EFTA00150161.pdf

From• To. Subject: [EXTERNAL EMAIL] - FBI Public Affairs News Briefing Friday, July 31, 2020 Date: Fri, 31 Jul 2020 10:26:55 +0000 c Importan e: Normal Mobile version and searchable archives available at fbi.bulletinintelligence.com. 'idriFBI News Briefing TO: THE DIRECTOR AND SENIOR STAFF DATE: FRIDAY, JULY 31, 2020 6:30 AM EDT TODAY'S TABLE OF CONTENTS LEADING THE NEWS • FBI Says Its Review Of Surveillance Applications Found Only Minor Errors. PROTESTS • US Charges Massachusetts Man With Firing At Boston Police During Protests. • Two More Charged In Kansas City Under Operation LeGend. • Operation LeGend Prosecution Underway In Albuquerque. • Trump: Feds Will Not Leave Portland Until Governor Clears Protesters. • DHS Compiled "Intelligence Reports" On Journalists Who Published Leaked Documents. • Pentagon Removes Language From Training Referring To Protesters, Media As "Adversaries." • In Leaked Recording, Trump Asks Inhofe To Preserve Name Of Fort Lee. • Prosecutor: No Charges For Ferguson Officer Who Killed Michael Brown. • Missouri AG Drops Gun Charges Against St. Louis Couple. • NYTimes Analysis: Trump Echoes Wallace As "Law And Order" Candidate. • Gerson: Trump Tweet On Housing Regulation "Laid Bare" His Biases. COUNTER-TERRORISM • North Carolina Man Sentenced For Lying To FBI About Helping Another Join ISIS. • Conspirator In 1993 NYC Terror Plot Is Set For Release. COUNTER-INTELLIGENCE • Full DC Appeals Court To Review DOJ's Decision To Drop Flynn Case. • Senators Ask Agencies For Trove Of Trump-Russia Documents. • Federal Judge Blocks Anti-Trump Group From Filing Amicus Opposing Stone's Commutation. • Republican Senators Seek Records On Top Steele Dossier Source. • Op-Ed: Valerie Jarrett Uses Classic Obama Administration Tactic To Dismiss FBI Spying Scandal. • Book Review: Jeffrey Toobin's "True Crimes And Misdemeanors" On Trump Impeachment. • Op-Ed: Steele's Failings Go Far Beyond Dodgy "Dossier." • Bongino Says Durham's Report Will Be "Horrifying For The Democrats." • FBI, Counterintelligence Officials Warn Of China Election Interference. • Chinese National Pleads Guilty To Stealing Trade Secrets From Ohio Hospital. • FBI Probing Whether China Spied On Universities' Coronavirus Research. EFTA00150161 • Democrats Press Nunes For Details On Anti-Biden Package Provided By Ukrainian Official. • Lessons From The KGB On Dirty Tricks In 2020 Election. • Election Officials Game Worst-Case Scenarios In Drills. • Pentagon's Secret, Defunct UFO-hunting Program May Still Exist. • CFIUS Halted Eight Foreign Investment Deals In 2019, Trump Ended One. • Op-Ed: The US Has Failed To Adapt To Kinds Of Global Threats. • Russia Detains Alleged Ukrainian Spy In Its Black Sea Fleet. • Belarus' Arrest Of Russian Wagner Soldiers May Have Been Staged To Postpone Elections. • Op-Ed: Holding Syria Accountable For Chemical Attacks Will Be Tough Without Sharing Intelligence. • Anti-Tank Weapon Rarely Seen In Afghanistan Destroys Helicopter. CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS • Trump Meets With Family Of Murdered Fort Hood Soldier, Pledges Rigorous Investigation. • FBI Joins Army Probe Of Killing Of Fort Bragg Paratrooper. • Epstein Accuser Alleged In Unsealed Deposition That Maxwell Was His Partner In Abuse. • Idaho Prosecutor Subpoenas FBI Agents In Daybell Probe. • Man Shot By FBI In Arkansas Will Remain Jailed. • Kentucky AG: Breonna Taylor Autopsy, Police Radio Files Should Not Be Released Yet. • Buffalo Exchange Closes Colorado Stores Amid Abuse Probe. • Mississippi Man Facing Charges Over Shooting US Task Force Officers. • Continuing: Alabama Pair Indicted In Connection To Killing Of Child. • Ohio Man Facing Child Pornography Charges. • Oklahoma Man Pleads Guilty To Firearms Charge. • Kentucky Man Charged With Murder, Robbery. • South Dakota Community Scammed By FBI Impersonators. • Indiana Toddler Critically Wounded In Shooting. • DO) Acknowledges Investigation Into Death Of Elijah McClain. • Continuing Coverage: Hawaii Man Accused Of Running Mob. • Two Accused Of Operating Illegal Marijuana Growing Operation In Massachusetts. • Four Defendants Charged With Meth Trafficking Plead Not Guilty. • Alleged Gang Leader, More Than 20 Others Arrested On Drug, Firearms Charges. • Six Arrested As Result Of Probe That Targeted Alleged Drug Trafficking Operation. • FBI Investigating Threats Against Missouri Elections Office. • Connecticut Man Arrested In Connection To Death Of Teenager. • FBI Investigating ATM Robberies In Minnesota. • West Virginia Supreme Court Upholds Conviction Of Child Murderer • Nevada Man Arrested Over Sex-Trafficking Charges. • New York Man Pleads Guilty To Bank Robberies. • Colorado Man Sentenced Over Child Pornography. • North Carolina Man Arrested Over Illegal Narcotics. • Indiana Men Facing Potential Hate Crime Charges. • Georgia Gang Member Arrested Over Methamphetamine. FINANCIAL CRIME & CORPORATE SCANDALS • Ohio Lawmakers Vote To Remove House Speaker Householder After Indictment. • Tennessee Lawmaker Charged With Theft Of Federal Funds. • Los Angeles City Councilman Charged In Corruption Probe. • Texas Man Sentenced For Wire Fraud In New Hampshire. CYBER DIVISION EFTA00150162 • Chinese Hackers Reportedly Targeted Moderna's Vaccine Research. • Twitter Says Hacking Started With Phone Calls To Employees. • Senators Urge Justice Department To Open Investigation Into TikTok And Zoom. • DOD Inspector General's Uphill Battle To Create A Culture For Cybersecurity. • Volunteer Experts Seek To Assist US Election Cybersecurity. • Portugal Telecoms Won't Use Huawei For Core 5G Networks Despite Lack Of Official Ban. • Hackers Post Fake Stories On Real News Sites. • Gallagher Says Pentagon Needs Access To Defense Companies' Networks To Hunt Cyberthreats. • Op-Ed: US Must Prevent Foreign Cyber Attacks On Texas Energy Infrastructure. LAW ENFORCEMENT SERVICES • New Jersey Lawmakers Could Vote For Early Release Of 20% Of Prison Inmates. OTHER FBI NEWS • Accessing Unclassified Data Poses Remote-Work Challenges For FBI. • Cohen Free To Publish Anti-Trump Book While Serving Sentence At Home. OTHER WASHINGTON NEWS • GOP Legislators Quick To Reject Trump's Floating Of Delay In November Election. • Trump Exhorts People Who Have Recovered From COVID To Donate Plasma. • Fauci Reiterates Ineffectiveness Of Hydroxychloroquine To Refute Viral Video Shared By Trump. • Birx Warns Cases Spiking In Midwest As Florida And Arizona Set New Death Records. • In Shift, Administration Officials Now Urging Public To Wear Face Masks. • Daily Beast: Trump's Revival Of COVID News Conferences Has Frustrated Staff. • Reports Tie Cain's Death From COVID To His Appearance At Trump's Tulsa Rally. • Vanity Fair: Kushner Team's Abandoned Ambitious COVID Testing Plan. • FDA Issues Guidance For Companies Making At-Home Tests. • Pentagon Researchers At Work On Developing COVID Antibody. • Johnson & Johnson Starts Human Vaccine Trials. • Data Suggest Native American Communities Disproportionately Impacted By Coronavirus. • Study: Children May Carry Coronavirus At High Levels. • NBA Issues New Safety Protocols. • WPost: Gohmert Face Of GOP Coronavirus Ignorance. • Trump Says 300 Miles Of New Border Wall Will Be Completed By End Of August. • Judge Blocks Administration's Green Card Eligibility Rules. • Undocumented Woman Who Worked At Trump Club Facing Deportation. • US GDP Shrunk By Record Amount In Second Quarter. • Weekly Jobless Claims Rise To 1.434M As Senators Remain Divided On Extending Benefit. • Trump, DeVos Reiterate Call For Schools To Reopen. • Tropical Storm Isaias Could Reach Florida Over Weekend. • Senate Hearing On Controversial Pentagon Nominee Tata Cancelled. • Albence Stepping Down As Acting ICE Director. • Memo Reveals State Department Dispute Over Susan Pompeo's Travel. • Obama Calls For Passage Of Voting Rights Act, Criticizes Trump In Lewis Eulogy. • House Votes To End Ban On Transgender Troops. • House Rejects Ocasio-Cortez Proposal To Bar Military Recruitment On Online Gaming Platforms. • Schweikert Admits To 11 Ethics Violations, Agrees To Pay $50K Fine. • Ginsburg Resting In Hospital Following Minimally Invasive Surgery. • NASA's Perseverance Rover Lifts Off En Route To Mars. • Omar Campaign Spent $606K At Husband's Firm In First Weeks Of July. EFTA00150163 INTERNATIONAL NEWS • Trump: "Lamestream Media" Ignoring "Major China Virus Flare Up" In Other Countries. • Companies Work To Build Reliable Supply Chains For Coronavirus Vaccines. • EU Again Extends Travel Ban On Americans. • Study: UK Has Europe's Worst Surge In Deaths During Pandemic. • Pompeo: US Has Discussed Threats To Its Troops In Afghanistan With Russia. • US Urges Pakistan To Act After American Charged With Blasphemy Shot In Court. • Craft: Trump Wants To Give In-Person UN Address In September. • Pompeo Insists "Tide Is Turning" In Dealings With China. • US Ambassador To Russia Dismisses Conviction Of Marine Vet As "Absurd." • Democrats Slam Decision To Move US Troops Out Of Germany As Gift To Putin. • Polish Towns That Declared Themselves "LGBT-Free Zones" Are Denied EU Funds. • Violence In Darfur Increasing After Bashir's Overthrow. • Trudeau Defends Charity Deal In Rare Testimony Before Parliament. THE BIG PICTURE • Headlines From Today's Front Pages. WASHINGTON'S SCHEDULE • Today's Events In Washington. LEADING THE NEWS FBI Says Its Review Of Surveillance Applications Found Only Minor Errors. The AP (7/30, Tucker) reports that according to the FBI, "errors in more than two dozen applications for surveillance warrants were not as severe as the Justice Department inspector general made them out to be." The Justice Department IG has identified "important errors and omissions in applications the FBI submitted to wiretap a former Trump campaign adviser in the Russia investigation. In March, it said it had conducted an audit of 29 wiretap applications and found problems in all 29." However, the FBI said its review of the applications "found only two material errors, and neither is believed to have affected a judge's decision that there was probable cause for the surveillance. The FBI says that out of nearly 7,000 facts in the applications, there were rough 200 nonmaterial errors, such as typos and date inaccuracies." USA Today (7/30, Phillips, 10.31M) reports, "A statement issued Thursday came a few months after the Justice Department's internal watchdog said in a memo that it found errors and lack of documentation in nearly all 29 surveillance applications it is reviewing as part of a broader audit of the FBI's practices. The FBI and the Justice Department have since reviewed the 29 applications and found that the errors are mostly typographical, such as misspellings and wrong dates, the FBI said in the statement. The bureau said it found only two material errors, but neither would've affected the justifications for the surveillance." The Washington Post (7/30, Barrett, 14.2M) reports, "A spokeswoman for the inspector general declined to comment. Back in March, the inspector general's office said it had 'identified apparent errors or inadequately supported facts in all of the 25 applications we reviewed; the memo said, adding that in another four cases, they couldn't even find a corresponding file meant to act as a fact-checking exercise for FBI agents seeking surveillance orders." The Post adds, "Thursday's FBI statement also noted that the 29 FISA applications predated changes to the surveillance process ordered by Director Christopher A. Wray. The FBI said in its statement that the bureau 'remains confident these actions will fully address the findings and recommendations' of the inspector general." Reuters (7/30, Lynch) reports, "The FBI's findings could help take some of the heat off the bureau, which has been under fire for missteps in its early-stage investigation known as EFTA00150164 'Operation Crossfire Hurricane' into whether President Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign colluded with Russia." Fox News (7/30, Blitzer, 27.59M) reports, "The filing did not dispute that there were inaccuracies in the warrant applications, it only claimed that those inaccuracies did not ultimately affect the outcome of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court's orders." The Washington Examiner (7/30, Dunleavy, 448K) reports that surveillance of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page "appears to have been uniquely problematic." The FBI released details of more than two dozen FISA applications, According to The Examiner, "This sample indicates that the 17 `significant errors and omissions' found by the DO) watchdog in the process to obtain warrants to wiretap Page...was an outlier and gives Republican who believe Trump's campaign was unfairly targeted more ammo in the unraveling `Russiagates controversy." The Wall Street Journal (7/30, Viswanatha, Subscription Publication, 7.57M) also reports. PROTESTS US Charges Massachusetts Man With Firing At Boston Police During Protests. The Washington Times (7/30, Mordock, 492K) reports that a Boston man "accused of firing a gun at 21 police officers during the city's George Floyd protests last month was slapped with federal charges Thursday." John Boampong was charged with "assaulting a federal officer, interfering with a law enforcement officer during the commission of civil disorder and being a person prohibited under felony indictment in possession of a firearm and ammunition." The Boston Herald (7/30, Cotter, 410K) reports that Boampong, 37, of Dorchester, Massachusetts, "is accused of spraying bullets from a car at officers standing on near the Four Seasons Hotel on Boylston Street in the early hours of June 1." The Herald adds, "One of the first protests following the police killing of Black Minneapolis man George Floyd coalesced May 31, a Sunday six day's after Floyd's death. The protest went off peacefully - but 'devolved into widespread acts of violence, vandalism, looting and destruction of police property, including the burning of at least one police vehicle on Tremont Street. Some protestors threw rocks, bricks and commercially-available explosives, like M-80s, at police officers,' FBI Special Agent Timothy Kenny wrote in the new criminal complaint against Boampong." WFXT-TV Boston (7/30, Staff) also reports. Two More Charged In Kansas City Under Operation LeGend. The Kansas Star (7/30, Nozicka, 549K) reports, "Two more people have been charged under the federal Operation LeGend, including a man who allegedly threatened a witness in a shooting, prosecutors said Thursday." According to the Star, "The two are among more than 50 people arrested so far in connection to the anti-crime initiative named after 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro, who was fatally shot last month in Kansas City." Shannon Walz, 45, "was charged with illegally possessing a firearm and ammunition after Kansas City police arrested him following a foot chase in May. Shortly before, he was accused of threatening a witness to keep their mouth shut about a shooting that led to the victim's death weeks later." The Star adds, "The other defendant whose charges were announced Thursday was 20-year-old Maricela Delores Lozano, who was accused of stealing a car at gunpoint in July from a County Club Plaza parking garage." KSHB-TV Kansas City, MO (7/30, White, 90K) reports that Lozano "allegedly brandished an `AK-47 style pistol' in a Plaza parking garage and demanded the keys and cellphone of the victim. A Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper spotted her in Fulton two days later and took her into custody, according to U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri Timothy Garrison." Walz "was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm in a criminal complaint unsealed on Wednesday. Walz was arrested by Kansas City police on May 30, nearly six weeks before Operation LeGend launched in Kansas City. Walz had allegedly told a person to EFTA00150165 'keep their mouth shut' about a shooting that had occurred the week before while waving a handgun 'in a threatening manner,' according to Garrison's office. The victim in that shooting died on June 10." Operation LeGend Prosecution Underway In Albuquerque. The Albuquerque (NM) Journal (7/30, Kaplan, 196K) reports, "The U.S. Attorney's Office is prosecuting what appears to be its first Operation Legend case in Albuquerque - charging a defendant with being a felon in possession of a firearm during an incident last month." Carlos Trevon Morris, 44, "was arrested by federal officers on Tuesday. But the incident, a homicide, happened more than a month ago and federal agents have been investigating it for weeks. In response to questions about what makes the case part of Operation Legend, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Mexico said the main goal is to get guns out of the hands of convicted felons and others who are prohibited from having them. Last week, on July 22, Attorney General William Barr and President Donald Trump announced more than 25 federal officers are coming to Albuquerque as part of the operation, which is also being conducted in Kansas City, Missouri, and Chicago." Trump: Feds Will Not Leave Portland Until Governor Clears Protesters. President Trump took to Twitter Thursday to write, "Kate Brown, Governor of Oregon, isn't doing her job. She must clear out, and in some cases arrest, the Anarchists & Agitators in Portland. If she can't do it, the Federal Government will do it for her. We will not be leaving until there is safety!" The Hill (7/30, Chalfant, 2.98M) reports Brown responded on Twitter to Trump, writing, "I think we've had enough political grandstanding from DC. The President's plan to 'dominate' the streets of American cities has failed. We will protect free speech and the right to protest peacefully." Echoing the President, Deputy CBP Commissioner Robert Perez said on the Lars Larson ShowVI (7/30), "We're not going anywhere. We're going to remain in the city. The Federal Protective Service...along with the US Marshals, they are the ones charged with protecting that courthouse and those federal buildings. That said...we constantly and continually are collaborating and working alongside our state and local law enforcement. So we welcome and we've been wanting the sort of typical collaboration that we've always had there in Portland to quell this violence that has been occurring and all this criminal activity around the courthouse." Perez was also interviewed on America FirstVi (7/30). Police Move To Take Over Defense Of Federal Buildings. Reuters (7/30) reports that on Thursday in Portland, police "cleared a downtown park, making at least one arrest, as part of a plan for federal tactical police to leave the city following weeks of clashes with protesters." A day after Brown and US officials announced a phased withdrawal deal, "Oregon State Police requested the park be closed before their planned takeover of security at a nearby federal courthouse." DHS Compiled "Intelligence Reports" On Journalists Who Published Leaked Documents. The Washington Post (7/30, Al, Harris, 14.2M) reports DHS has compiled "intelligence reports" about "the work of American journalists covering protests in Portland, Ore., in what current and former officials called an alarming use of a government system meant to share information about suspected terrorists and violent actors." Over the past week, the department's Office of Intelligence and Analysis "disseminated three Open Source Intelligence Reports to federal law enforcement agencies and others, summarizing tweets written by two journalists - a reporter for the New York Times and the editor in chief of the blog Lawfare - and noting they had published leaked, unclassified documents about DHS operations in Portland." The intelligence EFTA00150166 reports, obtained by the Post, "include written descriptions and images of the tweets and the number of times they had been liked or retweeted by others." Pentagon Removes Language From Training Referring To Protesters, Media As "Adversaries." Politico (7/30, Seligman, 4.29M) reports Defense Secretary Esper "has directed the Pentagon to adjust the wording in a mandatory training course that identifies protesters and journalists as `adversaries,' a day after Politico first reported on the materials." The training material has been in use since 2010, but "it was shared with a wider audience following Esper's new guidance aimed at clamping down on leaks released this month, chief Pentagon spokesperson Jonathan Hoffman told reporters on Thursday." In Leaked Recording, Trump Asks Inhofe To Preserve Name Of Fort Lee. The Washington Examiner (7/30, Doyle, 448K) reports President Trump was overheard on a phone call to Senate Armed Services Chairman James Inhofe "asking for assurance that Fort Lee, a U.S. military base that bears the name of the commander of the Confederate Army, Robert E. Lee, would not be renamed." According to the New York Times, Trump asked Inhofe, "We're gonna keep the name of Robert E. Lee?" Inhofe was at "an Italian restaurant on Capitol Hill, when he took the call on Wednesday." Inhofe replied, "Just trust me. I'll make it happen." Inhofe "put the president on speakerphone, which allowed a nearby diner to record the call." Prosecutor: No Charges For Ferguson Officer Who Killed Michael Brown. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (7/30, Currier, 685K) reports St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell on Thursday "finally answered the question that has followed him since his political campaign: Will he charge a former Ferguson police officer in the 2014 shooting death" of Michael Brown. The answer is "no." Speaking to reporters, Bell said, "This is one of the most difficult things I've had to do as an elected official. Although this case represents one of the most significant moments in St. Louis' history, the question to this office is a simple one: Could we prove beyond a reasonable doubt that when Darren Wilson shot Michael Brown he committed murder or manslaughter under Missouri law? After an independent and in-depth review of the evidence, we cannot prove that he did." The New York Times (7/30, Eligon, 18.61M) reports that "six years after a white police officer shot and killed" Brown "another investigation into the killing has come to the same conclusion as the first: The officer should not be charged." Thursday's announcement "most likely marks the end of the legal saga in a case that started the global rise of the Black Lives Matter movement." Missouri AG Drops Gun Charges Against St. Louis Couple. Townhall (7/30, Vespa, 177K) reports Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt is "stepping to stop what pretty much is a politically motivated legal action against" St. Louis couple Mark and Patricia McCloskey, who "defended their home when a roving band of leftist rioters broke down the gate to their home and ventured onto their property." NYTimes Analysis: Trump Echoes Wallace As "Law And Order" Candidate. Peter Baker writes in an analysis for the New York Times (7/30, Al, 18.61M) reports that amid the 1968 race riots, the "law and order" candidate was George C. Wallace. Fifty-two years later, "in another moment of social unrest, the law and order' candidate is already in the Oval Office and the politics of division and race ring through the generations as President Trump tries to do what Wallace could not." According to Baker, "comparisons between the two men stretch back to 2015 when Mr. Trump ran for the White House denouncing Mexicans illegally crossing the border as rapists and pledging to bar all Muslims from entering the country. But the parallels have become even more pronounced in recent weeks after the killing of George Floyd." EFTA00150167 Gerson: Trump Tweet On Housing Regulation "Laid Bare" His Biases. In a column titled "Trumpism's Most Persistent Goal Is The Preservation Of White Supremacy," Michael Gerson writes in the Washington Post (7/30, 14.2M) that President Trump "has trouble concealing his intentions." He cites a tweet this week from the President stating: "I am happy to inform all of the people living their Suburban Lifestyle Dream that you will no longer be bothered or financially hurt by having low income housing built in your neighborhood." His language, Gerson argues, "laid bare his motivating biases. He was 'happy' to make the announcement." COUNTER-TERRORISM North Carolina Man Sentenced For Lying To FBI About Helping Another Join ISIS. WBTV-TV Charlotte, NC (7/30, 57K) reports from Union County, North Carolina, "A North Carolina man has been sentenced to five years in prison for lying to the FBI about buying plane tickets for someone who planned traveling to Syria to join ISIS." Alexander Samuel Smith, 32, of Waxhaw, North Carolina, "was sentenced to 60 months in prison Wednesday for making a false statement to the FBI. Smith was also ordered to serve three years under court supervision upon completion of his prison term." WBTV-TV adds, "According to filed court documents, evidence presented at trial and Wednesday's sentencing hearing, in Feb. 2016, Smith lied during an interview with the FBI about his plans to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), and about providing assistance to other individuals to do the same." Conspirator In 1993 NYC Terror Plot Is Set For Release. The New York Post (7/30, Feuerherd, Golding, 4.57M) reports, "A would-be terrorist convicted in a fiendish plot to bomb New York City landmarks is set for release from prison on Thursday - and could be headed straight for a Manhattan homeless shelter." Victor Alvarez, 54, "has finished serving a 30-year sentence for conspiring with the late, blind Sheik Omar Abdel- Rahman to blow up the various Big Apple bridges and tunnels, as well as the United Nations and local FBI headquarters. His crimes included helping stir diesel fuel and fertilizer for what the feds called a 'witches' brew' that was found inside a makeshift bomb factory in Queens when it was raided in 1993, disrupting the terror scheme. Abdel-Rahman and nine followers, including Alvarez, were found guilty in 1995 following a nine-month trial that included audio and video recordings secretly made with the help of bodyguard for the radical Egyptian cleric after he became an informant for the FBI." The New York Daily News (7/30, Brown, 2.52M) reports, "A mentally-ill follower of 'Blind Shiekh' Omar Abdel Rahman completed his 30-year prison sentence Thursday for plotting to blow up New York City buildings in 1993 - and then alarmed federal officials by vowing to stop taking his meds. Victor Alvarez's return to society got off to a rocky start in Manhattan Federal Court as he began a three-year term of supervised release for what prosecutors called a conspiracy to 'wage a war of urban terrorism' by bombing the FBI building in New York, United Nations and other targets. He insisted on an in-person hearing so he and his court-appointed attorney could explain that he would refuse mental health treatment and medicine to treat his mental illness while on home confinement at the Bellevue Men's Shelter." COUNTER-INTELLIGENCE Full DC Appeals Court To Review Dars Decision To Drop Flynn Case. The Washington Post (7/30, Marimow, 14.2M) reports that on Thursday, the full US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit "agreed...to revisit US District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan's plan to examine" the Justice Department's decision to drop its case against former national security adviser Michael Flynn, thereby "reviving the unusual case testing the limits of the judiciary's EFTA00150168 power to check the executive branch." The Post adds "the decision to rehear the case before a full complement of judges wipes out the June ruling from a three-judge panel that ordered Sullivan to immediately dismiss the case and said Sullivan was wrong to appoint a retired federal judge to argue against the government's move to undo Flynn's guilty plea." Politico (7/30, Gerstein, Cheney, 4.29M) says Thursday's announcement is "a setback for Flynn, who scored an unexpected victory on the issue last month." Fox News (7/30, Olson, 27.59M) calls the move "the latest twist in the long-running legal drama that stemmed from the FBI's investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia in 2016." NPR (7/30, Johnson, 3.12M) reports that the full appeals court "likely will assess whether Sullivan can go ahead with the consideration and investigation of the government's change of heart; the smaller panel of judges ruled that he had overstepped himself and violated the privilege of the executive branch to reach decisions about prosecutions confidentially." The Washington Times (7/30, Mordock, 492K) points out "the DC Circuit is currently composed of seven judges appointed by three Democrats and four Republican appointees." Bloomberg (7/30, Larson, Yaffe-Bellany, 4.73M) reports that the appellate court "said in a one- page order that the `parties should be prepared to address whether there are "no other adequate means to attain the relief" desired." The Wall Street Journal (7/30, Tau, Subscription Publication, 7.57M) reports that arguments are set for August 11. USA Today (7/30, Phillips, 10.31M) indicates that "rehearing a case that had already been ruled on is very rare, a request granted only in proceedings that involve `a question of exceptional importance' and when the court feels the need to 'maintain uniformity' in its decisions." USA Today adds "the move set off an unusual legal battle in the appeals court, where both the defense and prosecution wanted to dismiss the case while the presiding judge - himself represented by an attorney - argued he's entitled to scrutinize the Justice Department's motives for dropping the prosecution." CNBC (7/30, Mangan, Breuninger, 3.62M) says the decision "implies that at least some judges on the appeals court believe Sullivan should be given the opportunity to rule on the dismissal request before an appeal is heard of his refusal to do so." The AP (7/30, Tucker) reports "Sidney Powell, a lawyer for Flynn, did not immediately return an email seeking comment, but did tweet the news and wrote, `WOW!" Powell said on Fox News' Hannity (7/30, 535K), "It is a sad day for the rule of law. Judge Sullivan's petition for rehearing should not have even been considered by the court because he had no standing to file it. He's not a party in the case. He is supposed to be a neutral umpire. And yet, he has taken on the role of an advocate for some sort of hearing that he wants to conduct back in his court on an issue that the government has decided to dismiss, a case it has decided to drop. ... He cannot act as a prosecutor because only the Department of Justice can under Article II of the Constitution. So, there are two Constitutional provisions that preclude him from doing what he's trying to do, and the court seems to be indicating that it is going to give him that opportunity, despite the fact he has no Constitutional authority to proceed." Reuters (7/30, Wolfe, Lynch) reports "Democrats have said the Flynn case is an example of Attorney General William Barr improperly meddling to help Trump's friends and political allies." The New York Times (7/30, Savage, 18.61M) says that "Barr's Justice Department, while not embracing Ms. Powell's accusations that prosecutors committed misconduct, argued that the uncertain status of the Flynn inquiry at the time agents questioned him meant that Mr. Flynn's lies were not a crime because they were not connected to a legitimate investigation." Also reporting on the move are CBS News (7/30, Hymes, 3.68M), ABC News (7/30, Mallin, 2.97M), BBC World News (UK) (7/30, 3.28M), The Washington Examiner (7/30, Chaitin, 448K), The New York Post (7/30, Nelson, 4.57M), Business Insider (7/30, Sheth, Samuelsohn, 3.67M), and Law360 (7/30, Subscription Publication, 8K). Senators Ask Agencies For Trove Of Trump-Russia Documents. The Daily Caller (7/30, Datoc, 716K) reports that Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) "are pressing multiple government agencies for the release of a slew of documents EFTA00150169 related to the Trump-Russia probe, including records of a former Justice Department official's correspondence with Igor Danchenko, a Russia analyst identified as the primary source for the Steele dossier." The senators sent letters "to the Justice Department, FBI, State Department, CIA and Office of the Director of National Intelligence seeking records about surveillance activities against the Trump campaign and other related issues." The letter to DOJ and the FBI "seeks records of correspondence between Danchenko, the purported dossier source, and David Laufman, who served as chief of the Justice Department's counterintelligence and export control section until 2018." Federal Judge Blocks Anti-Trump Group From Filing Amicus Opposing Stone's Commutation. The Washington Times (7/30, Mordock, 492K) reports that US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson on Thursday "blocked a trio of anti-Trump lawyers from filing a legal brief opposing the commutation of Roger Stone's prison sentence." Judge Jackson "said the case is closed so there is no reason for more court filings. Although Stone has appealed his conviction to a federal appeals court, those issues are not before her, Judge Jackson said. 'Here there is no motion or question to be decided pending before the Court - indeed the matter is on appeal and the Court lacks jurisdiction to deal with it,' she wrote in a brief, one-page order." Judge Jackson "said the law is murky on whether the public can file" an amicus brief "in a criminal case, much less one that is no longer before the court." Republican Senators Seek Records On Top Steele Dossier Source. The Washington Examiner (7/30, Dunleavy, 448K) reports two top Senate Republicans "drastically expanded the scope of their inquiry into the Russia investigation, sending letters asking for information from the Justice Department, the FBI, the CIA, the ODNI, and the State Department." Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the chairman of the Finance Committee, and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), the chairman of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, "told key Trump Administration officials in separate letters...that their committees 'are investigating matters related to the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane investigation' and noted that they had requests for records related to a host of Trump-Russia figures and controversies." They "asked Attorney General Barr for all records tying former DO) counterintelligence official David Laufman to Igor Danchenko." Op-Ed: Valerie Jarrett Uses Classic Obama Administration Tactic To Dismiss FBI Spying Scandal. In a commentary in the Washington Examiner (7/30, 448K), Becket Adams writes, "White House spin is nothing new, though the press's frenetic coverage of the Trump Administration would have you believe otherwise. During the Obama years, for example, the White House and its allies had a go-to strategy for dismissing unflattering reports and outright scandals. They would note simply of whatever story threatened to damage the White House that it happened a long time ago, as if the passage of time itself was a defense or an explanation." She contends, "Valerie Jarrett's appearance this week on the Fox Business Network is merely a reminder that the Trump Administration is not the first to declare simply that its scandals are non-stories. Also, given that the 'old news' tactic was the go-to strategy for the Obama Administration, it should not surprise you to see that Jarrett is still leaning on this trick, even years removed from the White House." Book Review: Jeffrey Toobin's "True Crimes And Misdemeanors" On Trump Impeachment. In a book review in the Washington Post (7/30, 14.2M), Carlos Lozada reviews Jeffrey Toobin's new book, 'True Crimes and Misdemeanors,' which explores "the inquiry into Russian electoral interference as well as the Ukraine scandal that led to Trump's impeachment and Senate trial." EFTA00150170 Lozada writes, "A staff writer for the New Yorker and a legal analyst for CNN, Toobin has written books on the Bill Clinton investigation and the Iran-contra scandal; he had served as a young prosecutor in the latter case. A Toobin book on the Trump investigations seemed inevitable. In an author's note, Toobin says he interviewed members of Mueller's staff, subjects and witnesses in the probe, Trump's legal team and members of his administration, as well as lawmakers. Specific sources usually go unnamed, and Toobin also relies on reporting and analysis by The Washington Post, the New York Times, Lawfare and others. Put together, this all gives the book an authoritative, omniscient-narrator quality." Op-Ed: Steele's Failings Go Far Beyond Dodgy "Dossier." In an op-ed in the Washington Times (7/30, 492K), retired CIA officer Daniel Hoffman writes, "President Trump earlier this month publicly called for the extradition of former British MI6 Intelligence Officer Christopher Steele. ... Steele's dossier made a number of other sensational but inaccurate claims, including that Mr. Fridman and Mr. Aven provided Mr. Putin with foreign policy guidance; that former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen traveled to Prague to conspire with Russian hackers; and that Russian intelligence possessed a salacious blackmail tape of Mr. Trump himself." He contends, "Mr. Steele would best serve his own interests - and the national security of both the UK and US - with a mea culpa admitting his errors of judgment and laying out the multitude of lessons we should learn from his shoddy work product." Bongino Says Durham's Report Will Be "Horrifying For The Democrats." The Washington Examiner (7/30, Chaitin, 448K) reports that, according to conservative commentator Dan Bongino, Democrats are "terrified by what US Attorney John Durham will put in his report." Fox News host Sean Hannity "had the former Secret Service agent and Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, on his show Wednesday night, and they touched on Attorney General William Barr's testimony the day before in which he refused to rule out releasing Durham's report before Election Day." Hannity "mentioned that Democrats are 'scared to death' of Durham's criminal inquiry into the Russia investigation, a point which Bongino drew out in his comments." He said, "There are three things we know now that are going to be really horrifying for the Democrats, okay? Number one, we know that that January meeting happened, where we know Steele's sources were garbage. January of 2017, so what Mueller was doing, we still have no idea." FBI, Counterintelligence Officials Warn Of China Election Interference. Axios (7/30, Treene, 521K) reports, "FBI Director Christopher Wray and other intelligence community officials warned about China's increased capability to interfere in U.S. elections in separate classified hearings with the Senate Intelligence Committee this week, two sources familiar with the hearings tell Axios." Wray and other officials "cited concerns that China is developing the ability to interfere with local election systems and target members of Congress to influence China policy, sources said." Wray "briefed committee members on Tuesday afternoon, and the other intel officials, including William Evanina, the director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) briefed them on Wednesday. An official with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which includes the NCSC, said it has been providing 'robust intelligence-based briefings on election security to the presidential campaigns, political committees, and Congressional audiences' but declined to comment on the details." The Washington Examiner (7/30, Dunleavy, 448K) reports that "following last week's revelation by" Evanina "that the U.S. intelligence community is most concerned about China, Russia, and Iran seeking to meddle in November's election and" Director Wray "reportedly warning the Senate Intelligence Committee this week about the Chinese government's growing ability to interference in U.S. elections, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo testified to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday that Beijing has not just the capability but the intention of conducting influence operations inside the United States." EFTA00150171 Pompeo Says Tech Leaders Must Be Aware China Steals IP. CNBC (7/30, Macias, 3.62M) reports on its website that in an appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday, Secretary of State Pompeo "slammed U.S. tech companies...for their lack of transparency in regards to the breadth and depth of intellectual property theft the Chinese government conducts on American industries." Pompeo is quoted as saying, "The idea that anyone in the tech space could not know of what the Chinese Communist Party is attempting to steal and the cyberattacks they are making seems incredulous to me." Blumenthal And Hawley Urge DOJ To Probe TikTok And Zoom's Ties To China. Reuters (7/30) reports Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) wrote to the Justice Department on Thursday "to urge a probe of video technology company Zoom and Chinese-owned social media company TikTok." They wrote, "We believe that it is imperative that the Department of Justice investigate and determine whether Zoom and TikTok's business relationships, data handling practices, and operational connections to China pose a risk to Americans." The senators charged that "both Zoom and TikTok have failed to answer even basic questions about their business operations, including who has access to personal information and when they comply with request from China or other governments." Chinese National Pleads Guilty To Stealing Trade Secrets From Ohio Hospital. Fox News (7/30, Miles, 27.59M) reports, "A researcher who worked for 10 years at an Ohio children's hospital research institute pleaded guilty to conspiring to trade secrets related to cellular research and illegally transfer the information to China." Li Chen and her husband, Yu Zhou, "whose case is still pending, had been indicted for setting up businesses in China, applying for patents there and traveling to China, all without the authorization of Nationwide Children's Hospital's Research Institute in Columbus." Fox News adds, "As part of her plea, Chen will forfeit approximately $1.4 million, 500,000 shares of common stock of Avalon GloboCare Corp. and 400 shares of common stock of GenExosome Technologies Inc. 'Li Chen was a trusted researcher at Nationwide Children's Hospital, conducting cutting-edge U.S. government-funded research,' stated FBI Cincinnati Special Agent in Charge Chris Hoffman." The Columbus (OH) Dispatch (7/30, Woods, 367K) reports, "The couple was arrested in July 2019 in California, charged with conspiring to steal at least five trade secrets related to exosome research while they were employed at Nationwide Children's. Chen admitted that she conspired to steal and monetize one of the trade secrets by creating and selling 'isolation kits.' Chen helped to start a company in China to sell the kits and received benefits from the Chinese government, according to the plea agreement." FBI Probing Whether China Spied On Universities' Coronavirus Research. The Houston Chronicle (7/30, Britto, 730K) reports, "The FBI is investigating whether the Chinese government attempted to illegally obtain COVID-19 research from American universities, including the University of Texas at Austin, UT officials confirmed to the Houston Chronicle." The FBI "told UT officials last week that the closure of the Chinese Consulate in Houston sparked the probe, wrote Daniel Jaffe, UT's interim executive vice president and provost, in an email to the university's faculty, graduate and post-doctorate students on Monday. As a result of this 'ongoing and evolving national situation,' the FBI will contact UT researchers 'about the role of the consulate and efforts by the Chinese government to illegally procure research from American universities,' Jaffe said." The Austin (TX) American Statesman (7/30, Korte, Subscription Publication, 343K) reports, "The FBI is looking into whether the Chinese government tried to illegally procure coronavirus vaccine research from American universities, including the University of Texas, UT officials said this week." The American Statesman adds, "In an email to faculty and graduate students Monday evening, UT interim Executive Vice President and Provost Dan Jaffe said the FBI notified the university last week that, due to the recent closure of the Chinese Consulate in Houston, it will be contacting UT researchers about the role of the consulate and efforts by the EFTA00150172 Chinese government to illegally procure research. The U.S. government took over the Chinese Consulate in Houston last week amid allegations of espionage. 'We do not know whom the FBI intends to contact or what they plan to discuss, nor have we shared anyone's information or details about ongoing research with FBI agents,' Jaffe said in his email. 