don’t know if he lied or not. ... Chairman Cummings is
incredibly deliberate. I know that he’s reviewing the entire testimony.”

        *Schiff: Erik Prince Interview Doesn’t Match House Testimony.
*The Washington
Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=099-2f2&t=c>
(3/10, Sherfinski) reports Schiff also said Sunday that former Blackwater
CEO Erik Prince “did not disclose a meeting he attended at Trump Tower
during the presidential campaign in his testimony to the committee –
contrary to recent comments from Mr. Prince” in an interview with Al
Jazeera. Said Schiff, “He’s certainly not telling the truth in that
interview. He did not disclose that meeting to our committee.” Schiff
added, “[Special counsel] Bob Mueller has that testimony already, and Bob
Mueller will have to make the decision about whether that rises to the
level of deliberate falsehood.”

        *ABC’s Moran: Media, Democrats Face “Reckoning” If Mueller Finds No
Collusion. *The Daily Caller
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=09a-d76&t=c>
(3/10, Ross) reports ABC’s Terry Moran argued in a panel discussion Sunday
that “Democrats and the media will face a ‘reckoning’ if special counsel
Robert Mueller finds no evidence of collusion involving the Trump
campaign.” Appearing on ABC’s This Week, Moran said, “The central and most
serious question in this investigation, the reason Robert Mueller started
it: Did the current President of the United States assist the Kremlin in an
attack on our democracy? And if Mueller, after two years, comes back and
says, ‘I don’t have the evidence to support that charge,’ that’s a
reckoning. That’s a reckoning for progressives and Democrats who hoped that
Mueller would essentially erase the 2016 election. It’s a reckoning for the
media. It’s a reckoning across the country if in fact after all this time
there was no collusion.”

        *Trump Derides “Total Witch Hunt” Started By “Crooked Hillary,”
DNC. *President Trump tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=09b-9d6&t=c>
Sunday, “‘There’s not one shred of evidence that President Trump has done
anything wrong.’ @GrahamLedger One America News. So true, a total Witch
Hunt – All started illegally by Crooked Hillary Clinton, the DNC and
others!”

        *WTimes Analysis: Democrats Lose Interest In Conspiracy Linking
Trump To Russia’s Alfa Bank. *The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=09c-207&t=c>
(3/10, Scarborough) reports that “amid all the Trump-Russia conspiracy
stories – such as prostitutes in Moscow, a secret trip to Prague and hush
money to computer hackers – Democrats seem to have lost interest in at
least one of them.” The Times says that the “past two weeks of Michael
Cohen’s public testimony and the House Judiciary Committee’s demands for
documents contained no inquires about the elusive Trump computer server.
The machine supposedly linked Trump Tower directly to Russia’s largest
commercial bank, Alfa, and its oligarch partners.”

        *McCabe “Shocked” By Manafort Sentence. *Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=09d-416&t=c>
(3/10, Weaver) reports former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe said Sunday
that he was surprised by the “incredibly lenient” sentence received by
former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Appearing on CBS’ Face The
Nation
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=09e-71e&t=c>
(3/10), McCabe said, “I think it’s an incredibly lenient sentence in light
not just of the offenses he was convicted for but for the additional
offenses that he has pleaded guilty to in D.C. and the offenses he’s
acknowledged essentially in the sentencing process in Virginia that he is
responsible for. So, like most people, I was shocked by how lenient the
sentence was.”

        Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) said on CBS’ Face The Nation[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=09f-685&t=c>
(3/10), “Number one, I was surprised at his sentence. I thought it would be
longer. Number two, as I said in the past, Mr. Manafort is a grifter. He
used to be partner with Roger Stone. I’m sorry, he’s just a sleezoid. He’s
always played at the margins.”

        Mo Elleithee of Georgetown University’s Institute of Politics and
Public Service said on Fox News’ MediaBuzz[image: Image removed by sender.
Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=0a0-2a9&t=c>
(3/10), “It was a stark departure from the sentencing guidelines. So, I
think that caught a lot of people off guard. Secondly, I heard an
increasing number of commentators broaden this conversation a bit and say
this is really interesting because there are people, people of color,
people who are less well off who have been convicted of crimes that were
far less and received bigger sentences, and maybe there is some inequity in
how sentences are handed down.”

        *Trump Shares Tweet Calling For Clinton To Be Questioned About
Steele Dossier. *President Trump on Sunday retweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=0a1-b07&t=c>
a tweet by Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton, who wrote, “The real
collusion scandal... why haven’t Hillary Clinton and her lawyers been
questioned about their collusion with Fusion GPS/Russia/DOJ/FBI to get
@realDonaldTrump. Great interview with @MariaBartiromo this am.”

