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National

Two days after the attorney general's decision to indict him for bribe, fraud and breach of trust, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces growing opposition from within his own Likud party.

Driving the news: Gideon Sa'ar — a former minister and a popular member of Knesset from Likud — called Netanyahu on Saturday and requested snap primaries for the party chairmanship.

Why it matters: This is the most significant challenge against Netanyahu from within his own party in the last decade. Since becoming prime minister in 2009, Netanyahu has crushed dissent and has used party procedures to prevent real primaries for the chairmanship since 2014.

What they're saying: Sa'ar went all out against Netanyahu in an interview he gave to Channel 12 on Saturday, saying the prime minister is unable to form a government due to the indictments against him and stressing the Likud could lose if Israel goes for a third election.

Sa'ar called for snap primaries in the Likud within two weeks to try to form a government before a third election is called. 

He added that he plans to run against Netanyahu if such primaries are held.

He also criticized Netanyahu's attacks on the police and the attorney general and rejected Netanyahu's claim that the indictments against him are an attempted coup. 

"It is untrue and irresponsible to talk about a coup and it creates anarchy in the country and I am against that."

At the same time, the leader of the Blue and White party Benny Gantz held a press conference and tried to encourage dissent within Netanyahu's party. Gantz called on senior Likud members to speak out against Netanyahu and said he is ready to try to form a unity government with other Likud leaders, but without Netanyahu.

What's next: Sa'ar's challenge to Netanyahu is an important development, but it is unclear whether it could lead to a rebellion. Most other senior Likud members have remained silent and are not joining Sa'ar's criticism.

Netanyahu still has a lot of power in his party and even if primaries are held, he still has the best chance of winning.

Netanyahu's fight for survival: "Witch hunt" claims and a stain on his legacy

Netanyahu rival Gantz fails to form a government in Israel

After indictments, Netanyahu faces opposition from within his own party

Gideon Sa'ar plans to run against Netanyahu if snap primaries are held within the next two weeks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks before a meeting on Nov. 20 in Jerusalem, Israel. Photo: Amir Levy / Stringer

World

Benjamin Netanyahu

Israel

Conflicts, policies and powers are intersecting and shaping the world. Breaking news and analysis of national security, foreign policy and global crises.

Top military officials have threatened to resign or be fired if President Trump's pardon to Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher holds, administration officials told the New York Times on Saturday. 

Why it matters: The pushback from Navy secretary, Richard V. Spencer, and Rear Adm. Collin Green represents a rare moment of defiance from the Defense Department against the Trump administration, the Times notes. Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Gen. Mark Milley explained to the president that if he followed up a tweet with a formal order, it would "do untold damage to decades of military justice doctrine," administration officials told the Times.

Background: Gallagher was accused of shooting civilians, murdering an Islamic State fighter in Iraq and threatening to kill the Navy SEALs who reported him, along with other misconduct. The Navy demoted him after he was found guilty of a single charge: bringing discredit to the armed forces by posing for pictures with the teenage captive’s dead body.

Last week, Trump issued full pardons to two Army officials and restored Gallagher's.  All had been accused or convicted of war crimes.

Trump reversed Gallagher's demotion, and suggested on Thursday that he would intervene again in the case, saying the sailor should remain in the unit.

What to watch: As it stands, the Navy intends to proceed with its disciplinary plans.

Trump pardons armed services member accused of war crimes

Where U.S. troops and military assets are deployed in the Middle East

Navy plans to move forward with disciplinary actions against Edward Gallagher

Top military officials have threatened to resign or be fired if President Trump's pardon holds.

Navy Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher walks out of military court with his wife

Navy Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher walks out of military court with his wife. Photo: Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images

Politics

Navy Seals

Former Vice President Joe Biden told CNN on Friday that he's "embarrassed" by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who has ramped up efforts with other GOP senators to make Hunter Biden a focal point of the impeachment proceedings against President Trump, saying Graham will "go down in a way that I think he's going to regret his whole life."

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CNN's Don Lemon: "Let me ask you because Lindsey Graham now, who you've worked with, who was a friend, who I know there's video of him saying you are the nicest person he's ever met. You're the greatest man. And now he's asking the State Department for documents for you and your son. What do you say to Lindsey Graham and folks like him?"

