Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters Wednesday it is his "solid assessment" that the U.S. embassy would move to Jerusalem at some point this year, which is much sooner than the Trump administration indicated the move would happen, the AP reports. Netanyahu spoke with reporters while traveling through India.
State Department press secretary Heather Nauert to Axios: "The U.S. government is currently assessing the suitability of various Jerusalem sites for a future embassy. For now, we have no updates” on the timeline.
President Trump tells Reuters that Russia is "not helping us at all with North Korea," and that the Russian actions are "denting" progress China is making. He also said North Korea is getting "closer every day" to getting a missile that can hit the U.S.
Putin "can do a lot," Trump said, "but unfortunately we don't have much of a relationship with Russia, and in some cases it's probable that what China takes back, Russia gives. So the net result is not as good as it could be."
Context: U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called out both Russia and China for helping North Korea today in Vancouver at a meeting to discuss nuclear security and North Korea, and European countries told Reuters earlier this month that Russian tankers have been helping supply fuel to North Korea in violation of international sanctions. China is suspected to have been supplying the North with fuel in recent months as well.
Steve Bannon, who was inside the White House when FBI Director James Comey was fired and has strong opinions about what happened, "intends to fully cooperate with Mueller,"according to a source familiar with Bannon's thinking. The Daily Beast’s Betsy Woodruff scooped Bannon’s legal strategy last night.
The source said that the White House has placed zero restrictions on Bannon talking to special counsel Bob Mueller: "He can say whatever the hell he wants to say to him about whatever topic that he wants."
An ex-CIA agent has been arrested under suspicions that he helped the Chinese government find CIA informants operating in China, the New York Times' Adam Goldman reports, citing the Justice Department. Many of the identified informants were killed in "a systematic dismantling" of the CIA's network in China that began in 2010.
The Trump administration has decided to continue freezing $65 million of the annual funding it gives the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which provides aid to Palestinian refugees — but it will release $60 million to the organization for "urgent humanitarian needs," U.S. officials say.
Between the lines: The decision was a compromise.Axios reported earlier this month that the Trump administration froze $125 million of the annual funding to UNRWA, which was supposed to be transferred to the organization by Jan. 1, in retaliation for Palestinian protests against President Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
U.S. special envoy for Middle East peace Jason Greenblatt will arrive tomorrow in Israel for meeting with senior diplomats from Russia, the E.U. and the U.N. – who together with the U.S. form the "Quartet". Western diplomats say the meeting is going to deal among other issues with the crisis in the peace process and the Trump administration efforts to draft a peace plan.
Details: Greenblatt will arrive in Israel on the backdrop of the ongoing crisis between the U.S. and the Palestinians which started after President Trump's Jerusalem announcement and a few days after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas gave a belligerent anti-Trump speech.
Since New Year’s Eve, Russian bases in Syria have been attacked several times by swarms of armed drones that aren’t visible on radar, the WSJ reports. The greatest attack on Russia’s headquarters in the region comes as Russia is working out a drawback of troops, per The Washington Post.
Why it matters: The attacks suggest Russia’s gains in the region might just be temporary since they show that its presence can still be penetrated despite the fact that Putin has declared victory over enemies, WaPo’s Liz Sly reports.
H.R. McMaster was in San Francisco on Saturday and Sunday for secret meetings about North Korea. He met with Shotaro Yachi, the director of the Japanese national security council, along with the South Koreans.
Why this matters: The group agreed that resumed communications by the North Koreans are diversions and don’t have any effect on its determined pursuit of nuclear weapons. The group agreed they need to put more unified pressure on the north.
Putin is set to easily win another six-year term and has already collected the necessary 300,000 signatures to be listed on the ballot in two months, raking up just more than 700,000, per TASS.
He faces no real competition after Russian election officials last month barred his opponent, Alexei Navalny, from running due to a fraud conviction. Putin critics view court cases against Navalny as a way to keep him from legitimately threatening Putin's power.
