"Anybody who gets close to this investigation loses their job or ends up in a difficult position," Warner said Sen. John McCain called reports that President Donald Trump asked top intelligence officials to publicly deny evidence of cooperation between his campaign and Russia “troubling” Tuesday, comparing the allegations to the plot of a “lousy movie.” Related article Senate intel: 2 new subpoenas related to Flynn In an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash at the Peterson Fiscal Summit, the Arizona senator stressed he doesn’t want to leap to conclusions. But he did note that he considers Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, one of the officials to whom Trump reportedly made the request, to be “a very straightforward individual.” McCain was speaking just before Coats appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee, which he chairs. He noted that the new report is only the latest revelation in what has now been more than a week of bombshell news related to the investigation into the Trump campaign and Russia. Related article Calculating or naive? Trump caught in cloud of Russia probe revelations McCain compared the compounding new reports to a “centipede” – as in, many shoes continue to fall amid the steady drumbeat of developments – and said the constant influx of news has “absorbed the attention” and distracted from the very important national security issues facing the United States. The 2008 GOP presidential nominee said he respected Flynn’s right to plead the Fifth Amendment in response to the Senate investigation. He also offered some advice to Trump, outlining two “templates” that the investigation could follow: Watergate or the probe into Iran-Contra, a scandal for which President Ronald Reagan expressed contrition. “Get it all out and, if necessary, apologize. Americans are very forgiving,” McCain said. “We don’t expect perfect people and we’re a very forgiving nation.”


Voters in Austria are casting their ballots in a snap election that could put young conservative Sebastian Kurz at the helm of the nation in a coalition with the country’s far right. The Sunday vote is being widely watched across Europe, where populist far-right parties are on the rise and are shifting political landscapes. Here’s what you need to know. Kurz, 31, is Austria’s foreign minister and has led the conservative People’s Party (OVP) since May. He is expected to become the new Chancellor – and the country’s youngest-ever leader. But that isn’t an absolute given. Should his party win the most seats, Kurz is likely to depend on forming an alliance, and the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) is most likely to find itself in the position of kingmaker. Unlike Germany’s far-right AfD party – which won its first seats in the Bundestag in the federal elections there last month – the FPO has a long history in Austria’s Parliament and was part of a coalition government between 2000 and 2005. Kurz’s People’s Party had been in a ruling coalition with Chancellor Christian Kern’s Social Democrats (SPO), but that partnership collapsed in May. Kurz called the snap election after the OVP’s former leader and Austria’s vice-chancellor, Reinhold Mitterlehner, resigned from both posts, saying the government was riven by infighting. Polls predict heavy losses for Kern’s party and gains for Kurz. The FPO is headed up by Heinz Christian-Strache, who has called for “minus migration” and a ban on “fascistic Islam.” Yes – Austrians went to the polls three times in 2016 to elect a new president. The first round of voting in April narrowed the field to two candidates, but the first attempt at the second round was annulled after the losing candidate – the Freedom Party’s Norbert Hofer – challenged the close result. A rerun in December ended with the same result – and a larger majority for Hofer’s left-wing rival, Alexander Van der Bellen, who described his win as a victory for “freedom, equality and solidarity.” But with almost half of the electorate casting their vote for a far-right, anti-immigration candidate less than a year ago, all eyes will be on the Freedom Party’s performance in a parliamentary election in which 16 parties are fighting for seats. Around 6.4 million Austrians are eligible to vote. Their ballots will decide the 183 members of the Austrian National Council (or “Nationalrat”), the largest and most important of the country’s two assembly chambers. The SPO is currently the largest party with 52 seats, while the OVP has 47 and the FPO 40. Immigration has dominated the campaign. Kurz has taken a hard line, calling for limits on the number of refugees entering Europe and benefits cuts for EU migrants living in Austria. His stint as Foreign Minister suggests his tough stance is not just rhetoric designed to entice voters away from the anti-immigrant Freedom Party. In 2016, Kurz spearheaded a border crackdown across the Balkans designed to stem the flow of migrants, and this