| Top Trump aide says president is 'eager to return to the campaign trail' amid reports a planned rally was scrapped Posted: 30 Jun 2020 01:59 PM PDT  Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh held a press conference call with reporters on Tuesday where he said the president is "eager to return to the campaign trail and to keep campaigning and keep connecting with Americans."
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| `You broke my wrist!' Police sued for taking down wrong man Posted: 30 Jun 2020 10:12 PM PDT  Body camera video shows Antonio Arnelo Smith handing his driver's license to a Black police officer and answering questions cooperatively before a white officer walks up behind him, wraps him in a bear hug and slams him face-first to the ground. "Oh my God, you broke my wrist!" the 46-year-old Black man screams as two more white Valdosta officers arrive, holding him down and handcuffing him following the takedown. One eventually tells Smith he's being arrested on an outstanding warrant, and is immediately corrected by the first officer: They've got the wrong man.
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| Study finds asteroid impact, not volcanoes, made the Earth uninhabitable for dinosaurs: 'Only plausible explanation' Posted: 30 Jun 2020 12:09 PM PDT  A new study found what happened to the Earth's dinosaurs. An asteroid strike blocking out the sun for years and causing permanent winters was cause.
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| ‘Beat it, little f***er.’ Officers laugh after shooting rubber bullets at protesters. Posted: 01 Jul 2020 03:20 PM PDT  Warning: This article contains profane language.
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| U.S. tech chief executives expected to testify before House panel in late July Posted: 01 Jul 2020 03:12 PM PDT  The chief executives of the four U.S. tech giants -- Amazon.com, Facebook, Alphabet's Google and Apple -- will testify before the U.S. Congress in late July as part of an ongoing antitrust probe into the companies, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai of Google and Apple's Tim Cook will appear as part of the probe by the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel, the sources said.
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| The Air Force's Masterplan to Make the F-15 Fighter Even More Deadly Posted: 01 Jul 2020 12:10 PM PDT  Here are the upgrades the Pentagon wants.
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| Hong Kong: First arrests under 'anti-protest' law as handover marked Posted: 01 Jul 2020 01:48 PM PDT  A man with a pro-independence flag is among those held on the first day of the new law, police say.
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| We found the best deals to shop during Home Depot's massive 4th of July sale Posted: 30 Jun 2020 01:38 PM PDT  Retailers such as Wayfair and Walmart are also offering major savings.
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| Trump defense on Russian bounty story falls flat, even with Republicans Posted: 30 Jun 2020 04:42 PM PDT  White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany has defended the president over reports that Russia offered Taliban fighters a bounty on U.S. soldiers killed in Afghanistan.
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| 1 of 2 Oklahoma officers shot during traffic stop dies Posted: 30 Jun 2020 02:52 PM PDT  One of the two Tulsa, Oklahoma, police officers who were shot during a traffic stop has died, authorities said Tuesday. Police Chief Wendell Franklin said Sgt. Craig Johnson died Tuesday. Franklin described Johnson's death as a "tremendous loss" to the police department.
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| Martin Gugino, the Buffalo protester pushed to the ground and injured by police, released after nearly a month in hospital Posted: 30 Jun 2020 05:38 PM PDT  The 75-year-old man who fell to the ground after being pushed by Buffalo police officers in a viral video was released from the hospital Tuesday.
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| Heavily armed riot police break up peaceful violin vigil for young black man killed by fellow officers Posted: 30 Jun 2020 01:53 AM PDT  Armed officers in Colorado used tear gas against protesters this weekend, as thousands attended a vigil for Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old who died after police put him in a chokehold that has since been banned.Riot police arrived at the City Centre Park in Aurora, Colorado, on Saturday night where thousands had marched and chanted some hours earlier.
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| The New York City Council passed a budget to defund the NYPD by $1 billion — but nobody seems to like it Posted: 01 Jul 2020 02:16 AM PDT  The $1 billion cancels the incoming class of officers, and will be reallocated to services like summer youth programs and broadband in public housing.
