EFTA00149214.pdf

From: To: Subject: [EXTERNAL EMAIL] - FBI Public Affairs News Briefing Friday, August 28, 2020 Date: Fri, 28 Aug 2020 10:27:03 +0000 c Importan e: Normal Mobile version and searchable archives available at fbi.bulletinintelligence.com. -FBI News Briefing TO: THE DIRECTOR AND SENIOR STAFF DATE: FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 2020 6:30 AM EDT TODAY'S TABLE OF CONTENTS LEADING THE NEWS • Kenosha's Police Chief Blames Deadly Shooting On Protesters Breaking Curfew. PROTESTS • Rioting Breaks Out In Minneapolis After False Rumor About Police Shooting. • Biden Accuses Trump Of "Rooting For More Violence." • Evers Deploys Guard, Asks Other States To Send Troops, Resources To Kenosha. • To Background Of Burning Building, CNN Chryon Refers To "Fiery But Mostly Peaceful Protests." • Wisconsin College Cancels Pence Commencement Speech In Wake Of Kenosha "Events." • NBA To Resume Play As Other Sports Leagues Cancel Games, Practices. • Wife Of Police Officer Killed In St. Louis Protests Endorses Trump. • Giuliani Says Democrats Turned Peaceful Protests Violent To Hurt Trump. • NYPD Union Leader Says Democrats Have Allowed "Public Safety Disaster." • Kushner Touts President's Policies To Combat Social Injustice, Inequality. • Conway Says President Trying To Help "Democratic-Led Cities." • Protests Lead To Fires And Vandalism In Oakland, California. • Officials Say President Ready To Help Cities Facing Violence. • Portland Mayor Slams Violent Protesters: "Enough Is Enough." • Virginia Senate Votes To Ease Sentences For Assaulting Police. • Thousands To March Against Police Brutality In DC Friday. • PBS' Alcindor: Cawthorn Lifting Self From Wheelchair "Direct Rebuke" To Protesters. OPERATION LEGEND • Trump Sent Federal Agents To Albuquerque In July To Help Police. • Three Charged After Kansas City Carjacking. COUNTER-INTELLIGENCE • Tony Blinken Agrees To Voluntary Deposition In House Ukraine Probe. • Christopher Steele: FBI Did Not Pay For Dossier Research. • Rosen: Foreign Influence Fears Should Not Stop Voters. • Judge Orders Former CIA Officer Accused Of Spying For China Detained As Serious Flight Risk. EFTA00149214 • Judge Declines To Free Ex-Green Beret Accused Of Espionage. • US Officials Say China Poses Unprecedented Security Risk To US. • Hong Kong Denies Foreign Journalist Work Visa In "Blow To Press Freedom." • China Arrests Citizens Potentially Fleeing To Taiwan. • NSA's DevOps Security Lead "Lists Eight Factors To Success." • NGA Outlines Two New Technology Focus Areas. • Russia Detains Soldiers For Allegedly "Passing State Secrets To Ukraine." • German Doctors Treating Navalny Seek Information On Bulgarian Arms Dealer's Assassination Attempt. CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS • "Operation Not Forgotten" Rescues 39 Missing Children In Georgia. • FBI Probing Killing Of Arizona Officer. • Man Shot By Secret Service Officer Outside White House Held Comb, Not Gun. • Chicago Public Schools Official Charged With Lying To FBI In Contract Probe. • Air Force Officer Pleads Not Guilty In Second California Killing. • New Mexico Man Who Threatened Governor Is Sentenced To 14 Months In Prison. • Two Dead After Exchanging Gunfire With Kentucky Police. • Kansas Man Charged In 2003 Killing. • Five Arrested For Child Sex Trafficking In South Carolina. • Florida Man Charged With Vandalizing Church With Nazi Symbols. • "Justice League Dropout" Robber Robs Bank In Texas Walmart. • FBI Offering $10,000 Reward In Detroit Road Rage Murders. • FBI Helping Georgia Police Investigate Racist Letters. • New York Man Faces Attempted Child Enticement Charges. • Ohio Man Pleads Guilty To Posting Threats On Social Media. • Georgia Man Gets 20 Years For Multiple Bank Robberies. • Massachusetts Latin Kings Associate Pleads Guilty To Racketeering Charges. • Luchese Family Underboss Sentenced To Life In Prison. • FBI Asks Public For Help Identifying Suspect In Check Fraud Scheme. • Attorney: Dead Fort Hood Sergeant Reported Sexual Abuse. FINANCIAL CRIME & CORPORATE SCANDALS • Former UAW President Williams Charged In Corruption Probe. • US Charges Former Illinois Road Commissioner With Taking Kickbacks. • Former Ohio House Speaker Accused Of Campaign Violations. • Virginia Man Pleads Guilty To Defrauding Coronavirus PPP. • Maryland Man Charged With Plotting To Sell Fake COVID-19 Disinfectant. • Federal Prosecutors: Indiana Mayor, Wife Skimmed $225,000 From Campaign For Gambling Debts, Personal Expenses. • Former South Dakota Tribal Official Pleads Guilty To Federal Bribery Charge. • Par Funding Officials Will Not Fight SEC's Demand For Continued Receivership Operation. • Former Alabama City Official Sentenced For Theft, Money Laundering. CYBER DIVISION • DO) To Seize 280 Cryptocurrency Accounts "Tied To North Korean Hacks." • FBI Seeks Information On Man Accused Of Hacking New York Student's Snapchat Account. • Musk Confirms "Serious" Cyberattack On Nevada Tesla Factory. • New US Army Cyber Command Deputy Named. • DHS Election Security "War Room" May Run For More Than A Week In November. EFTA00149215 • Russian LinkedIn, Dropbox Hacker Argues Trial Was Flawed. • Britain's Cyberintelligence "Targeted By Lockdown Phishing Email." INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS • Canada Offers To Join Lebanon Blast Probe. OTHER FBI NEWS • Bethlehem, New York In Talks With FBI Over Proposed Training Facility. OTHER WASHINGTON NEWS • Kushner, Ross Praise Administration's Pandemic Response. • White House Announces $760M Deal To Provide 150M Rapid Tests. • CDC Clarifies Testing Guidelines Amid Outcry. • FDA Warns Some Manufacturers Packaging Hand Sanitizers In Food Or Drink Containers. • Senators Call For Investigation Of Hydroxychloroquine Use In Nursing Homes. • Scientists Say Parameters For Social Distancing, Time Of Exposure Are Not Certain. • Pelosi: If Biden Wins, Democrats Will Release Trump's Tax Returns. • US Detaining More Migrant Children In Hotels. • New Unemployment Claims Down Slightly To 1.006M. • Meadows, Pelosi Resume Talks, But Chances For Aid Deal Remain Slim. • Much Of $454B Congress Gave To Treasury For Coronavirus Relief Remains Unused. • WPost: Unemployed Americans "Furious" Congress Let $600 A Week Benefit Expire. • United Airlines Says It Will Furlough 2,850 Pilots Without More Federal Aid. • Trump To Visit Gulf Coast In Wake Of Hurricane Laura. • Law Professors Allege Pompeo Committed "Egregious Violation" Of Hatch Act. • WPost Style Column Considers Conway's Use Of "Excuse Me." • WPost: Trump Organization Has Been Paid More Than $900K By Government. • Study Suggests Dropping Old Missile Categories In Favor Of More Precise Descriptions. • WPost Report: USPS Delivering False Messages To Customers. • Rep. Collins May Have Violated Ethics Rules By Borrowing Official Website Language For Campaign. INTERNATIONAL NEWS • Putin Touts Russia's Vaccine As Safe And Effective. • Germany Pauses Reopening As Cases Rise. • France Calls For Local Action To Reduce Infections As Daily Cases Pass 5,000. • Poll Finds People In Most Wealthy Countries Think Their Government Handled Pandemic Well. • One-Third Of Schoolchildren Globally Lack Access To Remote Learning. • Tourist Spots Offering Remote-Work Visas. • Passenger Removed From Ryanair Flight After Testing Positive. • US Mulls Repercussions For Europeans Over Iran Policy. • Sources: Iranian Vessel Loads With Venezuelan Alumina. • US, Russia Trade Blame Over Skirmish In Syria. • US Embassy Defends Canada After Navarro Slams Country's Military Service In Afghanistan. • Kushner Touts Administration's Mideast Peace Strategy. • US, China Trade Jibes As Military Tensions Escalate. • Russian Prosecutors Do Not Plan To Investigate Navalny's Suspected Poisoning. • Putin Says Prepared To Help Lukashenko If Belarus Protests Turn Violent. • Citing Health, Abe Announces Resignation. • EU Leaders Divided Amid Rising Turkish, Greek Tensions. • Mali Coup Leaders Send President Home. • World Bank Halts Report On National Competitiveness Rankings. EFTA00149216 THE BIG PICTURE • Headlines From Today's Front Pages. WASHINGTON'S SCHEDULE • Today's Events In Washington. LEADING THE NEWS Kenosha's Police Chief Blames Deadly Shooting On Protesters Breaking Curfew. The New York Post (8/27, Brown, 4.57M) reports "Kenosha's police chief has blamed protesters for the deaths during riots in the Wisconsin city - saying the bloodbath only happened because they defied a state-of-emergency curfew." Chief Daniel Miskinis told reporters, "Everybody involved was out after the curfew. ... The point is, the curfew is in place to protect. Had persons not been out involved in violation of that, perhaps the situation that unfolded would not have happened. ... The result of it is two people dead." ABC World News TonightVi (8/27, story 2, 2:55, Alex Perez, 6.48M) showed a "graphic video capturing the chaos: A crowd appears to be chasing the armed man when he falls to the ground and starts firing. As police approach the scene, Rittenhouse can be seen with his hands up, but he's never taken into custody." ABC also reported it had just "learned the 17-year-old has been officially charged with two counts of homicide and one count of attempted homicide. That extradition hearing to bring him from Illinois back here to Wisconsin is set" for Friday morning. The Washington Post (8/27, Armus, 14.2M) reports that Rittenhouse "shadowed local law enforcement as a cadet and filled his social media feeds with posts declaring that 'Blue Lives Matter.' There were videos from the front row of a Trump rally, and photos of himself posing with guns." The AP (8/27, Ortutay, Snow) further recounts that there were "repeated calls for armed vigilantes to travel to Kenosha, Wisconsin, to protect businesses" on "social media in the hours before two people were shot to death and a third was wounded" on Tuesday night. The Washington Post (8/27, Armus, 14.2M) reports that "before he took his rifle to confront the unrest in Kenosha...on Tuesday, allegedly killing two people and injuring another," Rittenhouse "seemingly idolized one thing: the police. ... So much so that, when massive protests, looting and fires broke out in Kenosha following the police shooting of Jacob Blake on Sunday, he crossed state lines to offer his support to local policemen — at times, speaking as if their duties were his, too." Wisconsin Poll: Approval Of BLM Protests Dropped 13 Points Between June And Early August. The Washington Examiner (8/27, Colton, 448K) reports "a new poll out of Wisconsin shows support for Black Lives Matter protests dropped 13 percentage points between June and early August." The Examiner adds "forty-eight percent of Wisconsin residents support Black Lives Matter protests and 48% disapprove, according to a Marquette Law School poll conducted between Aug. 8 and Aug. 9." Marquette had "found 61% of residents approved of the movement's protests from June 14 to June 18, with 36% disapproving." Media Analyses: Protests "Peaceful" In Kenosha After Arrest Of 17-Year-Old In Shootings. NBC Nightly NewsVi (8/27, story 4, 1:55, Gabe Gutierrez, 5.69M) reported, "After days of unrest, now National Guard troops from Arizona, Michigan and Alabama are heading to Kenosha, Wisconsin, even though" Wednesday night's "protests here were peaceful." The CBS Evening NewsVi (8/27, story 3, 2:05, Mola Lenghi, 4.26M) similarly said that "here in Kenosha, you can hear a peaceful rally going on behind me, but the three nights of unrest here left many small businesses damaged or destroyed." CBS added that the mayor of Kenosha said "he's turning to state and federal officials to help get those business owners some financial relief." The AP (8/27, Groves, Bauer) reports that "protests in Kenosha...were mostly peaceful" on Wednesday and Thursday and "there were no groups patrolling with long guns as there were during previous nights of protests" and "protesters also stayed away from a courthouse that EFTA00149217 had been the site of standoffs with law enforcement." Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, of Antioch, Illinois, "was taken into custody on Wednesday." Reuters (8/27, McDermid, Maturen) says "relative calm returned to Kenosha...after multiple nights of looting and two deaths," and USA Today (8/27, Miller, Torres, Yancey-Bragg, 10.31M), among other news outlets, runs a similar analysis. Elderly Man Brutally Assaulted By Looters Monday Night. The Kenosha (WI) News (8/27, Tatge-Rozell, 63K) reported, "In a brutal assault, a 71-year-old Kenosha man who was trying to fend off looters in Uptown Monday night with a fire extinguisher was hit in the head with a plastic bottle filled with concrete, breaking his jaw in two places." The News adds that "in addition to breaking his jaw, the blow caused lacerations to" Robert Cobb's "head and split his nose." PROTESTS Rioting Breaks Out In Minneapolis After False Rumor About Police Shooting. The Minneapolis Star Tribune (8/27, Hyatt, Simon, Walsh, 1.04M) reports "residents and workers in downtown Minneapolis grappled with shattered peace, broken glass, looted shops and personal trepidation Thursday morning after a suicide of a homicide suspect on Nicollet Mall ignited waves of rioting." The Star Tribune adds "the destruction recalled the damage done in the wake of George Floyd's death," and that "fire officials are investigating the apparent torching of four retail outlets overnight that expanded the destruction well beyond the city's core." Moreover, "fire crews rescued two residents from above the China Wok restaurant, one off the roof and the other from a second-floor window using ladders." The Star Tribune also reports that "by the time calm was restored, dozens had been arrested." The Minneapolis Star Tribune (8/27, Sinner, 1.04M) also runs a "map of Minneapolis businesses damaged" or "looted after night of unrest," and explains the rioting took place "in response to a false rumor that a man who killed himself had been shot by police." Fox News (8/27, Casiano, 27.59M) reports on its website, "Videos posted to social media appeared to show people smashing windows and breaking into businesses to steal merchandise," and the Washington Free Beacon (8/27, Nester, 78K) that "another wave of rioting and looting" erupted "as misinformation spread that police had killed" a Black man. Governor: "Dangerous, Unlawful Behavior Will Not Be Tolerated." The Federalist (8/27, Justice, 126K) reports Gov. Tim Walz (D) "deployed more than 5,000 troops to restore public safety" and "condemned the rioting on Twitter." Said Walz, "Dangerous, unlawful behavior will not be tolerated. The State Patrol is headed to Minneapolis to help restore order. I remain in close contact with the city and every state resource stands ready to help bring peace." Biden Accuses Trump Of "Rooting For More Violence." Joe Biden was asked on MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell ReportsVi (8/27, 1.25M) about Vice President Pence's claim that "you won't be safe in Joe Biden's America." Biden replied, "The problem we have right now is we're in Donald Trump's America. To quote Kellyanne Conway, she said, and I'm paraphrasing today, that they're looking for more violence and more destruction because it helps them politically. He views this as a political benefit to him, he's rooting for more violence, not less, and he's clear about that. What's he doing? He's pouring gasoline on the fire. ... I think he views it as a political benefit." Axios (8/27, Allassan, 521K) indicates "Biden pointed to comments made by...Conway, who told Fox News that 'the more chaos and anarchy and vandalism and violence reigns, the better it is for the very clear choice on who's best on public safety and law and order." The story was not covered on the major broadcast networks. Bloomberg (8/27, Epstein, 4.73M) reports "Biden on Thursday accused...Trump of wanting violence on the streets to help boost his re-election chances," and the AP (8/27, Weissert) that he "also said that, if he were EFTA00149218 president, he would travel to Wisconsin personally and that he had considered going anyway, but that he does not `want to be part of the problem." Largely echoing Biden's argument, the New York Times (8/27, Flegenheimer, Glueck, 18.61M) runs an analysis piece titled "Republicans Insist Only Trump Can Stop This Chaos. But He's In Charge Now." The Washington Examiner (8/27, Larsen, 448K) reports "Biden pushed back against arguments from Vice President Mike Pence, President Trump, and others speaking at this week's national convention who argue that a Biden presidency would lead to more riots and violence and asserted that right-wing, white supremacist hate groups are responsible for much of the violence in recent riots." CNBC (8/27, Breuninger, 3.62M) reports on its website, "Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh responded in a statement to CNBC that Biden's `desperation is showing,' adding that Trump has `repeatedly condemned the violence erupting in Democrat-led cities." Added Murtaugh, "This is election is a choice between President Trump's strong stance with law and order and Joe Biden's acquiescence to the anti-police left and siding with rioters." The White House, meanwhile, "declined to comment on Biden's remarks." The Hill (8/27, Samuels, 2.98M) reports "Trump allies have attempted to tie the more violent aspects of the protests to Biden, arguing that he would cut police funding and accusing him of failing to condemn the violence as part of a broader effort to convince suburban voters that their lifestyle may be jeopardized if Trump is not re-elected." Politico (8/27, Choi, 4.29M) quotes White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner as saying, "We're offering solutions with policy. ... The other side's doing a lot of complaining." The Washington Times (8/27, Sherfinski, 492K), the Washington Examiner (8/27, Simonson, 448K), Reuters (8/27, Hunnicutt), and Breitbart (8/27, Key, 673K), among other news outlets, also report the story. Despite Ferguson, Baltimore, Charlotte, Biden Says No Violent Riots During Obama Years. Biden also told MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell ReportsVi (8/27, 1.25M) that for the last four years of the Obama Administration, "we weren't having riots, racial riots. ... When they occurred, we didn't have to call in the National Guard." Fox News (8/27, Blitzer, 27.59M) reports on its website that Biden "appeared to overlook multiple major events that took place during the Obama-Biden administration," including "in Ferguson, Mo., following the 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown. As violence overtook the St. Louis suburb, Gov. Jay Nixon did indeed call in the National Guard." Fox adds that "then in April 2015, the city of Baltimore experienced nights of rioting, looting and arson in the wake of the death of Freddie Gray, 25, in police custody. The Maryland