year he proposed plans to seal off the Mediterranean route to Europe. With migration dominating the campaign, the social issues at the heart of the SPO platform – including wealth redistribution and fighting unemployment – have been largely ignored. Unlike elsewhere in Europe, though, the presence of a strong far-right party has not propelled the European Union up the agenda. Most Austrians support the country’s continued membership of the bloc, and even the Freedom Party is calling for EU reforms rather than withdrawal. The biggest impact of an OVP/FPO coalition would probably be felt by those people seeking new lives in Europe. Related article Europe's migrant crisis isn't going away, but it is changing A right-wing government led by Kurz would likely curtail the rights of migrants and refugees already in Austria and make it more difficult for others to enter. And although Austria is unlikely to leave the EU, the nationalist tendencies of Kurz and Christian-Strache could pose challenges to the notion of a liberal, centralized European Union defined by solidarity and cooperation, as championed by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. An OVP/FPO coalition would instead provide a boost for right-wing populists across the bloc, particularly in Hungary and Poland, who are part of the Visegrad Group, an alliance of nations that oppose immigration and want a more decentralized EU. Christian-Strache recently said he would like Austria to join the group, according to Reuters reports. That outcome would be more bad news for European social democracy in a year that has already seen support for center-left parties plummet in national elections in France and Germany.


Pete Souza was Obama's official chief White House photographer He's posted images subtly knocking Trump on Instagram this week UPDATE: Since we first posted this story, former President Barack Obama’s chief photographer, Pete Souza, the man who documented almost every impactful moment of the Obama presidency, continues to post images to his Instagram account, and its 738,000 followers, in response to President Donald Trump’s actions and policies. A silent, social media, shade-throwing protest told in visuals from the millions of images in Souza’s archive, the photos appear to be Souza’s expression of opposition to the recent moves of the Trump administration. In the past few days, as the world processed Trump’s temporary ban on new refugees to the US, Souza has posted on his Instagram account pictures of refugees, from a project he shot in Kosovo: Instagram post not found. Post has been removed or is no longer public. On Thursday, headlines about Trump’s confrontational phone call with Australian leader Malcolm Turnbull continued to swirl on Thursday, Souza chose to put up a photo of a laughing Obama, being chummy with New Zealand’s Prime Minister John Key, and Turnbull at last September’s ASEAN Summit. Instagram post not found. Post has been removed or is no longer public. And today, while the cover of German weekly magazine, Der Spiegel, showcased an illustration of Trump holding the decapitated head of the Statue of Liberty, Souza went with a shot of Obama and Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, having a private conversation at the 2015 G7 Summit. Instagram post not found. Post has been removed or is no longer public. Original post: President Barack Obama’s former White House photographer is taking to Instagram to show frustration with the new administration. Pete Souza was responsible for documenting the Obama administration, capturing images of the official duties of the West Wing and more personal, intimate peeks into White House life, snaps he often shared on Flickr and Instagram. Related video Behind the scenes with Obama After eight years capturing Obama’s every move, Souza is taking some time off – his new Instagram account biography reading: “TBD.” But he’s taken to the visual platform in the last few days, posting a series of photos subtly knocking President Donald Trump. As the chaotic roll out of the President’s executive order on immigration captured headlines and spurred protests over the weekend, Souza posted a photo of Obama and a young refugee in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2015: Instagram post not found. Post has been removed or is no longer public. On Monday, he posted an image of Obama in the Oval Office with Alex, the 6-year-old boy who wrote to the former president about the Syrian boy photographed in the ambulance. “Remember Alex,” he wrote. Instagram post not found. Post has been removed or is no longer public. He shared an image of the former president in the East Room during a military naturalization ceremony for active-duty service members: Instagram post not found. Post has been removed or is no longer public. As Trump prepared to unveil his Supreme Court nominee Tuesday, Souza posted a photo of Obama with his own Supreme Court nominee who never received a vote. “Merrick