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| Seoul questioning activists suspected of distributing anti-Pyongyang leaflets Posted: 30 Jun 2020 03:58 AM PDT  Two activists accused of sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border have been summoned by South Korean police.
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| Former Pope Benedict's brother Georg dies at 96 Posted: 01 Jul 2020 04:03 AM PDT  Georg Ratzinger, the brother of former Pope Benedict who nurtured a very close relationship over decades to his sibling, has died at the age of 96 in the German town of Regensburg on Wednesday, the local archdiocese said. In June, Benedict, aged 93, had spent five days in his native Germany to visit his ailing brother, who was also a priest. It was the first time that Benedict left Italy since 2013, when he became the first Pope to resign in six centuries.
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| More than 400 US Army paratroopers flew almost 5,000 miles to practice a long-range Pacific island invasion Posted: 01 Jul 2020 02:23 PM PDT  The drill "demonstrated that we are capable of deploying anywhere in the US Indo-Pacific Command area at a moment's notice," a commander said.
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| Amid surge in coronavirus cases and mounting criticism, GOP leaders do about-face on masks Posted: 30 Jun 2020 12:14 PM PDT  As the coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage large swaths of the U.S., leading Republicans and even some right-wing TV personalities have come out in favor of wearing masks to prevent the spread of the virus.
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| Iran police question four after deadly Tehran blast Posted: 01 Jul 2020 06:53 AM PDT  Iranian police on Wednesday questioned four people as part of investigations into a powerful explosion that killed 19 people at a Tehran clinic the night before, state media reported. The blast at the Sina At'har health centre in the upmarket northern neighbourhood of Tajrish caused damage to nearby buildings and sent a plume of thick black smoke into the sky. It was the second such incident to hit Tehran within days, after a gas tank explosion near a military complex east of the capital late last Thursday that authorities said caused no casualties.
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| With a pen stroke, Mississippi drops Confederate-themed flag Posted: 30 Jun 2020 09:22 AM PDT  With a stroke of the governor's pen, Mississippi is retiring the last state flag in the U.S. with the Confederate battle emblem — a symbol that's widely condemned as racist. Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signed the historic bill Tuesday at the Governor's Mansion, immediately removing official status for the 126-year-old banner that has been a source of division for generations. "This is not a political moment to me but a solemn occasion to lead our Mississippi family to come together, to be reconciled and to move on," Reeves said on live TV just before the signing.
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| 'I walked off the plane': Travelers irked by inconsistent face mask use amid coronavirus pandemic Posted: 30 Jun 2020 01:48 PM PDT  Although many airlines require masks amid the coronavirus pandemic, not all do. Among those that do, enforcement and compliance isn't always certain.