National Guard was called up" too. In September 2016, "protests in Charlotte, N.C., over the death of Keith Lamont Scott, 43, turned violent," and "Gov. Pat McCrory declared a state of emergency and called in the National Guard." WTimes Analysis: Fearing Violence Lifting Trump, Democrats Rethink Riot Response. The Washington Times (8/27, Swoyer, 492K) reports, "Top Democrats scrambled to adopt a tougher approach this week to riots that have broken out in cities across the country, casting a worried eye at...Trump's rising poll numbers, which experts said were driven at least partly by his law-and-order message." The Times adds "Americans tell pollsters they are tiring of the clashes that have broken out on a nearly nightly basis in Portland for the last three months, and the riots that have seen a resurgence in the Midwest this week." The Federalist (8/27, Marcus, 126K), meanwhile, notes a story on Wednesday's New York Times "about how voters in Wisconsin are responding to the riots by switching their support to Donald Trump. This is a very strange thing to see in the progressive Gray Lady," and "anybody who follows the paper and its politics closely knows exactly what is happening here. It is a desperate plea to Democrats to change their tune on the violence sweeping across American cities." The Federalist adds "establishment Democrats and whoever approved the piece in the Times clearly see what is going on here and know they have to fix it fast, but there is no reason to believe that the progressive wing of the party with its outsized media presence will accept this shift to the center quietly." EFTA00149219 Meadows Calls On Biden To Condemn "Defund The Police." Chief of Staff Meadows said on WFYI-TVVi Indianapolis (8/27, 286K) that Biden "wants to reallocate. By definition, that means that you cut from one place, and you augment in another place, and so if he's so clear on it, why didn't he condemn all the people that are out there saying that we need to defund the police? Why didn't he condemn them? Not just state a policy position, but condemn their very activity." Meadows said on Fox News' The Story (8/27) that "I haven't heard a single condemnation from him or his running mate on all these people saying 'defund the police.' This President has spoken up loudly each and every time." Asked to respond to Biden's comments that the violence "goes back to the sort of chaotic reign of the last few years," Meadows said, "Joe Biden is continuing with the words that are not backed up by the facts. Joe Biden's the one who has applauded those who have protested, saying 'defund the police.' He's also the one that each and every time, where we start talking about restoring law and order, but more importantly, making our community safe, he's the one that first wants to blame the law enforcement officers, not the rioters or the looters." Evers Deploys Guard, Asks Other States To Send Troops, Resources To Kenosha. The Kenosha (WI) News (8/27, 63K) reports Gov. Tony Evers (D) "has requested other states, under the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), to bring additional National Guard troops, equipment, and resources to Kenosha to support civil authorities there." National Guard troops from Arizona, Michigan and Alabama "will add to Wisconsin National Guard troops already on the ground supporting civil authorities in Kenosha under the EMAC." The AP (8/27, Groves, Bauer) also reports Evers "authorized the deployment of 500 members of the National Guard" and "said he is working with other states to bring in additional National Guard members and law officers." There was also a 7:00 p.m. curfew, "though protesters ignored it." Evers also asked demonstrators to "please do so peacefully and safely" and asked others "please stay home and let local first responders, law enforcement and members of the Wisconsin National Guard do their jobs." Kenosha News Criticizes Evers' Response. The Kenosha (WI) News (8/27, 63K) editorializes that "on Sunday Evers sent an outrageous statement that fueled the flames by taking sides in an explosive situation in Kenosha that should go through the courts and to a jury. ... You would think as he" did so "he would make sure the Wisconsin National Guard was on its way to Kenosha to deal with the inevitable protests and looting. But no, he did not do that." The Guard "was never ordered until 3 a.m. Monday, hours after looting and violence in Kenosha." Evers also "turned down an offer for federal help." To Background Of Burning Building, CNN Chryon Refers To "Fiery But Mostly Peaceful Protests." The Washington Times (8/27, Ernst, 492K) reports, "CNN left political observers stunned this week for its decision to pair a 'FIERY BUT MOSTLY PEACEFUL PROTESTS AFTER POLICE SHOOTING' chyron with reporting in front of an arson fire." The Times adds "correspondent Omar Jimenez's reporting from Kenosha in the wake of the police shooting of Jacob Blake went viral, particularly in conservative media circles, with hundreds of thousands of views." The New York Post (8/27, Eustachewich, 4.57M) also reports "CNN is getting roasted for describing protests in Wisconsin as 'fiery but mostly peaceful' during a live broadcast - that showed a building fully engulfed in flames Wednesday night." Wisconsin College Cancels Pence Commencement Speech In Wake Of Kenosha "Events." The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (8/27, Shastri, Glauber, 632K) reports "Wisconsin Lutheran College said Vice President Mike Pence won't serve as the school's commencement speaker Thursday after 'careful consideration of the escalating events in Kenosha." The college, which is EFTA00149220 in Milwaukee, said it has chosen pastor Mark Jeske of St. Marcus Lutheran Church "as a substitute speaker for Saturday's event." The college "said the change was a joint decision," stating that "Pence understands and supports Wisconsin Lutheran College's decision to prioritize the safety and well-being of their students." The AP (8/27) recounts "more than 270 students and alumni [had] signed an open letter posted online objecting to the visit, which was announced prior to the violence in Kenosha." USA Today (8/27, Groppe, 10.31M) also reports that "even before the shooting of Jacob Blake on Sunday by Wisconsin police, the school's choice of Pence drew complaints from some students and alumni who said it would politicize the ceremony that falls two months before election day." NBA To Resume Play As Other Sports Leagues Cancel Games, Practices. The CBS Evening NewsVI (8/27, story 4, 2:20, O'Donnell, 4.26M) reported that "four big- league baseball games are postponed and at least nine NFL teams called off practice, all in response to the Jacob Blake shooting." NBA players, meanwhile, "voted...to get back on the court after a walk-off led by some of the league's biggest stars." ABC World News TonightVi (8/27, story 3, 2:05, Adrienne Bankert, 6.48M) also covered the "unprecedented action as players from all of the pro leagues walked off the court and the field," though "the NBA now vows playoff games will go on." NBC Nightly NewsVi (8/27, story 8, 1:40, Miguel Almaguer, 5.69M) reported on "players in the WNBA spelling out 'Jacob Blake' on their shirts with seven bullet holes in their backs," and added "soccer, tennis, hockey, and baseball games cancelled across the nation - different arenas with the same fight." Axios (8/27, Knutson, 521K) recounts, meanwhile, that "the Arizona Cardinals, Chicago Bears, Denver Broncos, Green Bay Packers, Indianapolis Colts, New York Jets, Tennessee Titans and Washington Football Team called off their respective practices on Thursday in response to the police shooting of...Blake." USA Today (8/27, Zillgitt, 10.31M) reports that when NBA "players met Thursday, there was focus on trying to put the season back on track while still ensuring their voices were not only heard but that they could help make a difference and enact social change." The Washington Post (8/27, Golliver, 14.2M) points out that "had the players chosen not to resume play, it would have likely have plunged the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association into a lengthy labor dispute." Reuters (8/27, Pingue, Tennery) reports Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) - "the first Black woman on a major-party ticket - praised the actions of the NBA players." Biden tweeted, "This moment demands moral leadership. And these players answered by standing up, speaking out, and using their platform for good." Trump: NBA Fast Becoming "A Political Organization." ABC World News TonightVI (8/27, story 3, 2:05, Adrienne Bankert, 6.48M) reported that "when asked, the President said he believes people are, quote, 'a little tired of the NBA." Trump was shown saying, "I know their ratings have been very bad. And that's unfortunate. They've become like a political organization. And that's not a good thing. I don't think that's a good thing for sports or for the country." The Washington Times (8/27, Howell, 492K) runs a story on Trump's comments, while the CNBC (8/27, Breuninger, 3.62M) website quotes White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner as saying, "Look, I think with the NBA, there's a lot of activism, and I think that they've put a lot of slogans out. But I think what we need to do is turn that from slogans and signals to actual action that's going to solve the problem." Chief of Staff Meadows said on WFYI-TVVi Indianapolis (8/27, 286K), "It is their right to protest, and if they want to boycott it and protest, that's why we have a Constitution and that's why we have those freedoms here that we enjoy. We enjoy them in America, and we are not a perfect country, but we're always striving to be a more perfect union." EFTA00149221 The AP (8/27, Madhani, Riechmann) reports, meanwhile, that Vice President Pence's Chief of Staff Marc Short "said Thursday that NBA protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, are 'absurd and silly' when compared with the league's relative silence about human rights violations in China, where U.S. pro basketball has a large audience." Said Short, "If they want to protest, I don't think we care." Obama Praises Bucks. The Washington Times (8/27, Munoz, 492K) reports, "Former President Barack Obama praised the Milwaukee Bucks Wednesday night for 'standing up for what they believe in." Wife Of Police Officer Killed In St. Louis Protests Endorses Trump. The Washington Times (8/27, Swoyer, 492K) reports "Ann Dorn lost her husband, a police officer, earlier this year during the violent riots in St. Louis, Missouri, and said Thursday she backs President Trump for standing up for law enforcement." Dorn, "speaking at the Republican National Convention, said she hopes America wakes up to the violence they are witnessing in major cities because she relives the death of her husband, Officer David Dorn, every day." The Washington Examiner (8/27, Ortiz-Lytle, 448K) recounts "Dorn, 77, was killed in St. Louis in June when looting and rioting spread across the city. The retired police captain, a 38-year veteran of the St. Louis Police Department, was found on the sidewalk outside of a pawnshop owned by his friend." Breitbart (8/27, Binder, 673K) and Townhall (8/27, Vespa, 177K), among other news outlets, also report the story. Giuliani Says Democrats Turned Peaceful Protests Violent To Hurt Trump. USA Today (8/27, Behrmann, Santucci, 10.31M) reports Rudy Giuliani addressed the Republican National Convention "in a prime slot Thursday night, lamenting current protests against social and racial injustice as 'vicious, brutal riots.' Giuliani acknowledged 'the unforgivable police killing of George Floyd" but then "blamed Democrats for hijacking 'a few brief shining moments' of peaceful demonstrations as being 'very dangerous to the left." Giuliani said, "They had a President to beat and a country to destroy, and although an agreement on action against police brutality would be very valuable for the country, it would also make President Trump appear to be an effective leader." The New York Times (8/27, Leibovich, 18.61M) says Giuliani "has been ubiquitous as ever" during the convention, hosting his radio show from the Trump International Hotel. The New York Post (8/27, Nelson, 4.57M) and the Washington Examiner (8/27, Simonson, 448K) also cover Giuliani's speech. NYPD Union Leader Says Democrats Have Allowed "Public Safety Disaster." The New York Post (8/27, Bowden, Feis, 4.57M) reports President Patrick Lynch of the Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York "accused New York's Democratic leaders of walking away from the city and letting violence rein in a scorching 2020 Republican National Convention speech." Lynch said, "We are staring down the barrel of a public safety disaster. More than 1,000 people have been shot in New York City so far this year, almost 300 have been killed. These are not just numbers, these are real people." The Post says Lynch, "a late addition to the RNC speaking roster, threw the heft of the 24,000-member PBA behind Trump earlier this month." Kushner Touts President's Policies To Combat Social Injustice, Inequality. CNBC's Squawk BoxVi (8/27, 245K) interviewed White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner, who said, "If you look at President Trump's record, people are talking about social injustice - he passed criminal justice reform. They talk about wealth and equality he passed opportunity zones to bring more access to capital in the Black and minority community. We talk about education. He's fighting for school choice so people in the inner cities and failing schools can go to better schools. And he's also granted long-term funding to the Historically Black Colleges and EFTA00149222 Universities. President Trump has been strong to say we don't want violence in these cities but we just have to take this conversation from an emotional one to a constructive one and say what are the policies that we can agree on." Conway Says President Trying To Help "Democratic-Led Cities." Fox News (8/27, 27.59M) interviewed Kellyanne Conway and asked her about the situation in America's cities. Conway said, "We know that these are Democratic-led cities and most with Democratic governors. I think all that we are talking about, why is that important? Because the Republican President Donald Trump doesn't look at this as partisan issue, he's trying to send federal reinforcements in and you have governors saying oh, no, you are putting pride and politics ahead of safety and that makes no sense to everyday Americans who want law and order and want public safety." Protests Lead To Fires And Vandalism In Oakland, California. The AP (8/27) reports, "Protests in Oakland, California, over the shooting of a Black man in Wisconsin turned violent late Wednesday night." The "protests" involved 600 to 700 people according to Oakland police and "numerous fires (were) set, dozens of windows broken, (and) multiple businesses vandalized." Officials Say President Ready To Help Cities Facing Violence. In an interview with Fox News (8/27, 27.59M), Acting DHS Secretary Wolf said, "The President has been very clear from the onset which is we need to address the violent activity, so, again, peaceful protesting, First Amendment rights, I think everyone is very much in support of that. When it crosses the line into violence, the President has been very clear that state and local authorities need to do their job and when they can't, then if they want to call the federal government, the President is willing to send in assets as we've done in Wisconsin, we will continue to do that" elsewhere "as well. I would say this stands in contrast to what we continue to see in Portland. Over three months we saw violence again last night." Acting Deputy DHS Secretary Ken Cuccinelli said on WFLA-AMVi Tampa Bay, FL (8/27, 8K) that "the President has spoken vehemently about his desire for peace in all these communities and willingness to move people in. This is the peace through strength plan in the civilian environment." White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner said on Politico Playbook (8/27, 4.31M) that "peaceful protest has a place and it has importance," but "what we need to do right now is take the anger that people have and we have to move from slogans to constructive solutions." He added, "If you look at President Trump's track record for the last four years, people complained about the criminal justice system and the racial inequalities that existed. Well, he took on that issue and he brought a solution, right, he got the historic criminal justice reform passed, which was bipartisan. He unified people and brought people together around that." Portland Mayor Slams Violent Protesters: "Enough Is Enough." The Washington Times (8/27, Dinan, 492K) reports "Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler took aim Wednesday at what he called 'a few dozen individuals engaged in violence' who he said have allowed the Oregon city to be wrongly portrayed as a 'dark dystopia' by President Trump and others." Wheeler "took some of the blame himself, saying he and other leaders have allowed the city's reputation for protest to be hijacked by rioters bent on violence, swamping what should have been a thoughtful conversation on racial justice and policing." Said Wheeler, "They're intent on creating mayhem and attacking and harming people, not just property. ... That's a line that we can't allow our community to cross. Not anymore. Enough is enough." The Times adds "the final straw [for the mayor[ appears to have been when rioters brought their violence to his doorstep," as "protesters marched on Portland's city hall Tuesday night, breaking in and scrawling graffiti." EFTA00149223 Virginia Senate Votes To Ease Sentences For Assaulting Police. The AP (8/27, Lavoie) reports that "the Virginia Senate on Wednesday approved legislation that would eliminate a six-month mandatory minimum sentence for assaulting a police officer, despite strenuous objections from Republicans who said the bill disrespects police at a time when they have come under attack during nationwide protests." The Federalist (8/27, Justice, 126K) indicates the bill would allow "judges discretion to diminish charges from a felony to a misdemeanor," and the Washington Free Beacon (8/27, Beyrer, 78K) says "the new legislation follows Virginia governor Ralph Northam's (D) administration's recent decisions to grant parole to convicted murderers, including Vincent Martin, who was serving a life sentence for murdering a police officer" The Daily Caller (8/27, Lancaster, 716K), among other news outlets, also reports the story. Thousands To March Against Police Brutality In DC Friday. The Wall Street Journal (8/27, Jamerson, Subscription Publication, 7.57M) reports that thousands of people are expected to march in Washington on Friday to protest police brutality against Black Americans. The Journal says the event, which is being organized by Al Sharpton and his National Action Network, was planned following the George Floyd's death, but it is taken on new urgency in the wake of Jacob Blake's shooting. The Washington Post (8/27, Lang, 14.2M) reports that before the Blake shooting, "a group of Milwaukee activists set off on a protest march calling for an end to racist policing and injustice that would wind through mountains and cross state lines. ... They were heading to the 2020 March on Washington the old fashioned way: by putting one foot in front of the other." The group "began its trek in a Milwaukee parking lot on Aug. 4. Twenty-five days later...the group plans to arrive early Friday in the nation's capital." PBS' Alcindor: Cawthorn Lifting Self From Wheelchair "Direct Rebuke" To Protesters. The Washington Times (8/27, Chasmar, 492K) reports "PBS White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor felt the wrath of the Twitter ratio Wednesday night after she chose to politicize the inspiring moment Madison Cawthorn lifted himself from his wheelchair to stand on the Republican National Committee stage." Cawthorn, "the 25-year-old Republican nominee" in NC11, "was paralyzed from the waist down in a car accident at age 18," and "during his speech Wednesday night, he called on Americans to stand up for their country." As "he lifted himself into a standing position," Cawthome said, "Be a radical for liberty. Be a radical for our republic for which I stand." Alcindor, "who live-tweeted the event, said Mr. Cawthorn's gesture was a `direct rebuke' to people protesting against police brutality." OPERATION LEGEND Trump Sent Federal Agents To Albuquerque In July To Help Police. The AP (8/27, Contreras, Bryan) reports on Albuquerque, which is "10th in the nation for violent crime, ranks No. 2 for car thefts and has experienced a spike in homicides." President Trump "included Albuquerque earlier this summer among the Democrat-led cities where he has dispatched more federal law enforcement agents to beef up local policing efforts." Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller "insists the city is making progress" and "Keller and fellow New Mexico Democrat politicians bristled at Trump's July move to send agents to Albuquerque," though US Attorney John Anderson of New Mexico "defended the deployment." The federal agents "are working with local police officers, sheriff's deputies and prosecutors to investigate cases and serve search warrants." Three Charged After Kansas City Carjacking. EFTA00149224 KCTV-TV Kansas City, MO (8/27, Brown, 133K) reports from Kansas City, Missouri, "Three young Kansas City, Missouri, men have been charged in federal court as part of Operation LeGend. The charges come after an armed carjacking on Monday night that led to a high-speed chase and a crash that killed another driver." KCTV-TV adds, "The three charged are 19-year-old Derrell 'Derrelle' M. Wade, 18-year-old Curtis R. Daniels, and 18-year-old Michael A. Brown. Each has been charged with participating in the carjacking. Wade is also charged with brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence." COUNTER-INTELLIGENCE Tony Blinken Agrees To Voluntary Deposition In House Ukraine Probe. Politico (8/27, Bertrand, 4.29M) reports Tony Blinken, former deputy national security adviser and deputy secretary of state and a top foreign policy adviser "to Joe Biden's presidential campaign has agreed to a voluntary deposition before a GOP-led Senate committee probing the former vice president's relationship with Ukraine, according to a congressional source and two other people familiar with the matter." Blinken sent a letter to "Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee chairman Ron Johnson (R-WI) earlier this week agreeing to the interview." The panel also has "secured a voluntary interview with Amos Hochstein, a former special envoy for international energy in the Obama administration who also served as a close Biden adviser, ending speculation that Johnson would compel his and Blinken's testimony." The interviews are expected "to take place in early September." Democratic lawmakers have "raised concerns, including in a letter last month to the FBI, that Johnson's probe has become a vehicle for 'laundering' a foreign influence campaign to damage Biden." Christopher Steele: FBI Did Not Pay For Dossier Research. The Washington Times (8/27, Scarborough, 492K) reports Christopher Steele testified at a "defamation trial in London that the FBI stiffed him out of payments he was due for travel in his anti-Trump investigation." Steele's testimony came as part of a "lawsuit brought by Russian entrepreneur Aleksej Gubarev." Mr. Steele's dossier accused Gubarve "of being the culprit who hacked into Democratic Party computers in 2016." Following the release of the dossier, the FBI concluded the hacking "was done by Russian military intelligence units in Moscow, not Mr. Gubarev." According to transcripts "obtained by The Washington Times, Mr. Steele testified that he became unhappy with the lack of public disclosure and FBI follow-through on his investigation." As result, he conducted a Skype interview with David Corn of "Mother Jones," after which Steele says the FBI refused to pay agreed sums and expenses. Washington Examiner: Senate Report Raises "Further Questions" About Steele's Relationship With Deripaska. The Washington Examiner (8/27, Dunleavy, 448K) reports a recently released Senate Intelligence Committee "report detailed the business relationship that Christopher Steele" had with Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska, "raising further questions about the British ex-spy's discredited dossier." The Examiner says the Senate panel "sought to understand the reasons for apparent omissions in the dossier." Investigators said "one explanation was 'that Steele was compartmenting his work between clients,' though that was 'partially refuted' by Steele's October 2016 FBI interview where he 'presented some information as stemming from his past work' targeting Manafort." Rosen: Foreign Influence Fears Should Not Stop Voters. MeriTalk (8/27, Weingarten) reports Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen urged Americans this week "to participate fully in the democratic process and realize that the fear of 'malign influence' on elections are as old as the country itself." Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Rosen said, "Every American can control who they vote for" and explained the "distinction between voting infrastructure and the somewhat more elusive malign EFTA00149225 influence activities." He "said the former, which includes polling places and printed ballots, has been well protected historically, and even more so through increased security efforts over the past few years." Similarly, The Washington Times (8/27, Lovelace, 492K) reports Rosen on Thursday "accused left-leaning news organizations of deliberately spreading 'disinformation' about the Trump administration's views of the dangers from mail-in voting and foreign influence in the 2020 elections." The resulting confusion has "helped create an opening for America's adversaries like Russia and China to exploit, Mr. Rosen told The Washington Times." Rosen "said new efforts by the Justice Department, FBI, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and other federal agencies have overhauled how the government addresses foreign influence efforts and what it makes public." Judge Orders Former CIA Officer Accused Of Spying For China Detained As Serious Flight Risk. The AP (8/27, Kelleher) reports from Honolulu that a former CIA officer "and contract linguist for the FBI accused of selling U.S. secrets to China must remain locked up because he's a 'serious flight risk' in a case involving 'espionage over many, many years,' a federal judge ruled Thursday." Alexander Yuk Ching Ma faces "life in prison or possibly a death sentence if convicted of a rarely used charge involving an intent to hurt the United States or aid a foreign power, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ken Sorenson said during a detention hearing where Ma participated by telephone from the Honolulu Federal Detention Center." Prosecutors have "video and audio proving he provided classified information including CIA sources and methods, communication systems and secret writing, Sorenson said." Ma violated security oaths to the CIA and to the FBI, Sorenson, and "betrayed that trust for money." Judge Declines To Free Ex-Green Beret Accused Of Espionage. The AP (8/27) reports a federal magistrate judge in Virginia "refused Thursday to free a former Army Green Beret who was arrested last week on a charge that he divulged U.S. military secrets to Russian intelligence agents." US Magistrate Judge John Anderson agreed "with federal prosecutors that Peter Rafael Dzibinski Debbins, 45, poses a risk to flee if he is released from custody before trial." Anderson also "said Justice Department prosecutor Thomas Traxler adequately explained why more than a year elapsed between the start of the investigation and Debbins' arrest last Friday." Traxler "said investigators had to corroborate details of a confession that he said Debbins gave when FBI agents questioned him last year." Debbins mistakenly thought "he could talk his way out of trouble and has a far greater incentive to flee now that he faces a maximum life sentence if he is convicted, the prosecutor said." The Washington Post (8/27, Weiner, 14.2M) reports of former Army Green Beret accused of "conspiring to spy for Russia admitted to contacts with Russian intelligence agents in a written statement in the past year, federal prosecutors said Thursday." Debbins confessed "collaboration with a very sophisticated foreign intelligence agency, the GRU," Traxler said. Authorities say that the "alleged conspiracy occurred between 1996 and 2011." A resume released "by prosecutors shows Debbins worked for the defense contractors CACI, Booz Allen Hamilton and Cosolutions on Russia and cybersecurity." US Officials Say China Poses Unprecedented Security Risk To US. Current and former US officials told Newsweek (8/27, O'Connor, Jamali, 1.53M) that China is the "top counterintelligence risk to the United States, posing a unique and unprecedented threat spanning far beyond interference in the upcoming election, including the mass infiltration of the private communications networks of U.S. businesses and organizations that are not protected by governmental security networks." In a statement, the FBI said, "There is no country that presents a broader and more comprehensive threat to our ideas, innovation, and economic security than China," adding, "The threat takes many different forms, and it is the EFTA00149226 FBI's top counterintelligence priority." The ODNI agreed, saying China "remains a top focus of the Counterintelligence community and has been for many years." The FBI also described a Chinese "whole-of-government" approach using "cyber espionage to support national security priorities, with targets including the US government, its allies, and US companies." Hong Kong Denies Foreign Journalist Work Visa In "Blow To Press Freedom." The Wall Street Journal (8/27, Strumpf, Subscription Publication, 7.57M) reports Hong Kong authorities denied a work visa for a foreign journalist seeking to join a local independent news outlet, raising concerns about press freedom in the wake of a recent national security law imposed by Beijing. China Arrests Citizens Potentially Fleeing To Taiwan. Reuters (8/27, Pang, Mang, Kwok, Siu) reports Chinese authorities have arrested "at least 10 people after intercepting a boat off the coast of the southern province of Guangdong, the provincial Coast Guard Bureau said in a post on its social media site." Hong Kong media, "citing unidentified sources, said 12 people from the former British colony were arrested while sailing to Taiwan where they planned to apply for political asylum." The Guangdong Coast Guard "said on its social media platform late on Wednesday the people on the boat were arrested on Aug. 23." Hong Kong media identified "one of those on the vessel as Andy Li, who media said was recently arrested under a sweeping national security law imposed by Beijing on its freest city on June 30." NSA's DevOps Security Lead "Lists Eight Factors To Success." MeriTalk (8/27, Weingarten) reports that while DevSecOps adds security in software development "while DevSecEthOps throws ethics into the mix, but ultimately the goal of the process is to build secure software - fast." NSA DevOps Security Lead Emily Fox says either way, "It's DevOps," and, "By the very nature and the practices - the three ways and the five ideals - it is secure." Speaking during an online event "hosted by Red Hat, Fox said if security professionals are left out of the process, then the underlying foundations of why DevOps is important have been missed." Fox outlined the "three ways of the DevOps method - systems thinking, amplifying the feedback loops, and a culture of continual experimentation and learning." Fox also "said those three map nearly one-to-one with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) cybersecurity framework." Fox also explained the five ideals: moving work to developers and operators, ensuring staff are enjoying their jobs and have what they need, an iterative daily process, comfort with leadership changes, and a customer-centric focus. NGA Outlines Two New Technology Focus Areas. Federal News Network (8/27, Miller, 220) reports the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency outlined two new "technology strategy and technology focus areas" meant to solve "some of NGA's mission areas' most pressing challenges." NGA Chief Technology Officer Mark Munsell "said these two documents will help the agency begin to get at some of its most underlying, enduring technology and analytical problems." Under the modern software engineering "focus areas, Munsell said it's more than just DevSecOps, but getting closer to the customer, who consume software capabilities." He "said the government's traditional approach to software development focused on cost, schedule and performance, and while those factors still are important, it's really about providing NGA's mission customers with new capabilities more often." Another tech focus areas is "data management where NGA outlines 17 different capabilities it's interested in." Two challenges the NGA faces in this are managing the large amounts of data the agency collects and uses, and dealing with "relational and geospatial information systems databases." EFTA00149227 Russia Detains Soldiers For Allegedly "Passing State Secrets To Ukraine." Reuters (8/27, Kiselyova, Tetrault-Farber) reports Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) "said on Thursday it had detained a serviceman in Siberia for having allegedly passed state secrets to Ukraine." The serviceman from Russia's "Strategic Missile Forces was detained in the Siberian city of Barnaul, some 2,900 kilometers (1,800 miles) east of Moscow, as he was walking out of a grocery store, FSB footage carried by Russian news agencies showed." In a statement "carried by Russian agencies, the FSB said the serviceman had allegedly passed state secrets to the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine's defence ministry." German Doctors Treating Navalny Seek Information On Bulgarian Arms Dealer's Assassination Attempt. The Times (= (8/28, Parfitt, Moody, Subscription Publication, 50K) reports staff at a Berlin hospital "treating Alexei Navalny are said to have requested information from doctors who cared for a poisoned Bulgarian arms dealer." Doctors at the Charito hospital "have contacted colleagues who treated Emilian Gebrev, according to unidentified sources cited by Der Spiegel and the Bellingcat investigative group." The Bulgarian state charged "three alleged GRU Russian military intelligence officers in absentia in February with the attempted murder of Mr Gebrev, his son and an associate in Sofia" in 2015 via "intoxication with an unidentified organophosphorus substance." All three survived. CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS "Operation Not Forgotten" Rescues 39 Missing Children In Georgia. The CBS Evening NewsVi (8/27, story 7, 0:20, O'Donnell, 4.26M) reported, "Tonight, we're getting word more that than two dozen missing children have been rescued in an operation carried out by US Marshals and Georgia investigators. The agencies called it Operation: Not Forgotten. Investigators fanned out across two cities, Atlanta and Macon, to locate the children. Nine people were arrested on charges that include sex trafficking and kidnapping." USA Today (8/27, Flores, 10.31M) reports, "After a two-week search for endangered children in Georgia, the U.S. Marshals Service on Thursday announced the recovery of 39 children: `Operation Not Forgotten' rescued 26 missing children and safely located 13 others." USA Today adds, "Nine people were arrested and charged with sex trafficking, parental kidnapping, registered sex offender violations, drugs and weapons possession and custodial interference, officials said." The US Marshals Service Missing Child Unit, "along with Georgia state and local agencies, began `Operation Not Forgotten' in Atlanta and Macon to find `endangered' children. The children ranged from 3 to 17 years old." The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children "says there isn't an official count of missing children in the U.S. because children are `never reporting missing," but "in 2019, the organization reported more than 421,000 missing children to the FBI." Fox News (8/27, Ruiz, 27.59M) reports, "The Marshals assisted state and local authorities in a number of separate cases during the operation. The federal authorities periodically assist police with federal resources to help clear separate missing persons cases in a single operation. Authorities said the missing children were at high risk of child sex trafficking, exploitation and abuse - and some suffered from medical and mental health conditions." Fox News adds, "The 2015 Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act gave the Marshal's broader authority to assist state and local police departments tracking down missing children, regardless of whether fugitives or sex offenders are involved in the case, officials said." WGXA-TV Macon, GA (8/27, 656) reports, "The operation was made with joint efforts from The U.S. Marshals Service Missing Child Unit (USMS), in conjunction with the agency's Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and Georgia state and local agencies. The operation was two-weeks long and was EFTA00149228 conducted in August." The operation "was the culmination of several months of planning and coordination