        *FBF Gave $2M To Group Working With Fusion GPS, Steele. *The Daily
Caller
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=0a2-01a&t=c>
(3/10, Ross) reports that a “dark money group based in California
contributed $2 million to The Democracy Integrity Project, the organization
that has contracted with Fusion GPS and Christopher Steele” to investigate
President Trump. Fund for a Better Future (FBF) “donated $2,065,000 to The
Democracy Integrity Project (TDIP) in 2017.”

        *Steve Cohen: “Trump Is A Cancer On The Country.” *Breitbart
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=0a3-aea&t=c>
(3/10, Key) reports that on MSNBC on Sunday, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) said
President Trump is a “cancer on the country.” Said Cohen, “Trump is a con
man. Michael Cohen said he is a con man, a liar, and a racist. He is a con
man. He is a liar, and he is a racist. He has lied about everything that
goes down. He continues to lie. That’s why he’s attacked this Mueller
investigation, the Justice Department, the FBI, judges that didn’t rule in
his manner and way in the Trump University lawsuit. The man is a walking
lie.”
Axios: Trump Told RNC Donors That Democrats “Hate Jewish People.”

Axios
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=0a4-9f4&t=c>
(3/10, Swan) reports the President, in a reference “to the recent
anti-Semitism controversies” with Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), said in a speech
to Republican National Committee donors at Mar-a-Lago Friday, “The
Democrats hate Jewish people.” Trump “said he didn’t understand how any Jew
could vote for a Democrat these days” and “talked about how much he’d done
for Israel, noting his historic decision to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel
to Jerusalem.” According to Axios, in order to prevent leaks from the
event, “security guards made attendees put their cellphones in magnetized
pouches that they carried around like purses until they left the club. So
leakers had to rely on their memories.”

        *Lawmakers Weigh In On House Anti-Hate Resolution. *The Washington
Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=0a5-b8a&t=c>
(3/10, Sherfinski) reports Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) said on NBC’s Meet The
Press
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=0a6-156&t=c>
(3/10) Sunday that last week’s House resolution denouncing hate was an
effort by House Democrats to protect Omar. Cheney, who “was one of about
two dozen House Republicans who voted against the resolution,” said, “It
was really clearly an effort to actually protect Ilhan Omar, to cover up
her bigotry and anti-Semitism by refusing to name her. ... I think it is
absolutely shameful that [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi and [House Majority
Leader] Hoyer and the Democratic leaders will not put her name in a
resolution on the floor and condemn her remarks and remove her from the
House Foreign Affairs Committee.”

        The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=0a7-c06&t=c>
(3/10, Sonmez)reports “one of the resolution’s lead sponsors,” Rep. Jamie
Raskin (D-MD) “pushed back” in an interview on MSNBC[image: Image removed
by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=0a8-16c&t=c>
(3/10) Sunday afternoon. Raskin called the measure the most powerful
anti-Semitism resolution in congressional history and said those who
opposed it were wrong to do so. Said Raskin, “History is going to judge
them very harshly for that.” The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=0a9-e4a&t=c>
(3/10, Thrush, Stolberg) says the resolution “seemed to satisfy no one.”
The “wrenching intraparty fight left unanswered a question that transcends
partisan politics: In an era of shouting and provocation, how should
Congress respond when its members say hateful or hurtful things?”

        On Fox News Sunday
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=0aa-2a9&t=c>
(3/10), Rep. Katie Hill (D-CA) said, “First of all, it was a completely
bipartisan resolution. All but 23 members of Congress, the 23 that voted
against it were all Republican. It was completely supported. So it was
something that if you’re going to call out something that is bigoted,
whether it is anti-Semitic or anything else, then we should say that all of
this is unacceptable and that’s what we did. That was really what the
debate was about. We are going to condemn one sort of behavior, then why
should we isolate it to one group. We should condemn all forms.” E.J.
Dionne writes in the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=0ab-abe&t=c>
(3/10) that “you can love Israel, be critical of its current government and
truly despise anti-Semitism, all at the same time. What you cannot do is
play fast and loose with language that cannot help but be seen as
anti-Semitic. I pray Omar now realizes this.”

        On CNN’s State Of The Union
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=0ac-5ec&t=c>
(3/10), Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX) said, “I voted for it, because you shouldn’t
hate people, period, end of story. We learned that stuff in kindergarten. I
think many of my colleagues were doing in voting against it was lodging
their being upset about that this it was watered down, it wasn’t narrow.
Had Republicans done that, then the entire Democratic caucus would have
gone crazy and gotten upset about that.”

        Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) discussed the resolution on CBS’ Face
The Nation
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=0ad-5c7&t=c>
(3/10). She said, “My view is that we condemn anti-Semitism and
Islamophobia wherever it appears. We are a democracy. And in a democracy,
we have to talk about our differences. We need to do so with respect, but
ultimately, we need to hammer out the best policies for this country, and
that means a lot of frank and full discussion.”

        Julián Castro, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, said on CNN’s
State Of The Union
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=0ae-ddc&t=c>
(3/10). Castro said, “I think the vast majority of people in the Democratic
Party recognize that anti-Semitism in the United States and also in places
like Europe has been on the rise and we need to combat that. I think also
probably that this was impacted by the fact that Rep. Omar apologized for
this, and said she should have said that differently. My hope is that, you
know, apart from this resolution, that we’re going to take action in this
country to make sure that anti-Semitism and other types of bigotry are not
given sustenance, and we have to recognize that we have a President, who is
dividing Americans along a lot of these lines. I would like to see us
united in trying to offer a different, more positive and inclusive vision
for the future of this country.”

        *Pirro Suggests Omar Wearing Hijab Is “Antithetical” To The
Constitution. *USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=0af-782&t=c>
(3/10, Cummings) reports Fox News host Jeanine Pirro on Saturday questioned
whether Omar’s “use of a hijab, a head covering traditionally worn by
Muslim women, signaled that she held beliefs that are ‘antithetical’ to the
Constitution.” During her opening statement on her show, Pirro said, “Think
about this: She’s not getting this anti-Israel sentiment doctrine from the
Democrat Party. So if it’s not rooted in the party, where is she getting it
from? ... Think about it. Omar wears a hijab, which according to the Quran
33:59, tells women to cover so they won’t get molested. Is her adherence to
this Islamic doctrine indicative of her adherence to Sharia law, which in
itself is antithetical to the United States Constitution?” The comments
“drew condemnation on social media.”

        *Minnesota Somalis, Jews Express Pain, Confusion Over Omar
Comments. *The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=0b0-9f3&t=c>
(3/10, Viebeck) reports that Jews and Somali immigrants in Minnesota’s Twin
Cities “have been partners for decades,” but in the wake of Omar’s
comments, “leaders on both sides voiced pain and confusion, fearing that
the comments could damage an alliance they have spent years trying to
nurture.” Somali community activist Omar Jamal “said he is in touch with
local Jewish leaders about how the two sides can reaffirm their solidarity
at a moment of crisis. He said that he supported Omar’s congressional
campaign but that her comments are ‘wrong, period.’”
Kudlow: Growing Trade Deficit Is Neither Good Nor Bad.

The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=0b1-c7a&t=c>
(3/10, Sherfinski) reports in an appearance on Fox News Sunday, NEC
Director Kudlow “characterized a widening U.S. trade deficit – which
included a record trade gap in goods of $891 billion last year – as neither
good nor bad.” Kudlow said, “You have incentives for investment and
economic growth. The U.S. is bound to have a trade deficit in goods with
the rest of the world [because] we’re growing much faster than they’re
growing and so we’re buying more of their goods. ... On the other hand, we
have [a] trade surplus on services and we have a surplus on investment
income coming into the USA so I don’t want to get too hung up on that. ...
It’s neither good nor bad. It just is. But we have to have tough,
reciprocal trading policies with our neighbors.”

        Robert Samuelson writes in the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=0b2-2e7&t=c>
(3/10) that the latest trade deficit “should give President Trump a lesson
in the economics of trade.” Samuelson argues that by his own standard,
Trump’s “policy has failed, even as he implausibly claims that it hasn’t.
Had he heeded economists, both liberal and conservative, he could have
avoided this embarrassment.”
Powell Expects Slower Growth This Year.

Federal Reserve Chairman Powell said on CBS’ 60 Minutes[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=0b3-536&t=c>
(3/10), “I think growth this year will be slower than last year. Last year
was the highest growth that we’ve experienced since the financial crisis,
really in more than 10 years. This year, I expect that growth will continue
to be positive, and continue to be at a healthy rate.” Asked if four
percent growth is something that can be expected in the future, Powell
said, “There will be years of four percent growth. But it would be
challenging to see sustained four percent growth, again, because of the
slow growth of the workforce.”