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| Intel Proves ‘Russian Bounties’ Were No Hoax, House Dems Say Posted: 30 Jun 2020 07:37 AM PDT  A group of House Democrats left a classified briefing at the White House Tuesday morning, on reports that Russia paid Taliban fighters bounties on U.S. soldiers, with complaints that Trump administration officials were not more forthcoming about the intelligence. And they also left with lots of questions about why the president—who has dismissed the story as another "Russia hoax"—is not being more forthcoming with criticism for Russian president Vladimir Putin."The president called this a hoax, publicly," said Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the number two House Democrat, at a Capitol Hill press conference after returning from the White House. "Nothing in the briefing we just received led me to believe it's a hoax. There may be different judgments as to the level of credibility… there was no assertion that the information we had was a hoax.""We did not," said Hoyer, "receive any new, substantive information."And Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said that the "right people to give the briefing were not in the room," noting the absence of intelligence agency leaders. Schiff also addressed the question of whether or not Trump himself was briefed on the intelligence, as the initial report in The New York Times alleged and Trump denies. "There may be a reluctance to brief the president on things he doesn't want to hear," he said. The Daily Beast reported on Tuesday that top White House officials did not want to brief Trump on the Russia bounty intelligence for fear he'd resist or ignore the information. Schiff also questioned why the Trump administration has not addressed how it will respond to Russia. "I find it inexplicable in light of these public allegations that the president hasn't come before the country and assured people that he'll get to the bottom of whether Russians are putting bounties on the heads of troops," said Schiff, who said that U.S. officials should be considering sanctions on Russia, not inviting them to multilateral talks like those in the G7.The Democratic lawmakers said they were unable to elaborate on why the intelligence was not, as Trump claimed, a "hoax." They are requesting an all-member briefing from intelligence officials soon. But a key focus going forward, said Hoyer, is learning more about what Trump knew about the matter, and when. If Harry Truman said the "buck stops with me," quipped Hoyer, "Trump says, I didn't see the buck."Trump Officials Didn't Want to Tell Him About the 'Russian Bounties'The lawmakers' tone was a stark departure from what House Republicans had to say when they left a briefing on the matter at the White House yesterday. A GOP attendee, Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN), tweeted that White House officials had debunked what he called The New York Times' "hit piece," and blamed the paper for reporting details about the alleged bounty system. "Now it's impossible to finish the investigation," said Banks. "Many in the media & Congress rushed to judgment before learning the whole story."Democrats were not present at that meeting, which Banks said featured Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and "top intelligence officials." Spokespeople for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Armed Services Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) all told The Daily Beast on Monday they had not been invited. On Tuesday, Hoyer said that Meadows called him on Sunday night about setting up a briefing for a small group of Democratic lawmakers. The Democrats' calls for additional briefings are likely to set up a showdown with the White House, which the lawmakers say has not taken the Russia intelligence seriously enough to warrant the all-member briefing they believe is necessary. Schiff said his committee has also requested additional documents to review as it investigates the matter.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Pakistani PM says 'no doubt' that India was behind stock exchange attack Posted: 30 Jun 2020 04:37 AM PDT  Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan told parliament on Tuesday he had no doubt that India was behind an attack on the stock exchange building in the southern city of Karachi. Four gunmen armed with grenades attacked the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Monday, killing two guards and a policeman before security forces killed the attackers. "There is no doubt that India is behind the attack," Khan said in his address to parliament - a charge that India had denied a day earlier.
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| We've reached the coronavirus pandemic's 6-month mark. 2 leading experts reveal what they think life will look like 1 year in. Posted: 01 Jul 2020 01:07 PM PDT  Experts think that by December 31 — the one-year mark of the coronavirus outbreak — we'll have a vaccine and a more finely tuned pandemic response.
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| Australia seeks long-range missiles in Indo-Pacific defence shift Posted: 30 Jun 2020 11:59 PM PDT  The country is to significantly lift military spending amid rising US-China instability, its PM says.
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| See How One Modern Family Restored Its Ancestral Family Estate in England Posted: 30 Jun 2020 11:23 AM PDT |
| McConnell eyes next coronavirus package after July recess Posted: 30 Jun 2020 12:53 PM PDT  Negotiations are likely to be even more painful in this round of talks.
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| Fact check: Picture of a massive dust cloud is over Phoenix, not Puerto Rico Posted: 01 Jul 2020 10:37 AM PDT  A post incorrectly attributes a 2018 photo to the recent Sahara dust storm and misstates that Puerto Rico was damaged by the storm.
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| Trump: I'll veto defense bill to keep Confederate base names Posted: 01 Jul 2020 07:12 AM PDT  President Donald Trump is vowing to veto a massive defense bill to keep military bases such as Fort Bragg named after Confederate officers, swimming against sentiment in his own party and imperiling a 3% pay raise for the troops. Trump took to Twitter late Tuesday to threaten a veto of a $741 billion annual Pentagon authorization bill because it would require a host of military bases named after Confederate figures to be renamed within three years.