Garland. Just saying,” he simply wrote. Instagram post not found. Post has been removed or is no longer public. He also posted a photo of the former president drinking tequila with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, who cancelled his meeting with Trump last week. Instagram post not found. Post has been removed or is no longer public. Souza got his start in West Wing photography as official White House photographer for President Ronald Reagan, spent part of his career teaching photojournalism and shooting for the Chicago Tribune and National Geographic. “I have always looked at this job as documenting for history. It was never about politics. Although my political leanings are Democratic, I still felt it was important to photograph President Reagan with dignity and respect,” he recently posted, alongside an image of Obama and Nancy Reagan. While it’s unusual for former presidents to weigh in on current events so soon after leaving office, Souza’s former subject has also spoken up. Obama, who was spotted by TMZ sporting a backwards cap in the British Virgin Islands on Tuesday, weighed in on Trump’s executive action through spokesman Kevin Lewis over the weekend, saying he was “heartened by the level of engagement taking place in communities around the country.” Souza most recently posted a photo of Obama alongside a young boy at an elementary school with a stethoscope. Instagram post not found. Post has been removed or is no longer public. “Take a deep breath,” he wrote.


Celebrated New York hotel closes February 28 A huge renovation project will see some rooms turned into luxury condos New York’s legendary Waldorf Astoria hotel has hosted kings, queens, presidents and movie stars – but for the next three years, not even royalty will be able to reserve a room here. The 86-year-old hotel, bought by China’s Ambang Insurance Group in 2014 for $1.95 billion, closed its doors on February 28, 2017 for a major renovation project that will reportedly see many of its 1,400 rooms turned into apartments. While the art deco landmark’s rooms might be off limits for now, the expertise of its longest-serving bellman, Jalali “Jim E.” Elidrissi, isn’t. Elidrissi, whose destiny has been linked to the Waldorf Astoria since 1966, retired in January after 51 years of greeting guests. To mark the end of an era, he shared with CNN some of the things he’s learned since arriving in New York from Morocco, barely out of his teens. “If you came into the lobby I would greet you, I would check you in, take your luggage to the room, make sure you’re all right, tell you what restaurants we have in the hotel, about New York City,” the 71-year-old says over the phone from his home – aptly enough – in Astoria, Queens. He says that when he joined Hilton’s training program, he was one of only 12 Moroccans in New York City. At a time before concierge services were introduced, his knowledge of French and Arabic proved useful and it was the start of a long and colorful career. MORE: Top tips from the Waldorf Astoria’s concierge His favorite part of the job? “I get to meet so many dignitaries,” he recalls. “The Duke of Windsor and Mrs Simpson, they lived on the 42nd floor, the Royal Suite 42R.” And when Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip stayed at Waldorf Towers, in 1976, the young queen passed through crowds of well-wishers on Park Avenue before popping in to do some shopping in Bloomingdale’s. “Frank Sinatra lived on the 25th floor,” Elidrissi adds. “He was married to Mia Farrow. Later he moved up to the 33rd floor to Cole Porter’s suite.” When John Lennon turned up, with his “beautiful big blond bushy hair,” Elidrissi escorted him to his table in the Grand Ballroom, and found himself in the newspapers the next day, pictured alongside the Liverpudlian rock star. He also assisted entertainers appearing at the Waldorf Astoria’s Empire Club, which attracted A-listers including Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis Jr. and Shirley Bassey. His favorite celebrity encounter, however, is with Ronald Reagan, who he met twice – before and after winning the 1980 US presidential election. The president sent Elidrissi a signed photograph after his inauguration and when he next turned up at the hotel, “he looked at me and said, “Jim, you still here?” His favorite room is “the Presidential Suite. Every president stayed there.” Although with the hotel closing for three years so soon after President Donald Trump comes into office, the hotel magnate might prefer to stay at nearby Trump Towers. Eldrissi’s other favorite is “historic” 35H. This is where Pope Paul VI met with President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965, during the first visit by a pope to the United States. So with more than five decades of experience at the front line of world-class customer service, what are Elidrissi’s tips for success? “I have a very good memory,” he says. Greeting returning guests and remembering their