between the USMS, NCMEC, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Georgia Office of the Attorney General, Georgia Department of Family and Children Services, Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta." WMAZ-TV Macon, GA (8/27, Plaskowsky, 138K) reports, "US Marshals Director Donald Washington said that over the course of the two-week operation in August, 26 missing and endangered children were recovered, 13 children were safely located and a total of 9 people were arrested. Washington said some of those arrested face charges ranging from sex trafficking and sex offender violations, to parent kidnapping and custodial interference." FBI Probing Killing Of Arizona Officer. The Arizona Republic (8/27, Carranza, 869K) reports from Tucson, Arizona, "Officers with the Tohono O'odham Police Department were involved in an arrest attempt that led to injuries near the small community of Why in southern Arizona, according to the Tohono O'odham Nation. One person was taken into custody. Multiple agencies said the incident involved a shooting, but details about the shooting remained scarce as of Thursday afternoon." The Republic adds, "The police department and the FBI, who is leading the investigation, did not respond immediately to requests for comment. Roy Villareal, the chief patrol agent for U.S. Border Patrol's Tucson Sector, published a statement via Twitter saying 'injuries were reported." KTVK-TV Phoenix (8/27, 302K) reports, "The FBI says it is conducting an investigation into the killing of a Tohono O'odham police officer. The Nogales Police Dept. has identified him as Ofc. Bryan Brown. Ofc. Brown was killed on Thursday near the Desert Diamond Why Casino on Tohono O'odham Nation near the community of Why, Arizona. He was reportedly killed trying to take a suspect into custody. The suspect was transported to the hospital to be treated for his injuries. The FBI is investigating, along with the Tohono O'odham Police Department." KOLD-TV Tucson, AZ (8/27) reports, "U.S. Border Patrol was assisting at the incident and attempt of arrest this morning on the Tohono O'odham Nation. The Pima County Sheriff's Department and the Tohono O'odham Police Department are assisting with the investigation." Man Shot By Secret Service Officer Outside White House Held Comb, Not Gun. The Washington Post (8/27, Alexander, 14.2M) reports that a man, "who officials said had announced he was armed before he was shot by a Secret Service officer earlier in the month near the White House, was apparently holding a comb, according to new court documents." According to the charging documents, Myron Berryman, who remains hospitalized since the Aug. 10 shooting, "walked up to the uniformed officer and said he was armed." Berryman allegedly "reached along the right side of his body as if to retrieve an object, clasped his hands together and pointed his arms toward the officer," who then shot Berryman once. Chicago Public Schools Official Charged With Lying To FBI In Contract Probe. The Chicago Tribune (8/27, Meisner, Leone, 2.65M) reports, "A top aide to Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson has been charged with lying to the FBI about whether he passed secret bid information about a massive $1 billion custodial contract to a lobbyist working for one of the bidders." Pedro Soto, 45, "who has served as Jackson's chief of staff since 2018, was charged in a criminal information made public Thursday with one count of lying to the FBI during an interview in December." Jackson "learned of the allegations against Soto last Friday and immediately accepted his resignation, according to an email sent Thursday to CPS staff." The Chicago Sun-Times (8/27, Seidel, FitzPatrick, Issa, 875K) reports, "Soto, the onetime chief of staff to CPS CEO Janice Jackson, allegedly made a false statement Dec. 17 about whether he had given out 'nonpublic information' to an unnamed individual. He allegedly told the FBI, 'he would want to get information but I don't think I gave him anything." The Sun- Times adds, "According to June 30 staffing records, Soto was paid $175,000 a year as Jackson's chief of staff. He has worked for the public school system for more than two decades, CPS EFTA00149229 records show, lately closely with Jackson. Before she was elevated to the top post, Soto served as her chief of school operations while Jackson was chief educational officer." Crain's Chicag2 Business (IL) (8/27, 155K) also reports. Air Force Officer Pleads Not Guilty In Second California Killing. The AP (8/27) reports from Dublin, California, "An Air Force sergeant pleaded not guilty Thursday to murder charges in the ambush killing of a sheriff's deputy, one of two killings of law enforcement officers he is suspected of committing in Northern California last spring." Steven Carrillo, "who officials say is associated with the extremist anti-government `boogaloo' group, entered the plea in the June 6 death of Santa Cruz Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller in Ben Lomond, a town in the Santa Cruz mountains south of San Francisco, the East Bay limes reported. Authorities said Carrillo, 32, ambushed Gutzwiller and other sheriff's deputies while they responded to a report of a van containing firearms and bomb-making materials. Gutzwiller, 38, was killed and several other law enforcement officials were wounded, according to authorities." New Mexico Man Who Threatened Governor Is Sentenced To 14 Months In Prison. The Albuquerque (NM) Journal (8/27, Gallagher, 196K) reports, "A man who posted a series of threats on Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's official Facebook page on Thursday was sentenced to 14 months in federal prison." US District Judge James Browning "also sentenced Daniel L. Mock, 33, to two years probation after his release. Mock, who was arrested earlier this year, pleaded guilty to one count of interstate transmission of threatening communication. He had faced up to five years in prison but federal prosecutors agreed to the lower prison time because Mock hadn't taken any actions to carry out the threats." Mock "had been on the FBI's radar since 2019 when he praised a gunman who opened fire on the federal courthouse in Dallas on social media. He later claimed to be the `commanding officer' of the `Regulators militia' - of which he was the only member" Two Dead After Exchanging Gunfire With Kentucky Police. The Lexington (KY) Herald-Leader (8/27, Chisenhall, 257K) reports, "A drug trafficking investigation turned into a police shootout on Tuesday, as Kentucky State Police said they were shot at while trying to serve a search warrant in Knox County." The Herald-Leader adds, "Police fired back and killed a man in his 30s, but one suspect escaped the scene, police said. He was found later, and was also shot and killed after shooting at police, KSP said. KSP's Special Response Team tried to serve a search warrant on Johnson Hollow Road Tuesday afternoon, but armed suspects shot at investigators, police said. State officers fired back and killed Charles Garland, a 30-year-old Gray resident, police said." Joseph R. Middleton, 41, "fled the scene, police said. He was found by police in the woods on the same road Wednesday." The London (KY) Sentinel Echo (8/27, 23K) also reports. Kansas Man Charged In 2003 Killing. KMBC-TV Kansas City, MO (8/27, 205K) reports from Westwood, Kansas, "Johnson County District Attorney Stephen M. Howe announced murder charges Thursday in the fatal shooting of a 68-year-old grandfather who was shot at a grocery store in Westwood, Kansas, in 2003." Howe "said Eugene Clayton Keltner, 40, faces first-degree murder charges in the Aug. 15, 2003, killing of David `Ray' Ninemire. Howe said Ninemire...was killed during an aggravated robbery at the Westwood Apple Market." KMBC-TV adds, "For years investigators have been working on leads and re-interviewing witnesses to the crime in the normally sleepy suburb of Kansas City. It is the only known homicide in Westwood's history. This charge is the result of a years-long cold case investigation led by the Johnson County Sheriff's Office with the assistance of the Westwood, Fairway, Roeland Park, Lenexa, Mission, Prairie Village, Kansas City Kansas Police Departments, the Johnson County Crime Lab, the KBI and the FBI." EFTA00149230 Five Arrested For Child Sex Trafficking In South Carolina. WLTX-TV Columbia, SC (8/27, 87K) reports from Anderson, South Carolina, "South Carolina prosecutors say they've arrested a group of suspects--including a husband and wife-- who they say were involved in child sex trafficking and making child pornography. United States Attorney Peter McCoy Jr. announced the arrests Thursday." McCoy "said Gary Garland, Shannon Garland, Johnnie Wells, Michael Skelton, and Duwone Allen, all of Anderson, were charged on a multi- count federal indictment charging violations of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of a minor and production of child pornography. The case involved two underage victims." Florida Man Charged With Vandalizing Church With Nazi Symbols. The Bradenton (a) Herald (8/27, Young, 123K) reports, "An 18-year-old man has been charged with breaking into a church, stealing property and vandalizing it with Nazi symbols. The FBI assisted Bradenton police with the investigation." The Herald adds, "According to the arrest report, Noah Turner also stabbed a Bible with a knife and admitted his fingerprints would be found on the knife. Turner told detectives that he did it to scare the church goers at Iglesia De Dios Nueva Vida Church, 1619 10th Ave. W. Due to the crime involving hate symbols, Bradenton police called in the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force and an investigation began Sunday morning" "Justice League Dropout" Robber Robs Bank In Texas Walmart. The Sugar Land (TX )Si (8/27) reports a man in a "gray Superman hat and a menacing skeleton face mask," who has been "dubbed the `Justice League Dropout,' on Wednesday robbed a bank inside a Walmart in Stafford, Texas. "According to FBI officials, the suspect entered the" store "just before 2 p.m. and proceeded to the First Convenience Bank branch inside the store where he handed a teller a demand note. The frightened teller complied and the suspect walked away with an undisclosed amount of money." A man fitting the same description "was spotted on security camera video during a robbery at the First Convenience Bank" in Houston on Monday. FBI Offering $10,000 Reward In Detroit Road Rage Murders. WJBK-TV Detroit (8/27, 103K) reports the FBI is offering a $10,000 reward "for information about who shot at a family of five in southwest Detroit on the Fourth of July, hitting all five and killing both parents. Maria and Francisco Gonzalez leave behind three boys, 15, 12 and 9 years old." The victims "were driving northbound on Homer Street when what was described as a procession of vehicles got behind them and got a little too close." Authorities believe the last vehicle "fired the shots into the family's car." WDIV-TV Detroit (8/27, Johncox, 460K) reports, "Detroit Police Assistant Chief Levally and members of the FBI held a news briefing on Thursday to provide an update" on the shooting, at which the FBI announced "a $10,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest of the suspect(s) involved." The Detroit News (8/27, 825K) also reports. FBI Helping Georgia Police Investigate Racist Letters. The Thomasville WA) Times-Enterprise (8/27, Dozier, 23K) reports police in the Thomasville, Georgia, area "have received dozens of complaints about offensive letters mailed to residents. The letter - rife with racial slurs - is in the form of a bogus job application. The Thomas County Sheriff's Office has requested FBI assistance in investigating the letters." New York Man Faces Attempted Child Enticement Charges. The Hudson Valley (NY) Post (8/27) reports Thomas Squires of Cairo, New York, was arrested on August 19 for "allegedly attempting to entice a child. Between July 27 and August 19, Squires exchanged sexually explicit text messages with an undercover investigator who was EFTA00149231 posing as a child, police say. He allegedly repeatedly asked for naked photos of the child and sent photos of his own genitalia and asked to meet the child in person at a pre-determined location in Cairo to engage in sexual acts in his vehicle. ... The case is being investigated by the FBI and its Child Exploitation Task Force, with assistance from the Greene County Sheriff's Office." Ohio Man Pleads Guilty To Posting Threats On Social Media. The Mansfield (OH) News Journal (8/27, 47K) reports Jaywuan Peavy of Mansfield, Ohio, has pleaded guilty to "authoring social media posts that called for attacks on stores and a riot." Peavy "was arrested in June...one day after Mansfield police and city leaders issued a statement saying they had been made aware of social media posts that called for violence." Peavy was arrested "one week after hundreds of people gathered at Central Park and marched through the streets to decry the killing of George Floyd and to protest police brutality. The threats called for violence in downtown Mansfield on June 5, the same day a protest was planned in Ontario." Georgia Man Gets 20 Years For Multiple Bank Robberies. The Athens (GA) Banner-Herald (8/27, Ford, 97K) reports Frank Douglas of North Augusta, South Carolina, "was sentenced this week to 20 years in prison after a guilty plea in the US District Court" in Athens, Georgia, having confessed "nearly three years" ago to robbing three banks. Douglas "went on his robbery spree shortly after he was released from a federal prison on Sept. 29, 2017, prosecutors said. The FBI charged Douglas with a Nov. 20, 2017, robbery of a BB&T Bank in Conyers, followed by a Nov. 27 robbery of a South State Bank in North Augusta, S.C., and a Dec. 5 robbery of Bank of America on Gaines School Road in Athens." Massachusetts Latin Kings Associate Pleads Guilty To Racketeering Charges. The New Bedford (MA) Standard-Times (8/27, 53K) reports according to a statement form US Attorney Andrew E. Lelling, "A former probationary member of the New Bedford Chapter of the Massachusetts Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation ('Latin Kings') pleaded guilty today to racketeering charges." Emanuel "King Manny" Lopez-Velez "pleaded guilty to conspiracy to conduct enterprise affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity, more commonly referred to as RICO conspiracy. ... Lopez-Velez was arrested and charged in December 2019, at which time he was a probationary member of the New Bedford Chapter of the Latin Kings, the release noted." WBSM-AM Fairhaven, MA (8/27, 771) reports Lopez-Velez, "accused of shooting a man in the back last year pleaded guilty today to a RICO charge in federal court in Boston." Lopez- Velez "was arrested back in December 2019 as part of Operation Throne Down, a major takedown of the Latin Kings in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. He's the ninth defendant to plead guilty in the case that charged 62 individuals, many with New Bedford ties." Luchese Family Underboss Sentenced To Life In Prison. The Lower Hudson Valley (NY) Journal News (8/27, 328K) reports on the arrest in May, 2017, of 12 members of the Luchese crime family on "a slew of federal charges, including murder and racketeering." The last of those defendants, Steven L. Crea, "second in command of the Luchese Family of La Cosa Nostra, was sentenced to life in prison" this week. A federal judge "also hit Crea with a $400,000 fine and the forfeiture of $1 million as part of his sentence." The piece reports that US Attorney Audrey Strauss "applauded the work of the FBI and NYPD," quoting Strauss saying, "Steven L. Crea - the Underboss of the Luchese Family - is the last of a dozen men arrested in 2017 to be sentenced for his crimes. For his role in the 2013 murder of Michael Meldish and other crimes, Crea will now spend the rest of his life behind bars. Thanks to the outstanding investigative work of the FBI and NYPD, we continue our commitment to render La Cosa Nostra a thing of the past." EFTA00149232 FBI Asks Public For Help Identifying Suspect In Check Fraud Scheme. Clarksville (IN) Online (8/27) reports the FBI is asking for public help with "identifying an unknown female who impersonated an account holder at an area bank in Middle Tennessee. Between August 5th and August 7th, the unknown female used the account holder's stolen identification to cash stolen checks from another bank to receive cash. The female suspect may be wearing a wig and was seen operating a silver Dodge SUV and a blue Hyundai sedan during multiple drive thru transactions." Attorney: Dead Fort Hood Sergeant Reported Sexual Abuse. The Brockton (MA) Enterprise (8/27, Shepard, 52K) reports, "Leaders at the U.S. Army's Fort Hood in Texas created an environment that led to the death of Sgt. Elder Fernandes, who was missing for more than a week before he was found dead Tuesday, his family's attorney said." Fernandes "was hanging from a tree in Temple, Texas, about 28 miles from Fort Hood." The Enterprise adds, "Temple police, the lead agency investigating because of where Fernandes was found, said foul play is not suspected in his death. Khawam said that after Fernandes reported in May that he had been inappropriately touched by a male superior, he was transferred, and word spread within the new unit, leading to harassment, belittling, bullying and hazing." FINANCIAL CRIME & CORPORATE SCANDALS Former UAW President Williams Charged In Corruption Probe. The Detroit News (8/27, Noble, 825K) reports from Detroit, "Retired United Auto Workers President Dennis Williams was charged Thursday with conspiracy to embezzle union funds following a years-long investigation into racketeering, bribery and other crimes that has pushed one of the nation's most powerful unions to the brink of a federal takeover." Williams, 67, of Corona, California, "is the second UAW president charged during an investigation by agents from the FBI, Labor Department and Internal Revenue Service during a probe that has led to 14 convictions. It has revealed labor leaders and auto executives broke federal labor laws, stole union funds and received bribes and illegal benefits from union contractors and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV executives. That criminal investigation is ongoing, U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider told The Detroit News in an interview: `We're not done. This is a very significant step and we are going to continue." The Detroit Free Press (8/27, Lawrence, 1.52M) reports, "Dennis Williams preached `solidarity together forever' as he gave his farewell address in 2018 as UAW president, but on Thursday, Williams became the latest former union leader nabbed in a scandal that has tarnished the image of an organization