Biden: "They're asking Lindsey Graham, they have him under their thumb right now. They know he knows if he comes out against Trump, he's got a real tough road for re-election, number one. I am disappointed, and quite frankly I'm angered by the fact. He knows me. He knows my son. He knows there's nothing to this.

"Trump is now essentially holding power over him that even the Ukrainians wouldn't yield to. The Ukrainians would not yield to, quote, 'investigate Biden.' There's nothing to investigate about Biden or his son. And Lindsey is about to go down in a way that I think he's going to regret his whole life."

Biden: "I say: 'Lindsey, I just -- I'm just embarrassed by what you're doing, for you. I mean, my Lord.'"

Driving the news: Graham, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday, asking for the department to give the committee documents on the former vice president, his son, other Obama administration officials and former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

Volker calls Ukraine allegations against Biden "self-serving and not credible"

Hunter Biden and the glass floor for children of policitians

Biden says he's "embarrassed" by Lindsey Graham's defense of Trump

In defense of his son, Biden said, "Lindsey is about to go down..."

Joe Biden

2024 will be an election year like no other, as President Biden seeks re-election amid economic uncertainty, two wars and questions about his age. His likely foe, former President Trump, faces felony charges and vows revenge on his political enemies. Meanwhile, Americans generally are dissatisfied with those choices and are divided over immigration, race, education and more.

Politics & Policy

Data: The Center for Responsive Politics via Sinclair Broadcast Group; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios

The debate surrounding antitrust laws and the monopoly power of major tech companies continues to heat up in Congress, even though members of both parties have accepted political donations from, and own stock in, a variety of Big Tech firms.

Why it matters, per Axios' Scott Rosenberg: For years, the biggest tech companies have been donating through PACs to lawmakers of both parties and building extensive lobbying operations in Washington in preparation for this moment. As legislators weigh new regulations, the firms will learn what kind of influence, if any, their investments have earned.

Driving the news: Regulators on both sides are now "beginning to probe whether the biggest tech companies' handling of consumer data represents an unfair form of competition," Axios' Margret Harding McGill writes.

Worth noting: The numbers from OpenSecrets don't represent money directly donated by the companies themselves. Rather, they're the sum totals from the company's PACs, owners, individual employees and their immediate families. The totals may include subsidiaries and affiliates. 

By the numbers: During the 2018 midterm elections, donations from Apple, Google-owner Alphabet Inc., Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft totaled more than $500,000 to candidates on the House Judiciary Committee — with Alphabet Inc. donating the most.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) received the largest amount, totaling $89,400, and she accepted a donation from every Big Tech company listed above.

House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) received a total of $53,708 in donations from Alphabet Inc., Facebook and Microsoft.

Ranking member Doug Collins (R-Ga.) received $21,500 in donations from Microsoft and Alphabet Inc.

Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) received a total of $4,000 from Google.

Key House Judiciary members who own tech stock:

Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.), a ranking member of the antitrust subcommittee, owns $400,000 combined in AT&T, CenturyLink, Comcast, Frontier Communications, Verizon and Vodafone stock, Morning Consult reports.

Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) owns less than $1,000 worth of stock in each of Cisco, IBM, Intel, HP Inc. and Qualcomm.

Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio) owns between $15,000 and $50,000 in stock for both Facebook and Netflix.

Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) owns between $15,000 and $50,000 in AT&T stock, between $1,000 and $15,000 in Charter Communications stock, $50,000 to $100,000 in IBM stock, and in the $100,ooo-to-$250,000 range in Microsoft stock.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) owns between $1,000 to $15,000 worth of stock in Alphabet, Apple, Comcast, Facebook, Intel, Microsoft, Time Warner and Verizon. 

Rep. Lucy McBath (D-Ga.) owns less than $1,000 in AT&T stock. 

Rep. Martha Roby (R-Ala.) owns between $1,000 and $15,000 worth of Alibaba stock and between $15,ooo and $50,000 worth of both Microsoft and Intel.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) doesn't sit on the Judiciary Committee, but she and her husband own at least $8.4 million worth of tech stock, according to Morning Consult.

