House Intelligence Committee Democrats, led by Rep. Adam Schiff, released their own status report on the committee's findings in the Russia investigation. The report highlights a partial list of key witnesses that the Committee has yet to contact or interview. The Dems announced that they plan to issue a full report detailing their findings soon.
Why it matters: The report adds that Republicans on the committee "refused to interview" key witnesses including Reince Priebus, Stephen Miller and Sean Spicer. Republicans announced on Monday that they found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Representatives from more than 20 countries and international organizations met today for more than six hours at the White House and discussed the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The participants included Israel and six Arab countries, the majority of which have no diplomatic relations with Israel.
Senior U.S. officials said all the participants agreed that the humanitarian and economic crisis in Gaza requires immediate action from the international community. They added that, "fixing Gaza is critical for any future peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians".
Appearing in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday, four star U.S. Army General Joseph Votel said it would not be "too strong of a statement" to say Bashar al-Assad has "won" the Syrian civil war with the help of Russian and Iranian forces, reports Reuters.
Why it matters: Assad's government has slaughtered thousands of civilians in an attempt to keep his hold on power. He now has the upper hand on the battlefield. When asked if it was still an element of the U.S. mission to remove Assad from power, Votel said, "I don’t know that that’s our particular policy at this particular point. Our focus remains on the defeat of ISIS.”
President Trump told Prime Minister Theresa May in a call this afternoon that the U.S. would be with the U.K. "all the way" over the poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal with a Russian-manufactured nerve agent on U.K. soil, according to Downing Street's readout of the call.
The White House said that Trump agreed that Russia "must provide unambiguous answers" and said that Trump and May are united in calling for "the need for consequences for those who use these heinous weapons."
The backdrop: Trump hedged this morning, saying he wanted to wait to get the "facts straight" before condemning "Russia — or whoever it may be."
Tuesday's White House meeting on the Gaza crisis included Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, UAE, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain. The Palestinian Authority decided not to attend.
Why it matters: It's rare for representatives from Israel and Arab countries like Saudi Arabia to come together in the same room.
Special envoy Jason Greenblatt said in his opening remarks: "We regret that the Palestinian Authority is not here with us today. This is not about politics. This is about the health, safety and happiness of the people of Gaza, and of all Palestinians, Israelis and Egyptians."
He added, "Today's terrible attack on the convoy of Prime Minister Hamdallah demonstrates there will always be real risks associated with this endeavor. But the risks justify the potential benefits."
The poisoning of ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal in the United Kingdom represents an alarming new attack in Russia’s unconventional war on the West. Skripal’s poisoning follows the mysterious death in December 2016 of another former spy, Oleg Erovinkin, in Moscow, who was later reported to have been a source for the Trump "dossier."
Between the lines: The Kremlin used the nerve agent Novichok as a calling card to signal that it can act with impunity and to scare off anyone contemplating disclosure of sensitive information about Russia's "active measures" against the West.
It has been nine days since ex-spy Sergei Skripal was poisoned with a nerve agent in the English town of Salisbury, and over 24 hours since U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May demanded that Russia explain how a Russian-manufactured nerve agent came to be used in an attempted murder on British soil. She has said that — absent a "credible response" from Russia by Wednesday — her government will conclude Russia carried out "an unlawful use of force against the United Kingdom" and respond accordingly.
What's next: Russia says it will ignore May's demands unless the U.K. provides a sample of the nerve agent used. Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group, tells Axios this attack will stiffen European spines on sanctions against Russia and could lead to a British boycott of the 2018 World Cup.
Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for Russia's Foreign Ministry, says no British media outlet will be permitted to work in Russia if the U.K. decides to shut down state-run network RT's broadcasts, per RT.
The countdown: Prime Minister Theresa May has given Russia until midnight tonight to explain the use of a Russian-manufactured nerve agent on British soil against ex-spy Sergei Skripal. If Russia fails to provide an answer to the U.K.'s satisfaction, May promised "extensive" measures in response — and didn't rule out punitive measures against RT in a speech to the House of Commons yesterday.
Nikolai Glushkov, a Russian businessman who has been living in exile in the U.K., was found dead in his home late Monday night, the Guardian reports. The circumstances of his death are not immediately clear.
Why it matters: Glushkov is an ally of Boris Berezovsky, the late oligarch who was Putin's top foe in the West until his death in 2013. The fact that Glushkov's death comes so soon after the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, and with the U.K. threatening a response, has intensified the scrutiny surrounding it.
Why it matters: Ousted Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and President Trump disagreed on virtually every question of foreign policy. But as Trump told reporters at the White House this morning, he and Pompeo "are almost always on the same wavelength," indicating that the State Department will likely take a more hard-line approach to foreign policy under his leadership.
After U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May said her government had concluded it is "highly likely" that the Kremlin was behind the nerve agent attack on ex-Russia spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, President Trump said he'll condemn Russia if he agrees with the U.K.'s findings after reviewing them.
The backdrop: Rex Tillerson got out ahead of the White House, saying last night that Russia was "clearly" responsible, after Press Secretary Sarah Sanders declined to point the finger. Now Tillerson is out, and Trump is backing off that position, though he did suggest that he'd be inclined to believe the U.K. assessment.
Political operative Roger Stone, an informal adviser to the Trump campaign, told two of his associates in 2016 that he'd been in touch with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, per the Washington Post. An anonymous Stone associate cited in the report — the other is Sam Nunberg — claimed that Stone discussed hacked emails from the DNC and Hillary Clinton campaign chair John Podesta in Assange's possession in the spring of 2016.
Why it matters: If the claims about Stone are true, he would have known about the hacked DNC and Podesta emails — which the U.S. intelligence community determined came via a Russian hack — months before their eventual release by WikiLeaks later in the summer and fall of 2016.
Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah survived an assassination attempt against him this morning as he was entering the Gaza strip to participate in an opening ceremony for a water treatment facility funded by the World Bank. According to Palestinian officials, a roadside bomb exploded near one of the SUVs in Hamdallah's motorcade.
The big picture: The assassination attempt took place hours before a special meeting on Gaza planned to take place today at the White House with the participation of several international donors to the Palestinians. Senior adviser Jared Kushner and special envoy Jason Greenblatt are supposed to present U.S. proposals for dealing with the humanitarian crisis in Gaza at the meeting. The Palestinian Authority said a few days ago it will not attend due to President Trump's decision to move the United States' embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