long regarded as the gold standard for clean unions." The Free Press adds, "More distressing to rank-and-file members perhaps is that Williams is not the first ex-UAW president charged criminally in a years-long federal probe. That distinction goes to Williams' successor, Gary Jones, whose agreement to cooperate in the investigation put speculation about who would be next to fall squarely on Williams. Prosecutors charged Williams...with conspiracy to embezzle union funds." Bloomberg (8/27, Dolmetsch, 4.73M) reports, "Williams was charged just weeks after General Motors Co. alleged that he received funds from Fiat Chrysler to place former UAW vice president Joe Ashton on GM's board. The accusations came as part of a lawsuit by GM alleging that Fiat Chrysler got better contracts than competing automakers by bribing union officials. Ashton has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing. Williams received significant funds in bank accounts in Switzerland and Liechtenstein to help increase costs to GM through the 2015 collective bargaining agreement and push it into merger talks with Fiat Chrysler, GM said." Deadline Detroit (8/27, Lengel) reports, "Williams, who headed the UAW from 2014-18, is the second ex-president to be charged in an ongoing public corruption investigation by the FBI, IRS, Department of Labor and U.S. Attorney's Office. Gary Jones pleaded guilty in June to EFTA00149233 conspiring with other high-level union officials to embezzle over $1 million of union dues. Some money went toward lavish expenses, including more than $13,000 on cigars for high-level officials. He's cooperating as part of his plea." WDIV-TV Detroit (8/27, Meloni, Kelly, 460K) reports, "Court documents claim more than $22,000 in union money was used to rent a villa for Williams for a four-month period in 2016- 17. Williams allegedly had taken more that $71,000 in union money. `The level of greed and disrespect and treatment of workers like they really don't matter - because you've decided to take their money and use it on cigars and booze and airfare and expensive lavish villas - it's disheartening," US Attorney Schneider said. Forbes (8/27, Robinson-Jacobs, 9.71M) reports, "In a statement, the UAW called Thursday a `sad day for UAW members,' but chose to focus on the future, saying: `we are aware of criminal charges filed against former UAW President Dennis Williams,' but adding that it plans to `focus on comprehensively reviewing and strengthening our union's financial and ethical policies and controls." Forbes adds, "A conviction of Williams could be used to pressure the UAW to agree to federal oversight aimed at eliminating corruption." US Charges Former Illinois Road Commissioner With Taking Kickbacks. The AP (8/27, Hwang) reports from Chicago, "A suburban Chicago road commissioner was indicted Thursday on federal charges alleging he took kickbacks from an excavation company to which he steered business over eight years." According to the AP, "The indictment alleges Robert Czerek, 69. the elected head of the Bloomingdale Township Road District, knew Bulldog Earth Movers didn't do much of the work for which it billed the township. Federal prosecutors allege Czernek took more than $280,000 in kickbacks from excavation company owner Debra Fazio, 63, and her employee, Mario Giannini, 58. In return, they said Czernek helped steer more than $700,000 from Bloomingdale Township to Bulldog Earth Movers." The Chicago Tribune (8/27, Meisner, 2.65M) reports that Czernek "was charged in a 20- count indictment made public Thursday with taking the kickbacks from" Fazio, "owner of Bloomingdale-based Bulldog Earth Movers Inc., over a period of more than eight years," and "in exchange, Czemek used his official position to approve more than $700,000 in payments for stone delivery, dump leveling, and storm sewer invoices submitted by Fazio's company to Bloomingdale Township, according to the indictment. Czernek approved the invoices knowing that much of the work and services had not actually been performed, the indictment states." The Chicago Sun-Times (8/27, Seidel, 875K) reports, "Czernek, 69, has become the Chicago-area's latest elected official to face federal criminal charges." Czernek, Fazio and Giannini "have all been charged with 14 counts of honest services wire fraud. Fazio also faces six counts of money laundering." Former Ohio House Speaker Accused Of Campaign Violations. The Cincinnati Enquirer (8/27, Balmert, 223K) reports, "Former Ohio Speaker Larry Householder faces 162 violations of state campaign finance laws in connection with allegations of a nearly $61 million bribery scheme." On Thursday, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose "referred the alleged violations to the Ohio Elections Commission. Most violations are connected to Householder's bid to become speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, helping to elect candidates in 2018 and 2020." The Cleveland Plain Dealer (8/27, Caniglia, 895K) reports, "Steve Arndt says he remembers the conversation clearly: A lobbyist for FirstEnergy Corp. told Arndt, then a member of the Ohio House, that he needed to sponsor a bill to help a FirstEnergy subsidiary. The lobbyist, Arndt said, gave him an ultimatum: Put your name on the bill or your political future is over. Arndt refused," and "later, he suffered through a negative campaign, fueled by what he believes was dark money, that hit his district of Ottawa and Erie counties with fliers and radio ads, attacking his record as a Republican legislator. `They wield a very heavy hand,' Arndt said of Akron-based FirstEnergy and its affiliates. 'They have a lot of political might. [Former House EFTA00149234 Speaker] Larry Householder and FirstEnergy are of the same ilk. They'll do whatever they have to get the job done." Virginia Man Pleads Guilty To Defrauding Coronavirus PPP. Inside NoVa (VA) (8/27, 8K) reports, "An Ashburn man pleaded guilty Wednesday to defrauding the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a federal initiative designed to help businesses pay their employees and meet their basic expenses during the COVID-19 pandemic." Tarik Jaafar, 42, "who lists addresses in both Ashburn and the Occoquan area, conspired with his wife, Monika Magdalena Jaworska, to create four shell companies, according to court documents filed at the U.S. District Court in Alexandria. The companies conducted no legitimate business and existed solely as a means to execute the scheme to defraud, federal prosecutors said. From April 13 to May 6, Jaafar and Jaworska applied for 18 separate PPP loans in the names of the four shell companies valued at approximately $6.6 million, falsely claiming, among other things, that the businesses had employees and they needed the loans to pay their employees' salaries." Maryland Man Charged With Plotting To Sell Fake COVID-19 Disinfectant. The AP (8/15) reports from Baltimore, "A Maryland man sold unregistered and misbranded pesticides falsely advertised as a government-approved disinfectant for the coronavirus, investigators said." Marek Majtan, 35, of Frederick, Maryland "was charged Tuesday in a criminal complaint that accuses him of repackaging pesticides with his own handmade labels and marketing it on the internet as a product that `Kills 99.9% Bacterias & Viruses' and Kills Covid 19 & Seasonal Flu.' Majtan, who was not authorized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to manufacture or distribute any pesticides, used a false EPA registration number on his products, according to a special agent with the EPA's Criminal Investigation Division." Federal Prosecutors: Indiana Mayor, Wife Skimmed $225,000 From Campaign For Gambling Debts, Personal Expenses. The Times of Northwest Indiana (8/27, Cross, 254K) reports according to federal prosecutors, Whiting, Indiana, Mayor Joe Stahura "illegally spent $255,000 in campaign money to fuel his and his wife's gambling habits, pay down debts and support his adult daughter." US Attorney Thomas Kirsch, said, "Mr. Stahura, an elected official for over 35 years, illegally used his campaign funds for personal activities and expenditures and lied about it on his publicly filed campaign reports and tax returns. He knew his conduct was illegal, yet he persisted in it for over five years." WLS-TV Chicago (8/27, 391K) reports Stahura "has been charged with wire fraud and filing a false income tax return." Kirsch said that Stahura "has entered into a plea agreement, indicating his intent to plead guilty to both charges. ... His wife Diane Stahura, 64, also of Whiting, entered into a deferred prosecution agreement wherein she acknowledges that the government has sufficient evidence to charge her with wire fraud." Former South Dakota Tribal Official Pleads Guilty To Federal Bribery Charge. The Aberdeen (SD) News (8/27, Sand, 44K) reports Daniel Thomas White of Peever, South Dakota, a former official with the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Sioux tribe, "has admitted to a federal bribery charge." White "pleaded guilty at the Aberdeen federal courthouse this week. ... At the time of the bribery scheme, White served as the director of the Dakota Nations Development Corporation, an entity of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Sioux Tribe." Par Funding Officials Will Not Fight SEC's Demand For Continued Receivership Operation. The Inquirer (ILA) (8/27, Distefano, Roebuck, 347K) reports, "Top officials of Par Funding have agreed not to fight the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission's demand that a receiver continue to run their Philadelphia lending company until they face a civil trial on charges of EFTA00149235 orchestrating a $500 million fraud." According to the Inquirer, "The firm along with the business of King of Prussia financial adviser Dan Vagnozzi, one of several outside salesmen who drummed up investors for the company, were put under the control of an outside receiver last month under a temporary restraining order issued by a federal judge." The Inquirer adds, "One of the Par Funding officials to drop opposition to the receivership was Joseph LaForte, an owner and founder of the company. He is behind bars, awaiting trial in an unrelated case — federal authorities have charged him with illegal possession of firearms." Former Alabama City Official Sentenced For Theft, Money Laundering. Alabama Live (8/27, Thornton, 734K) reports, "A former City of Prichard chief of staff has been sentenced in federal court to a year and a day in prison and ordered to pay more than $200,000 in restitution to the city." James Antuan Blackman, 33, of Mobile, Alabama, was sentenced on Thursday by Chief US District Judge Kristi K. DuBose after pleading guilty in February "to one count of theft concerning programs receiving federal funds and one count of money laundering. According to Blackman's plea, during his time as Prichard chief of staff and administrative assistant from November 2016 to January 2018, he used his position to divert money and property to himself." Blackman "said he falsified city invoices, deposited city checks to his own account, and used his position to divert three pieces of property from the city to his own benefit," and "then, Blackman laundered money through a $39,200 wire transfer from a bank account under his control to a title company to buy property." CYBER DIVISION DO) To Seize 280 Cryptocurrency Accounts "Tied To North Korean Hacks." The Hill (8/27, Miller, 2.98M) reports the Justice Department filed "forfeiture charges Thursday against 280 cryptocurrency accounts for assisting in laundering millions of dollars stolen during two North Korean hacking incidents." The US alleges that the "cryptocurrency accounts were used to launder $272,000 in cryptocurrency stolen in June 2019 from a virtual currency exchange by a hacker with ties to North Korea, with the funds then converted into other forms of cryptocurrency and funneled through some of the accounts." An additional 100 cryptocurrency accounts "were allegedly used to launder $2.5 million in virtual currency stolen by North Korean hackers during an attack on a U.S. company in September 2019, according to the Justice Department." The forfeiture complaint was filed "the day after multiple federal agencies, including the FBI, put out an alert warning that North Koreans hackers were targeting banks in several countries as part of a scheme to enable ATM withdrawals." The investigation into the "cryptocurrency accounts also involved the FBI, U.S. Cyber Command and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)." The Wall Street Journal (8/27, Talley, Subscription Publication, 7.57M) and Reuters (8/27, Venkat) also report. FBI Seeks Information On Man Accused Of Hacking New York Student's Snapchat Account. The Batavia (NY) Daily News (8/28, Leader, 38K) reports from Manhattan, "The FBI is asking for the public's help as it continues to investigate a New York City man arrested Thursday on charges of hacking into multiple people's Snapchat accounts, stealing nude photos and then sending those photos to other Snapchat users to try to get them to send nude photos to him in return." David Mondore, 29, "was arrested in Manhattan Thursday morning on charges of unauthorized access to computer systems in furtherance of any criminal act in violation of state law, unauthorized access to a protected computer in furtherance of fraud and aggravated identity theft. According to the criminal complaint against him, Mondore is accused of hacking into two people's Snapchat accounts - one a female student at SUNY Geneseo, the other a male EFTA00149236 resident of the Northern District of New York, a 32-county region that stretches from New York's border with Massachusetts and New Hampshire, west to Cayuga County." Musk Confirms "Serious" Cyberattack On Nevada Tesla Factory. Reuters (8/28, Acharaya) reports Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company's Nevada factor "was a target of a 'serious' cybersecurity attack, confirming a media report that claimed an employee of the company helped the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) thwart the attack." Teslarati "said that the electric carmaker was the unnamed company in a statement issued by the U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday about a Russian national's arrest, in connection with a planned attack on an unidentified company." But the employee "alerted the FBI, who were successful in thwarting the attack, a complaint filed by the FBI's Las Vegas Field Office showed." Bloomberg (8/27, Pettersson, 4.73M) reports the Justice Department "said in a statement Tuesday that Egor Igorevich Kriuchkov, 27, had tried to recruit an employee at a unidentified company to introduce malware in the company's computer system." The malware was "intended to extract data from the network and to seek ransom from the company, according to the Justice Department." Kriuchkov promised the employee "he would get $1 million after the malware was introduced into the computer network, according to the Justice Department." Mashable (8/27, Morse, 986K) also reports. Engadget (8/27, Fisher, 437K) reports the employee "immediately informed Tesla, and the company contacted the FBI, which launched a sting operation." Agents arrested Kriuchkov "in Los Angeles as he was attempting to leave the US." Engadget says "as Electrek points out, during the sting operation, FBI agents obtained info about previous attacks led by Kriuchkov's associates." New US Army Cyber Command Deputy Named. C4ISR & Networks (8/27, Pomerleau) reports Brig. Gen. Paul Stanton will serve as US Army Cyber Command's "new deputy commanding general of operations, according to an Aug. 27 Department of Defense release." Stanton, who is currently "serving as the deputy director of operations, J-3 at U.S. Cyber Command, will return to Fort Gordon, Georgia, the new home of Army Cyber Command, where he previously served as the commander of the Army's Cyber Protection Brigade." Stanton played a "large role at Cyber Command in helping mature and onboard cloud computing systems such as the Big Data Platform, Unified Platform and planning tools such as Project IKE, sources have said." DHS Election Security "War Room" May Run For More Than A Week In November. The Washington Post (8/27, Marks, 14.2M) reports a DHS "war room" run on the "night of the 2018 midterms where election and campaign officials, social media companies and voting- machine vendors compared notes about possible cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns." In November, "that same war room could be in operation for a week or longer as officials ward off attacks aimed at undermining early voting, counting late-arriving mail ballots and knocking back phony rumors that try to erode faith in the election's outcome." It will include "in-person meetings in Washington to hash through classified and unclassified information and an online 'situational awareness room' open to election officials across the nation." A senior official at DHS's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said, "That will remain in place, frankly, until the election community says, 'Okay, you can stand down now. We're in good shape." Intelligence Officials Say Mail-In Ballots Not Susceptible To Widespread Fraud. ABC News (8/27, 2.97M) reports that as intelligence officials have "concluded that mail-in ballots are not susceptible to widespread fraud." A senior FBI official told reporters on a conference call Wednesday, "We're fully aware that COVID-19 and the expectation of the increased mail-in ballots has created a new environment for this election cycle." However, the official added, "we have not seen to date a coordinated national voter fraud effort during a major election. It would be extraordinarily difficult to change a federal election outcome EFTA00149237 through this type of fraud alone, given the range of processes that we need to be affected or compromised by an adversary, at the local level." Rosen: Foreign Influence Fears "Shouldn't Stop Voters." MeriTalk (8/27, Weingarten) reports Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen urged Americans this week "to participate fully in the democratic process and realize that the fear of 'malign influence' on elections are as old as the country itself." Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Rosen said, "Every American can control who they vote for" and explained the "distinction between voting infrastructure and the somewhat more elusive malign influence activities." He "said the former, which includes polling places and printed ballots, has been well protected historically, and even more so through increased security efforts over the past few years." Similarly, The Washington Times (8/27, Lovelace, 492K) reports Rosen on Thursday "accused left-leaning news organizations of deliberately spreading 'disinformation' about the Trump administration's views of the dangers from mail-in voting and foreign influence in the 2020 elections." The resulting confusion has "helped create an opening for America's adversaries like Russia and China to exploit, Mr. Rosen told The Washington Times." Rosen "said new efforts by the Justice Department, FBI, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and other federal agencies have overhauled how the government addresses foreign influence efforts and what it makes public." Opinion: US Should "Enlist The Security Community" To Safeguard Election. In a piece for SC Magazine (8/27, Camp), ESET security researcher Cameron Camp writes that the US should "enlist security experts - such as those at SANS - to focus on election security between now and November." Camp says the security community can help "assume an imminent breach of integrity and develop a meaningful response plan," begin a "long-term plan to build a secure election stack," develop training for poll workers, work with voting equipment makers, and engage voters. Russian LinkedIn, Dropbox Hacker Argues Trial Was Flawed. Law360 (8/27, Subscription Publication, 8K) reports a Russian man found guilty of "orchestrating the 2012 cyberattacks against LinkedIn and Dropbox has urged a California federal judge to acquit him on all charges, arguing that his conviction rested on unreliable circumstantial evidence." On Tuesday, counsel for "32-year-old Yevgeniy Aleksandrovich Nikulin argued that evidence did not support the jury's conviction of computer intrusion, identity theft and other charges stemming from the attack that compromised 100 million users' data. Nikulin urged a California federal judge to grant him acquittal or, alternatively, a new trial." Britain's Cyberintelligence "Targeted By Lockdown Phishing Email." The Telegraph (UK) (8/27, Wright, 956K) reports Britain's cyber spy chief was targeted "by email scammers during lockdown, he has revealed, adding that GCHQ has received more than two million reports from the public of online crime during that time." Ciaran Martin, who heads the agency's "public-facing branch, known as the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), said he received a phishing email telling him he had to pay a £35 fine after he had been spotted breaking lockdown rules." Mr Martin, who is stepping down "from his post next month, said the email highlighted how cyber criminals had used the pandemic to try and exploit people's fears." INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS Canada Offers To Join Lebanon Blast Probe. Reuters (8/27) reports, "Canada has offered to join Lebanon's investigation into the Beirut port explosion on condition that it is credible and transparent, the visiting foreign minister said on Thursday." Lebanese President Michel Aoun "initially promised a swift investigation into why EFTA00149238 highly explosive material stored unsafely for years detonated on Aug. 4, killing at least 180 people and injuring some 6,000. But he later said the process would take time. Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said after meeting Aoun that Ottawa was ready to assist under conditions that would be defined." Beirut "has said France and the United States' FBI are helping investigate the explosion that wrecked the port and swathes of the city, compounding an economic meltdown." OTHER FBI NEWS Bethlehem, New York In Talks With FBI Over Proposed Training Facility. The Albany (NY) Spotlight News (8/27, Hallisey, 130K) reports from South Bethlehem, New York, "Bethlehem is working with the FBI to upgrade its shooting range into a $1.75 million training facility." The Bethlehem Police Department "has used the current shooting range on Old Quarry Road for more than 30 years. It was once a stone quarry previously owned by Callanan Industries before it donated the land to the town in December 2013. According to a memorandum from Bethlehem Police Cmdr. Adam Hornick, the FBI will fund the construction of the new facility. It is to include a new building with classroom space and restroom amenities." OTHER WASHINGTON NEWS Kushner, Ross Praise Administration's Pandemic Response. CNBC's Squawk BoxVi (8/27, 245K) interviewed White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner about the Administration's pandemic response. Kushner said, "The pandemic is in a more controlled state. Hospitalizations [are] down by 30%. Test positivity [is) down to 5% 30 days ago. Cases are down and the economy is opening up, obviously at a prudent pace. ... I do think we're making great progress on the vaccine. The fastest vaccine was 13 months. Thanks to Operation Warp Speed, we achieved the first vaccine in four months. In a week, we'll have six trials being mass produced, and President Trump is on pace to achieve what is a very ambitious goal of having 100 million doses by the end of this year." Kushner said on Politico Playbook (8/27, 4.31M) that "people were much less critical in the beginning when this was in full-blown crisis mode. You had a lot of, you know, governors who were asking for things they didn't need, creating a lot of panic, and quite frankly, we were there every step of the way, bailing them out, and getting them the resources they need." Commerce Secretary Ross said on Bloomberg Markets: Balance of PowerVi (8/27) that while "there is a lot to worry about" in China's "handling of the coronavirus," it is "very clear, on a national basis, that incidents of new cases is coming down quite a bit." Ross said, "Every day we're having announcements about a potential cure. Every day we're having announcements about a potential vaccine. We're going to get there, and we're going to get there pretty quickly. We will get this ugly monster under control." Biden: Trump "Seems To Be Incompetent" To Deal With Corona virus. Joe Biden said on MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell ReportsVi (8/27, 1.25M), "Did you ever see any Administration put so much pressure on the FDA? ... There's no bounds to what this guy does and his team does. We should listen to the scientists. ... Look, right from the beginning, I laid out a plan as to how to proceed — all the way back in January, and then again in March and April...all the way down the line. ... This guy doesn't believe in science, or at least if he heard it, he doesn't understand it. He just seems to be incompetent to deal with these things." WTimes Analysis: RNC Message On Virus A Stark Contrast To Democrats. The Washington Times (8/27, Howell, 492K) reports that "people who watched the Republican and Democratic national conventions a mere week apart could be forgiven for thinking they lived in two different countries, each with its own reality." Vice President Pence "described a lightning- fast response" to the virus, "one week after Democrats said the effort to beat back the EFTA00149239 coronavirus was a failure across the board." To the Times, "which side the American people see as credible could decide the election, as voters take stock of the virus...and the man who is best equipped to lead the nation out of the pandemic's shadow." White House Announces $760M Deal To Provide 150M Rapid Tests. The Washington Post (8/27, Bernstein, Kim, 14.2M) reports the White House announced a $760 million deal Thursday with Abbott Laboratories to produce 150 million rapid coronavirus tests that will allow users to obtain results in 15 minutes. The announcement "came just hours before President Trump was scheduled to deliver his nomination speech at the close of the Republican National Convention." White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany tweeted, "This is a major development that will help our country to remain open, get Americans back to work, and kids back to school!" To the Post, the move "is the federal government's biggest step into testing." FDA Grants Emergency Authorization To Abbott Rapid Test. The CBS Evening NewsVi (8/27, story 6, 1:40, O'Donnell, 4.26M) reported, "There's a new, simple, cheap and fast coronavirus test just approved by the FDA and is being hailed as a game changer." CBS' Manuel Bojorquez added, "The FDA gave Abbott's $5 antigen test emergency approval and results in 15 minutes could help screen who could board a plane or enter a classroom. But antigen tests are generally less sensitive than lab tests and that can increase the risk of a false negative." CDC Clarifies Testing Guidelines Amid Outcry. NBC Nightly NewsVi (8/27, story 7, 1:45, Holt, 5.69M) reported, "The CDC is walking back its new guidelines on who should be tested for coronavirus after an outcry from public health officials." NBC's Anne Thompson added, "Pummeled by criticism, today the CDC clarifying the new testing guidelines. In a statement, saying testing may be considered for all close contacts of confirmed or probable COVID-19 patients, walking back yesterday's recommendation — still on the CDC website - that people exposed to COVID but without symptoms do not necessarily need a test." On the CBS Evening NewsVi (8/27, story 6, 1:40, O'Donnell, 4.26M), Manuel Bojorquez likewise reported that "amid sharp criticism," CDC Director Redfield "tried to clarify" the new guidelines, "saying testing those individuals may be considered." The Hill (8/27, Wilson, 2.98M) quotes Redfield as saying, "Testing is meant to drive actions and achieve specific public health objectives. Everyone who needs a COVID-19 test, can get a test. Everyone who wants a test does not necessarily need a test; the key is to engage the needed public health community in the decision with the appropriate follow-up action." On ABC World News TonightVi (8/27, story 5, 2:20, Muir, 6.48M), Steve Osunsami said, "Several states that are finally seeing the good side of their COVID numbers say they won't be listening to the CDC and will continue to order tests for anyone who is exposed, even if they have no symptoms. ... In a joint statement tonight, the governors of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut say they're not following these guidelines either. They accuse the Administration of substituting 'sound science-based public health guidance with the President's misinformation,' and say that it's widespread testing that has helped them reduce infections." Asked about the decision by California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) not to follow the CDC's guidance on KBAK-TVVI Bakersfield, CA (8/27, 7K), White House Coronavirus Task Force Coordinator Deborah Birx said, "We are happy when governors tailor recommendations. We do see the increased testing in California, we are happy that that is happening, we need to see more of that, particularly in the Central Valley." Birx also appeared on KGET-7VVI Bakersfield, CA (8/27, 15K), KGET-TVVi Bakersfield, CA (8/27, 15K), KGPE-TVVi Fresno, CA (8/27, 14K) and KSEE-TVVi Fresno, CA (8/27, 11K). EFTA00149240 WPost: CDC, FDA Allowing Trump To "Undermine" Public Health, "Humiliate" Them. The Washington Post (8/27, Editorial Board, 14.2M) editorializes that the CDC and FDA "should be at the forefront of public trust in battling the coronavirus pandemic. But in the past week, both agencies, and their leaders, allowed themselves to be undermined and humiliated by President Trump and his reckless management of the pandemic response." Citing the FDA's approval of convalescent plasma and the CDC's revised testing guidelines, the Post argues that "in both cases, the core difficulty" is that Trump "clings to wishful notions that the virus will vanish or a miracle cure will appear, and these fallacies generate negligence and errors by people who should know better." FDA Warns Some Manufacturers Packaging Hand Sanitizers In Food Or Drink Containers. The Washington Times (8/27, Tan, 492K) reports the FDA on Thursday issued a warning that "alcohol-based hand sanitizers that are packaged in food and drink containers and could put consumers 'at risk of serious injury or death' if ingested." The FDA said that "some hand sanitizers are being packaged in beer cans, vodka bottles, water bottles, juice bottles and children's food pouches," and are sometimes given "food flavors such as chocolate or raspberry." FDA Commissioner Hahn said, "Manufacturers should be vigilant about packaging and marketing their hand sanitizers in food or drink packages in an effort to mitigate any potential inadvertent use by consumers." Senators Call For Investigation Of Hydroxychloroquine Use In Nursing Homes. The Washington Post (8/27, Cenziper, 14.2M) reports Sens. Bob Casey Jr. (D-PA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Ron Wyden (D-OR) are calling for an investigation into how hydroxychloroquine has been used in nursing homes during the coronavirus pandemic. The three senators "are calling on federal authorities to determine whether providers improperly treated patients, failed to disclose serious side effects or faced any repercussions from regulators responsible for oversight of the industry." Scientists Say Parameters For Social Distancing, Time Of Exposure Are Not Certain. The Washington Post (8/27, Guarino, 14.2M) reports, "Public health experts are reevaluating guidelines for safe social distancing" contending in an article in the BMJ that six feet is insufficient, and that greater distances are "almost always better, especially in poorly ventilated areas indoors." The Post says that six feet is due to 19th century work by German biologist Carl FICigge. One expert said that the time of exposure is also not clear. He said, "People talk about five to 15 minutes, but there's still not enough science to say." Pelosi: If Biden Wins, Democrats Will Release Trump's Tax Returns. The Washington Times (8/27, Munoz, 492K) reports House Speaker Pelosi on Thursday said that if Joe Biden wins in November, House Democrats will request President Trump's tax returns from the new Administration. Politico (8/27, Faler, 4.29M) reports Pelosi "said Thursday that if Democrats take the White House in November, they will unilaterally release" Trump's tax returns. Pelosi told reporters, "When we win this election, and we have a new president of the United States in January, and we have a new secretary of the Treasury, and Richie Neal asks for the President's returns, then the world will see what the President has been hiding all of this time." US Detaining More Migrant Children In Hotels. The AP (8/27, Merchant, Sanon) reports the Administration has "sharply increased its use of hotels to detain immigrant children as young as 1 before expelling them from the United States during the coronavirus pandemic." Federal authorities said "detained 577 unaccompanied children in hotels through the end of July, up from 240 in April, May and June, according to a EFTA00149241 report published late Wednesday from a court-appointed monitor for detained immigrant youth? New Unemployment Claims Down Slightly To 1.OO6M. Reuters (8/27, Mutikani) reports on Thursday the Labor Department reported that "initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 98,000 to a seasonally adjusted 1.006 million for the week ended Aug. 22." That was in line with economists polled by Reuters who estimated 1.0 million claims. The Wall Street Journal (8/27, Chaney, Kiernan, Subscription Publication, 7.57M) also reports claims declined but remained high compared to pre-pandemic claims of around 200,000. The Commerce Department reported that Q2 GDP fell at a 31.7% annualized rate, lower than the 32.9% earlier reported. USA Today (8/27, Jones, 10.31M) says "out-of-work Americans continued to seek assistance last week, as the economy remained in limbo amid spikes in coronavirus cases," and adds "that latest surge means just over 58 million have sought aid for the first time in just 23 weeks." The AP (8/27, Wiseman), meanwhile, casts the numbers as "a sign that the coronavirus outbreak continues to threaten jobs even as the housing market, auto sales and other segments of the economy rebound from a springtime collapse." The New York Times (8/27, Casselman, 18.61M) quotes Julia Pollak, a labor economist at the employment site ZipRecruiter, as saying, "It's devastating how stubbornly high initial claims are. ... There are still huge numbers of layoffs taking place." The AP (8/27, Wiseman) also reports, "Home sales are booming. Stocks are setting record highs. Industrial production is clambering out of the ditch it fell into early this year. And yet the economy is nowhere close to regaining the health it achieved...before the coronavirus paralyzed the country in March." Meadows, Pelosi Resume Talks, But Chances For Aid Deal Remain Slim. The AP (8/27, Mascaro) reports Chief of Staff Meadows and House Speaker Pelosi resumed talks Thursday over a coronavirus aid package, but "the outlook for any swift resolution appeared bleak as President Donald Trump's team and congressional Democrats have been unable to agree on a compromise." Pelosi told reporters she told Meadows that Democrats would "meet them in the middle" at $2.2 trillion, which is "a slight reduction from her last proposal before talks collapsed earlier this month. The White House, which has stuck with its initial $1 trillion offer, had no immediate response." The Washington Times (8/27, Munoz, 492K) says Pelosi "doubled down on her insistence that White House negotiators move their top-line numbers if there's going to be any hope of reaching a comprehensive COVID-19 relief deal." Reuters (8/27, Morgan, Heavey) reports that before the call with Meadows, Pelosi "said the White House must agree to spend more money on coronavirus aid." She said, "We're not budging. Understand this. They have to move. ... They're just going to have to come up with more money." On its website, CNBC (8/27, Pramuk, 3.62M) says the conversation "failed to crack [the] stalemate." CQ Roll Call (8/27, Lerman, 154K) says Pelosi and Meadows "spoke by phone for 25 minutes," but "there was no indication after the call that either side had given any ground." Pelosi said in a statement, "This conversation made clear that the White House continues to disregard the needs of the American people as the coronavirus crisis devastates lives and livelihoods. ... The Administration's continued failure to acknowledge the funding levels that experts, scientists and the American people know is needed leaves our nation at a tragic impasse." Kudlow Says Another Relief Bill Is Not Necessary. Meanwhile, the Washington Examiner (8/27, Krishan, 448K) reports NEC Director Kudlow "said on Thursday that another pandemic relief package from Congress is not necessary." Kudlow was asked during a virtual event for the Republican National Convention "if the economy is strong enough to go without more fiscal stimulus from the federal government." Kudlow said, "I think we are." EFTA00149242 Politico (8/27, Oprysko, 4.29M) reports that Kudlow "said...the Trump administration would be willing