The bottom line: Donations from tech companies and employees were substantially higher in 2018, a midterm election year, than in 2016, a presidential election year. Companies are likely to donate more during the 2020 elections. 

For example, Apple donated $144,994 to House candidates in 2016, and donated $290,589 to House candidates in 2018.

What's next: The House Judiciary Committee has requested documents from Alphabet, Amazon, Apple and Facebook as part of an antitrust investigation. The committee says it's received some but not all of the requested documents.

Big Tech rehearses monopoly defense before House.

The growing list of U.S. government inquiries into Big Tech

House Judiciary Committee targets Big Tech but welcomes donations

Big Tech's lobbying operations are tested in an area of new scrutiny for Silicon Valley.

Antitrust law

Technology

Tech Regulation

Two illuminating data slices from Wednesday's Democratic debate in Atlanta show that Sen. Elizabeth Warren was not the center of attack despite her frontrunner status, but still spoke the most, according to analysis from Hamilton Place Strategies. 

The state of play: South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg was called out the most by the other candidates for his lack of political experience beyond local government and his struggle to appeal to black voters. Buttigieg is now viewed as a frontrunner in Iowa after his breakout poll in the early voting state.

Number of times a candidate was named-checked by another:

Data: Hamilton Place Strategies. Chart: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios

Warren touched on many of her plans to tackle the issues discussed on stage like student loan debt, voting rights and racial discrimination in housing.

Who has qualified for the December Democratic debate

An issue-by-issue recap of the Democrats' fifth 2020 debate

5 takeaways from the fifth Democratic debate

Dem debate: Pete Buttigieg gets name-checked the most

Sen. Elizabeth Warren was not the subject of attack despite her frontrunner status.

2020 Democratic debates

During a televised meeting at the White House on Friday with special interest groups from the health community, President Trump expressed concern as to whether flavored vaping products would "come here illegally" if his administration banned them.

Why it matters: The meeting comes two months after Trump announced intentions to propose a nationwide ban, which has since stalled. Several reports indicate that some conservative leaders rallied against the ban, arguing the president could lose votes in key states.

Trump compared the ban to 1920s prohibition: “If you don’t give it to them, it’s going to come here illegally. That’s the one problem I can’t seem to forget. You just have to look at the history of it. Now, instead of having a flavor that’s at least safe, they’re going to be having a flavor that’s poison.”

Meeting attendees who argued against the ban pointed to the more than 2,000 reported cases and 47 deaths due to the vaping illness, which have mostly been connected to black market products with THC, rather than nicotine products.

Still, studies show an overwhelming majority of teens are vaping flavored e-cigarettes.

What to watch: Trump re-established his interest in raising the minimum age for e-cigarette purchases to 21.

"Significant increase" in teens vaping menthol or mint flavors

Juul halts sales of mint flavored e-cigarettes

Trump worries ban on flavored vape products could boost illegal sales

“If you don’t give it to them, it’s going to come here illegally," Trump said.

President Donald Trump speaks during a listening session on youth vaping of electronic cigarette on November 22, 2019 in the Cabinet Room

President Trump speaks during a listening session on youth vaping of e-cigarettes. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Health Care

Vaping

The U.S. health system faces critical questions about cost, access and equity. Technological advances and new discoveries about diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s are transforming patient care and reshaping public health.

Health

Driven by fears of spying, the U.S. is taking dramatic steps toward weaning local, state and federal agencies off products made by DJI, the Chinese small-drone giant.

Yes, but: The company's defenders say the moves are motivated as much by hard-line politics toward China as an attempt to head off a genuine security threat.

Driving the news: A House bill introduced last week would bar federal agencies from buying Chinese-made drones and drones with certain Chinese components. There's a companion bill in the Senate.

The bills are driven by a worry that Beijing could harvest valuable data from drones flying sensitive missions for the U.S., their sponsors say.

Last month the Department of the Interior grounded its 800+ drones — all made in China or with Chinese parts — pending review of their data security.

The U.S. takes aim at Chinese drones

The moves seem motivated by politics in addition to security.

Axios

Saturday's top stories