preferences is key. Now “there’s computers and all that stuff,” but “the personal touch” still matters. He recalls one couple who didn’t like heights, so he always found them rooms on the lower floors. “Stuff like that, that’s how I lasted all those years.” MORE: Inside Shanghai’s first ‘seven-star’ hotel And to make sure that his neighborhood knowledge didn’t get stale through spending all his time inside the hotel itself, “I walk, I walk a lot.” His preferred walk is from Columbus Circle down to Greenwich Village. “It’s a long walk. Why’d I do that? To see what’s new.” Adjusting to retired life was a shock after 51 years in the same job. “I cried like crazy,” he admits, but he’s keeping himself just as busy post-retirement. Aside from vacation plans to Morocco, Miami, the UK and Ireland, he’s advising the hotel’s designers on the restoration plans, due to his unique knowledge of how the Waldorf Astoria looked in its prime. “I walked around with them. They’re going to try to bring back the hotel the way it was and the lobby and the ballrooms and so on.” MORE: 20 of America’s most beautiful hotels Elidrissi is also working on a book, which will be a memoir of 51 years on the front line of world-class customer service. Digging out those memories makes him feel like “I’m still there,” he laughs, “but I’m not there.”


Iran's elite Quds Force is training, advising and supporting Iraqi Shia militias in their fight against ISIS. Iranian officials say they would like better cooperation with the U.S., but say trust between the nations is lacking The Basij is a militia made up of fighters loyal to Iran’s religious leaders; their mission is to protect the country’s Islamic order. To do that, they will go to any lengths necessary, including – they say – taking on ISIS. “We all are prepared to go and destroy ISIS totally,” one Basij commander told CNN. “If our Imam, our Supreme Leader orders us, we will destroy ISIS.” The commander says that, so far, the Basij has not been caught up in the fight against the feared Islamic extremists currently waging war in parts of Iraq and Syria. But Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force, led by General Qassem Suleimani, is already training, advising and supporting Iraqi Shia militias in their fight against ISIS. Suleimani was accused of involvement in the Shia insurgency against U.S. forces during the Iraq war. Today he is a celebrity to many Iraqis and Iranians. Related video Confidence and optimism brimming in Iran That is symbolic of the gulf that still exists between Iran and the U.S., regardless of any thaw in relations in the wake of the recent agreement on a framework nuclear deal and ongoing talks. Iran, militias’ involvement in ISIS fight a mixed blessing Iranian officials, who believe their strategy is making a difference in the fight against ISIS, say they would like better cooperation with the U.S., but point out that the level of trust simply isn’t there. “At the moment, we consider the United States to be a threat to us because its policies and actions are threatening to us,” said General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan, commander of Iran’s ground forces. “We would like the US to change its rhetoric and tone of voice so that our nation could have more trust in U.S. military leadership.” And the feeling is mutual: the U.S., which is leading the air campaign against ISIS in Iraq, has denied any direct coordination with Iran. Iran will do what it takes to fight ISIS Iranians believe air strikes against ISIS are not effective, and feel that the U.S. and its allies are not trying seriously enough to defeat the group. Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour last September that “the aerial bombardment campaign is mostly … a form of theater, rather than a serious battle against terrorism.” “The battle in Iraq is very important to Iran,” explained Mohammed Marandi, a professor at Tehran University. “The Iranians believe that the Americans, if they wanted to, could do a lot more to put pressure on their allies. And also, if they were serious about air strikes, they could do a lot more.” Related video Iran professor: Saudis fighting on same side as al Qaeda It’s a point the U.S., of course, disagrees with – U.S. President Barack Obama has vowed to “degrade and ultimately defeat” the terror group. But Iran remains unconvinced. “If they want to destroy ISIS, it is possible for them to achieve that,” said Major-General Hassan Firouzabadi, Iran’s chief of general staff. “The U.S. military and intelligence organizations have many ways to strike at ISIS, but we have not seen anything so far except intelligence gathering from the U.S. and Britain,” he said. “We hope that one day, because of their national interests and the will of their nations, the U.S. and the UK will decide to really fight ISIS.” In ISIS, Iran and the U.S. share a common enemy, but – for now at least – no apparent common strategy.Will Iran-Saudi proxy war erupt?