to compromise with Democrats on a new coronavirus relief package, but continued to draw a red line at the multitrillion-dollar price tag House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has pushed for." Kudlow told Politico, "There has to be a limit." He "suggested that he thought the economy would scrape by without another relief package." White House, Treasury Debate Has Delayed Guidance On Payroll Tax Suspension. The New York Times (8/27, Rappeport, 18.61M) reports, "A debate between the White House and the Treasury Department over President Trump's payroll tax suspension has delayed crucial information about how the executive order will be carried out, according to people familiar with the matter." The White House "wants the Treasury guidance to ensure that companies, not workers, are held liable for paying the employee portion of the tax when the tax holiday ends. It is unclear why the Treasury Department has not been willing to issue such guidance, but businesses, which have been fielding questions from their employees about when the tax cuts will begin, would prefer that Congress legislate any changes to tax policy." The Post adds that it is unclear "that the White House would have the legal authority to shift the tax burden in such a manner." Much Of $454B Congress Gave To Treasury For Coronavirus Relief Remains Unused. The Wall Street Journal (8/27, Kiernan, Subscription Publication, 7.57M) reports that as talks continue over the next coronavirus relief bill, more than half of the $454 billion Congress gave the Treasury Department in March to support Federal Reserve lending to businesses and state and local governments is still unused. According to the Journal, five months after those funds were approved, $259 billion remains uncommitted. WPost: Unemployed Americans "Furious" Congress Let $600 A Week Benefit Expire. The Washington Post (8/27, Al, Rosenberg, Long, 14.2M) reports that Congress "split town in August after letting the $600-a-week unemployment bonus that millions of people...have been relying on expire," and "millions of desperate Americans, many of whom have never relied on emergency government assistance before, are flabbergasted and furious, believing they have been cut loose by a Washington political structure that doesn't care about their predicament during the pandemic." The Post "spoke to 20 people who have lost their livelihoods in recent months, and all said they felt immense pressure to stay afloat without the extra $600." In addition, "every person interviewed said they were furious at Washington policymakers for letting such a critical benefit lapse amid the nation's worst economic crisis in a century. Often the anger was directed at Republicans, who control the White House and the Senate, although a few credited President Trump for at least trying to take action on his own." United Airlines Says It Will Furlough 2,850 Pilots Without More Federal Aid. The Chicago Tribune (8/27, Zumbach, 2.65M) reports, "United Airlines will furlough 2,850 pilots this fall as it faces a sharp decline in travel because of the coronavirus pandemic." United "still hopes furloughs can be avoided if the federal government gives airlines additional funding to help cover labor costs," but "we need to prepare and plan for the future should an extension not be granted,' Bryan Quigley, senior vice president of flight operations, said in a message to pilots Thursday." Reuters (8/27, Rucinski)recalls that "airlines received $25 billion in US government stimulus funds in March meant to cover payrolls and protect jobs through September," but "as the money runs out without a travel recovery in sight, airlines and unions have lobbied Washington for another $25 billion." Fox Business (8/27, Manfredi, 1.73M) recounts that "furlough notices will be mailed via United States Postal Service to affected pilots over the coming days, with effective dates ranging from Oct. 1 to Nov. 30, 2020," and Bloomberg (8/27, Bachman, 4.73M) that "in a memo to pilots, the United chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association called the cuts 'devastating news." EFTA00149243 Trump To Visit Gulf Coast In Wake Of Hurricane Laura. Reuters (8/27, Mason) reports President Trump said Thursday he will visit the Gulf Coast states of Louisiana and Texas this weekend in the wake of Hurricane Laura. At a briefing at FEMA headquarters, Trump "told reporters he would probably visit Texas and Louisiana on Saturday or Sunday and the trip could also include an additional stop." Coverage of Hurricane Laura led all three networks last night, with a total of 16 minutes of airtime dedicated to the storm. NBC Nightly NewsVi (8/27, lead story, 2:25, Holt, 5.69M) reported the storm made landfall in Louisiana as a Category 4 with "150 mile-an-hour winds," killing at least six people. According to the CBS Evening NewsVi (8/27, story 2, 1:45, O'Donnell, 4.26M), among the dead is a 14-year-old girl who was "killed overnight by a fallen tree" in Leesville, Louisiana. In its lead story, the CBS Evenina NewsVI (8/27, lead story, 4:00, O'Donnell, 4.26M) said the storm left "entire towns under water. ... Along the coast, the destruction goes on for miles. From above you can see what's left of Cameron, Louisiana, where the storm came ashore, sending a storm surge more than 10-feet high over homes and businesses." ABC World News TonightVi (8/27, lead story, 4:50, Muir, 6.48M) reported Hurricane Laura was "one of the strongest hurricanes ever to strike that part of the country." Across Louisiana, "at least six people now confirmed dead, but with many areas hard for rescuers to reach, the full casualty count remains to be seen." The AP (8/27, Herbert, Deslatte, Plaisance) reports a "full assessment of the damage...was likely to take days, and the threat of additional damage loomed as new tornado warnings were issued after dark in Arkansas and Mississippi" as the storm moves north. Despite the damage, Reuters (8/27, Nouvelage, Scheyder) reports Laura "inflicted...far less than what forecasters predicted." The Wall Street Journal (8/27, Al, Bauerlein, Elliott, Findell, Subscription Publication, 7.57M) likewise says the damage could have been far worse. In a series of interview Thursday, FEMA Administrator Gaynor also suggested the damage caused by Laura was less than feared. On ABC's Good Morning AmericaVi (8/27, 2.99M), Gaynor said, "As the sun rises this morning, we'll start to do damage assessments. I think we're in a fortunate place when we think about surge. I think it was less than we had forecasted, but we'll see significant wind damage to buildings and structures and so once it's safe to do so we'll go out and start doing damage assessments and getting more situational awareness about the extent of the damage both this Texas and Louisiana and obviously as it moves inland, obviously into Arkansas." On CBS This MorningVi (8/27, 2.28M), Gaynor said, "We are worried about Cameron Parish. I think that was dead center on the track of Laura." The surge is "probably less than ten feet right now, which is a good sign." Gaynor similarly told CNNVI (8/27, 617K), "We're also understanding that the surge is not as bad as we thought it was, which I think is a good sign." Gaynor said on Fox News (8/27, 896K) that "We've been staged for many days now, so whether it's Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, or Arkansas, we have not only FEMA resources, but great supporters, great partners like DoD, the National Guard, American Red Cross, and many others, Coast Guard, that are out there, ready to do what they do best, save lives, minimize the suffering, and then again, start that recovery as soon as we can." Acting DHS Secretary Wolf said on KFOX-TVVI El Paso, TX (8/27, 3K), "We have prepositioned teams not only throughout Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, to make sure that we're able to respond as the sun rises today. The next 48 hours are really going to be critical from a life safety standpoint. So we have Coast Guard assets, we have CBP...assets...ready to respond, along with DoD assets." Acting Deputy DHS Secretary Ken Cuccinelli said on WFLA-AMVi Tampa Bay, FL (8/27, 8K) that the Administration "prepositioned 500,000 meals, 200,000 liters of water, and numerous teams to be prepared to respond" to Hurricane Laura and "all our teams are in action right now." He said, "The federal government are supportive, that's our role, is to support the state EFTA00149244 and local responses" and "we're prepared to do an awful lot of work to help keep folks safe there and to help those communities recover." White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said on Fox News (8/27, 896K) that "this President's monitoring this closely. ... He knows how to respond to hurricanes, he's done it before, and he will do the same again with Hurricane Laura as we hold Texas and Louisiana close to our hearts this morning." Asked about FEMA's capacity to handle the emergency amid other crises, including the California wildfires and COVID-19, she said, "FEMA is up to the task," adding that "they are ready, they are equipped, and they are going to be there for both states." Biden: "We Weren't Prepared Enough" For Storm. Joe Biden said on MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell ReportsVI (8/27, 1.25M), "Our main concern that we weren't prepared enough for this brutal hurricane and Donald Trump keeps saying we're going to be safe, but we'll see. I just hope and pray people get through this." Brouilette: Energy Infrastructure Sustained "Very Little Damage." Energy Secretary Brouillette said on Newsmax TVVi (8/27) that "we're cautiously optimistic" and that "the actual operations, the energy infrastructure, the operations of the refineries" in Louisiana "appear to have sustained just very little damage." Many Residents Ignored Evacuation Orders Amid Coronavirus Fears. NBC Nightly NewsVI (8/27, story 3, 1:45, Holt, 5.69M) reported, "More than 500,000 people were ordered to evacuate" as Hurricane Laura approached," but many chose to stay" amid "concerns about coronavirus in shelters." Gas Leak Sparks Fire At Lake Charles Chemical Plant. On NBC Nightly NewsVi (8/27, story 2, 1:35, Holt, 5.69M), Catie Beck reported, "Hours after Hurricane Laura ripped through Lake Charles, daybreak brought another ominous sight: a nearby chemical plant engulfed in a raging fire." The fire poses "a health hazard for the thousands who live in the area, all under order to shelter in place." The fire was caused by "a chlorine gas leak as the hurricane tore through in overnight hours." NBC Nightly NewsVi (8/27, lead story, 2:25, Holt, 5.69M) and the CBS Evening NewsVi (8/27, lead story, 4:00, O'Donnell, 4.26M) both briefly reported on the fire in their lead stories. AP Analysis: Hurricane Laura Further Strains FEMA. The AP (8/27, Fox) reports Hurricane Laura is "testing an already-stretched Federal Emergency Management Agency in what is shaping up to be a unprecedentedly disastrous year." In addition to COVID-19, "which prompted emergency declarations for all U.S. states and territories for the first time, the agency has deployed personnel to help with the wildfires in the west and the damaging series of recent storms in Iowa." Steven Reaves, president of the FEMA employees union, said, "The only thing we can liken this to is 2017, which was one of our busiest years in decades. This is far eclipsing 2017." Law Professors Allege Pompeo Committed "Egregious Violation" Of Hatch Ad. The AP (8/27, Slodysko) reports that two law professors have filed a complaint with the State Department's inspector general alleging that Secretary of State Pompeo's speech to the RNC was an "egregious violation" of the Hatch Act. The AP says "the speech shattered longstanding State Department precedent and even went against the guidance Pompeo issued to American diplomats last month." WPost Style Column Considers Conway's Use Of "Excuse Me." Monica Hesse pens a Washington Post (8/27, 14.2M) "Style" column about Kellyanne Conway's use of "excuse me" to assert herself in interviews and appearances. Hesse comments, "She is brilliant. She is terrifying." WPost: Trump Organization Has Been Paid More Than $900K By Government. EFTA00149245 The Washington Post (8/27, Fahrenthold, Dawsey, Partlow, 14.2M) reports according to its count, President Trump "has now visited his own properties 270 times as president," and has "brought the Trump Organization a stream of private revenue from federal agencies and GOP campaign groups." The Post says "taxpayers have paid Trump's businesses more than $900,000 since he took office," and "at least $570,000 came as a result of the president's travel." The Post describes the Secret Service is "a kind of captive customer, required to follow Trump everywhere." Deere Says Administration Compiling "Dossier" Of "False" Articles Published About Trump. The Daily Caller (8/27, Datoc, 716K) reports Deputy White House Press Secretary Judd Deere told the Washington Post that the Administration is compiling a "dossier" of "false" articles published about President Trump. Asked to comment on a Post story titled "Room Rentals, Resort Fees And Furniture Removal: How Trump's Company Charged The U.S. Government More Than $900,000," Deere said, "The Washington Post is blatantly interfering with the business relationships of the Trump Organization, and it must stop. ... Please be advised that we are building up a very large `dossier' on the many false David Fahrenthold and others stories as they are a disgrace to journalism and the American people." The Daily Caller says when it asked Deere to clarify, he said he had "nothing to add." Study Suggests Dropping Old Missile Categories In Favor Of More Precise Descriptions. The Washington Post (8/27, Sonne, 14.2M) reports the Aerospace Corporation has issued a study contending that missile developments mean "that the old conventions for naming them no longer suffice" and that "descriptors like cruise, ballistic and hypersonic" should be dropped in favor of "a more precise taxonomy for characterizing both U.S. and foreign missiles." The Post adds that the study argues that "classification of missiles influences not only arms control negotiations with foreign powers but also the U.S. military's missile warning protocols, missile defense systems and contingency plans." WPost Report: USPS Delivering False Messages To Customers. The Washington Post (8/27, Zauzmer, 14.2M) reports that the US Postal Service has been alerting package addressees that their packages "are being held at a post office `at the request of the customer" even if they did not make such a request. The Post says this is due to "broad changes Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has implemented" and in the case of a mail carrier being unable to "deliver a package on the day it was scheduled...the system sometimes generates a misleading `held at the request of the customer' message." But, the Post reports, "the mail carrier will deliver the package, sometimes the next day." The Post also says that some said the messages have "undermined their faith in mail delivery leading up to the 2020 election." Rep. Collins May Have Violated Ethics Rules By Borrowing Official Website Language For Campaign. CQ Roll Call (8/27, Marquette, 154K) reports Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA), "who is in a tightly contested race" against Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA), "used exact language describing his anti- abortion position from his official House website for use on his campaign page, seemingly a violation of House Ethics rules. Members are allowed to use materials originally prepared by the official office for campaigning purposes if those materials have been `exhausted, but because Collins' stance on abortion is still laid out on his official House website, it would be prohibited from being directly copied for his Senate campaign." INTERNATIONAL NEWS Putin Touts Russia's Vaccine As Safe And Effective. EFTA00149246 The AP (8/27, Litvinova) reports Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday "praised" his nation's coronavirus vaccine "as effective and safe, a clear bid to address international skepticism about the shots that have only been studied for two months in a few dozen people." In an interview with the state Rossiya 24 TV, Putin insisted that the vaccine was approved "in strict accordance with Russian laws" that are in line with "international practice and regulations." Germany Pauses Reopening As Cases Rise. The Wall Street Journal (8/27, Boston, Subscription Publication, 7.57M) reports Germany has paused its reopening because of growth in infections and is seeking to more universally test people coming from elsewhere. Chancellor Angela Merkel said, "A lot is open, a lot of things are still possible. But now we know where we have to focus our attention." Merkel is urging the German states to more vigorously combat the virus so as to prevent a lockdown. France Calls For Local Action To Reduce Infections As Daily Cases Pass 5,000. The AP (8/27, Charlton) reports that mask wearing "will now be required for everyone in Paris" yet, "the government is determined to reopen schools next week, get workers back on the job and kick off the Tour de France cycling race on Saturday." Prime Minister Jean Castex "urged local authorities to impose new restrictions to slow infections." Castex said that France "must do everything to avoid a new confinement." Daily infections have grown from "a few hundred" daily in May and June to over 5,000 on Wednesday. Poll Finds People In Most Wealthy Countries Think Their Government Handled Pandemic Well. The Washington Post (8/27, Taylor, 14.2M) reports, "A poll of 14 developed nations found majorities in most countries were pleased with how their governments had handled the novel coronavirus pandemic." The exceptions were "the United States and Britain" as in the US, 52% "said they thought their government had done poorly," and 54% in Britain said the same. Also in the poll, 77% of US responders said that the pandemic "had heightened political divisions," while in Spain the response was 59%. The poll was conducted "using nationally representative surveys of 14,276 adults from June 10 through Aug. 3." One-Third Of Schoolchildren Globally Lack Access To Remote Learning. Reuters (8/27, Bhalla) reports "one in three schoolchildren across the world have been unable to access remote learning during coronavirus school closures, the U.N. children's agency said on Thursday," warning of a "global education emergency." The Washington Post (8/27, Berger, Farzan, 14.2M) reports UNICEF also cautioned the real number may be "significantly higher than estimated." Tourist Spots Offering Remote-Work Visas. The Wall Street Journal (8/27, Kamin, Subscription Publication, 7.57M) reports that tourist hot spots like Bermuda