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| Couple recorded pulling weapons on protesters outside their St. Louis home Posted: 30 Jun 2020 03:47 AM PDT  Sunday night's demonstration was sparked by mayor releasing names and addresses of "defund police" advocates.
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| Ex-Atlanta policeman charged in Brooks' death freed from jail, official says Posted: 01 Jul 2020 04:04 AM PDT  The former Atlanta police officer charged in last month's death of Rayshard Brooks, which touched off days of anti-racism protests, has been released from jail on bail, an official said on Wednesday. A Georgia County judge on Tuesday set bond for Garrett Rolfe, 27, at $500,000, and added numerous conditions, including that he wears an ankle monitor and obeys a curfew. Rolfe left Gwinnett County Jail at 12:27 a.m. EDT (0337 GMT) on Wednesday, according to county Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Shannon Volkodav.
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| Ex-Canada PM Mulroney calls for revised relations with China Posted: 01 Jul 2020 08:43 AM PDT  Canada must have an "urgent rethink" of its relationship with China, former prime minister Brian Mulroney said Wednesday as tensions build over the possible extradition to the United States of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou. Conservative Mulroney backed his Liberal successor Justin Trudeau's rejection of any exchange of Meng, who was arrested in Vancouver in December 2018, for two Canadians who were detained in China in apparent retaliation. Mulroney said Canada's hope that China would emerge as a constructive partner in international relations had been proven wrong, referring in particular to Beijing's militarization of the South China Sea.
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| Elderly woman choked and robbed by thief in New York City Posted: 30 Jun 2020 08:07 AM PDT  Thief chokes and robs an elderly woman, then calmly walks away with her bag.
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| How the explosive YouTube war between James Charles and Tati Westbrook brought the value of vitamin supplements into question Posted: 30 Jun 2020 02:52 PM PDT  Westbrook and Charles' falling out and Westbrook's apology video raised questions about the value of supplements.
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| Europe Portrays Both America and Iran As Rogue States At the UN Posted: 30 Jun 2020 01:33 PM PDT  Pompeo finally had his chance to face off with Iran, Russia, and China. He may have gotten more than he bargained for.
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| Arizona Is in COVID Hell—and Forced to Go After Rogue Gyms Posted: 01 Jul 2020 03:01 PM PDT  Arizona set a record Wednesday for new coronavirus cases, and 90 percent of the state's ICU beds are filled. But that's not stopping some gym owners from ignoring new lockdown rules and opening for business—prompting Gov. Doug Ducey to launch a crackdown on rogue fitness fanatics.Ducey released an executive order Monday shutting down all bars, gyms, theaters, water parks, and inner tubing locations until at least July 27, calling the latest COVID-19 case numbers "brutal." It was a swift turnaround from his declaration earlier this month that he would not impose new restrictions despite the growing case numbers—and many gym owners weren't happy about it."If this is truly as bad as we are being told, I don't think health clubs closing tomorrow is going to solve the problem," Mountainside Fitness owner Tom Hatten said in a press conference, as the number of COVID-19 deaths in the state topped 1,600. "I don't think [ending] tubing is going to solve the problem. I don't think closing a movie theater that hasn't been open is going to solve the problem."Hatten has filed a lawsuit against the governor, claiming the order is a violation of his due process and equal protection rights. In the suit, he claimed to have purchased "state of the art sanitation equipment" and rearranged the gym facilities in order to keep customers safe, and said the governor's office had not provided a promised reauthorization form that would have let him reopen. At the press conference, Hatten called the order "arbitrary" and said businesses needed "clarity" from the government. On Tuesday, police hit a Scottsdale Mountainside Fitness location with a citation that could result in a fine of up to $2,500. A spokesperson for the governor's office told ABC15 that Ducey had spoken with police chiefs that day and told them to be more aggressive in enforcing the order.On Wednesday, the Arizona Liquor Department reportedly suspended two liquor licenses for the Biltmore location of Life Time Fitness, another gym franchise that refused to follow the governor's order. (In a statement, Life Time Fitness said it is "incredibly committed to our members, who have clearly indicated their desire to have uninterrupted access to the expansive