Sweden has accepted around 200,000 recent migrants, she said "We've got to keep our country safe," Trump said A former US ambassador to Sweden said Monday that the country was perfectly safe even though it had accepted a large number of refugees from Syria, refuting concerns raised by President Donald Trump during a rally Saturday. “The crime rate has not skyrocketed,” Azita Raji told CNN’s Chris Cuomo on “New Day,” citing data showing a weak correlation between terrorism and the migrations. Trump’s reference to the Scandinavian nation, known for liberally accepting Syrian refugees, originally occurred during a campaign-style rally in Florida Saturday. “We’ve got to keep our country safe,” he said. “You look at what’s happening in Germany. You look at what’s happening last night in Sweden. Sweden, who would believe this? Sweden. They took in large numbers. They’re having problems like they never thought possible. You look at what’s happening in Brussels. You look at what’s happening all over the world. Take a look at Nice. Take a look at Paris.” Related article Trump's Sweden comment raises questions The comments appeared to refer to recent terror attacks in Germany and elsewhere, but no such attack has occurred in Sweden. The President clarified his remarks Sunday, posting on Twitter that his statement “was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden.” My statement as to what's happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters just prior to Trump’s tweet that he was “talking about rising crime and recent incidents in general and not referring to a specific incident.” “I think that when we talk about these immigration patterns we need to use the facts that are available. There’s absolutely no data to support that,” Raji said of the Trump administration claims. Sweden has a population of about 10 million people and has accepted around 200,000 recent migrants, she said. “Based on that we should be reporting terrorist attacks in Sweden every week. You (saw) no such thing last year,” Raji said. Give the public a break - The FAKE NEWS media is trying to say that large scale immigration in Sweden is working out just beautifully. NOT! Trump tweeted Monday: “Give the public a break - The FAKE NEWS media is trying to say that large scale immigration in Sweden is working out just beautifully. NOT!” CNN’s Eric Bradner contributed to this report.


National Aviation Day is August 19 Hawaiian Airlines names A330s after star constellations Virgin America launched the first plane named after a hashtag That plane you’re sitting on isn’t an anonymous hunk of metal. It has a name, thank you very much. It’s named after a saint, or a star, or perhaps its city of birth. It might be named after a hashtag or a funny pun. Not all airlines name their aircraft, but those that do take the business (mostly) very seriously. “In Hawaiian culture, the naming of a person, place or thing plays a significant role in defining its ‘being’ and giving it a spirit,” explains Debbie Nakanelua-Richards, director of community relations at Hawaiian Airlines, which over the years has named its planes after constellations, native flowers and birds and, on one occasion, a Hawaiian sumo wrestler. Most recently, the airline’s A330s were named after star constellations used by Polynesian sailors (its first widebody A330 is called Makali’I, the Hawaiian name for the Pleiades cluster of stars). “I was so taken by the idea of growth for our airline, and the idea that we were at the forefront of our next generation, I couldn’t help but think about the universe,” recalls Nakanelua-Richards, who had a hand in the A330 naming process. The protocol for naming planes varies. Sometimes it’s done by an individual, other times by a group. “We had an employee with an extensive background in birdwatching that was very helpful when we were naming our first B717 aircraft,” she says. Daniel Saadon, vice president and general manager at El Al – Israel’s national carrier – says names act as a vital link between the company and the country it represents. “El Al is very much connected to the land of Israel, so we found it nice to name our planes after the cities in Israel, just to show a connection to the people,” he explains. Popular names for