and Barbados are offering visas to remote workers that allow them to work tax-free in the nation. According to the Journal, areas that rely heavily on tourism have been hit hard by the pandemic and are looking to draw in long-term visitors to help their economies. Passenger Removed From Ryanair Flight After Testing Positive. ABC World News TonightVi (8/27, story 6, 0:15, Muir, 6.48M) reported briefly about what it called a "coronavirus scare onboard a Ryanair flight overseas. The plane about to take off from London to Italy, authorities in Hazmat gear boarding to remove a passenger and companion moments after a text message revealed that passenger tested positive. The airline says everyone onboard was wearing masks." EFTA00149247 US Mulls Repercussions For Europeans Over Iran Policy. The Washington Free Beacon (8/27, Kredo, 78K) reports, "Multiple European nations' diplomatic priorities may be on the line as the Trump administration examines a range of options to pressure these countries after their refusal to back the United States in its efforts to expand sanctions on Iran, according to current and former U.S. officials." Multiple sources "who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon outlined a range of European priorities the administration could leverage in this pressure campaign, including a free trade agreement sought by the British, increased coordination on Lebanon needed by the French, and a range of items the Germans have sought to revive ties with America." Sources: Iranian Vessel Loads With Venezuelan Alumina. Reuters (8/27, Ramirez, Cohen) reports that "an Iranian-flagged vessel loaded a cargo of alumina in Venezuela this month after delivering supplies for an Iranian supermarket in the South American nation, three sources familiar with the shipment said." Reuters says it "could not determine who the customer for the alumina cargo was, nor where it was destined." US, Russia Trade Blame Over Skirmish In Syria. Politico (8/27, Seligman, 4.29M) reports that a "top Russian general is blaming the U.S. military for a clash in northeast Syria this week that injured four U.S. service members, claiming that American troops attempted to block a Russian patrol 'in breach of the existing agreements,' according to the Russian embassy." The Russian account, however, "contrasts sharply with a Wednesday statement from the White House, which blamed Russia for ramming the vehicle carrying coalition troops." US Embassy Defends Canada After Navarro Slams Country's Military Service In Afghanistan. The Hill (8/27, Gstalter, 2.98M) reports the US Embassy in Ottawa on Thursday "issued a rare statement praising Canada's military service in Afghanistan after White House trade adviser Peter Navarro sharply criticized Canadian policies in a new book." Richard Mills, the Embassy's chargé d'affaires, said that the US "deeply values the service and sacrifice of our Canadian allies in support of the defense of freedom and global security." The "unusual statement" comes after Navarro was quoted in a new book, "The Madman Theory" by CNN's Jim Sciutto, as saying, "Were they doing us a favor, or were they brought into the idea they needed to do that as part of the global effort against terrorists? I mean, if they were just doing us a favor, maybe their government should have been thrown out of office. I mean, every time that a Canadian shows up in a uniform, it's doing us a favor? How's that work?" Kushner Touts Administration's Mideast Peace Strategy. Asked on Politico Playbook (8/27, 4.31M) about the Administration's Mideast peace strategy, White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner said, "President Trump has laid out a great vision for them," including "a proposal on the table for Palestinian state from Israel," which has "never been done before in the history of the negotiation." Kushner added, "We've built a full business plan that could take their economy and double their GDP, create a new, million new jobs, and reduce their poverty by 50%," adding that "if they show courage and if they're willing to take a little bit of risk, I think under this President, he's shown that by doing things in an unconventional way, incredible things are possible." US, China Trade Jibes As Military Tensions Escalate. Reuters (8/27, Blanchard) reports the US and China "traded jibes as military tensions grow" between the two nations, with Defense Secretary Esper vowing not to "cede an inch" in the Pacific and "China saying Washington was risking soldiers' lives." During talks with US allies in EFTA00149248 Hawaii, Esper said, "To advance the CCP's agenda, the People's Liberation Army continues to pursue an aggressive modernisation plan to achieve a world class military by the middle of the century." This, he added, "will undoubtedly involve the PLA's provocative behaviour in the South and East China Seas, and anywhere else the Chinese government has deemed critical to its interests." China's Defense Ministry "shot back," saying "certain U.S. politicians" damaging Sino- US ties in the run-up to the November election for their own gain. The Washington Examiner (8/27, Mahshie, 448K) reports that in Hawaii, Esper "met virtually with the chiefs of defense from 29 Pacific nations, and in a public shift, the defense secretary has begun to speak of building partnerships with smaller and further dispersed Pacific nations." Said Esper, "We are also looking to expand our engagement with new and emerging partners throughout South and Southeast Asia. Assisting countries across the region to develop their national security policies, strategies, plans, and laws is critical." China Fires Missiles Into South China Sea. The New York Times (8/27, Myers, Bradsher, 18.61M) reports China on Wednesday "fired a barrage of medium-range missiles across considerable distances into the South China Sea, Beijing's latest move to demonstrate its strategic dominance and sovereignty over the disputed waters, an American defense official said." Senior Col. Wu Qian, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of National Defense, "did not mention the missiles on Thursday but confirmed that China had carried out long-planned drills over an area that stretched from Qingdao in northeastern China to disputed islands in the South China Sea known as the Spratlys." Col. Wu said, "The above exercises are not directed at any country." The Washington Times (8/27, Glenn, 492K) reports the Chinese maneuvers drew criticism Thursday from the Pentagon, which called them "the latest in a long string of actions to assert unlawful maritime claims." WPost: China Not Interested In Preserving Online "Freedom." The Washington Post (8/27, 14.2M) editorializes that when China imposed "a sweeping new national security law, onlookers wondered whether President Xi Jinping would impose his digital authoritarianism on the island state - or whether some sort of compromise would emerge leaving online life less free than before, but still free enough to use the word 'freedom:" Now, the Post says, "we have an answer: China is not interested in compromise." Hong Kong, it argues, "is the latest frontier in a fight over Internet freedom that is occurring around the world." Russian Prosecutors Do Not Plan To Investigate Navalny's Suspected Poisoning. The Wall Street Journal (8/27, Simmons, Subscription Publication, 7.57M) reports that Russian prosecutors said that they are not planning to investigate the poisoning or illness of Alexei Navalny as they have no evidence a crime was committed. Trump Has Yet To Condemn Poisoning. The Washington Post (8/27, Taylor, 14.2M) reports, "The suspected poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has drawn global condemnation" but President Trump "has not added his condemnation to the list." To the Post, "Trump's silence is easy fuel for his critics." Putin Says Prepared To Help Lukashenko If Belarus Protests Turn Violent. The AP (8/27, Karmanau, Isachenkov) reports on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin "warned that he stands ready to send police to Belarus if protests there turn violent" and "Belarusian police dispersed a protest in the capital with renewed vigor Thursday, detaining about 180 people and raising pressure on the opposition." Putin said Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko "asked him to prepare a Russian law enforcement contingent to deploy to Belarus if necessary." Putin said, "We have agreed not to use it until the situation starts spinning out of control and extremist elements acting under the cover of political slogans cross certain borders and engage in banditry and start burning cars, houses and banks or take over administrative buildings." EFTA00149249 The New York Times (8/27, Higgins, 18.61M) called it "an ominous warning...to protesters in Belarus not to push too hard to topple their country's embattled president," while the Washington Post (8/27, Khurshudyan, 14.2M) calls Putin's statement "the most definitive indication that Moscow is backing its longtime ally Lukashenko after nearly three weeks of mass protests calling for the strongman's ouster." Intelligence Officials Say US To Offer Little Support For Belarusian Protesters. TIME (8/27, Walcott, 18.47M) reports that demonstrators in Belarus "can expect little more than rhetorical support from the United States, Trump administration officials say." While some US diplomats "have argued for imposing sanctions on Lukashenko's regime, U.S. intelligence officials have concluded he is likely to remain in power despite this month's allegedly rigged election because he retains the support of the leadership of the nation's military, internal security, government-controlled news media, and intelligence services." In addition, intelligence officials "in the US and Western Europe say, Russia's foreign and military intelligence agencies have," in the words of one European official, "thoroughly penetrated or intimidated their comrades in Belarus." Citing Health, Abe Announces Resignation. The New York Times (8/28, Rich, 18.61M) reports Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced Friday "he will resign because of ill health...just four days after he exceeded the record for the longest consecutive run as leader in Japanese history." The Japanese news media had been speculating about Abe's health "for weeks, particularly after he significantly dialed back public appearances as a new wave of coronavirus infections erupted in clusters throughout the country. When Mr. Abe visited a hospital twice in the span of a week, the rumor mill went into overdrive." EU Leaders Divided Amid Rising Turkish, Greek Tensions. The New York Times (8/27, Erlanger, 18.61M) reports that an "escalating dispute between Greece and Turkey over energy resources in the eastern Mediterranean is fast becoming militarized, raising the risks of a clash among NATO allies." German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, "who visited Greece and Turkey this week urging dialogue, warned both governments against further military escalation." As Germany tries to mediate, France, Greece, Cyprus and Italy are "engaged in military exercises involving ships and planes off the Cypriot coast" to "deter Turkey from further energy exploration in disputed waters." Mali Coup Leaders Send President Home. The New York Times (8/27, Maclean, Diouara, 18.61M) reports that coup leaders in Mali released President Ibrahim Boubacar KeIta and "a heavy security escort took Mr. Keita to his house in Sebeninkoro, a residential neighborhood of Bamako." World Bank Halts Report On National Competitiveness Rankings. The Wall Street Journal (8/27, Zumbrun, Subscription Publication, 7.57M) reports the World Bank on Thursday announced it is halting publication of its annual report on business competitiveness amid concerns about data irregularities. THE BIG PICTURE Headlines From Today's Front Pages. Wall Street Journal: RNC 2020: Trump Contrasts 'Two Visions' In Convention Speech Fed Approves Shift On Inflation Goal, Ushering In Longer Era Of Low Rates EFTA00149250 Hurricane Laura Exacts Lethal Toll, Causes Widespread Damage Walmart Joins Microsoft's Pursuit Of TikTok Mission Impossible: Convincing A Polish Town To Let Tom Cruise Destroy Its Bridge TikTok's Founder Wonders What Hit Him New York Times: Trump Heads Into General Election He Casts As A Crusade For Law And Order Instead Of Evolving As President, Trump Has Bent The Job To His Will TikTok Is Said To Wrestle With Two Competing Offers Fed Chair Sets Stage For Longer Periods Of Lower Rates Suspect In Kenosha Killings Lionized The Police Hurricane Laura Carves Destructive Path Across Louisiana One NBA Team Walked Out. A Generation Of Athletes Followed. Washington Post: Laura Decimates Louisiana As Storm Cuts A Narrow Path Unemployed Americans Feel Sting Of Abandonment In Prime Time, An Alternate Reality That Bolsters A Flagging Campaign Brutal Contest Shaping Up Over Pandemic, Race And The Economy Financial Times: Russia Ready To Deploy Police In Belarus If Situation Worsens Fed To Tolerate Higher Inflation In Policy Shift Von der Leyen Confronts Trade Policy Deficit As Hogan Resigns Walmart Enters Race For TikTok US With Microsoft Partnership Washington Times: `People's President': Trump Blasts 'Extreme' Biden, Touts American Comeback Biden, Dems Rethink Riots Response As Law-And-Order Message Lifts Trump 'Two Wholly Different Narratives': RNC Message On Virus A Stark Contrast To Dems Critical Shortage: Overburdened Drone Pilots Driven Out Of Air Force, GAO Warns Kamala Harris' Marijuana 'Joy' Far Removed From 'Just Say No' Kenosha Shooting Fuels Fears Of Vigilante Violence: 'It Doesn't Help' Story Lineup From Last Night's Network News: ABC: Hurricane Laura; Wisconsin-Jacob Blake Shooting; NBA-Boycott; RNC; Coronavirus-CDC; Coronavirus-Ryan Air; Coast Guard-Shark Scare; Texas-Reilience. CBS: Hurricane Laura; Hurricane Laura-Death; Wisconsin-Jacob Blake Shooting; NBA-Boycott; RNC; Coronavirus-Testing; Georgia-Missing Children; Couple Donates Food From Their Wedding To Homeless Shelter. NBC: Hurricane Laura; Hurricane Laura-Fire; Hurricane Laura-Preparations; Wisconsin-Jacob Blake Shooting; RNC; Biden/Harris-RNC Retort; Coronavirus-CDC; NBA-Boycott; Woman Celebrates 102 Birthday. Network TV At A Glance: Hurricane Laura - 16 minutes, 20 seconds RNC - 8 minutes, 25 seconds Wisconsin-Jacob Blake Shooting - 6 minutes, 55 seconds NBA-Boycott - 6 minutes, 05 seconds Coronavirus - 6 minutes, 0 seconds Story Lineup From This Morning's Radio News Broadcasts: EFTA00149251 ABC: RNC-Trump; RNC-Ivanka Trump; RNC-Ben Carson; DC-Protesters; Wisconsin-Jacob Blake Shooting; Hurricane Laura. CBS: RNC-Trump; Hurricane Laura; Wisconsin-Jacob Blake Shooting; Tennis Star-Boycott; Florida-Prisoner Released. FOX: RNC-Trump; Sen. Harris-Trump Criticism; Hurricane Laura; Stocks. NPR: RNC-Trump; RNC-Themes; Wisconsin-Jacob Blake Shooting; Hurricane Laura. WASHINGTON'S SCHEDULE Today's Events In Washington. White House: • President Trump — Delivers remarks in Manchester, NH • Vice President Pence — Speaks at Workers for Trump event US Senate: • Senate convenes for pro forma session - Senate convenes for pro forma session * Chamber on recess from 7 Aug - 8 Sep Location: U.S. Capitol, Washington, DC; 2:00 PM US House: • House meets in pro forma session — House of Representatives meets in pro forma session * Chamber on recess from 31 Jul - 7 Sep Location: U.S. Capitol, Washington, DC; 9:00 AM • House Homeland Security Committee virtual hearing on 'Ensuring Every Vote Counts' - Virtual hearing on 'Protecting America's Democracy: Ensuring Every Vote Counts', with testimony from Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson; American Postal Workers Union President Mark Dimondstein; Democracy Fund Senior Advisor for Elections Tammy Patrick; and Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams; 12:00 PM • Economic Opportunity Subcommittee oversight hearing on Coordinating Transition Resources'; 1:00 PM • Hearing on 'Voting Safely In A Pandemic', held via Cisco Webex; 1:00 PM Cabinet Officers: • Secretary of State Pompeo concludes Israel / Sudan / Bahrain / United Arab Emirates / Oman trip - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo concludes trip to Israel, Sudan, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman, with agenda including meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss 'regional security issues related to Iran's malicious influence, establishing and deepening Israel's relationships in the region, and cooperation in protecting the U.S. and Israeli economies from malign investors'; meeting Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and Sovereign Council Chair General Abdel Fattah el-Burhan to discuss continued U.S. support for the civilian-led transitional govt and support for deepening the Sudan-Israel relationship; meeting Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa; meeting Emirati Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan to discuss the Abraham Accords agreement with Israel and other regional issues; and meeting Omani Sultan Haitham bin Tarik Al Said 'to promote unity among the Gulf Cooperation Council' Visitors: • No visitors scheduled This Town: • 'Get Your Knee Off Our Necks' Commitment March on Washington - 'Get Your Knee Off Our Necks' Commitment March on Washington, organized by the National Action Network and the family of George Floyd to demonstrate their 'commitment to fighting for policing and EFTA00149252 criminal justice'. The march, which takes place on the 57th anniversary of the March on Washington and Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream' speech, was announced by National Action Network founder and President Rev. Al Sharpton during a memorial service for Floyd, whose 25 May death while in police custody in Minneapolis led to protests around the world. Speakers include the families of Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Eric Gamer ration: Lincoln Memorfac FLincoln er lyMwialtir NW, Waning on e ii: • USCC call on Hurricane Laura and California wildfires - `Hurricane Laura and Califomia Wildfires Coordination Call' hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, with partners who have been directly impacted and are actively responding assessing the damages from these recent events and discuss how sheltering needs are being managed under coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions; 1:00 PM • Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Awards - 2020 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award ceremony, for the highest honor given by the U.S. Govt to employers for support of National Guard and Reserve employees Location: The Pentagon, Arlington, VA Copyright 2020 by Bulletin Intelligence LLC Reproduction or redistribution without permission prohibited. 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