Axios

Israeli police landed the most damaging blow yet on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Sunday, after two years of investigations, recommending he and his wife be charged in a third corruption case.

Why it matters: These allegations are by far the most serious Netanyahu faces. The man who has dominated Israeli politics for a decade is now waging a battle for political survival.

In a follow-up to his tweets criticizing Michael Cohen for pleading guilty in the Mueller investigation, President Trump praised former campaign adviser Roger Stone Monday morning for refusing to testify against him.

“I will never testify against Trump.” This statement was recently made by Roger Stone, essentially stating that he will not be forced by a rogue and out of control prosecutor to make up lies and stories about “President Trump.” Nice to know that some people still have “guts!”

The backdrop: On ABC's This Week yesterday, Stone said, "There’s no circumstance under which I would testify against the president because I’d have to bear false witness against him. I’d have to make things up. And I’m not going to do that." Stone is under scrutiny for suspicions that he acted as an intermediary between the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks, allegations that he denies.

President Trump attacked Michael Cohen on Twitter Monday morning, again claiming his former personal attorney lied in his guilty plea to special counsel Robert Mueller and that he should serve a "complete sentence" for his crimes.

“Michael Cohen asks judge for no Prison Time.” You mean he can do all of the TERRIBLE, unrelated to Trump, things having to do with fraud, big loans, Taxis, etc., and not serve a long prison term? He makes up stories to get a GREAT & ALREADY reduced deal for himself, and get his wife and father-in-law (who has the money?) off Scott Free. He lied for this outcome and should, in my opinion, serve a full and complete sentence.

Reality check: The crimes Cohen pled guilty to were not "unrelated to Trump," as the president claims. Cohen's first guilty plea, which he submitted in August in the Southern District of New York, implicated Trump in a possible violation of campaign finance laws. Cohen's guilty plea last week, meanwhile, directly named Trump and his business dealings in Russia as a matter of central interest in the special counsel's investigation.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Brussels on Monday. The meeting, which was announced by the Israeli side only this morning, will deal with Iranian activity in Syria and Lebanon, according to Israeli officials.

Why it matters: The timing and the venue of this meeting are a bit out of the ordinary. Israeli officials told me the venue was chosen because it was the "in the middle of the way" between Washington and Jerusalem, adding the meeting was originally planned to take place on Wednesday in Milan but the time and place have changed because of President George H.W. Bush's funeral. The State Department did not announce the meeting with Netanyahu in advance and did not release Pompeo's daily schedule on its website — and its statement on Pompeo's trip to Brussels released this morning doesn't mention the meeting with Netanyahu.

In a series of Monday morning tweets, President Trump said his "strong and personal relationship" with Chinese President Xi Jinping will help bring about "massive and very positive change" on issues like trade, North Korea and — together with Vladimir Putin — the global arms race.

"President Xi and I have a very strong and personal relationship. He and I are the only two people that can bring about massive and very positive change, on trade and far beyond, between our two great Nations. A solution for North Korea is a great thing for China and ALL! I am certain that, at some time in the future, President Xi and I, together with President Putin of Russia, will start talking about a meaningful halt to what has become a major and uncontrollable Arms Race. The U.S. spent 716 Billion Dollars this year. Crazy!"

The big picture: Trump's tweets come on the heels of a G20 dinner with Xi that yielded a 90-day ceasefire in the U.S.-China trade war. While the temporary truce has major implications for the world economy, Trump is also betting that a warmer personal relationship with Xi will be useful for confronting diplomatic issues — an opinion he has often voiced with respect to Putin and Russia as well.

In most countries, the government claims to be doing what's in the economic best interest of its citizens. In general, this helps the cause of capitalism. Now, the oldest democracy in the world is taking the opposite route.

What's happening: This week saw the release of three separate worrisome official reports on the economic consequences of Brexit.

Keir Starmer, the U.K. Labour Party's Brexit spokesman, said it would be "inevitable" that the opposition party would move for a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Theresa May if a vote in Parliament on her Brexit deal fails later this month, per the AP.

Details: Both May and top European Union officials have presented her deal as the only possible option, meaning that the United Kingdom would face the possibility of a "no-deal" Brexit should the vote fail, which May's own chief economic minister said last week would involve dire economic consequences.

Go deeper: Theresa May fights for her Brexit deal, and her political future

On Sunday, the Israeli police recommended that the country's attorney general indict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara Netanyahu for alleged bribery due to their relationship with Israel's leading telecommunication tycoon.

Why it matters: This is a very big deal. Case 4000, as it is widely known, is the third time in the last year the police recommended Netanyahu be indicted for bribery. The previous recommendations dealt with Netanyahu allegedly taking "gifts" worth $200,000 from businessmen in return for allegedly promoting their interests (Case 1000) and an alleged bribe deal between Netanyahu and Arnon Mozes, the publisher of Israel's largest newspaper (Case 2000). But the allegations in Case 4000 are the gravest of all the corruption investigations against Netanyahu.