'It's not unusual for federal law enforcement officers to ask to speak with researchers if deemed necessary to support criminal or national security investigations." KEYE-TV Austin, TX (7/30, Bontke) also reports. Democrats Press Nunes For Details On Anti-Biden Package Provided By Ukrainian Official. Politico (7/30, Cheney, 4.29M) reports Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) this week "declined to answer a colleague's question about whether he had received derogatory information about Vice President Joe Biden from Andrii Derkach, a Kremlin-linked Ukrainian lawmaker who has worked to foment allegations of corruption by Biden and his son Hunter." During a closed-door business meeting "of the panel on Wednesday - a transcript of which was made publicly available Thursday - Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY) pressed Nunes about news reports indicating that he was one of several GOP lawmakers who was delivered packets of information from Derkach containing allegations about Biden in December 2019." Derkach has "confirmed that he sent the packages to Nunes, as well as Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC)." Derkach has provoked "growing alarm among Democrats, who have noted his increasingly public efforts to promote anti-Biden allegations." Lessons From The KGB On Dirty Tricks In 2020 Election. CNN (7/30, O'Sullivan, Naik, Scott, 83.16M) reports it's a "modern-day digital disinformation playbook that US intelligence agencies will almost certainly be watching out for ahead of November's presidential election - especially after Russia's efforts to interfere in the 2016 election caught the country off guard." But to fully understand "Russia's use of tactics like false news stories and leaked materials, it's useful to examine the country's long history of painstaking influence operations dating back to an analog era." Jack Barsky, a former KGB spy "who lived undercover in the US in the 1980s, explained how it was done back in his day in an interview with CNN Business last year." The KGB would take "great care to furnish a convincing forgery of a US government document, often with the goal of implicating the US in something tawdry and designed to appear to confirm an existing conspiracy theory. That forgery would then be given to a sympathetic, unwitting reporter." Election Officials Game Worst-Case Scenarios In Drills. The AP (7/30, Tucker) reports DHS' cybersecurity agency this week "hosted a three-day tabletop exercise aimed at helping local, state and federal officials prepare for and respond to worst-case scenarios on Election Day." The virtual exercise "involved more than 2,000 participants who brainstormed ways to deal with problems and crises that could arise during a November election expected to bring unique challenges tied to the coronavirus pandemic." Ben Hovland, a commissioner on the US Election Assistance Commission, said, "One of the great things about them is they're always designed to basically be your worst day ever. The good thing about it is it really forces you to think through a lot of issues." This is the "third year DHS has held these exercises, though this one was held virtually because of coronavirus concerns." Pentagon's Secret, Defunct UFO-hunting Program May Still Exist. Fox News (7/29, Weisberger, 27.59M) reports that, according to recent Senate committee reports, the US government's search for unidentified flying objects (UFOs) "is ongoing, and is part of a program called the Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force (UAPTF) that operates under the US Office of Naval Intelligence." This agency appears to "have assumed the responsibilities of another UFO-hunting Pentagon group that was purportedly disbanded in EFTA00150173 2012; the New York Times reported on July 23 that UAPTF's findings could be made public within the next six months." Although the results of UAPTF's investigations are classified, "a briefing delivered to Defense Department representatives in March by a former consultant for the UFO program mentioned retrievals from 'off-world vehicles not made on this earth." CFIUS Halted Eight Foreign Investment Deals In 2019, Trump Ended One. Reuters (7/30, Bartz) reports a US interagency panel that "reviews proposed transactions to ensure they do not harm national security said on Thursday that it killed eight deals in 2019 while President Trump rejected a ninth." In its report on 2019, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) "reviewed 231 transactions and did in-depth investigations of 113." The report "showed that amid a deterioration in US-China ties, the number of deals involving Chinese companies reviewed by CFIUS dropped from 60 in 2017 to 55 in 2018 and 25 last year." In eight cases, CFIUS "told the parties to the transactions that they could not identify a way to mitigate the national security harm and refused to approve the proposed deals, or the companies rejected the proposed mitigation." In a ninth case, CFIUS "referred a deal to Trump, who prohibited it at the panel's recommendation." Op-Ed: The US Has Failed To Adapt To Kinds Of Global Threats. In an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times (7/30, 4.64M), Seth G. Jones, director of the Transnational Threats Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and Juan C. Zarate, global co-managing partner for K2 Intelligence/Financial Integrity Network, write, "It has now been more than five months since a US intelligence assessment included in President Trump's Daily Brief suggested that Russia was paying bounties to Taliban fighters for attacking US and other foreign forces in Afghanistan." They contend, "The IC needs to better identify these new types of threats and networks and counter them aggressively with both overt and covert actions. New life should be injected into the National Counterterrorism Center. ... And there needs to be more aggressive coordination with the private sector, enabled by DHS, to protect US critical national systems and ensure resilience." They conclude, "Without a more effective US response, countries like Russia, China and Iran will be encouraged to ramp up such hybrid activities." Russia Detains Alleged Ukrainian Spy In Its Black Sea Fleet. Reuters (7/30) reports Russia's RIA news agency cited the Federal Security Service "as saying Russian security forces on Thursday detained a serviceman from its Black Sea Fleet in the Crimean city of Sevastopol on Thursday on suspicion of spying for Ukrainian military intelligence." The FSB did not "name the serviceman or give his rank." Masked men in plain clothes "could be seen rushing out of a van, grabbing a man in the street and bundling him into the back of the vehicle before driving off in footage of the arrest shown by RIA." Belarus' Arrest Of Russian Wagner Soldiers May Have Been Staged To Postpone Elections. The Daily Beast (7/30, 1.39M) reports the videos were "certainly not what Russians have come to expect from their country's secret warriors abroad: powerful men in unmarked uniforms imposing Russian influence on Syria, Ukraine, and Africa." These men were "caught on camera by Belarusian security officers totally unprepared." Some were "naked except for underwear, with documents, propaganda leaflets, and condoms strewn around their hotel rooms." Belarusian state news agencies reported the "soldiers served as Russian security contractors with Wagner, a Russian private military group close to the government." Belarusian officials "said that they were in the country for 'destabilization' purposes before the elections." Moscow "denied any military involvement in Belarus, and some believe the mercenaries were simply using the country as a staging post on their way to or from their latest assignment." EFTA00150174 Op-Ed: Holding Syria Accountable For Chemical Attacks Will Be Tough Without Sharing Intelligence. In an op-ed in the Washington Post (7/30, Carnegie, Carson, 14.2M), Allison Carnegie And Austin Carson, authors of 'Secrets in Global Governance: Disclosure Dilemmas and the Challenge of International Cooperation,' write, "A chemical weapons confrontation is escalating in Syria, after an international watchdog agency concluded this month that Damascus used chemical weapons, lied to investigators and violated its commitment to dismantle its chemical weapons arsenal. Syria has 90 days to respond or face a referral to the UN Security Council for possible punishment. ... Our new book analyzes another source of evidence - information derived from national intelligence that is quietly shared with international organizations. Governments collectively spend billions of dollars each year on technologies and human networks that can provide precise and timely information on compliance with international rules." They conclude, "The experience in holding Syria accountable for its chemical weapons commitments shows that intelligence can help to fill in evidentiary gaps and give international law more bite." Anti-Tank Weapon Rarely Seen In Afghanistan Destroys Helicopter. The New York Times (7/30, Gibbons-Neff, Mashal, 18.61M) reports an Afghan helicopter was "attacked in the country's south this week by what US and Afghan officials say was a missile rarely seen in the hands of the Taliban, raising new concerns for a beleaguered Afghan military and questions about who supplied the weapon." A Black Hawk helicopter was returning on Monday from "a medical evacuation mission in Helmand Province and was preparing to land." American and Afghan officials "said it is unclear if the helicopter had touched down or was hovering just feet off the ground when it was struck by an anti-tank guided missile." Anti-tank guided missiles, which come in many variants, "are common in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, having been captured from military bases and supplied by countries such as the US, Russia and Iran." US military officials "said that the weapons have been rare in Afghanistan." CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS Trump Meets With Family Of Murdered Fort Hood Soldier, Pledges Rigorous Investigation. ABC World News TonightVi (7/30, story 10, 0:20, Muir, 7.06M) reported the President on Thursday "met...with the family of murdered Ft. Hood soldier Vanessa Guillen," saying "news of her death hit him, quote, 'very hard." Trump "pledged to get to the bottom of what happened to her." The AP (7/30, Superville) points out Trump also said "he would help with funeral expenses." The AP quotes Trump as saying, "It's an incredible story. It's a terrible story. ... So we're going to look into it very powerfully. We already have started, as you know, and we'll get to the bottom of it. Maybe things can come out that will help other people in a situation like Vanessa. We'll be in touch with you constantly." The Washington Post (7/30, Wagner, Horton, 14.2M) notes Trump also said, "We didn't want to have this swept under the rug, which could happen." He also called Guillen "a spectacular person" who was "respected and loved by everybody." The Hill (7/30, Chalfant, 2.98M) reports "the Army specialist went missing from the Texas military base in late April. Her remains were found more than two months later, on June 30, buried 20 miles away from Ford Hood near a lake." The Hill adds "authorities suspect another soldier, Aaron Robinson, in Guillen's death." Robinson "killed himself on July 1 after he was confronted by police." USA Today (7/30, Brook, 10.31M) reports "the independent review" into Guillen's death "will be led by Chris Swecker, a lawyer and former assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division." Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said in a statement, "The Army is EFTA00150175 committed to taking care of our soldiers, civilians, families, and soldiers for life, and this independent review will explore the current command climate and culture at Fort Hood." USA Today adds "earlier this month, Army officials disclosed that Guillen may have been harassed in an unrelated matter to her disappearance and murder. That matter is under investigation." Stars And Stripes (7/30, Wentling, 30K) reports that also on Thursday, "the 16-year-old sister of a slain Army specialist took the stage in front of 100 people on the National Mall in Washington...and fervently demanded Congress pass reforms to prevent more deaths." Guillen's "family, along with their attorney, Natalie Khawam, gathered outside the Capitol on the National Mall to announce the #IamVanessaGuillen bill," a measure that "would allow service members to file claims of sexual harassment and assault to a third-party agency, rather than through the chain of command." CNN (7/30, Sanchez, 83.16M) reports, "The independent review is intended to determine whether that climate and culture 'reflects the Army's values, including safety, respect, inclusiveness, and a commitment to diversity, and workplaces and communities free from sexual harassment.' The panel, with assistance from a brigadier general and a staff, will study 'historical data and conduct interviews with military members, civilians and members of the local community." Members of the panel include Swecker, "Jonathan Harmon, a trial lawyer who has represented Fortune 500 companies across the country; Carrie Ricci, an assistant general counsel for the US Department of Agriculture; Queta Rodriguez, a Bexar County, Texas, resident and regional director for FourBlock, a nonprofit that helps veterans transition into civilian careers; and Jack White, an attorney with expertise in government investigations and discrimination claims." ABC News (7/30, Martinez, Seyler, 2.97M) reports, "McCarthy announced the review two weeks ago following a meeting with members of the League of United Latin American Citizens and two members of Congress to discuss the issues surrounding the investigation into Guillen's death. The panel's findings will be submitted to James McPherson, under secretary of the Army, and Gen. Joseph Martin, the vice chief of staff of the Army, who will co-chair an implementation team to consider the recommendations and implement any changes, as needed." FBI Joins Army Probe Of Killing Of Fort Bragg Paratrooper. The Fayetteville (NC) Observer (7/30, DeVane, 151K) reports, "The FBI is helping Army investigators try to determine who killed a Fort Bragg paratrooper." The Observer adds, "The investigation into the death of Spc. Enrique Roman-Martinez is a priority for Army Criminal Investigation Command and the 82nd Airborne Division, according to a statement released Thursday by the division. Roman-Martinez was camping with fellow paratroopers on an island at Cape Lookout National Seashore over the Memorial Day weekend. The other soldiers told authorities that he disappeared on May 22." According to the Observer, "Part of Roman- Martinez's body washed up on the beach a week later. A coroner has ruled his death a homicide, according to his family. The statement released by the 82nd said division officials have actively worked with the FBI, the U.S. Attorney's Office, U.S. Park Rangers, and Army investigators." Epstein Accuser Alleged In Unsealed Deposition That Maxwell Was His Partner In Abuse. The Washington Post (7/31, Helderman, Jacobs, 14.2M) reports, "A woman who has accused deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein of years-long abuse that began when she was a teenager alleged in a newly unsealed deposition that his former partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, was both his chief accomplice and a participant in the sexual abuse." Maxwell, "who was arrested earlier this month and charged with trafficking minors, had fought unsuccessfully to keep the court documents under seal." The Post adds, "The unsealed court documents stem from a defamation suit she settled for an undisclosed sum in 2017 with...Virginia Giuffre, who has alleged that she was forced to have sex with Epstein and his friends. She has claimed that Maxwell recruited her EFTA00150176 to serve as a traveling masseuse for Epstein after spotting her working a summer job as a locker room attendant 20 years ago at Mar-a-Lago, President Trump's private estate. Giuffre's deposition was among several hundred pages of records unsealed by judicial order" Thursday. The AP (7/31, Neumeister) reports from New York, "Giuffre claimed in the suit and other litigation that Maxwell recruited her in 2000 to be a sexual servant to Epstein. She said the couple subsequently pressured her into having sex with numerous rich or notable men, including Britain's Prince Andrew, U.S. politicians, wealthy entrepreneurs, a famous scientist and fashion designer. Among the newly released documents were emails Maxwell and Epstein exchanged in January 2015, when Giuffre's allegations were getting a new round of media attention." The AP adds, "One email, sent from Epstein's email address but written in Maxwell's voice, appeared to be a draft a statement or set of talking points for Maxwell to use in defending herself. It said she had been the target of `false allegations of impropriety and offensive behavior that I abhor and have never ever been party to." Idaho Prosecutor Subpoenas FBI Agents In Daybell Probe. The Idaho Falls (ID) Post (7/30, Krutzig) reports, "Three FBI agents have been subpoenaed by state prosecutor Rob Wood to appear at Chad Daybell's upcoming hearing. The agents, Special Agent Benjamin Dean, Special Agent Steven Daniels and Agent Gary Lyu, are all based out of Salt Lake City. A fourth subpoena was also filed for Rylene Nowlin, laboratory manager for the Idaho State Police Forensic Services in Meridian. They will each appear at the Fremont County Courthouse on Monday and Tuesday 'as a witness in a criminal action." The FBI "has been part of the investigation into Daybell and his wife Lori Vallow since the early days of the case. The subpoenas came a day after a sealed court hearing was held regarding whether Vallow's attorney Mark Means potentially had a conflict of interest in the case." Man Shot By FBI In Arkansas Will Remain Jailed. The AP (7/30) reports from Little Rock, Arkansas, "A Little Rock man will remain in jail after he was shot by an FBI agent when he reportedly attempted to drive through a line of police vehicles." The AP adds, "Cameron Bryant, 33, `suffered a gunshot wound from the incident; according to his defense attorney Lott Rolfe, when he tried to flee at high speed and struck through at least six law enforcement vehicles that were blocking him from leaving a parking lot. Bryant is currently facing drug and gun charges from a 2018 indictment and is on parole from the state Department of Corrections, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Federal prosecutors sought to revoke the pretrial release of Bryant." The Arkansas Democrat Gazette (7/30, Satter, 307K) reports, "Federal prosecutors sought to revoke the pretrial release of...Bryant...who is facing drug and gun charges stemming from a 2018 indictment and is on parole from the state Department of Corrections," but "they didn't get a chance to call witnesses to discuss the events that unfolded Tuesday afternoon outside a Dollar General store at 9125 Stagecoach Road because Bryant's attorney told U.S. Magistrate Judge Jerome Kearney that Bryant wouldn't challenge the bond revocation request and agreed to be detained." Kentucky AG: Breonna Taylor Autopsy, Police Radio Files Should Not Be Released Yet. The Louisville (fl) Courier-Journal (7/30, Costello, 368K) reports from Louisville, Kentucky, "The Kentucky Attorney General's Office won't require Louisville public agencies to release Breonna Taylor's autopsy report, police radio recordings in connection with her death or Kenneth Walker's investigative file." The Courier-Journal adds, "The agency, which is conducting its own investigation into Taylor's March 13 death, released a series of open records rulings this week, finding that Louisville Metro Police, Louisville Metro Emergency Services and the Jefferson County Coroner's Office were justified in rejecting The Courier Journal's requests because of pending investigations. In reaching those conclusions, the attorney general's office pointed to letters from the FBI's Louisville field office and an assistant deputy attorney general EFTA00150177 that said releasing the records would adversely impact the ongoing investigations and any potential prosecutions that may result from them." Buffalo Exchange Closes Colorado Stores Amid Abuse Probe. The Denver Post (7/30, Wenzel, 720K) reports, "Buffalo Exchange, the Tucson, Ariz.-based vintage clothing retailer with stores in 19 U.S. states, has cut ties with its Colorado franchisee group after dozens of anonymous allegations of employee abuse surfaced on an Instagram account this week." The Post adds, "At the same time, Denver police - with help from the FBI - said they are investigating the complaints, which included allegations of sexual assault, underage drug and alcohol use, fraud and theft. People identifying themselves as former employees of Buffalo Exchange locations in Denver and Boulder levied the accusations against Colorado franchise managing partner Patrick Todd Colletti." Mississippi Man Facing Charges Over Shooting US Task Force Officers. The AP (7/30) reports Joseph D. Sonnier, who is "accused of shooting a federal task force member who was trying to execute a search warrant in Mississippi," has "been indicted on nine charges." He "faces four counts of assault on a federal officer or employee of the government, four counts of discharging a firearm in connection with a violent crime and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm." Continuing: Alabama Pair Indicted In Connection To Killing Of Child. KOKI-TV Tulsa, OK (7/30, Bonvillian, 11K) reports Patrick Devone Stallworth and Derick Irisha Brown "are each charged with one count of kidnapping and one count of conspiracy to kidnap [Kamille McKinney), who vanished Oct. 12, 2019, as she played outside a birthday party in the Tom Brown Village public housing complex in Birmingham." They "face a possible death penalty" if convicted. WVTM-TV Birmingham, AL (7/30, 85K) also reports. Ohio Man Facing Child Pornography Charges. The Canton (OH) Repository (7/30, Balint, 178K) reports former Malone University sports information director William Aaron Doty Jr "faces child exploitation and child pornography charges stemming from allegations he sought sexually-implicit videos and images from young girls." The investigation began after the FBI "received a tip in June alleging a person using the username 'd.beas22' on Instagram was communicating with at least four children under 12 and made sexually explicit statements and requested to engage in sexual activities." WJW-TV Cleveland (7/30, 480K) reports that the FBI "says the investigation revealed that user also logged onto the same computer within a very short time to a Facebook account with the username Aaron Doty." WOIO-TV Cleveland (7/30, Vadaj, 68K) also reports. Oklahoma Man Pleads Guilty To Firearms Charge. The Muskogee (OK) Phoenix (7/30, 23K) reports Hurley Dewayne Pitts "pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and influencing a federal official by threatening a family member." The indictment "alleged that on or about Jan. 18, Pitts, who had previously been convicted of a felony, possessed a firearm and ammunition." Kentucky Man Charged With Murder, Robbery. The Bowling Green (KY) Daily News (7/30, 57K) reports Jonny Alexander Reyes-Martinez, who "is accused of killing Jose Cruz, 31, of Bowling Green, on March 17, 2017, during a robbery," appeared Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Bowling Green. His defense team "filed a motion to suppress the statements he made to Bowling Green Police Department detectives and FBI agents while held in prison in Kansas on Sept. 27, 2017" because Reyes-Martinez "invoked his EFTA00150178 right to a lawyer during the interview, but police continued questioning him and obtained incriminating statements from Reyes-Martinez." South Dakota Community Scammed By FBI Impersonators. KELO-AM Sioux Falls, SD (7/30) reports that criminals "posing as the FBI biked] a Minnehaha County woman out of $7,000 in gift cards." The Minnehaha County Sheriff's Office "[said) the scammers said a car she had sold was used in a drug conspiracy in Texas," and the criminals "if she didn't get the gift cards then the money, she'd be arrested by the FBI." The Sioux Falls (SD) Argus Leader (7/30, 179K) also reports. Indiana Toddler Critically Wounded In Shooting. The AP (7/30) reports that an unidentified two-year-old "was shot in the head and critically wounded in northwestern Indiana when gunshots erupted as the child was in a car with her mother." The FBI is supporting the manhunt for the shooter, who "fled into a wooded area" afterwards. DO) Acknowledges Investigation Into Death Of Elijah McClain. The Colorado Public Radio (7/30, Sherry, 3K) reports that the DOJ, US Attorney's Office for Colorado and the FBI Denver field office has "been investigating [Elijah) McClain's death since 2019," when he "died...after three Aurora police officers stopped and attempted to detain him, placing him in two carotid chokeholds." Continuing Coverage: Hawaii Man Accused Of Running Mob. Honolulu Civil Beat (HI) (7/30) reports in continuing coverage about Michael Miske, who is accused of running an organized crime syndicate in Honolulu. A recent indictment "accuses Miske and his associates of a series of crimes, including murder, murder-for-hire, armed robbery and the deployment of potentially deadly pesticides on their dance club patrons." Two Accused Of Operating Illegal Marijuana Growing Operation In