array of health and entertainment services, amenities and programs we provide.")Reopening Gyms Early Is Tearing a South Florida City ApartThe ramped-up enforcement seemed to be having an effect on at least a few franchises. An employee at Desert Fitness, which posted on Facebook Tuesday that it would remain open, said the gym had decided to cease operations as of Wednesday morning. "It's either stay open and take the fines that they issue or go to court over it, and we are not willing to do either of those things," said the employee, Hunter, who declined to give his last name.Megan Burrola, the assistant manager at CycleBar in McCormick, said her studio had also decided to shut down as of Wednesday morning, after speaking with government and police officials. The cycling studio had initially tried to claim that its smaller size exempted it from the shutdown order, and Burrola said management was still pursuing that avenue."We're working with our legal team because we do believe we qualify as a more private boutique, not a fitness center," she said. A spokesperson for the governor said in a statement that the order was clear: "Gyms and other indoor fitness clubs or centers, regardless of size, shall pause operations until at least July 27." But a number of fitness destinations seemed set on staying open because of their smaller size. A PureBarre studio in North Scottsdale kept its doors open Wednesday, writing on Instagram that the studio's "small, 'boutique' setting" made the owners "confident in our ability to safely operate and remain open." (In a response to a comment from someone calling the decision "very disappointing," owner Marirose Weyand wrote that she would "like the negative comments and energy dismissed from this page." She did not respond to The Daily Beast's request for comment.)BodyVision Fitness, a gym in Glendale, also wrote on Facebook that it would stay open due to its classification as a "micro-gym." The company did not respond to calls and emails about who, exactly, had classified them as such.And an employee at the YogaSix studio in Scottsdale told The Daily Beast that her location had also resumed classes as of Wednesday morning. Five people showed up to that morning's class, where participants are not required to wear masks."We actually feel strongly that our boutique fitness studio concept doesn't fall under the category of a gym," said the employee, Heather, who declined to give her last name. "It's just such a safe space compared to restaurants that are still open and grocery stores and so many places that are still open," she continued, adding, "We're here for the wellness of our members."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| ‘Like two guys in a steam bath’: Trump consistently sought approval from Putin during calls and was 'outplayed' by Russian leader Posted: 30 Jun 2020 03:47 AM PDT  Private calls between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin have the tone of "two guys in a steam bath" according to an aide's account of the conversations described to CNN. The US president is often ousmarted by his Russian counterart, according to the aide's summary. It comes amid concerns that the Trump administration did not act on reports that Russia planned on paying Taliban bounties to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan. Mr Trump dismissed those claims as "another fabricated Russia Hoax, maybe by the Fake News".Russian authorities added that president Putin had not discussed the claims with president Trump, and denied the Taliban plan.
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| Turkey: Up to 60 migrants feared dead in lake after sinking Posted: 01 Jul 2020 12:21 AM PDT  Up to 60 migrants may have been trapped in a boat that sank in an eastern lake last week, Turkey's interior minister said Wednesday. Turkey launched a search-and-rescue mission involving helicopters and boats after the boat carrying migrants across Lake Van was reported missing on June 27. Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, who traveled to Van to oversee the rescue operation, told reporters Wednesday that authorities estimated the boat was carrying between 55 and 60 migrants when it went down in stormy weather.
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| Beijing asks some U.S. media to submit information about their China operations Posted: 01 Jul 2020 12:32 AM PDT  China's foreign ministry said on Wednesday that the Chinese government has asked some U.S. media outlets present in the country to submit information about their China operations. Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian named the Associated Press, National Public Radio, CBS and United Press International news agency as companies asked to submit the requested information in writing within seven days. The AP has requested more information about the Chinese government's requirements and "will review them carefully," a spokeswoman for the outlet said.
