Special counsel Robert Mueller revealed Tuesday that in January 2017, Paul Manafort allegedly told his deputy Rick Gates that he was "using intermediaries, including [redacted] to get people appointed in the Administration."
The big picture: The detail is included in a heavily redacted new court filing that outlines the alleged lies Manafort told investigators that caused him to breach his plea deal. Mueller alleges Manafort lied when he said he had "no direct or indirect communications with anyone in the Administration" and about his interactions with Konstantin Kilimnik — a suspected Russian intelligence operative who has emerged as a key figure in the Mueller investigation.
U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal was defeated on Tuesday in the House of Commons — a vote she described earlier as "the most significant" in recent British political history — by a historic 202 to 432 margin, the biggest defeat for a reigning government in more than a century.
Why it matters: No one is really sure what happens next. The U.K. is currently set to leave the EU on March 29, a step with economic and political reverberations that will last for generations, but it's not at all clear what that exit will look like — or if it will ultimately happen on time or at all.
Special counsel Robert Mueller has asked a federal judge to delay the sentencing of Rick Gates, citing the former Trump campaign associate's cooperation in "several ongoing investigations."
Why it matters: Gates served as deputy to former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, before pleading guilty to charges that included conspiracy against the United States in February 2018. Gates remained Trump's deputy campaign manager after Manafort was fired, and later he went on to help lead President Trump's inaugural committee. Unlike Manafort, Gates has preserved his plea agreement with the special counsel.
Canada issued an update to its travel advisory for China on Monday warning Canadians to exercise a "high degree of caution" due to "the risk of arbitrary enforcement of local laws."
Driving the news: China sentenced a Canadian citizen to death on Monday over drug trafficking charges in what appears to be retaliation against Canada’s detention of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou. The U.S. has also issued a travel warning to American citizens traveling to China, advising them to "exercise increased caution" due to "arbitrary enforcement of local laws."
China today significantly escalated the stakes in its brinkmanship with the U.S., sentencing a Canadian man to death in a case rooted in an unrelated extradition request from the United States. The move is another sign of a global shift to tough-guy politics.
The sentence againstRobert Schellenberg, a Canadian, appears to be retribution for Canada's jailing of a senior Chinese executive on a U.S. warrant for allegedly violating sanctions against Iran.Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei and daughter of the company's founder, is out on bail awaiting possible extradition to the U.S.
HBO Films has a fast-turnaround Brexit movie, debuting Saturday at 9 pm (in partnership with BBC Studios, Channel 4 and House Productions) just days after Parliament decides the future of Prime Minister Theresa May's deal.
The backdrop: "The film [portrays] the outsized characters of Nigel Farage, David Cameron, and Boris Johnson as they attempt to convince Britons to leave or remain in the EU in what resulted in one of the most consequential elections in modern history."
The British pound rallied going into the weekend, rising to its highest level against the dollar since Nov. 22.
Between the lines: That's odd considering the spate of bad news for British Prime Minister Theresa May's one and only Brexit deal. It seems, however, that the market is not pricing a better Brexit agreement, but no Brexit at all, says Bannockburn Global Forex Chief Market Strategist Marc Chandler.
China posted its largest trade surplus with the U.S. on record in 2018, the country's government data showed Sunday. The trade surplus was nearly $50 billion greater than 2017, with exports rising by 11.3%.
Why it matters: President Trump has made cutting the trade deficit with China a top administration priority, however it has widened significantly since he became president.
The Chinese government has detained more than 1 million Uyghur Muslims in re-education camps. Beijing has put Uyghur children into dozens of orphanages while their parents are incarcerated for their faith and culture. It's one of the world's most shamefully overlooked atrocities, and some members of Congress plan to step up efforts to pressure the administration to hold China accountable.
What we're hearing: Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez and Republican Sen. Marco Rubio plan to introduce this week the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act, according to sources with direct knowledge. (They introduced a similar version of the bill late in the last Congress but didn't have time to get it onto the Senate floor.)