Massachusetts. The AP (7/30) reports, "Two people federal authorities say operated a massive illegal marijuana growing operation that was cultivating thousands of plants at multiple locations" in Massachusetts have been arrested. Weiqing Li, "41, and Li Qin Li, 49, were arrested on Wednesday and charged with manufacturing marijuana and possessing marijuana with intent to distribute." The WWLP-TV Springfield, MA (7/30, Asiamah, 81K) website publishes a similar story. Four Defendants Charged With Meth Trafficking Plead Not Guilty. The Cedar Rapids (IA) Gazette (7/30, Mehaffey, 157K) reports Bobby D. Robey, Travis C. Werkmeister, Genaro Aguilar Lemus and Jorge Martinez-Garcia "were charged this week with methamphetamine trafficking." The case against the four defendants, who have all pleaded not guilty, was "investigated as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force program of the US Department of Justice through a cooperative effort of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, Tri-County Drug Task Force, Mid-Iowa Drug Task Force, Iowa Counter Drug Task Force and Central Iowa Drug Task Force." Alleged Gang Leader, More Than 20 Others Arrested On Drug, Firearms Charges. The Washington Examiner (7/30, Mastrangelo, 448K) reports 23 individuals, "including the alleged leader of the Black Disciples street gang, have been arrested on federal drug and firearms charges in Chicago." The DEA and the FBI were involved with the investigation that led to those charges, according to the Examiner article, which says the US Department of Justice "has made fighting crime in Chicago a priority in recent weeks." The Chicago Crusader (7/30) runs a similar article. EFTA00150179 Six Arrested As Result Of Probe That Targeted Alleged Drug Trafficking Operation. An online WHNS-TV Greenville, SC (7/30, Kalsi, 157K) report says an FBI "investigation into an alleged drug trafficking operation and wire fraud operation in Greenville County has resulted in at least six arrests." FBI Investigating Threats Against Missouri Elections Office. The Hannibal (MO) Courier-Post (7/30, 21K) reports that the FBI "has contacted the Rails County clerk after she was attacked on social media in the run-up to the Aug. 4, Primary Election." Rails County Clerk Sandy Lanier "said recently that her office was under attack and that her staff was being intimidated." She wrote in a Facebook post, "Contact was made with employees in my office and my family, asking personal questions about my life and slandering me in an effort to persuade the upcoming Aug. 4, 2020, election." She continued, "These are negative campaign ethics. Please understand that these kind of attacks will not be tolerated. As the Election Authority for Rails County, I took an oath for this office and will stand behind this oath." Connecticut Man Arrested In Connection To Death Of Teenager. The Hartford (CT) Courant (7/30, Dempsey, 698K) reports Diante Willoughby, who "admitted his involvement in the killing," was arrested Wednesday over the murder of Jose Nunez, who "was reported missing Tuesday morning by his mother." Nunez's body was found Wednesday, and an autopsy "completed Thursday concluded Jose was strangled to death, but police released few other details, citing the 'very active' and ongoing investigation." FBI Investigating ATM Robberies In Minnesota. WCCO-AM Minneapolis (7/30, 14K) reports that the FBI Minneapolis field office "is asking for the public's help in identifying suspects who were involved in May's civil unrest" after the suspects robbed ATMs throughout the city. West Virginia Supreme Court Upholds Conviction Of Child Murderer. WVNews (7/30) reports that the West Virginia Supreme Court "has upheld the conviction and life without mercy sentence of child murderer Lena Lunsford Conaway," who "was convicted in the September 2011 slaying of 3-year-old Aliayah Lunsford, whose body never has been found." The justices "ruled by memorandum decision, opting not to hear arguments in the case, which had been requested by Lunsford Conaway attorney Jeremy Cooper and opposed by Assistant Attorney General Scott Johnson." WSAZ-TV Huntington, WV (7/30, 166K) reports Conaway "remains incarcerated at the state's Lakin Correctional Center." Also reporting are the AP (7/30) and West Virginia MetroNews (7/30, 34K). Nevada Man Arrested Over Sex-Trafficking Charges. The Reno (NV) Gazette-Journal (7/30, 183K) reports James Westfall "was arrested on sex trafficking-related charges after he was allegedly caught producing child pornography from his downtown home." He also "faces charges of facilitating sex trafficking of a child, soliciting a child for prostitution and using a child to produce pornography." The FBI Northern Nevada Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force and the Safe Streets Task Force supported the investigation. New York Man Pleads Guilty To Bank Robberies. WGRZ-TV Buffalo, NY (7/30, 100K) reports Michael Tyo "has pleaded guilty to robbing banks in Brighton and Buffalo and attempting to rob one in Niagara Falls over four days in August of 2019." The case "was investigated by the Brighton Police Department and the FBI." EFTA00150180 Colorado Man Sentenced Over Child Pornography. The Denver Patch (7/30, 1.03M) reports United States Attorney Jason R. Dunn "announced that Scott Lynn Garland, age 55, of Aurora, Colorado, was sentenced to serve 120 months (10 years) in federal prison followed by 5 years on supervised release for possession of child pornography." The investigation into Garland began when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children "received information from Internet Service Providers (ISPs) showing that accounts associated with Garland were involved in obtaining child pornography." North Carolina Man Arrested Over Illegal Narcotics. The Charlotte (NC) Observer (7/30, 470K) reports that the FBI "arrested Kongmany Sibounheuang on a cocaine conspiracy charge" on Thursday. Investigators "suspected the 35- year-old was dealing drugs in March 2018 when police and paramedics answered an emergency overdose call at his apartment on Scaleybark Road." Indiana Men Facing Potential Hate Crime Charges. The AP (7/30) reports Sean M. Purdy and Jerry E. Cox Jr "face criminal confinement, battery and intimidation charges in the July 4 assault on Vauhxx Booker, a civil rights activist and member of the Monroe County Human Rights Commission." Booker "said he called 911 after the men assaulted him and pinned him to a tree at Lake Monroe, just south of Bloomington," and he "said five men accused him of trespassing on private property and after he tried to apologize, the situation got physical." The FBI is investigating the case as a hate crime. Georgia Gang Member Arrested Over Methamphetamine. The Jackson (GA) Progress-Argus (7/30, Stanford, 11K) reports that the Butts County Sheriff's Office "culminated a two-month investigation into the alleged trafficking of methamphetamine through four counties with the arrest of Andy Kirk Davis on July 28." Sheriff Gary Long "said Davis is a member of the 'Ghost Face Gangsters,' a violent gang known for trafficking meth." FINANCIAL CRIME & CORPORATE SCANDALS Ohio Lawmakers Vote To Remove House Speaker Householder After Indictment. The Cleveland Plain Dealer (7/30, Tobias, 895K) reports from Columbus, Ohio, "The Ohio House of Representatives has voted unanimously to remove Larry Householder as Ohio House speaker a little more than one week following his arrest on federal corruption allegations. The vote was 90-0, with 9 members, including Householder, absent. Members approved the measure swiftly without debate in a Thursday morning session." Householder, "a political aide and three lobbyists, including former Ohio Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges, were arrested last Tuesday in what federal authorities described as a $60 million bribery scheme. They were formally indicted on Thursday. The FBI says FirstEnergy funneled the money to Householder and his allies, including a network of shadowy political groups, to help elect Householder as speaker, in exchange for a nuclear bailout bill worth more than $1 billion that Householder pushed through the legislature." The AP (7/30, Amiri) reports, "Householder, his long-time adviser Jeffrey Longstreth, former Ohio Republican Party chairman Matt Borges and lobbyists Neil Clark and Juan Cespedes could each face up to 20 years in prison if they're convicted for their alleged work to pass the bailout and block attempts to overturn it, according to a criminal complaint filed by the FBI. A federal grand jury formally indicted the five on Thursday, charging each with a single count of racketeering." Fox News (7/30, Phillips, 27.59M) reports, "The arrests were part of a yearlong investigation into public corruption and bribery tied to legislation that bailed out two nuclear power plants in the state. The former speaker and his associates are accused of accepting EFTA00150181 corporate money for personal and political use to pass House Bill 6 to financially bail out two FirstEnergy nuclear plants with over $1 billion. Householder was a key player in the legislation, which added a fee to every electric bill in the state and directed over $150 million a year through 2026 to the plants near Cleveland and Toledo." NBC News (7/30, Fieldstadt, Li, 6.14M) reports, "Householder is the first Ohio House speaker ever removed by the chamber, according to the Ohio History Connection. For now, he still retains his seat in the GOP-led legislature. Remaining members of Householder's leadership team had said he deserves the presumption of innocence but that he 'lost the trust of his colleagues and the public' and couldn't effectively lead the House." The Circleville (OH) Herald (7/30, Pavloff, 19K) reports, "Prior to the indictment, 61-year- old Householder, of Glenford, along with four other individuals and a 501(c)(4), Generation Now, were previously charged in a criminal complaint that was first unsealed on July 21. The criminal complaint document alleged the enterprise conspired to violate a racketeering statute through honest services wire fraud, receipt of millions of dollars in bribes and money laundering. Along with Householder the other four individuals charged in the indictment include Mathew Borges of Bexley, 48; Jeffrey Longstreth of Columbus, 44; Neil Clark of Columbus, 67; and Juan Cespedes of Columbus, 40. Householder's social welfare organization, Generation Now, was also charged in the indictment." The Columbus (OH) Dispatch (7/30, Ludlow, 367K) reports, "Following passage of House Bill 6, 'the team' gathered that night to celebrate with House Speaker Larry Householder. Among the celebrants, according to a federal criminal complaint, was 'Representative 3,' whom The Dispatch has identified as Republican Rep. Jamie Callender of Concord in Lake County, east of Cleveland. He was one of the measure's two sponsors." The Dispatch adds, "Before the 53-43 'yes' vote on May 29, 2019, a media campaign financed by 'dark money' urged voters to contact their representatives and tell them to support the $1 billion bailout of two nuclear plants along Lake Erie. FirstEnergy, whose subsidiary owned the two facilities, had wired $9.5 million to Generation Now, a nonprofit authorities say was controlled by Householder and run by Jeff Longstreth, to pay for the media blitz and provide 'cover' for reluctant House members, the complaint states." Tennessee Lawmaker Charged With Theft Of Federal Funds. The AP (7/30, Sainz) reports from Memphis, Tennessee, "A Tennessee state senator was indicted Thursday on dozens of counts of stealing more than $600,000 in federal funds received by a health care school she directed and using the money to pay for personal items and expenses." The AP adds, "A federal grand jury in Memphis handed down the indictment against Democratic state Sen. Katrina Robinson, one day after the U.S. attorney's office unsealed a criminal complaint alleging she used grant money earmarked for health care worker training to pay for her wedding and honeymoon, home improvements, a Jeep Renegade for her daughter, her children's snow cone business, a campaign event, legal fees for her divorce, and other things. The indictment includes 24 counts of theft and embezzlement involving government programs, and 24 counts of wire fraud, U.S. attorney Michael Dunavant said in a statement." Los Angeles City Councilman Charged In Corruption Probe. CBS News (7/30, 3.68M) reports, "A federal grand jury on Thursday returned a 34-count indictment against Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar as part of an ongoing corruption investigation, CBS Los Angeles reports. Huizar, 51, has been accused of leading a criminal enterprise where prosecutors say he used his position at City Hall to enrich himself and his close associates." Huizar "was charged last month with one count of conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. Thursday's indictment charges Huizar with the following criminal charges: 12 counts of honest services wire fraud; two counts of honest services mail fraud; four counts of traveling interstate in aid of racketeering; six counts of bribery; five counts of money laundering; one count of structuring cash deposits to EFTA00150182 conceal bribes; one count of making a false statement to a financial institution; one count of making false statements to federal law enforcement; and one count of tax evasion, according to prosecutors." NBC News (7/31, 6.14M) reports, "A previous federal charge of conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act was incorporated into Thursday's indictment, said Ciaran McEvoy, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles. The new allegations include multiple counts of wire fraud, mail fraud, traveling interstate in aid of racketeering, bribery and money laundering and single counts of structuring cash deposits to conceal bribes, making a false statement to a financial institution, making false statements to federal law enforcement and tax evasion. The case stems from allegations that Huizar took bribes from an unnamed Chinese billionaire developer and others in exchange for weighing in favorably on proposed construction projects." The Los Angeles Times (7/30, 4.64M) reports, "He is the fifth person to be charged in the ongoing investigation, which has netted guilty pleas from former Huizar aide George Esparza, real estate consultant George Chiang, political fundraiser Justin Jangwoo Kim and former Councilman Mitchell Englander. The indictment alleges that Huizar tried to cover up the illicit money in several ways, including guiding his aide on how to avoid bank reporting requirements and using family members to launder hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes. It also alleges that he made false statements to federal prosecutors and the FBI." Texas Man Sentenced For Wire Fraud In New Hampshire. The AP (7/30) reports from Concord, New Hampshire, "A former college student from Texas who posed as a film producer has been sentenced in New Hampshire to more than a year in jail for defrauding several foreign citizens living in the United States." Shiva Chandan Reddy Thudi, 26, of Irving, Texas, "was sentenced to 12 months and a day in federal prison for wire fraud, United States Attorney Scott Murray announced Thursday. Thudi attended college in New Hampshire from 2015 to 2017, where he met and defrauded several people, according to court documents and witness statements. Thudi falsely claimed he was seeking investors to share in profits from a business that produced and distributed films in the United States. He was neither a film producer nor a film distributor." CYBER DIVISION Chinese Hackers Reportedly Targeted Moderna's Vaccine Research. Citing a "US security official tracking Chinese hacking activity," Reuters (7/30, Bing, Taylor) reports that "Chinese government-linked hackers targeted biotech company Moderna Inc, a leading US-based coronavirus vaccine research developer, earlier this year in a bid to steal valuable data." Moderna, "which...announced its COVID-19 vaccine candidate in January, confirmed to Reuters that the company had been in contact with the FBI and was made aware of the suspected 'information reconnaissance activities' by the hacking group." Twitter Says Hacking Started With Phone Calls To Employees. Twitter said Thursday that the hackers who gained control of its network earlier this month used phone calls to employees to begin the process of gaining enough information to use internal tools to complete the hack. Twitter used its Twitter Support account and a company blog_post to explain how the attack started. The development was reported by several media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal (7/30, McMillan, Subscription Publication, 7.57M), which reports the hack has increased concerns about how Twitter manages its platform. The FBI is investigating the hack, while Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) on Friday wrote to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to ask for more information and to question what controls the company has used to thwart such incursions. The Journal EFTA00150183 reports this month's hack was the third major incident since 2011 that involved using insiders for access to Twitter. Among other outlets reporting on Twitter's admission are the Washington Post (7/30, Lerman, 14.2M), Reuters (7/31, Rana), and Bloomberg (7/31, Savoy, 4.73M). Senators Urge Justice Department To Open Investigation Into TikTok And Zoom. The Hill (7/30, Miller, 2.98M) reports Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) on Thursday "urged the Department of Justice to open investigations into social media platform TikTok and video conferencing service Zoom, citing concerns over potential security threats from ties to the Chinese government." In a letter to Justice Department Assistant Attorney General John Demers, Hawley and Blumenthal "wrote that they were 'extremely concerned' that Zoom and TikTok had potentially disclosed private American information to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and censored content on the CCP's behalf." The senators wrote, "As tens of millions of Americans turn to Zoom and TikTok during the COVID-19 pandemic, few know that the privacy of their data and their freedom of expression is under threat due to the relationship of these companies to the Chinese government. Of particular concern, both Zoom and TikTok have sought to conceal and distract from their meaningful ties to China, holding themselves out as American companies." The Washington Times (7/30, Blake, 492K) reports the senators wrote, "Based on numerous reports, we are extremely concerned that Zoom and TikTok have disclosed private information about Americans to the PRC and engaged in censorship on behalf of the Chinese government." In their letter, the senators "accused each company of concealing their true relationship with the Chinese government and warned they could be putting at risk the personal data of millions of American users." Bloomberg (7/30, Strohm, 4.73M) reports the senators also "asked for the Justice Department and US intelligence agencies to brief Congress on the issue as soon as possible." Op-Ed: Why America Is Afraid Of TikTok. In a commentary in The Atlantic (7/30, 3.47M), Michael Schuman writes, "The US has long prided itself on being open to anyone and anything, from anywhere, which improves our lives and livelihoods. In the American telling, the entrepreneurial, their grit and genius, have always been welcome, even cherished, no matter where they were born. You'd think, then, that [ByteDance flounder) Zhang would be feted from Washington to Wall Street as an avatar of the best of China and America, and of what their partnership can accomplish. With a presidential election approaching, both Donald Trump and Joe Biden should be tapping TikTok to woo young voters. New York bankers should be competing to list ByteDance's shares on US stock exchanges." He contends, "If Washington takes the drastic step of banning TikTok, the US would suffer as well. It would mean Americans failed to find a middle path between preserving their values and protecting their security in the face of ever-changing technology." China Criticizes Trump For "Double Standards" Over TikTok. Bloomberg (7/30, 4.73M) reports China's government "blasted the US for flouting the rules of global trade and business by threatening to ban TikTok, in Beijing's strongest defense yet of ByteDance Ltd.'s viral video app." President Trump has "said he's considering blocking the popular music video app, while adviser Peter Navarro warned of penalties for 'information warfare' against the US." Asked about the scrutiny, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin "accused Washington of unfairly singling out Chinese companies." Wang told reporters at a regular briefing, "Recently governments and media in some countries have said double standards shouldn't be applied to social media apps. China's companies and their products have provided diversity of choices for US consumers. We hope the US can heed the voice from the market to provide an open, just, fair business environment for foreign countries and stop politicizing economic issues." DOD Inspector General's Uphill Battle To Create A Culture For Cybersecurity. EFTA00150184 Forbes (7/30, 9.71M) reports the DOD's Inspector General has "launched an audit of network security practices as more of the more than 1 million employees are working from home during the COVID19 pandemic." One year ago today the DOD IG "published a report to censure the military for the purchase of vulnerable Chinese computer equipment to the tune of $33 million." The report "called out DOD management's lack of accountability for cybersecurity and failure to communicate blacklisted products from Lexmark and Lenovo." The Audit of the DoD's Management of the Cybersecurity Risks for Government Purchase Card Purchases of Commercial Off-the-Shelf Items "describes $32.8 million in purchases of vulnerable and insecure computer equipment by the US Army and Air Force in 2018." The IG "observed how DOD agencies have repeatedly ignored previous cybersecurity alerts." Volunteer Experts Seek To Assist US Election Cybersecurity. NBC News (7/30, 6.14M) reports a new volunteer group "hopes to ease the cybersecurity concerns for free as election officials across the country prepare for November without knowing if they'll receive additional federal funds." Some states "pay private companies for cybersecurity, while others rely on in-house staff or federal assistance." But nearly all have had "to drastically rearrange their budgets this year to focus on holding an election during a pandemic, such as covering an influx of mailed ballots and buying cleaning supplies and personal protective equipment." With Congress still "debating what the next coronavirus relief bill will look like, and a proposal from Senate Republicans that offers no additional funding for election officials, states are anticipating the possibility that they won't receive any additional resources before November." DHS "offers state and local election directors some free cybersecurity services, and the Election Assistance Commission recently released a free online cybersecurity course." Portugal Telecoms Won't Use Huawei For Core 5G Networks Despite Lack Of Official Ban. Reuters (7/30) reports the three companies who lead Portugal's mobile phone market "said they would not use Huawei technology in their core 5G networks despite the government not banning the Chinese group from supplying critical infrastructure." NOS, Vodafone, and Altice - which together serve nearly 100% of Portugal's mobile customers - "all said they had decided not to use Huawei kit in the core systems of their 5G networks, which covers servers, gateways and routers that forward traffic to the antennas." The Portuguese government has so far "not taken a stance, but Infrastructure Minister Pedro Nuno Santos told Reuters it has 'no 'a priori' issues with any manufacturer" Nuno Santos "revealed that a group created by the Portuguese government to assess risks and cybersecurity issues relating to 5G had completed its work and had not drawn any conclusions directed against any particular supplier." Hackers Post Fake Stories On Real News Sites. BBC News Online (UK) (7/30, 1.02M) reports a cyber-security firm has "warned hackers have broken into real news websites and posted fake stories stirring up anti-NATO sentiment." According to FireEye researchers, "the disinformation campaign, nicknamed 'ghostwriter,' has been ongoing since 2017." They "said that it is designed to 'chip away' at support for NATO in Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland." While the false stories "are 'aligned with Russian security interests,' it is not known who is behind the attack." FireEye "said that the disinformation campaign uses 'falsified news articles, quotes, correspondence and other documents designed to appear as coming from military officials and political figures in the target countries:" In some cases, false news stories "were posted on real news websites without permission." The Guardian (UK) (7/30, 4.19M) reports part of the campaign - labeled 'Ghostwriter' - "involved gaining access to news sites publishing systems, deleting stories and replacing them with false news that sought to delegitimize the transatlantic alliance." In one example, a Lithuanian news site "was compromised last September and a false article was inserted into its EFTA00150185 archive wrongly claiming that German soldiers serving with NATO had desecrated a Jewish cemetery." A series of Polish sites in May "were targeted and stories published with fake quotes attributed to the commander of the US army in Europe, in which he was said to have ridiculed the capability of the Polish military." Emails purporting to be "from a local news service with links to the doctored articles were then sent out to other media and public institutions in an attempt to disseminate the fakes and give them further credibility." Gallagher Says Pentagon Needs Access To Defense Companies' Networks To Hunt Cyberthreats. C4ISR & Networks (7/30, Pomerleau) reports that, according to one of the leaders of the Cyber Solarium Commission, the Pentagon "must be able to hunt cyberthreats on the private networks of defense companies in order to strengthen national cybersecurity." Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) who co-chairs the commission, "said in testimony before the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Intelligence and Emerging Threats and Capabilities that there must be greater visibility of these networks, in which much sensitive and classified information is kept." He said, "I think one of our biggest findings in the report was that while we are getting a better awareness of our own systems, we still - down to the level of some of our DOD contractors, subcontractors, all the small companies that work with the big defense primes - don't have the level of visibility on the threat picture and the security of their networks that we need." Op-Ed: US Must Prevent Foreign Cyber Attacks On Texas Energy Infrastructure. In an op-ed in the Houston Chronicle (7/30, 730K), Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX) writes, "A company owned by a member of the Chinese Communist Party - Guanghui Energy Company - may gain access to our power grid through a large wind farm in the Devil's River Areas of West Texas, and the federal government is not moving fast enough to prevent it, and the state government lacks the power to stop it. ... When the Texas utility sector deregulated...those involved did not predict a company friendly with a hostile foreign government would try to connect to our power grid." He concludes, "The US and our allies are scrambling to prevent Huawei from infiltrating telecommunications networks globally. We must act to prevent a similar scenario in our power markets." LAW ENFORCEMENT SERVICES New Jersey Lawmakers Could Vote For Early Release Of 200/0 Of Prison Inmates. The New York Times (7/30, Tully, 18.61M) reports "New Jersey lawmakers seemed close to supporting legislation on Thursday that could free more than 3,000 prisoners - about 20 percent of the state's prison population - months before their release dates in response to the extraordinary threat posed by the coronavirus in tightly packed correctional facilities." The Times adds "inmates who are within a year of completing their state prison sentences would be eligible to be released up to eight months early based on credits awarded for time served during the pandemic." The measure, "which the American Civil Liberties Union believes to be the first legislative initiative of its kind in the United States, would not permit the release of most sex offenders, but would apply to inmates sentenced for other violent crimes, including murder." OTHER FBI NEWS Accessing Unclassified Data Poses Remote-Work Challenges For FBI. FedScoop (7/30, Nyczepir) reports, "The coronavirus pandemic is forcing the FBI to rethink how it organizes its unclassified data, with the goal of making more of it available through remote EFTA00150186 access in the cloud." FedScoop adds, "The challenge is that a lot of unclassified data resides on FBI legacy systems that otherwise are not available remotely, said Gurvais Griss, assistant director of the Science and Technology Branch at the FBI Laboratory. With much of its workforce online from home, the bureau now wants confidential, secret and top secret networks `appropriately' integrated with a cloud platform so 'relevant' intelligence within them can be shared more easily, he said. The job involves tagging, flagging and moving the unclassified data to a lower-classification environment, Griss said during an Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association, Bethesda forum Thursday." Cohen Free To Publish Anti-Trump Book While Serving Sentence At Home. The AP (7/30, Neumeister) reports, "The US government dropped its effort to silence President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer on Thursday, saying it will no longer demand that Michael Cohen not speak with the media in the weeks before his book critical of his former boss is released." The AP adds "an agreement between lawyers for the government and Cohen attorney Danya Perry lifting the media ban that had prevented Cohen from speaking publicly awaited a signature by a federal judge." Cohen "was released from prison in May amid coronavirus fears in U.S. prisons, only to be returned earlier this month after making it known that he planned to publish" the book. Reuters (7/30, Freifeld) reports that "federal authorities returned him to prison on July 9, one week after Cohen tweeted he was close to finishing his book, when Cohen questioned their new requirement that he agree to steer clear of media." A federal judge subsequently ruled that "the return to prison amounted to government retaliation against Cohen's desire to exercise his First Amendment rights," and "gave both sides a week to negotiate a media provision that is 'consistent with the First Amendment but yet serves the purposes of confinement." The New York Times (7/30, Weiser, 18.61M), New York Post (7/30, Feuerherd, 4.57M) and New York Daily News (7/30, Sommerfeldt, 2.52M), among other outlets, also report the story. OTHER WASHINGTON NEWS GOP Legislators Quick To Reject Trump's Floating Of Delay In November Election. President Trump's floating of a delay in the November election on Twitter, and the immediate backlash from leaders and members of both parties, receives heavy coverage. At 8:10 a.m., the President tweeted, "Mail-In Voting is already proving to be a catastrophic disaster. Even testing areas are way off. The Dems talk of foreign influence in voting, but they know that Mail-In Voting is an easy way for foreign countries to enter the race. Even beyond that, there's no accurate count!" About half an hour later, Trump tweeted, "With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???" That second tweet drew comment and criticism quickly, and Trump tweeted at 4:22 p.m., "Glad I was able to get the very dishonest LameStream Media to finally start talking about the RISKS to our Democracy from dangerous Universal Mail-In-Voting (not Absentee Voting, which I totally support!)." Within the next minute, Trump tweeted, "Must know Election results on the night of the Election, not days, months, or even years later!" and then, "We are going to WIN the 2020 Election, BIG!" On ABC World News TonightVi (7/30, story 2, 2:25, 7.06M), David Muir said Trump's morning tweet "set off a firestorm, [with] even Republican leaders jumping in and quickly to try to put this to rest." ABC's Terry Moran: "No president has ever said anything like it. But President Trump, behind in the polls, with a cratering economy and a pandemic out of control," posted the tweet, and "later, the President tried to explain what he meant." Trump: "Do I want to see a date change? No. But I don't want to see a crooked election. This election will be the EFTA00150187 most rigged election in history if that happens." Moran: "That's a flip-flop. In April, Trump said this." Trump: "I never even thought of changing the date of the election. Why would I do that? November 3. It's a good number. No, I look forward to that election." On the CBS Evening NewsVi (7/30, story 4, 1:40, O'Donnell, 4.19M), Ben Tracy said Trump's "stunning suggestion that the election be delayed comes as he's trailing badly in the polls and at the same time the nation's GDP reached a historic low. In a remarkable tweet, he made the unfounded claim that mail-in voting will make the election `the most inaccurate and fraudulent in history,' and suggested a delay until people can `properly, securely, and safely vote.' ... The top Republicans in Congress rebuked the idea." Senate Majority Leader McConnell: "We'll cope with whatever the situation is, and we will have the election on November 3 as already scheduled." House Minority Leader McCarthy: "Never in the history of the federal elections have we ever not held an election, and we should go forward with our election." Lester Holt said on NBC Nightly NewsVi (7/30, story 2, 1:35, 5.82M) that there was "a strong backlash" after Trump "suggested that this fall's election could be delayed over his concerns about mail-in voting." NBC's Peter Alexander: "The President has no power to delay a general election. The Constitution says it is up to Congress to set the date. And with Democrats controlling the House, that will not happen. ... Trump's suggestion [was] immediately dismissed even by top Republicans." On the Brian Kilmeade ShowVi (7/30), HUD Secretary Carson said, "Obviously, the President can't do that. Congress would have to do that. But I think the point that he's making is that this is a system that is ripe for corruption, and it's not like there's a historical evidence of that occurring and this is much too important an election to ignore this." The AP (7/30, Miller, Sherman, Long) reports under the headline "Trump Floats Idea Of Election Delay, A Virtual Impossibility" that Trump, "lagging in the polls and grappling with deepening economic and public health crises, on Thursday floated the startling idea of delaying" the election. His campaign "to sow doubt about the election's outcome drew immediate pushback from Democrats and Republicans alike in a nation that has held itself up as a beacon to the world for its history of peaceful transfer of power." Reuters (7/30, Holland) reports, "Critics and even Trump's allies dismissed the notion as an unserious attempt to distract from devastating economic news, but some legal experts warned that his repeated attacks could undermine his supporters' faith in the election process." USA Today (7/30, Jackson, Garrison, Fritze, 10.31M) reports, "Election experts noted a president does not have the legal power to change the date of an election. Others suggested Trump is seeking to sow doubt about the election results or distract from a new government report that found a historic contraction in the nation's economy." The Washington Post (7/30, Wagner, Gardner, 14.2M) says the "suggestion represented Trump's latest, and most dramatic, attempt to undermine public faith in the Nov. 3 election, a trend that has grown more frequent and emphatic as polls have shown his political fortunes declining." The Post says McConnell and "many Republican senators...quickly and unequivocally rejected Trump's idea." The Hill (7/30, Bolton, 2.98M) reports Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham said, "I have concerns about mail-in ballots being the exclusive way to cast votes, but I don't believe we should delay the elections." Axios (7/30, Rummler, 521K) lists Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), John Barrasso (R- WY), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Charles Grassley (R-IA), Mitt Romney (R-UT), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Thom Tillis (R-NC) as others who publicly rejected the notion. The New York Times (7/30, Burns, 18.61M) writes under the headline "Trump Attacks An Election He Is At Risk Of Losing" that Trump's "proposal appeared as impotent as it was predictable - less a stunning assertion of his authority than yet another lament that his political prospects have dimmed amid a global public-health crisis. ... Far from a strongman, Mr. Trump has lately become a heckler in his own government, promoting medical conspiracy theories on social media, playing no constructive role in either the management of the coronavirus pandemic or the negotiation of an economic rescue plan in Congress - and complaining endlessly about the unfairness of it all." EFTA00150188 The Los Angeles Times (7/30, Megerian, 4.64M) writes, "In a desperate struggle to resuscitate his reelection campaign, President Trump has tried ignoring the coronavirus crisis, spreading racist fears about poor people bringing crime to the suburbs and promising that an economic miracle is right around the corner. None of it has worked, so Thursday he attempted a new tactic - suggesting that widespread voter fraud could require delaying" the election. The New York Post (7/30, Nelson, 4.57M) says Abraham Lincoln "held an election during the Civil War despite expecting to lose. And when terrorists flew planes into the Twin Towers on the morning of Sept. 11, a local primary election was delayed just two weeks with regular citywide and mayoral elections held as scheduled two months later." Nevertheless, Politico (7/30, Forgey, 4.29M) reports Trump "refused to back down from his suggestion earlier in the day that the November general election be postponed, repeating unsubstantiated predictions of widespread voter fraud amid the coronavirus pandemic and saying that large numbers of mail-in ballots might mean 'you never even know who won the election." The Washington Post (7/30, 14.2M) says in an editorial, "In a possible attempt to distract from dismal economic news, or dismal pandemic news, or both, President Trump tweeted Thursday that the November presidential election may have to be delayed, warning about the supposed dangers of mail-in voting. ... This outburst, like so many others, was not harmless; it was yet another part of the dark, unprecedented campaign that Mr. Trump and members of his administration are waging to undermine trust in the nation's democracy." USA Today (7/30, 10.31M) similarly editorializes, "By all accounts, Trump lacks legal authority to postpone the vote and, in any event, the Constitution says his first term ends Jan. 20. ... But where the president succeeded, and can do still more damage, was fomenting confusion and angst ahead of an election already fraught with risks to its integrity." The Wall Street Journal (7/30, Subscription Publication, 7.57M) says in an editorial that a delay in the election would be a horrible idea, and adds that the US conducted a presidential election in 1864 during the Civil War. However, the Journal says Democrats must also focus on whether states are prepared to properly conduct elections during the pandemic. In a USA Today (7/30, 10.31M) op-ed, David Rothkopf, author of "Traitor: A History of Betraying America from Benedict Arnold to Donald Trump," writes, "Beneath Trump's far-fetched words, his anti-democratic intent was blood-chillingly real. ... Trump's tweet about postponing the election followed by minutes one that once again argued without any basis in fact that mail- in balloting created a risk of voting fraud." Rothkopf advises, "Do not take lightly this president's threats no matter how far-fetched or outrageous they may seem. They reveal this man for who he is and what he represents: The greatest threat our democracy has faced from within since the Civil War." The New York Times (7/30, Burns, 18.61M) looks at who has the power to set and delay elections, while the Washington Times (7/30, Dinan, 492K) offers "a brief history of contested elections." The Daily Caller (7/30, Datoc, 716K) headlines its report "'No Way' - Top Republicans Kill Trump's Hopes For A Delayed 2020 Election." Bloomberg (7/30, Korte, 4.73M), McClatchy (7/30, Jasper, 19K), the Washington Times (7/30, Boyer, 492K), and CQ Roll Call (7/30, Ruger, 154K) are among the other sources with coverage. Pompeo Says DO) "And Others Will Make That Legal Determination." The Washington Examiner (7/30, Simonson, 448K) reports Secretary of State Pompeo on Thursday "erroneously asserted that the Department of Justice will decide whether the presidential election is held on Nov. 3." At the beginning of a Senate hearing, Pompeo was asked about the President's tweet. Pompeo replied, "I'm not going to enter a legal judgment on that on the fly this morning. In the end, the Department of Justice and others will make that legal determination." Federalist Society Co-Founder: Trump Tweet "Is Itself Grounds For The President's Immediate Impeachment." Federalist Society co-founder Steven G. Calabresi writes in the New York Times (7/30, 18.61M), "I have voted Republican in every presidential EFTA00150189 election since 1980, including voting for Donald Trump in 2016." Calabresi adds that he also publicly criticized Robert Mueller's investigation of Trump and opposed the President's impeachment. He continues, "But I am frankly appalled by the president's recent tweet seeking to postpone the November election. Until recently, I had taken as political hyperbole the Democrats' assertion that President Trump is a fascist. But this latest tweet is fascistic and is itself grounds for the president's immediate impeachment again by the House of Representatives and his removal from office by the Senate." Postal Service Employees Say Backlogs Adding To Mail-In Voting Concerns. The Washington Post (7/30, Lee, Bogage, 14.2M) reports, "As President Trump ramps up his unfounded attacks on mail balloting as susceptible to widespread fraud, postal employees and union officials say the changes implemented by the Trump fundraiser-turned-postmaster general Louis DeJoy are contributing to a growing perception that mail delays are the result of a political effort to undermine absentee voting." The Post says "days-long backlogs of mail across the country" after DeJoy "put in place new procedures described as cost-cutting efforts" come as Trump "has escalated his efforts to cast doubt about the integrity of the November vote." Trump Exhorts People Who Have Recovered From COVID To Donate Plasma. President Trump tweeted Thursday, "My Administration has been focused on finding treatments for Coronavirus. If you've recovered from Coronavirus, donate your plasma today to help SAVE LIVES! Together, we will beat the Virus!" The tweet included video of the President's visit Thursday to the Red Cross headquarters in Washington. The Washington Post (7/30, Johnson, 14.2M) reports Trump "issued a national call to action Thursday, exhorting people who have recovered from covid-19 to donate blood plasma to help others fight the disease and boost the nation's supply." Blood plasma from people "who have successfully recovered from coronavirus infection has been widely used in the United States, even though researchers are still gathering evidence to definitively show it works." About 50,000 people "have been transfused with the treatment, called convalescent plasma, under an expanded access program" sponsored by the FDA. NIH Director Collins said, "The way Americans are doing this is truly inspiring." Bloomberg (7/30, Edney, Jacobs, 4.73M) quotes HHS Secretary Azar as saying, "This is going to be a major national initiative in the months ahead." Adams To Trump: "You Look Bada-- In A Face Mask." Fox News (7/30, Phillips, 27.59M) reports on its website that Surgeon General Adams told President Trump on Thursday: "You look bada-- in a face mask." Adams made the comment as the two participated in a roundtable at the Red Cross "focusing on plasma collection to be used in plasma therapies for COVID-19 patients." The President was seen wearing a mask "as he watched a recovered COVID-19 patient donate plasma." Fauci Reiterates Ineffectiveness Of Hydroxychloroquine To Refute Viral Video Shared By Trump. NBC Nightly NewsVI (7/30, story 9, 2:00, Holt, 5.82M) reported, "As COVID spreads throughout the country, so does misinformation and conspiracy theories about cures and treatments that simply don't work and may even be harmful." NBC's Tom Costello added, "In a nanosecond," a video by the America's Frontline Doctors "ricocheted across the Internet, posted by Tea Party Patriots Action featuring a group of doctors insisting masks don't work, but hydroxychloroquine does. Even though the NIH and FDA insist that's not true, a presidential retweet made the video go viral, forcing" NIAID Director Fauci "to once again reiterate the hard science." Fauci: "Hydroxychloroquine is not effective in the treatment of coronavirus disease or COVID-19." USA Today (7/30, Miller, Shannon, 10.31M) reports that "tech platforms scrambled this week to delete" the video "even as President Donald Trump, his son and other political allies sought to amplify the video." While their name, America's Frontline Doctors, "suggests the EFTA00150190 speakers may work in hospital emergency rooms or intensive care units and have experience treating critically ill COVID-19 patients, it's unclear to what extent the doctors have such experience." Margaret Sullivan writes in her Washington Post (7/30, 14.2M) media column that the video "was taken down by Facebook. But as usual, it was far too late. And Donald Trump Jr., who tweeted it out calling it a 'must watch,' got his hand slapped by Twitter — briefly losing his right to sully the truth and jam the gears of reality." Sullivan adds, "With the lies in a viral video, a president's stamp of approval, and the confirmation that social media is how more and more Americans get their supposed 'news," we "should be afraid." Birx Warns Cases Spiking In Midwest As Florida And Arizona Set New Death Records. Reuters (7/30, Lambert, Caspani) reports that on Thursday, White House Coronavirus Task Force Response Coordinator Deborah Birx