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| Coronavirus: The human cost of fake news in India Posted: 01 Jul 2020 05:19 AM PDT  False and misleading reports have surged in the country during the coronavirus pandemic.
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| Saudi triples VAT in unpopular virus-led austerity push Posted: 30 Jun 2020 08:42 PM PDT  Saudis braced Wednesday for a tripling in value added tax, another unpopular austerity measure after the twin shocks of coronavirus and an oil price slump triggered the kingdom's worst economic decline in decades. Retailers in the country reported a sharp uptick in sales this week of everything from gold and electronics to cars and building materials, as shoppers sought to stock up before VAT is raised to 15 percent. The hike could stir public resentment as it weighs on household incomes, pushing up inflation and depressing consumer spending as the kingdom emerges from a three-month coronavirus lockdown.
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| Hickenlooper Overcomes Ethics Scandal to Win Colorado Senate Primary Posted: 01 Jul 2020 06:03 AM PDT  Former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper won the Democratic primary for the state's upcoming Senate election, overcoming an ethics probe and resurfaced video of racially insensitive comments.Hickenlooper will face off against incumbent Republican Cory Gardner in a highly contested race. Gardner is one of the only Republicans defending a seat in a state lost by President Trump in 2016."Let me be clear: change is coming, and you and I are going to bring it together," Hickenlooper said in a video message to supporters of primary challenger Andrew Romanoff. "I've never lost an election in this state, and I don't intend to lose this one."Romanoff, the Colorado State House speaker, thanked his supporters and called on them to back Hickenlooper."I just called John Hickenlooper to congratulate him — and to pledge my full support in his race against Cory Gardner. Please join me in doing the same," Romanoff wrote on Twitter.Hickenlooper was fined $3,000 in early June following an investigation by an independent ethics commission. The commission found that Hickenlooper violated state law on politicians accepting gifts in 2018, when he was given a ride in a Maserati limousine as well as on a private plane.The former governor also drew criticism after video surfaced of remarks he made in 2014 comparing elected officials to slaves on a slave ship, with their schedulers as masters."If I was to describe a scheduler, a political scheduler, imagine an ancient slave ship," Hickenlooper tells an audience at an event. The scheduler is "the guy with the whip, and you're rowing — we elected officials are the ones that are rowing, and they have nothing but hard, often thankless things to do."Hickenlooper apologized after the remarks were discovered by Tay Anderson, head of the Denver school board and the youngest African American elected to office in Colorado history.
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| America's M2 Carbine: The Rifle That Made the U.S. Military Great on the Battlefield Posted: 30 Jun 2020 09:30 AM PDT  Small numbers of M2s made their way to the troops in the closing engagement of World War II in the Pacific, particularly in the brutal Battle for Okinawa. However, they saw wider-scale action five years later in the Korean War.