        The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=0b4-dd3&t=c>
(3/10, Crutsinger) reports Powell said that political attacks from the
President did not impact the Fed’s January decision “to signal that it
planned to take a pause in hiking interest rates.” Powell “said that the
Fed decided to pause its rate hikes in January, after increasing rates four
times in 2018, because the global economy was slowing and other risks to
the U.S. economy were rising.” According to Powell, despite criticism, the
Fed will always “make decisions based on what we think is right for the
American people.”
Powell: Fed Not In A Hurry To Change Interest Rate Policy.

Federal Reserve Chairman Powell said on CBS’ 60 Minutes[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=0b5-2f7&t=c>
(3/10), “We see the economy as in a good place. We think that the outlook
is a favorable one. Inflation is muted, and our policy rate, we think, is
in an appropriate place. So what we’ve said is that we would be patient.
... Patient means that we don’t feel any hurry to change our interest rate
policy.”
Central Banks Adjust Policies To Reduce Odds Of Recession.

The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=0b6-b8b&t=c>
(3/10, Hilsenrath, Timiraos) reports central bankers, concerned about an
economic slowdown that could cause a recession, are calling off
interest-rate increases sooner than anticipated and are easing monetary
policy. Federal Reserve officials have recently shown they will hold off on
three short-term interest rate increases planned for 2019, and instead will
keep short-term rates at just below 2.5 percent. Economists also expect
central banks in other countries to adjust their planning similarly.
Cancer Research
NCI’s Sharpless Talks President’s Childhood Cancer Initiative In Interview.

Cancer Letter
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=0b7-091&t=c>
(3/8) interviewed NCI Director Ned Sharpless, asking him about the $500
million promised by President Trump for childhood cancer research.
Sharpless said data aggregation and sharing “is an area of unmet need... I
think that radical data federation involves multi-level aggregation of data
from a variety of sources – genomics, clinical data, radiology, histology.”

        Cancer Letter
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=0b8-2fd&t=c>
(3/8, Ong) reported Sharpless also said in the interview, “We envision this
to be a very high-grade dataset that will be useful for real cutting-edge
translational and basic research. This quality, this size, this scope
doesn’t exist in any area of biomedical research.” Furthermore, Sharpless
said he expects this “radical data sharing and aggregation... to inform not
just childhood cancer, but every kind of cancer.”

        Nancy Goodman wrote a guest editorial in Cancer Letter
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=0b9-28b&t=c>
(3/8) in support of the pediatric cancer initiative and its emphasis on
data sharing.
Columnist: Too Many People Are Dying From Colorectal Cancer Because They
Weren’t Screened.

In the Personal Health column of the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=0ba-94d&t=c>
(3/11), Jane Brody writes that “there are simply too many people who are
still getting and dying from” colorectal cancer “because they failed to get
screened for it, including people with no excuse like ignorance, lack of
health insurance or poor access to medical services.” Brody says that “with
colorectal cancer being found in an increasing number of younger adults,
the pressure is on to screen millions more adults in every community of the
United States.” She expands, “As important as getting screened for
colorectal cancer is the need to avoid risk factors for the disease that
individuals can control,” such as “being overweight or physically inactive,
smoking, consuming alcohol immoderately, and eating lots of red meat and
processed meat.” Brody adds that “five years ago this month, the American
Cancer Society and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
established the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable with a goal to get 80
percent of all Americans aged 50 to 75 screened for cancers of the colon
and rectum by any medically accepted method by 2018.”
Editorials/Op-Eds
Washington Post.

        *“Trump Has The Wrong Prescription For Our Mounting Border
Problem.” *The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=0bb-0c0&t=c>
(3/10) editorializes, “A surge in illegal border crossings, especially by
Central American parents and children seeking asylum in the United States,
has been seized on by administration officials as justification for
President Trump’s emergency declaration and border wall.” But while it is
“a genuine humanitarian crisis,” the Post says it is “not one that would
best be addressed by adding more border barriers.” The Post says the
President’s “instinct to punish, not help, countries whose people leave is
the wrong prescription for a mounting problem at the border.”

        *“A New Rule Affecting Title X Would Hurt The Well-Being Of
Millions Of Women.” *The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2019031101biden&r=email-3433&l=0bc-baf&t=c>
(3/10) editorializes, “A rule announced by the Department of Health and
Human Services and published Feb. 25 in the Federal Register would make
organizations that provide or refer patients for abortions ineligible to
receive funds under Title X” and would enact “onerous requirements for
separation of facilities, personnel, and medical and financial records.”
The editorial states that as a result of the new rule, Planned Parenthood
said it would be unable to continue, and the Post suggests that alternative
programs favored by faith groups would be “far less reliable.”

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