warned that coronavirus cases "appear to be picking up in the U.S. Midwest...as Ohio reported a record day of cases and Wisconsin's governor mandated the use of masks." Birx said "the coronavirus outbreak is 'moving up' into Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska from the south 'because of vacations and other reasons of travel." Florida, meanwhile, "reported a record increase in new COVID-19 deaths for a third consecutive day on Thursday...while Arizona also reported a record increase in fatalities." Assistant HHS Secretary for Health Adm. Brett Giroir, asked on the Lars Larson ShowVi (7/30) about claims that the death count is not as high as is being reported, said, "This is really real and we all have to take it very serious. ... The important thing...is that we do have the power to snuff this out again, like we did in the vehicle April to May time frame before this reared up again, by those simple measures we can all do and we can do those without closing down our economy." The CBS Evening NewsVi (7/30, story 2, 2:45, O'Donnell, 4.19M) reported, "Deaths are rising in at least 17 states. One day this week, there was a death nearly every minute." CBS' David Begnaud added, "The horrifying toll of coronavirus and the number of people who don't survive is soaring. For a third day in a row, Florida shattered its record for coronavirus deaths in a single day," part of "a stunning trend. Deaths are skyrocketing. In the US, more than 1,400 new deaths were reported on Wednesday. That's about one death every minute. Texas is now the latest state to surpass New York in total COVID cases. And they joined other hot spots, such as California and Florida. The virus is also hitting Louisiana hard. That state is now leading the country in per-capita cases." ABC World News TonightVi (7/30, story 4, 1:50, Muir, 7.06M) reported, "For the virus, no end in sight. California, North Carolina, and Florida this week all hitting record daily death tolls. Making matters even worse here in Florida, with a tropical storm approaching, statewide, all public testing sites are shutting down today through the weekend. During that same four-day stretch last week, nearly 350,000 people were tested." In New Jersey, the New York Times (7/30, Tully, 18.61M) reports, the number of cases "are rising again, fueled in part by outbreaks among young adults along the Jersey Shore." In the past seven days, New Jersey has recorded "an average of 416 cases per day, an increase of 28 percent from the average two weeks earlier." The Hill (7/30, Wilson, 2.98M) reports that while the number of new cases in some of the states hit hardest in the last month "is easing," public health officials "warn that widespread transmission is still taking place, and that a return to normal life is a long way off." In interviews with state health officials this week, "most said they remain concerned that the drop in new cases may be a plateau at an unacceptably high level of transmission, rather than a sustained decline." WPost: "No End In Sight To The Casualties." The Washington Post (7/30, 14.2M) editorializes, "On May 27, the United States reached a grim milestone. Four months after the country's first confirmed case of covid-19, the death toll of the novel coronavirus reached EFTA00150191 100,047 as of 6 p.m. Eastern Time, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University." The Post writes, "We hoped the alarming loss of so many lives in so short a period of time would galvanize a concerted national effort to contain the virus. Instead, two months later, another 50,000 people are dead, and there is no end in sight to the casualties." In Shift, Administration Officials Now Urging Public To Wear Face Masks. The Washington Times (7/30, Sherfinski, Howell, 492K) reports that "top members of the White House coronavirus task force now say that face shields and goggles can be effective ways to combat the spread of the coronavirus - the latest shift in messaging" from the Administration "on the how to contain a pandemic that has now claimed more than 150,000 American lives." Appearing on Fox News' Fox & Friends (7/30, 831K), Deborah Birx, Response Coordinator of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, said, "Across the South [there is] still a very serious pandemic. Although they are starting to see the glimmers of hope of improvement...we believe if the governors and mayors of every locality right now would mandate masks for their communities and every American would wear a mask and socially distance and not congregate in large settings where you can't socially distance or wear a mask that we can really get control of the virus and drive down cases as Arizona has done." FDA's Hahn Reiterates Guidance On Masks And Distancing. In an appearance on NBC's TodayVi (7/30, 2.93M), FDA Commissioner Hahn said, "We've seen some evidence that the very common sense public health measures that we can take - wearing a mask, following local guidance with respect to wearing a mask, social distancing, hand hygiene, protecting the vulnerable - we've seen early evidence that that works. We must take this seriously, and we must do that because we absolutely need to reduce the number of cases in the country. Because that is what's leading to the deaths that we're seeing." Daily Beast: Trump's Revival Of COVID News Conferences Has Frustrated Staff. The Daily Beast (7/30, Suebsaeng, 1.39M) reports that when the "early results" of President Trump's return to regular news conferences on coronavirus response "suggested that maybe Trump could keep a lid - even if just for a few seconds - on his self-destructive impulses, increasingly, the worst fears of the president's staff are being realized." One "senior administration official who works closely with the White House coronavirus task force" said, "When he started doing them again, my thought was, 'Oh, great, this f---ing s--- again. And now we're all talking about demon ejaculation." The Daily Beast says Trump "has begun - once more - aggressively hawking hydroxychloroquine" and has "continued to pettily criticize and express his jealousy" of NIAID Director Fauci. The "end result has been Republicans, once more, wondering whether the president can get out of his own way." Reports Tie Cain's Death From COVID To His Appearance At Trump's Tulsa Rally. President Trump tweeted Thursday, "My friend Herman Cain, a Powerful Voice of Freedom and all that is good, passed away this morning. Herman had an incredible career and was adored by everyone that ever met him, especially me. He was a very special man, an American Patriot, and great friend. I just got off, the phone with his amazing wife Gloria, daughter, Melanie, and son Vincent to express my deepest condolences to the entire family. @FLOTUS Melania and I loved Herman Cain, a great man. Herman, Rest In Peace!" Nancy Cordes of the CBS Evening NewsVi (7/30, story 3, 1:40, O'Donnell, 4.19M) indicated that "those close to Cain say that it's unclear where he contracted the virus, and that he made a series of trips last month." Likewise, Peter Alexander of NBC Nightly NewsVi (7/30, story 3, 0:20, Holt, 5.82M) reported that "it is unclear where he contracted the virus." Most reports, however, tied Cain's infection to the President's Tulsa rally. To the Washington Examiner (7/30, Miller, 448K), "media personalities, journalists, and other verified EFTA00150192 people on Twitter responded to the news of former presidential candidate Herman Cain's death from the coronavirus on Thursday by politicizing his death and blaming...Trump." On ABC World News TonightVi (7/30, story 6, 2:10, Muir, 7.06M), Jonathan Karl said "it's unclear if Cain was infected at the rally, but nine days later, he tested positive," the AP (7/30, Wagner) that while "it's not clear when or where he was infected...he was hospitalized less than two weeks after attending Trump's campaign rally in Tulsa," and the CNBC (7/30, Breuninger, 3.62M) website that Cain, "a stage 4 cancer survivor, tweeted a photograph of himself at Trump's rally showing him surrounded by other attendees, none of whom appeared to be wearing masks or other protective gear." The New York Times (7/30, Ortiz, Seelye, 18.61M) reports, meanwhile, that "in a video posted to his website after the rally, Mr. Cain said he had worn a mask while in groups of people. But he also posted photographs of himself on social media that showed him without a mask and surrounded by people in the arena." The Washington Examiner (7/30, Dibble, 448K) reports "CNN host Chris Cuomo wished 'no peace' to...Trump following" Cain's death, while the New York Times (7/30, Peters, 18.61M) runs a story headlined "Will Herman Cain's Death Change Republican Views On The Virus And Masks?" The Washington Post (7/30, Wagner, 14.2M) reports that "before being hospitalized, [Cain) advertised in a tweet that masks would not be required at an Independence Day celebration that Trump staged at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. 'PEOPLE ARE FED UP!' Cain wrote." Politico (7/30, Nelson, 4.29M) reports that Cain "frequently downplayed the risk of Covid-19, even as he remained hospitalized with the virus." Reuters (7/30) covers Cain's death under the headline "Herman Cain, Ex-Presidential Candidate Who Refused To Wear Mask, Dies After COVID-19 Diagnosis." Bloomberg (7/30, Krasny, 4.73M), USA Today (7/30, Wu, Santucci, 10.31M), the Washington Times (7/30, Sherfinski, 492K), Axios (7/30, Perano, 521K), and the Wall Street Journal (7/30, McCormick, Subscription Publication, 7.57M), among other news outlets, also cover Cain's passing. Vanity Fair: Kushner Team's Abandoned Ambitious COVID Testing Plan. Vanity Fair (7/30, Eban, 9.08M) reports that the coronavirus team assembled by Jared Kushner had planned "a secret project to devise a comprehensive plan that would have massively ramped up and coordinated testing for COVID-19 at the federal level." But "after assembling the team that came up with an aggressive and ambitious national testing plan, Kushner then appears to have decided, for reasons that remain murky, to scrap its proposal. ... Some of those who worked on the plan were told that it would be presented to President Trump and likely announced in the Rose Garden in early April. ... But no nationally coordinated testing strategy was ever announced. The plan, according to the participant, 'just went poof into thin air.'" FDA Issues Guidance For Companies Making At-Home Tests. Bloomberg (7/30, Alexander, Subscription Publication, 4K) reports "companies making at-home Covid-19 tests got new directions from the FDA Wednesday on submitting their tests for approval under emergency use conditions." The agency's "template is intended to help get simple at-home or over-the-counter diagnostic tests on the market, comparable to home pregnancy tests," according to FDA Commissioner Hahn. USA Today (7/30, Weintraub, Alltucker, 10.31M) reports Hahn said of the rapid-result at- home tests, "These types of tests will be a game-changer in our fight against COVID-19 and will be crucial as the nation looks toward reopening." However, the agency has yet to approve a test for at-home use. The theory is that "screening at home, maybe once or twice a week, would allow people to test themselves before going to work or school, getting on an airplane, attending an event, or visiting an elderly relative" as the tests would provide relatively accurate, real-time results for consumers. EFTA00150193 Pentagon Researchers At Work On Developing COVID Antibody. The Washington Post (7/30, Sonne, 14.2M) reports on the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's efforts to develop "an antibody for covid-19. ... 'We have been thinking about and preparing for this for a long time, and it's almost a bit surreal,' said Amy Jenkins, manager of DARPA's antibody program, which is known as the Pandemic Prevention Platform, or P3." According to the Post, "In that program and others, DARPA has quietly been seeding the ground for the United States to produce a rapid cure for a pathogen like covid-19 for years." Johnson & Johnson Starts Human Vaccine Trials. The New York Post (7/30, O'Neill, 4.57M) reports Johnson & Johnson began human trials of its experimental COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday, "after the shots already proved successful in protecting monkeys, the drugmaker announced." The company pointed to a new study published Thursday in the journal Nature "which found that five out of six primates who got the single-dose shot were protected from infection when exposed to the coronavirus." WPost Weighs Use Of Volunteers In COVID Vaccine Trials. In a Spanish-language editorial, the Washington Post (7/30, Board, 14.2M) ponders the ethical questions behind the use of volunteers in coronavirus vaccine clinical trials. The Post does not come out on either side of the debate, but calls for the crafting of a "regulatory, medical and ethical infrastructure" for the use of volunteers now, even ahead of a decision on whether they will ultimately be used. Data Suggest Native American Communities Disproportionately Impacted By Coronavirus. The New York Times (7/30, Conger, Gebeloff, Oppel, 18.61M) reports that despite "significant gaps" in available data, "there are strong indications that Native Americans have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus." A Times analysis found that the "rate of known cases in the eight counties with the largest populations of Native Americans is nearly double the national average." Although the "analysis cannot determine which individuals are testing positive for the virus," those counties "are home to one in six U.S. residents who describe themselves in census surveys as non-Hispanic and American Indian or Alaska Native." The Times adds that there are "many smaller counties with significant populations of Native Americans that have elevated case rates." Study: Children May Carry Coronavirus At High Levels. NBC Nightly NewsVi (7/30, story 5, 2:10, Holt, 5.82M) reported, "As the death toll from COVID-19 rises in this country, there's new concerns tonight about children with the disease and their ability to spread it." NBC's Miguel Almaguer added, "With the nation fast approaching 4.5 million cases, tonight a new study finds children under five may be able to spread COVID as well as older children and adults. A troubling finding for the young who are often in close quarters in schools and day cares." NBC's Dr. John Torres: "I think the study should have people think for a second about what we need to do to make sure that when we reopen schools, we're doing it in a safe manner. We can't assume that children don't get coronavirus or spread coronavirus." NBA Issues New Safety Protocols. On NBC Nightly NewsVI (7/30, story 11, 1:20, Holt, 5.82M), Sam Brock reported the NBA is "back in action after a 20-week shutdown from COVID-19. ... But even Commissioner Adam Silver acknowledges the league's staying power amid this virus is no slam dunk." Silver: "If we have any significant spread whatsoever, we would certainly stop immediately and investigate whether we could move forward." On Thursday, the league announced new safety protocols. WPost: Gohmert Face Of GOP Coronavirus Ignorance. EFTA00150194 The Washington Post (7/30, 14.2M) editorializes that "it was a slip of the tongue," but House Minority Leader McCarthy's "reference to fellow Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert as 'Congressman Covid' could not have been more apt. No one puts a better face on the heedlessness and ignorance that have helped fuel the spread of the deadly coronavirus than the Texas congressman who has made it a political badge of honor not to wear a mask." Trump Says 300 Miles Of New Border Wall Will Be Completed By End Of August. President Trump on Thursday tweeted, "As the Wall goes up, illegal crossings go down. This past week we built over 10 miles of Wall at our Southern Border. We now have 256 miles of NEW Wall and we are on track to have 300 miles completed by the end of August!" Judge Blocks Administration's Green Card Eligibility Rules. The New York Times (7/30, Vigdor, 18.61M) reports that on Wednesday, "a federal judge blocked the Trump administration...from moving forward with plans to deny green cards to immigrants who have received Medicaid, food stamps or housing vouchers, even on a limited basis - a wealth test challenged by New York and other states in light of the coronavirus pandemic." Judge George B. Daniels of the US District Court in Manhattan "granted a nationwide temporary injunction, suspending the eligibility requirements that were introduced last year and have drawn several legal challenges, including before the Supreme Court." The Times says the Supreme Court "ruled in January that the Trump administration could move forward with the plan, but that was before the pandemic." Undocumented Woman Who Worked At Trump Club Facing Deportation. The New York Times (7/30, Jordan, 18.61M) reports Victorina Morales, "an undocumented immigrant who worked for years at President Trump's luxury golf resort in New Jersey and later revealed that he employed many immigrants who are in the country illegally has been placed in deportation proceedings." Morales, who "worked for more than five years as a housekeeper at the club in Bedminster, N.J., using counterfeit identification that she said her supervisors knew to be falsified," was "notified by the federal authorities this week that she had been placed in removal proceedings that could result in deportation. She can remain in the country only if an immigration judge approves her petition for asylum." US GDP Shrunk By Record Amount In Second Quarter. The CBS Evening NewsVi (7/30, story 6, 1:05, O'Donnell, 4.19M) reported the economy's "stall is evident" in Thursday's announcement of a "historic drop in gross domestic product. The economy shrank a record 9.5% in the second quarter, sidelining millions of Americans." ABC World News TonightVi (7/30, story 3, 1:30, Muir, 7.06M) referred to the economy "contracting at an annual rate of nearly 33% from April to June," and NBC Nightly NewsVI (7/30, story 6, 1:10, Holt, 5.82M) pointed out the drop was "worse than the Great Recession and the Great Depression." CNBC (7/30, Cox, 3.62M) says on its website that Q2 US GDP "plunged 32.9% on an annualized basis," but "economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for a drop of 34.7%." CNBC says "sharp contractions in personal consumption, exports, inventories, investment and spending by state and local governments converged to bring down GDP, which is the combined tally of all goods and services produced during the period." Reuters (7/30, Mutikani) reports that "the bulk of the deepest contraction in at least 73 years...occurred in April when activity almost ground to an abrupt halt after restaurants, bars and factories among others were shuttered in mid-March to slow the spread of coronavirus." The Washington Free Beacon (7/30, Stiles, 78K) reports, "Global pandemics typically aren't good for national economies. On the contrary, they are usually bad. The US economy, for EFTA00150195 example, contracted 9.5 percent in the second quarter of 2020," and "the German economy, meanwhile, declined by 10.1 percent." Assistant Treasury Secretary for Public Affairs Monica Crowley said on WOR-AMVi New York (7/30, 17K), "We knew it was going to be bad and it is bad, but there are signs of life in this economy. When we take a look at some of these numbers on the internals of the GDP, we see that economic activity has already resumed in most parts of the country and if we take a look at some of these internal numbers about monthly retail sales, industrial production data, those things are important gauges of growth and those numbers are up even after severe declines in March and April." NEC Chief Economist Joe LaVorgna said on CNBC's Squawk On The StreetVi (7/30, 304K), "The figures are annualized, which is fine when you have a growing economy - which happens about 95% of the time. So if you look at it, it's really more like a 9% drop, 9.5% drop because we annualize it assuming it's going to continue for the full year. That's clearly not going to happen because this really is a pandemic contraction, and we've seen it in the data with March and April being extraordinarily weak and then seeing record growth in many series in May and June - retail sales, industrial production, employment, the PMI. So, we're looking at this as really being a shock almost something akin to a natural disaster." To Politico (7/30, White, 4.29M), "the question now for President Donald Trump, trailing in the polls and facing a daunting reelection effort, is just how much conditions can snap back in the months leading up to Election Day." The Washington Post (7/30, Al, Siegel, Van Dam, 14.2M) says, "Thursday's report helps explain which parts of the economy suffered as people stayed home, cut back their spending and suddenly overhauled their routines. With retail stores shuttered and people swapping out their work wardrobes for leisurewear, clothing and footwear sales dropped. The pandemic also triggered a collapse in oil prices, exacerbated by lower gasoline sales and dampened transportation services, as Americans stayed home and avoided commutes or basic errands." In addition, "Health care fell off as the pandemic pushed people to cancel non-emergency visits and procedures, triggering layoffs within the health care industry." The AP (7/30, Crutsinger, Wiseman) says, "The economy's collapse in the April-June quarter, stunning in its speed and depth, came as a resurgence of the viral outbreak has pushed businesses to close for a second time in many areas." The AP adds, "So steep was the economic fall last quarter that most analysts expect a sharp rebound for the current July- September period. But with coronavirus cases rising in the majority of states and the Republican Senate proposing to scale back aid to the unemployed, the pain is likely to continue and potentially worsen in the months ahead." According to the New York Times (7/30, 18.61M), recent "data from public and private sources indicate a pullback in economic activity, reflecting consumer unease and renewed shutdowns." Likewise, Bloomberg (7/30, Pickert, 4.73M) says the recent "surge" in coronavirus cases, "the result of America's failure to contain the virus, indicates that the U.S. economy is likely to recover more slowly than places that have done a better job, such as the euro area." Bloomberg adds, "And the longer the pandemic lasts without a vaccine, the longer economic output will remain below pre-crisis levels, leaving permanent scars on many businesses and workers." USA Today (7/30, Davidson, 10.31M), the Los Angeles Times (7/30, Lee, 4.64M) and the Wall Street Journal (7/30, Al, Torry, Subscription Publication, 7.57M), among other news outlets, also report the story. In an editorial, the Wall Street Journal (7/30, Subscription Publication, 7.57M) criticizes Democrats and what it calls their media allies for pushing for further lockdowns after seeing their devastating effects on the economy - as illustrated by Thursday's GDP data. Stocks Sharply Down On GDP Data. USA Today (7/30, Menton, 10.31M) reports, "Stocks slumped on Wall Street Thursday after the U.S. posted a record economic contraction in the second quarter as the coronavirus pandemic battered the economy, leading to widespread business shutdowns." Reuters (7/30, Carew) reports "the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell EFTA00150196 225.92 points, or 0.85%, to 26,313.65, the S&P 500 lost 12.22 points, or 0.38%, to 