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| Trump Gives Putin a Pass on Bounties So He Can Target Leakers Instead Posted: 01 Jul 2020 05:03 PM PDT  In the days since The New York Times broke the news on U.S. intelligence examining claims of Russian bounties being offered to kill American military personnel in Afghanistan, President Donald Trump has turned his ire not at the Russian government, but instead on two of his favorite enemies: the news media and their confidential sources.According to two people familiar with the matter, the president in recent days has privately expressed—"rather loudly," in the words of one of the sources—his desire for a leak investigation into how that story ended up in the Times, and his wish for the leaker or leakers to face a heavy prison sentence.This happens as the president publicly trashes the Times reporting as yet another "hoax" generated by his foes to damage him, and as the Trump administration does everything it can to publicly shame the leakers of the classified information. "You may seek to undermine our President but in fact, you undermine our country's safety and our country's security," White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said on Tuesday at a press briefing, in a scripted warning that was quickly clipped and blasted out on Trump's official social media feeds.It's one of a number of ways in which administration officials and Trumpworld figures, including the president himself, have oscillated between claiming the story about the Russian bounties is false and asserting that the intelligence is accurate (though uncorroborated) and therefore dangerous to share with the public. And as the president obsesses over who in his own government is trying to stab him in the back and leak to the press, officials elsewhere in the upper echelons of his administration have intensely debated for days the various diplomatic and retaliatory options against Russia that they could present to Trump."In a normal world, the president would get on the phone to his foreign counterpart and warn him that if we ever track back an attack on our forces to Russian support, that's an actionable offense—and in theory he would mean it, and the warning would be taken seriously," said one former senior Pentagon official. "But not in this world, unfortunately."As a U.S. intelligence report about Russian assistance to the Taliban circulates on Capitol Hill and throughout the national security apparatus, officials inside the State Department have begun to discuss whether to approach Russia through diplomatic channels to discuss the matter, according to one official familiar with those talks. Defense Department officials told The Daily Beast that leaders in the field have issued warnings about the Russian bounties to troops in the field. "There are a range of things we could be doing on the ground to respond and I'm sure some of those things are taking place," a second former senior Pentagon official said. "But it really is a question of whether the president is concerned enough to make those calls."The push by the president to open an investigation into who leaked to The New York Times comes as officials inside the White House and within the intelligence and national security apparatus scramble to confront a burgeoning public-relations crisis. (Despite the president's enthusiasm for finding a culprit, the Department of Justice has yet to make any moves on following through on Trump's wishes, according to two individuals familiar, but did not rule out the possibility.) Over the past five days, loyalists of President Trump have seemed confused about whether to write-off the Times and its reporting all together or if they should condemn the outlet for publishing classified information. The administration faced a similar situation with the publishing of former National Security Adviser John Bolton's book as it tried to claim at the same time that its contents were erroneous but also classified.Meanwhile, some of the president's most influential and visible allies in right-wing media have attempted to make the leak itself, not the contents of the intel or the allegations, the true villain in the story, re-running some of their well-worn defenses of Trump during the Russia investigation and the Ukraine scandal. Fox News host and Trump pal Jesse Watters said on Monday that it appeared to him that "some sort of hater in the intelligence community" leaked to the media in an effort to perpetuate "this Russian cloud around the president." Fox Business star Lou Dobbs, a top informal adviser to Trump, said on-air Tuesday that "what is troubling to me is three and a half years into this president's first term, we still have leaks that can be this noxious and this…annoying."The real struggle for the administration seems to be not how it syncs messaging about the intelligence—there's consensus that it has not been corroborated—but how various agencies address the question of whether and how the president was briefed. The Daily Beast and other outlets have reported the intelligence was included in a version of the President's Daily Brief earlier this year, though it remains unclear whether any official spoke directly to Trump about the intelligence and to what extent those officials raised the alarm. Various senior Trump officials, including Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, have said the president was not briefed on the intelligence because there was not a consensus on whether the intelligence had been corroborated."I don't know that anyone dropped the ball as much as they didn't want to take [Trump] what he didn't want to hear," one of the former Pentagon officials said. "I'm sure that's consistent practice by now."According to three individuals who have read or who are familiar with the intelligence report, the assessment is long and covers the span of several years, focusing generally on how Russia provides support, including financial assistance, to the Taliban. The report also touches on the Russian bounties first reported by The New York Times, though those who read the report say that data point is circumstantial and that the investigation is ongoing. Two individuals who spoke to The Daily Beast, though, said it is clear from the report that there's an increased risk for U.S. troops in Afghanistan because of Russia's behavior. As Trump continues to demand a leak investigation and fumes about the intelligence being made public, his deputies are on edge and have begun pointing fingers.In a rare public statement in front of the White House Wednesday, National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien told reporters that it was a senior Central Intelligence Agency official's decision not to brief the president because the intelligence was "uncorroborated."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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