3,246.22 and the Nasdaq Composite added 44.87 points, or 0.43%, to 10,587.81." Biden Blames Trump For Causing Recession To Be Worse Than It Could It Have Been. CNBC (7/30, Higgins, 3.62M) reports on its website that on Thursday, Joe Biden "came out swinging against President Donald Trump's record on the economy...hours after new data showed the US suffered its worst quarterly downturn in history in the midst of the spreading coronavirus pandemic." Biden said, "The depth of economic devastation our nation is experiencing is not an act of God, it's a failure of presidential leadership. ... Had President Trump taken immediate and decisive action, tens of thousands of lives and millions of jobs would never have been lost." Weekly Jobless Claims Rise To 1.434M As Senators Remain Divided On Extending Benefit. CNBC (7/30, Imbert, 3.62M) says on its website that the Labor Department reported Thursday that "the number of Americans who filed new claims for unemployment benefits last week totaled 1.434 million," making it "the 19th straight week in which initial claims totaled at least 1 million and the second consecutive week in which initial claims rose after declining for 15 straight weeks." Continuing claims, that is "those receiving unemployment benefits for at least two straight weeks," increased "by 867,000 to 17.018 million for the week ending July 18." Bloomberg (7/30, Rockeman, 4.73M) says "the jump in continuing claims was concentrated in California and Texas, which reported a combined increase of about 576,000 on an unadjusted basis," while Florida "showed a decline of about 122,000." Jo Ling Kent of NBC Nightly NewsVi (7/30, story 7, 1:00, Holt, 5.82M) provided similar coverage, as did the CBS Evening NewsVi (7/30, story 7, 0:50, O'Donnell, 4.19M). The New York Times (7/30, Lee, 18.61M) reports that "new claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, the government's program aimed at covering freelancers, the self- employed and other workers not covered by traditional unemployment benefits, totaled 830,000, down from 975,000 the week before." Meanwhile, "the $600 supplemental weekly unemployment payment from the federal government is ending, a potentially crippling financial blow to millions." The Washington Post (7/30, 14.2M) reports that Democrats "want the full $600 extended through January, while some Republicans have proposed reducing it to $200 a week." The AP (7/30, Taylor, Mascaro) says Friday's expiration of the $600 benefit "sent Republicans controlling the Senate scrambling to respond." Senate Majority Leader McConnell "made a procedural move to make it easier to reach a potential compromise next week that would extend the bonus unemployment benefit while talks on a broader COVID-19 relief measure grind on. But ahead of late-night talks at the Capitol, the outlook dimmed." The Hill (7/30, Carney, 2.98M) quotes McConnell as saying on the Senate floor, "We've had enough rope a dope. We've had enough empty talk. It's time to go on the record." The Washington Times (7/30, Swoyer, Munoz, 492K) says McConnell "explained that the 'shell' bill would be amendable, giving lawmakers more time over the weekend to continue negotiations." However, Senate Minority Leader Schumer called the move a "stunt." The Washington Examiner (7/30, Ferrechio, 448K) reports that Schumer "accused Republicans of failing to negotiate adequately on a larger spending deal." Schumer said, "Unemployment is a crisis. ... There are many crises. All of your constituents are saying why can't we open our schools safely? They need dollars. We can't negotiate that proposal." Mary Bruce said on ABC World News TonightVi (7/30, story 5, 0:50, Muir, 7.06M), "Bottom line, even if the two sides can reach an agreement here, it looks like it is going to take weeks, potentially, taking a huge toll on millions of Americans and the economy." The Washington Post (7/30, Kim, Werner, Stein, 14.2M) reports that on Wednesday, President Trump "urged Congress to quickly approve some extension in unemployment benefits EFTA00150197 and a federal eviction moratorium that expired last week." On Thursday, Chief of Staff Meadows "told reporters Trump would support a one-week extension of unemployment benefits at $600." A New York Times (7/30, 18.61M) editorial laments "lack of action on Capitol Hill" on coronavirus relief and calls on lawmakers "to extend the emergency aid programs that were created in March to help Americans endure a broad suspension of economic activity." The Times argues that this "abject failure to act is not the fault of Congress in a collective sense. ... Responsibility for the current debacle rests specifically and squarely on the shoulders of [McConnell) and the other 52 Senate Republicans." Kimberley Strassel writes in the Wall Street Journal (7/30, Subscription Publication, 7.57M) that Republicans realized this week that Democrats do not want a bill, they want an issue that will help them win the election. Strassel lauds McConnell's plan to hold a vote on a plan to extend the unemployment benefit at $200, which will make Democrats go on the record opposing it and force them to explain why. Strassell argues Republicans will lose an election over which part can spend more and should instead use it as an opportunity to highlight their competing vision. Liability Protection For Businesses Proving To Be A Sticking Point. The Washington Times (7/30, Swoyer, 492K) reports that Senate Republicans hope to prevent "a flood of coronavirus lawsuits" by "granting liability protection to businesses as part of the next round of coronavirus relief." But, liability protection, which is "a top priority" for McConnell, "also is a chief sticking point in negotiating the $1 trillion-plus package." While McConnell "vowed not to bring to the floor any relief package without liability protection," Democrats, "who usually side with trial lawyers, say the Republican plan goes too far and is a giveaway to big business at the expense of consumer protection." Trump, DeVos Reiterate Call For Schools To Reopen. Ben Tracy briefly reported on the CBS Evening NewsVi (7/30, story 5, 0:30, O'Donnell, 4.19M), "Despite questioning the safety of holding an election during coronavirus, the President continues to push for schools to reopen, saying there isn't much risk to children." Trump: "The younger the better. Amazing. The immune system. But children, the lower they are in age, the lower the risk." On NBC Nightly NewsVI (7/30, story 4, 0:15, Holt, 5.82M), Peter Alexander said, "Trump was pressed whether he can assure people that schools will be safe if they reopen, something he has been pushing for for weeks. The President did not convey confidence, responding with a question, saying, 'Can you assure anybody of anything?" Education Secretary DeVos said on Fox News' Bill Hemmer Reports (7/30), "There has been no data that has suggested that it is unsafe for kids to go back to school. In fact, all of the recommendations are that kids need to be back in school, that schools need to open up again, and we need to take into account the health of the whole child." Assistant HHS Secretary for Health Adm. Brett Giroir said on the Lars Larson ShowVI (7/30), "It is very important to have children back in school, physically present in school. We know it for their learning, for their emotional development, for their mental health, for their physical health. ... That being said, there are going to be some communities where there's a lot of virus spread that you are going to have to temper that." Noem Says Reopening Schools Would Be "Best Decision We Can Make For Our Kids." North Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) writes at The Federalist (7/30, 126K), "When it comes to children," coronavirus "doesn't impact them even on the same level as the flu. ... We know that it is extremely harmful to kids to keep schools closed. We know that children thrive on routine and being in supportive, social environments. We know that the loss of human connections for many of these kids is driving increases in stress, anxiety, and depression. ... Right now, the best decision we can make for our kids - for their full development and well- being - is to get them back into school." Tropical Storm Isaias Could Reach Florida Over Weekend. EFTA00150198 NBC Nightly NewsVI (7/30, story 8, 0:20, Holt, 5.82M) reported that Tropical Storm Isaias was "battering parts of the Caribbean" Thursday night, "and it's only going to get worse. Heavy rain is causing flash floods in Puerto Rico, and residents there are worried about possible mud slides." Isaias "is heading northwest and could approach Florida's east coast over the weekend. A tropical storm watch issued late today in the southeastern part of the state." Brief reports on the CBS Evening NewsVI (7/30, story 8, 0:25, O'Donnell, 4.19M) and ABC World News Tonight Vi (7/30, story 7, 0:25, Muir, 7.06M) provided similar coverage. Senate Hearing On Controversial Pentagon Nominee Tata Cancelled. The AP (7/30, Baldor) reports the Senate Armed Services Committee "abruptly canceled a confirmation hearing Thursday on a controversial former general's nomination to a top Pentagon post after a furor over offensive remarks he made about Islam and other inflammatory comments." The AP adds "the nomination of retired Army Brig. Gen. Anthony Tata to be the Pentagon's under secretary for policy was already under fire from Senate Democrats, who sent a letter to him this week calling for him to withdraw." Tata "posted tweets in 2018 calling Islam the 'most oppressive violent religion I know of; and he called former President Barack Obama a 'terrorist leader; and referred to him as Muslim." Senate Armed Services Chairman James Inhofe "announced the hearing's cancellation shortly before it was scheduled to start." The Washington Post (7/30, Lamothe, Kim, 14.2M) reports there are "signs that [Tata) did not have enough Republican votes," and "one defense official familiar with the process...said that once Inhofe and the administration figured out late Wednesday that Tata did not have the votes needed, 'there was no need' to go through a difficult hearing." Politico (7/30, O'Brien, 4.29M) quotes Inhofe as saying, "There are many Democrats and Republicans who didn't know enough about Anthony Tata to consider him for a very significant position at this time. ... We didn't get the required documentation in time; some documents, which we normally get before a hearing, didn't arrive until yesterday. As I told the President last night, we're simply out of time with the August recess coming, so it wouldn't serve any useful purpose to have a hearing at this point, and he agreed." Politico reports that "if confirmed, Tata would have replaced John Rood, who was forced out as Pentagon policy chief in February amid allegations he was insufficiently loyal to Trump." The New York Times (7/30, Cooper, Edmondson, Haberman, 18.61M), among other news outlets, also reports the story. Albence Stepping Down As Acting ICE Director. The Washington Examiner (7/30, Giaritelli, 448K) reports that Acting ICE Director Albence "will leave his post by Labor Day, the Washington Examiner has learned." In a private phone call Thursday, Albence "informed senior ICE officials...that he plans to retire after serving a year in his position." Memo Reveals State Department Dispute Over Susan Pompeo's Travel. Politico (7/30, Toosi, 4.29M) reports that as Secretary of State Pompeo "prepared to tour the Middle East last year, senior State Department officials debated whether they could legally justify his wife Susan's desire to travel with him." Susan Pompeo had been invited to events in Cairo and Abu Dhabi, "but circumstances had grown complicated: a U.S. government shutdown meant the State Department had to be exceptionally careful with spending, and her presence would incur some costs to taxpayers." The issue "resulted in a memo, obtained this week by Politico, in which some senior State Department officials argued Susan Pompeo's travel was in the 'foreign policy interests of the United States' and 'necessary to national security; while diplomats who deal with Middle East policy disagreed." Obama Calls For Passage Of Voting Rights Act, Criticizes Trump In Lewis Eulogy. EFTA00150199 The funeral of Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) was held in Atlanta on Thursday, with three former presidents in attendance, and all three broadcast networks opened their newscasts with coverage. Much of the reporting focuses on the eulogy delivered by former President Obama, which was critical of President Trump in none-too-subtle terms. On ABC World News TonightVi (7/30, lead story, 5:00, 7.06M), David Muir said, "Amid this pandemic, amid so much worry in this country, the nation paused today to remember a man who spent most of his life fighting for equality. Three presidents came to honor John Lewis, who they say never lost hope in the promise of America." Obama "deliver[ed] the eulogy, saying John Lewis' life proved that any of us can stand up to power and say, we can do better. But the former President didn't stop there. There was an urgency to his words, with this pandemic, his concern about protecting Americans, their health and their right to vote this November." Obama: "This idea that any of us, ordinary people, a young kid from Troy, can stand up to the powers and principalities and say no, this isn't right, this isn't true, this isn't just. We can do better. America was built by people like them. America was built by John Lewises." Norah O'Donnell said on the CBS Evening NewsVi (7/30, lead story, 5:05, 4.19M), "Three former presidents spoke, but it was President Obama who delivered a rousing eulogy, using the moment to speak to the cause of John Lewis' life - voting rights - saying those in power are trying to discourage voting. And that appeared to be a direct response to President Trump, who floated the idea today of delaying November's election, something he doesn't even have the power to do." CBS' Michelle Miller: "Lewis, his casket draped in the American flag, returned to Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, the place where he worshiped with his mentor, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr." Lester Holt said on NBC Nightly NewsVi (7/30, lead story, 5:30, 5.82M), "The civil rights struggles of both history and today were the backdrop for a powerful send-off for congressman and civil rights giant John Lewis. ... Lewis, born in tiny segregated Troy, Alabama, the son of sharecroppers, celebrated today by presidents, including the first Black president, who says he was elected standing on Lewis' shoulders. ... Obama one of many today calling to strengthen the Voting Rights Act that Lewis championed." Obama: "Do you want to honor John? Let's honor him by revitalizing the law that he was willing to die for." Holt: "And while not naming him, launching a forceful attack against President Trump." Obama: "George Wallace may be gone, but we can witness our federal government sending agents to use tear gas and batons against peaceful demonstrators." The AP (7/30, Martin) reports, "After nearly a week of observances that took Lewis' body from his birthplace in Alabama to the nation's capital to his final resting place in Atlanta, mourners in face masks to guard against the coronavirus spread out across pews Thursday at the city's landmark Ebenezer Baptist Church. ... Obama called Lewis `a man of pure joy and unbreakable perseverance' during a fiery eulogy that was both deeply personal and political." USA Today (7/30, Ellis, 10.31M) reports Obama "challenged the nation Thursday to honor the memory of John Lewis by picking up the fight for his signature issue, voting rights." The mourners "gave Obama a thunderous ovation." The Wall Street Journal (7/30, Siddiqui, Subscription Publication, 7.57M) reports Obama also called for an end to the filibuster, calling it a "Jim Crow relic." Politico (7/30, McCaskill, 4.29M) also covers Obama's remarks. The Washington Post (7/30, Al, Wagner, Kane, 14.2M) reports former President Bush "praised Lewis's life story and used their political differences, as a GOP president and Democratic congressman, to point to the nation's strength," while former President Clinton "took a veiled shot at Trump's early Thursday tweet suggesting that the elections be delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic, and his previous suggestions he might not accept the results of the election." Clinton "told the story of how Lewis accepted defeat" in his bid to lead the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in the late 1960s. Clinton said, "We are here today because he had the kind of character he showed when he lost an election." In an editorial, the Wall Street Journal (7/30, Subscription Publication, 7.57M) criticizes Obama's call in his eulogy for scrapping the filibuster, arguing that such a move would EFTA00150200 fundamentally alter the nature of the Senate. The Washington Times (7/30, Munoz, 492K) covers the funeral under the headline "Former Presidents, Loved Ones Bid Funeral Farewell To John Lewis." ABC World News TonightVi (7/30, story 11, 2:00, Muir, 7.06M), the CBS Evening NewsVI (7/30, story 10, 2:05, O'Donnell, 4.19M), and NBC Nightly NewsVi (7/30, story 12, 1:20, Holt, 5.82M) all had further remembrances of Lewis. The New York Times (7/30, 18.61M) publishes a letter written by Lewis shortly before his death, which he intended to be published on the day of his funeral. Lewis wrote, "While my time here has now come to an end, I want you to know that in the last days and hours of my life you inspired me. You filled me with hope about the next chapter of the great American story when you used your power to make a difference in our society. Millions of people motivated simply by human compassion laid down the burdens of division." House Votes To End Ban On Transgender Troops. CQ Roll Call (7/30, Satter, 154K) reports "the House adopted by voice vote an amendment to the fiscal 2021 Defense appropriations bill Thursday that would effectively bring an end to the Trump administration's severe restrictions on transgender people serving openly in the US military." The amendment "was tucked into a massive en bloc package of amendments that were attached to the six-bill spending package that includes defense funding." The Hill (7/30, Kheel, 2.98M) points out the measure was authored by Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) and had 28 Democratic cosponsors. Politico (7/30, O'Brien, 4.29M) says "Republicans opposed the amendment package, but didn't demand a roll call vote." House Rejects Ocasio-Cortez Proposal To Bar Military Recruitment On Online Gaming Platforms. The New York Post (7/30, Nelson, 4.57M) reports, "Fellow House Democrats tore into" a proposal by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) to bar the military from using online gaming platforms for recruitment. Rep. Max Rose (D-NY) said, "This is incredibly insulting as it perpetuates the limousine liberal trope that soldiers are idiots who only get duped into enlisting." The proposal failed 292-126. Schweikert Admits To 11 Ethics Violations, Agrees To Pay $50K Fine. The Arizona Republic (7/30, Hansen, 869K) reports Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ) "reached a deal announced Thursday to end a longstanding House Ethics Committee investigation by admitting to 11 rules violations, accepting a reprimand and agreeing to pay a $50,000 fine." The panel "found 'substantial evidence' of violations by the five-term Arizona Republican stretching from 2010 into 2018 and faulted him for evasive, stalling tactics that helped him skirt more serious violations." The Washington Post (7/30, Sonmez, 14.2M) says "the news deals a blow to the reelection campaign of Schweikert," who "is running unopposed in next week's Republican primary in Arizona's 6th District" but faces "four candidates...seeking the Democratic nomination to face him in November; among them, Hiral Tipirneni had a $1 million cash-on-hand advantage over Schweikert as of mid-July." The Hill (7/30, Marcos, 2.98M) recounts that "an investigative report released by the Ethics Committee concluded that Schweikert, who has served in the House since 2011, violated campaign finance laws, misused taxpayer funds for unofficial purposes, pressured congressional office staff to do campaign work and displayed a 'lack of candor during the investigation." CQ Roll Call (7/30, Marquette, 154K)indicates "the Ethics Committee plans to bring a privileged resolution to reprimand the Arizona Republican for a full House vote," and "Schweikert must repay the Treasury by Oct. 30." Politico (7/30, Ferris, 4.29M) reports, "Among the biggest findings from the Ethics panel is that Schweikert had paid over $270,000 to a firm whose sole employee is Schwab over seven years, violating the limit on outside income for senior congressional aides." Schwab "left his EFTA00150201 congressional job in 2018 after seven years. That same year, the aide also repaid the campaign more than $50,000." Ginsburg Resting In Hospital Following Minimally Invasive Surgery. The CBS Evening NewsVi (7/30, story 9, 0:15, O'Donnell, 4.19M) reported that following "minimally invasive, nonsurgical procedure on a bile duct stent she received last year," Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg "is resting in a New York hospital." She "is expected to be released by the end of the week." NASA's Perseverance Rover Lifts Off En Route To Mars. The New York Times (7/30, Chang, 18.61M) reports NASA's Perseverance rover lifted off Thursday morning on its way to Mars, making it "the third spacecraft to head that way this month." The "robotic wheeled vehicle [is] designed to look for signs of past life on Mars." Its destination "is a crater, Jezero, which was once a lake in the northern hemisphere of Mars. Scientists believe it is a promising location where signs of ancient Martian life could be preserved if life ever existed on Mars." The Washington Post (7/30, Achenbach, 14.2M) says Perseverance "is supposed to obtain samples of rock cores and soil that could later be sent back to Earth for study in laboratories." Its mission "is the first leg of what is known as the Mars Sample Return campaign." NASA Administrator Bridenstine said on the Weather ChannelVi (7/30, 107K), "We are in fact looking for signs of ancient life on Mars. ... This is the most sophisticated robot we've ever launched. From past missions, we have learned that Mars was at one time, it had an ocean, it had liquid water. The northern hemisphere of Mars was covered in liquid ocean. About two- thirds of it was covered in ocean, We know that it had a thick atmosphere, and, of course, very dynamic weather events. And it had a magnetosphere that protected it from the radiation deep space. In other words, Mars was habitable. The question that we are trying to answer now, for the first time is was it inhabited? are we going to find signs, biosignatures of ancient life on Mars?" Bridenstine was also interviewed on Fox News' The Story (7/30) and KOTV-TVVi Tulsa, OK (7/30, 24K). NASA Deputy Administrator James Morhard said on Bloomberg TVVi (7/30, 4.73M), "We are so excited because this is the dawn of a new space age. ... It is a precursor mission in anticipation of astronauts going to Mars. The President has told us to get to moon in preparation to do that but also, ultimately, we have to get to Mars. This rover is gong to be there picking up samples that we are going return on another mission, back to the Earth." Morhard was also interviewed on KENS-TVVI San Antonio (7/30, 15K) and America FirstVi (7/30). The Wall Street Journal (7/30, Hotz, Subscription Publication, 7.57M) reports that in addition to the Perseverance, spacecraft already launched by China and the United Arab Emirates are already on their way to Mars. A Wall Street Journal (7/30, Subscription Publication, 7.57M) editorial points out the list of countries attempting Mars missions and adds that the US, China, Russia and Japan are all considering manned missions to the moon in the coming years. The Journal argues that competition could be beneficial. Omar Campaign Spent $606K At Husband's Firm In First Weeks Of July. The Washington Free Beacon (7/30, Schoffstall, 78K) reports Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) "funneled an additional $606,000 to her husband's firm in the first three weeks of July alone." FEC records released Thursday "show that over the first three weeks of July, Omar's campaign sent $606,000 to the E Street Group, a D.C.-based consulting firm run by Tim Mynett, Omar's husband." EFTA00150202 INTERNATIONAL NEWS Trump: "Lamestream Media" Ignoring "Major China Virus Flare Up" In Other Countries. President Trump on Thursday tweeted, "Major China Virus flare ups in many of the countries that the Fake News was touting as doing so well. Some of these countries are now a disaster. Lamestream Media doesn't want to report this. Also, highly inaccurate numbers being reported by many other countries!!! @WSJ" Companies Work To Build Reliable Supply Chains For Coronavirus Vaccines. The Wall Street Journal (7/30, Chen, Subscription Publication, 7.57M) reports as companies race to develop a safe and effective coronavirus vaccine, they are already working to build reliable supply chains to manufacture and distribute the vaccines in the future. EU Again Extends Travel Ban On Americans. USA Today (7/30, Tate, Shesgreen, 10.31M) reports that "for the second time this month, the European Union extended its travel ban on Americans on Thursday." The announcement by the European Council came "after EU officials conducted their biweekly review of travel restrictions, examining coronavirus trends and containment measures in each country to determine whether to add or narrow the list of permitted travelers." Study: UK Has Europe's Worst Surge In Deaths During Pandemic. The New York Times (7/30, Landler, 18.61M) reports England "has had the greatest rate of excess deaths of any country in Europe during the coronavirus pandemic, with a surge that lasted longer and spread to more places than those in hard-hit nations like Italy and Spain, according to a government report released on Thursday." The findings, in a report by Britain's Office of National Statistics, "painted a grim picture of how Britain - and England in particular - weathered the first wave of the pandemic." Pompeo: US Has Discussed Threats To Its Troops In Afghanistan With Russia. The Washington Times (7/30, Meier, 492K) reports Secretary of State Pompeo on Thursday "said that US officials have been notified of 'every single threat' to American soldiers in Afghanistan and that Trump administration officials have discussed threats on the lives of U.S. forces with Russian counterparts." Despite "repeated rebukes from the White House that President Trump had not been briefed about the threats to U.S. soldiers before the reports surfaced;' Pompeo told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that "the proper people have been aware of every single threat to our soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan whether that was General [Austin) Miller, or my team at the embassy there in Kabul." Taliban Denies Responsibility For Bombing That Killed 18. Reuters (7/30) reports that on Thursday, "at least 18 people, including Afghan security forces personnel, were killed in a suspected car-bombing in eastern Afghanistan...hours before a three-day ceasefire was to begin in the country for the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha." Reuters adds, "The ceasefire, announced by the Taliban, comes at a time violence has risen across the war-torn country as U.S.-brokered peace talks between the militant group and an Afghan government-mandated committee await the completion of a prisoner exchange between the two sides." According to Reuters, the Taliban "denied responsibility for the bombing." US Urges Pakistan To Act After American Charged With Blasphemy Shot In Court. Reuters (7/30, Farooq, Ahmad) reports the US "urged Pakistan on Thursday to take action over the killing of an American national in a crowded courtroom as he faced trial for blasphemy." Tahir Ahmed Naseem was "shot multiple times at close range" as he appeared in a Peshawar EFTA00150203 courtroom on Wednesday. On Twitter, the State Department wrote, "We urge Pakistan to take immediate action and pursue reforms that will prevent such a shameful tragedy from happening again." Craft: Trump Wants To Give In-Person UN Address In September. Reuters (7/30, Nichols) reports UN Ambassador Craft indicated on Thursday that President Trump "hopes to address the U.N. General Assembly in person in September...while all other world leaders will send videos instead of traveling to New York amid the coronavirus pandemic." Craft is quoted as saying, "We're hoping that President Trump will actually be speaking in person in the General Assembly. He will be the only world leader to be speaking in person." Craft added, "Obviously we're going to be focused on human rights issues, on transparency, on accountability." Politico (7/30, Heath, 4.29M) reports Craft "has been taking her diplomacy beyond the confines of the U.N. Security Council...during the Covid-19 pandemic." Craft is quoted as saying, "Since we have been sheltering in place, I used that time to start calling 185 of the ambassadors, just to check on people." According to Politico, Craft "said ambassadors from smaller countries were 'shocked' to receive her call, but said they were 'very responsive,' helping to create 'a special bond' that the U.S. would find useful in its efforts to reform the U.N." Pompeo Insists "Tide Is Turning" In Dealings With China. Reuters (7/30, Zengerle, Psaledakis) reports Secretary of State Pompeo "insisted on Thursday the 'tide is turning' in dealings with China, citing international support for Washington's policies even as he expressed 'dismay' at the number of countries supporting Beijing's new security law for Hong Kong." During his first public testimony before the panel in 15 months, Pompeo stressed President Trump's "tough line on China at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing in which he repeatedly clashed with lawmakers over administration policies." Pompeo "said other countries are supporting initiatives like the push not to use Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies' equipment in 5G networks and stepped-up maritime maneuvers in the South China Sea." Pompeo is quoted as saying, "Our vigorous diplomacy has helped lead an international awakening to the threat of the [Chinese Communist Party). Senators, the tide is turning." Poll: Increasing Number Of Americans See China Negatively. USA Today (7/30, Shesgreen, Hjelmgaard, 10.31M) reports that a "new poll shows nearly three-quarters of Americans view China negatively, a record high as new coronavirus cases spike across the U.S. and the Trump administration ramps up its attacks on Beijing." The survey, published Thursday by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, "found a sharp uptick in the number of Americans who see China unfavorably." In 2018, "just 47% of Americans held unfavorable views of China, but that figure has jumped 26% since then - to 73%, the highest level in the 15 years Pew has measured Americans' attitudes toward Beijing." To the Washington Examiner (7/30, Crilly, 448K), the Pew findings "cement the issue as one of the top election questions facing two candidates who have tussled over who can better play hardball with Beijing." Four Hong Kong Activists Arrested For Online Posts Under New Security Law. The Washington Post (7/30, O'Grady, 14.2M) reports that in "some of the most high-profile detentions" in Hong Kong since Beijing imposed "a controversial national security law late last month," police arrested four people between the ages of 16 and 21 on suspicion of inciting secession. The New York Times (7/30, Ramzy, Yu, 18.61M) reports the four were arrested "over social media posts that called for the city to become independent from China, in what appears to be the first targeted detentions of activists" under the new law. US Ambassador To Russia Dismisses Conviction Of Marine Vet As "Absurd." EFTA00150204 The New York Times (7/30, Nechepurenko, 18.61M) reports Trevor Reed, a former US Marine who "traveled to Moscow" in May 2019 "to spend the summer with his Russian girlfriend and take some language lessons," was, "by August...in jail, facing charges of assaulting and endangering the lives of two police officers, accusations that his family and supporters say are fraudulent and politically motivated." On Thursday, "a court in Moscow sentenced Mr. Reed to nine years in prison for the August 2019 episode. He has already spent more than 11 months in a Russian jail." The Washington Post (7/30, Dixon, 14.2M) reports that Reed "told journalists the case was `clearly political,'" and John Sullivan, the US Ambassador to Russia, "described the evidence used to convict Reed as `ridiculous." Sullivan is quoted as saying, "Today, US citizen Trevor Reed was convicted and sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison based on evidence so ridiculous that even the judge laughed in court. This was theater of the absurd." Russia Demands Belarus Explain "Odious" Detention Of Alleged Mercenaries. Reuters (7/30, Osborn, Makhovsky) reports Russia "demanded an explanation" from Belarus on Thursday over "what it called Minsk's wrongful arrest of a group of alleged Russian mercenaries accused of plotting acts of terrorism." Belarusian state television broadcast footage on Wednesday of "more than 30 suspected Russian private military contractors being detained" near Minsk. Authorities "said they had received information that over 200 fighters had entered the country to destabilize it before an Aug. 9 presidential election." Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov "said Moscow wanted an exhaustive explanation from Belarus about the detention." Democrats Slam Decision To Move US Troops Out Of Germany As Gift To Putin. The Washington Post (7/30, Hudson, 14.2M) reports on Thursday, Secretary of State Pompeo "clashed bitterly with Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee." Pompeo was "grilled" about the Administration's "decision to withdraw 12,000 troops from Germany and Pompeo's firing of the department's internal watchdog, who had been investigating alleged wrongdoing by him and his wife." Ranking member Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) "said the U.S. administration had 'abetted' Russian President Vladimir Putin by withdrawing the troops from Germany and took aim at the central focus of Pompeo's tenure, Iran, noting that the country `is much closer to a nuclear bomb than when you came into office.'" Menendez also "said that for all of Pompeo's `bluster against China,' it has not stopped Beijing's `march in the South China Sea' or its `suppressing and oppressing its own people' in Hong Kong." Politico (7/30, Toosi, 4.29M) reports that in his Senate testimony, Pompeo "claimed he did not interact significantly with Marie Yovanovitch, the former ambassador to Ukraine who was ousted in 2019 after she defied Trump administration orders by cooperating with House investigations" into President Trump. Pompeo "also defended the Trump administration's approach to Russia as well as his push to oust an inspector general amid withering criticism from Senate Democrats." Pompeo is quoted as saying, "I can assure you and the American people that each time I've spoken with [Russian Foreign Minister Sergey] Lavrov, I have raised all of the issues that put any American interests at risk, whether it's our soldiers on the ground in Syria, soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan, the activities that are taking place in Libya, the actions in Ukraine." Citing "three former senior officials," Reuters (7/30, Emmott, Siebold) reports that the US "will take years to move its main military command in Europe from Germany to NATO headquarters in Belgium and updating facilities will be costly." However, "despite concerns that the move announced on Wednesday is politically motivated, they told Reuters that `streamlining and rationalising' the U.S. military presence in Europe made some strategic sense." Reuters notes that Defense Secretary Esper "said the decision was part of a review of U.S. troop presence around the world." Polish Towns That Declared Themselves "LGBT-Free Zones" Are Denied EU Funds. EFTA00150205 The New York Times (7/30, Pronczuk, 18.61M) reports the EU "will not provide funding to six Polish towns that have declared themselves 'L.G.B.T.-free zones,' a rare financial sanction of a member nation for issues related to the equal treatment of its citizens." While the amounts of money being withheld "are modest - from $6,000 to $29,000 - the exclusion of the towns from funding for a program that connects local communities across Europe was intended to have a deeper symbolic resonance." EU Commissioner for Equality Helena Dalli tweeted, "E.U. values and fundamental rights must be respected by Member States and state authorities." Violence In Darfur Increasing After Bashir's Overthrow. The New York Times (7/30, Walsh, 18.61M) reports it has been just over a year since "euphoric protests toppled Omar Hassan al-Bashir, the detested dictator whose alleged atrocities in Darfur earned him an indictment on genocide charges in an international court." Sudan is now "run by a joint civilian-military government that has promised to usher in a new era of democracy, and finally — after 17 years of suffering - bring peace to Darfur." But this month, the "tempo of violence quickened" with 60 civilians massacred on Saturday in "the deadliest attack in months." Trudeau Defends Charity Deal In Rare Testimony Before Parliament. In what the Washington Post (7/30, Coletta, 14.2M) calls an "unusual for a sitting prime minister," Justin Trudeau testified in a Parliament hearing broadcast live on Canadian television that "WE Charity received no preferential treatment - not from me, not from anyone else." The Canadian leader "apologized again for his failure to recuse himself from cabinet discussions on the deal" amid a "burgeoning ethics scandal that has cast a pall over his minority government." In his testimony Thursday, Trudeau "said he did not learn that public servants were recommending that the Toronto-based WE Charity administer the program until a briefing before a cabinet meeting on May 8." I THE BIG PICTURE Headlines From Today's Front Pages. Wall Street Journal: US Economy Contracted At Record Rate Last Quarter; Jobless Claims Rise To 1.43 Million Amazon, Apple, Facebook Show Dominant Results, Grip On Society Reopening Schools Try To Decide When They Should Close Again Due To Coronavirus Cases Huawei Rides China Recovery To Top Of Smartphone World If NBA's Virtual Fans Don't Behave, There's An Eject Button Families File First Wave Of Covid-19 Lawsuits Against Companies Over Worker Deaths New York Times: A Collapse That Wiped Out 5 Years Of Growth, With No Bounce In Sight Trump Attacks An Election He Is At Risk Of Losing A Half-Century After Wallace, Trump Echoes The Politics Of Division A Quarter Of Bangladesh Is Flooded. Millions Have Lost Everything. John Lewis, A Man Of 'Unbreakable Perseverance,' Is Laid To Rest 'This Is A New Phase': Europe Shifts Tactics To Limit Tech's Power Washington Post: Nation's Unrest Looms Large As Lewis Is Eulogized Many Economists Urge Congress To 'Go Big' On Next Relief Bill Record Economic Contraction In US EFTA00150206 Trump Suggests Delaying Election Mail Backlog Raises Fears Of Delays In Ballot Delivery DHS Gathers 'Intelligence' On Journalists Covering Ore. Financial Times: US Economy Suffers Sharpest Postwar Quarterly Contraction How Safe Is Air Travel During Coronavirus Pandemic? Trump Floats Prospect Of Delay In US Election Washington Times: Economic Relief Grows Urgent As Numbers Show Huge Economic Collapse Sticking Point Delaying Senate's Virus Relief Package: Business Liability Protection Coronavirus Task Force Shifts Messaging On Methods To Contain Pandemic Waterpark Owner Fights 'Hypocritical' Shutdown Order That Opens Lakes Trump Suggests Delaying Elections To Avoid 'Great Embarrassment' From Mail-In Vote Fraud Revolutionary Microchip Hailed As 'Generational' Breakthrough That Will Upend Defense Tech Story Lineup From Last Night's Network News: ABC: John Lewis-Funeral; Trump-Vote By Mail; GDP; Coronavirus-Rising Cases; Congress-Relief Bill; Herman Cain; Tropical Storm Isaias; Weather Report; California-Earthquake; Trump-Family of Murdered Soldier; Remembering John Lewis. CBS: John Lewis-Funeral; Coronavirus-Rising Cases; Herman Cain; Trump-Vote By Mail; Trump- Schools; GDP; Congress-Relief Bill; Tropical Storm Isaias; SCOTUS-RBG Recovering; Remembering John Lewis. NBC: John Lewis-Funeral; Trump-Vote By Mail; Herman Cain; Trump-Schools; Coronavirus- Rising Cases; GDP; Congress-Relief Bill; Tropical Storm Isaias; Coronavirus-Misinformation; Double Lung Transplant Survivors; Coronavirus-NBA; Remembering John Lewis. Network TV At A Glance: John Lewis - 21 minutes, 0 seconds Coronavirus - 12 minutes, 5 seconds Trump-Vote By Mail - 5 minutes, 40 seconds Herman Cain - 4 minutes, 10 seconds GDP — 3 minutes, 45 seconds Congress-Relief Bill - 2 minutes, 40 seconds Tropical Storm Isaias - 1 minute, 10 seconds Story Lineup From This Morning's Radio News Broadcasts: ABC: Tropical Storm Isaias; Coronavirus-Rising Cases; Trump-Vote By Mail; John Lewis-Funeral. CBS: Congress-Relief Bill; Tropical Storm Isaias; NBA Returns; Congress-Relief Bill; Trump-Vote By Mail; Acting ICE Director Leaving; Stocks. FOX: Trump-Relief Bill; Trump-Schools; Tropical Storm Isaias; UN Virtual Meeting. NPR: Trump-Vote By Mail; John Lewis-Funeral; Tropical Storm Isaias; Stocks. WASHINGTON'S SCHEDULE Today's Events In Washington. White House: • President Trump — Meets with the National Association of Police Organizations Leadership; participates in a Campaign Coalitions Event with Florida Sheriffs; participates in a COVID-19 EFTA00150207 Response and Storm Preparedness roundtable; participates in a roundtable with supporters; delivers remarks at a Fundraising Committee Dinner • Vice President Pence — Participates in Law Enforcement Call event; participates in Team Trump Online event US Senate: • No public schedule released US House: • NIAID Director Fauci and CDC Director Redfield testify to House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis - Hybrid hearing on 'The Urgent Need for a National Plan to Contain the Coronavirus', with testimony from NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci; CDC Director Robert Redfield; and Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Health Adm. Brett Giroir * Held remotely via WebEx and in Rm 2154, Rayburn House Office Building * Face coverings required in the hearing room, and attendees required to make 'every effort to adhere to six-foot social distancing guidelines'; 9:00 AM • House meets for legislative business - House of Representatives meets for legislative business, with agenda for the week including completion of consideration of 'H.R. 7027 - Child Care Is Essential Act' and 'H.R. 7327 - Child Care for Economic Recovery Act', consideration of 'H.R. 7617 - Defense, Commerce, Justice, Science, Energy and Water Development, Financial Services and General Government, Homeland Security, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development Appropriations Act, 2021', and consideration of 'H.R. 4686 - Sami's Law', as amended, and 'H.R. 7575 - Water Resources Development Act of 2020', as amended, under suspension of the rules Location: U.S. Capitol, Washington, DC; 9:00 AM • House Intelligence Committee marks up Intelligence Authorization Act - Closed markup hearing on the Intelligence Authorization Act (IAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, and on 'Authorizing all Members of the House of Representatives to review, at a time to be determined by the Committee, the Classified Annex to the Intelligence Authorization Act (IAA) for Fiscal Year 2021' Location: HVC-304, U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, Washington, DC; 9:30 AM • House Modernization of Congress Committee Business Meeting - Business Meeting, to consider proposed recommendations * All attendees are required to wear masks to protect their colleagues. If a Member arrives without a mask, masks are made available at the entrance to the Business Meeting. Members and staff are encouraged to self-monitor for potential symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) Location: Rm 210, Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC; 11:00 AM • House Democratic Caucus Task Force on Aging and Families mark 55th anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid - House Democratic Caucus Task Force on Aging and Families discusses 'the critical importance of Medicare and Medicaid for older Americans and their families as the 55th anniversary of these critical lifelines comes amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic', via press call, featuring Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries, Task Force Co-Chairs Jan Schakowsky, Doris Matsui, and Conor Lamb and Vice Chairs Lucille Roybal-Allard, Debbie Dingell, and Ayanna Pressley, and Medicare and Medicaid advocates; 11:00 AM • House of Representatives breaks for summer District Work Period Cabinet Officers: • No public schedules released Visitors: • No visitors scheduled EFTA00150208 This Town: • U.S. Army chief of staff discusses Indo-Pacific - `The Indo-Pacific and the U.S. Army' Center for Strategic and International Studies, with U.S. Army Chief of Staff James McConville; 11:00 AM • Dem Sen. Cory Booker and Stacey Abrams speak on 'Fight for Progress' virtual conversation - 'Fight for Progress' virtual conversation with Democratic Sen. Cory Booker, Fair Fight Action Chair Stacey Abrams and Center for American Progress Action Fund CEO Neera Tanden, on where progressive priorities lie in the midst of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic; 4:00 PM Copyright 2020 by Bulletin Intelligence LLC Reproduction or redistribution without permission prohibited. Content is drawn from thousands of newspapers, national magazines, national and local television programs, radio broadcasts, social-media platforms and additional forms of open-source data. Sources for Bulletin Intelligence audience-size estimates include Scarborough, Gil( MRI, comScore, Nielsen, and the Audit Bureau of Circulation. Data from and access to third party social media platforms, including but not limited to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others, is subject to the respective platform's terms of use. Services that include Factiva content are governed by Factiva's terms of use. Services including embedded Tweets are also subject to Twitter for Website's information and privacy_policies. The FBI News Briefing is published five days a week by Bulletin Intelligence, which creates custom briefings for government and corporate leaders. We can be found on the Web at Bulletinlntelligence.com, or called at (703) 483-6100. EFTA00150209