planes have included: Jerusalem, Sderot (a city close to the border of Gaza), and Rehovot (the birthplace of Chaim Weizmann, the first president of Israel). Whenever the airline chooses a new place to honor on a plane, there’s an unveiling ceremony in the corresponding city. The naming procedure is done by committee at El Al, which will probably meet up again soon, as the airline recently purchased 15 new planes. The question is, are there enough Israeli cities to meet the needs? “We are a small country, and we don’t have hundreds of cities, so maybe we’ll go into villages next, or we’ll name them after people that had a lot of influence on Israel life, who knows?” MORE: Meet Israel’s El Al Airlines’ biggest fan Virgin America has a less lofty approach when naming its planes, though the monikers are no less an expression of the company’s brand. Some playful Virgin plane names include: An Airplane Named Desire, My Other Ride is a Spaceship, Scarlett O’Air, and Spruce Moose – to name but a few. Virgin also has a varied approach to how it solicits names. Sometimes it invites prominent figures to get in on the process, as it did in 2007 when Boing Boing co-editors and designer Jonathan Adler helped name 10 new planes added to the fleet (they came up with Unicorn Chaser). Other times, Virgin seeks the help of Facebook fans. Portlanders voted for Mount Hoodie – a reference to Oregon’s Mount Hood – although I Liked This Plane Before It Went Mainstream was a close contender (a nod to Portland’s hipster status). Back in 2011, Virgin America also unveiled the world’s first plane named after a hashtag. #Nerdbird’s moniker paid tribute to the tech-savvy customers the A320 served on routes to the United States’ “Silicon Cities.” Irish airline Ryanair also used social media in 2015, when it celebrated the launch of its Facebook account – yes, it really didn’t have one before last year – by running a competition for 30 lucky Facebook fans to get a plane named after them and their likeness painted on the side. MORE: Ryanair promises to put Facebook fans’ faces on the side of its planes So how can you find out the name of the plane you’re on? Simple. It’s often right on the nose. And if you can’t get enough of eccentric planes, take a look at this gallery of colorful airplane liveries from around the world.


"Those interactions in some ways I think reveal you for who you are," Holder said President Donald Trump went too far when he falsely claimed that former President Barack Obama had not called the families of slain soldiers, former Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday. “Mr. President, you crossed the line there,” Holder said on CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper.” The former Democratic prosecutor continued: “And you know, I understand you’ve got a tough job. I generally hold my powder, but that was a line that you crossed.” Holder, a top ally of Obama’s who was attorney general for the first six years of his presidency, said Trump’s comments made him feel he needed to speak out. “To imply that President Obama was not appropriately sensitive, was not appropriately involved, was something that I was simply not going to allow to go unaddressed,” Holder said. “That made me mad in a way that few other things have.” At a news conference Monday, Trump said Obama and other presidents didn’t make calls to families of fallen soldiers, and when pressed on the point said, “I was told that he didn’t often.” Holder reacted strongly on Twitter, saying the President should “stop the damn lying.” Stop the damn lying - you’re the President. I went to Dover AFB with 44 and saw him comfort the families of both the fallen military & DEA. pic.twitter.com/HhE4KbTBkJ The next day, Trump invoked his chief of staff, John Kelly, whose son died in Afghanistan. “You could ask Gen. Kelly, did he get a call from Obama?” Trump said. Trump has since challenged the account of a Democratic congresswoman who said the President was disrespectful in a phone call to the widow of a dead soldier. A family member told CNN the congresswoman’s account was accurate. In Wednesday’s interview, Holder said that as attorney general he had to make condolence calls to families of agents who lost their lives in the line of duty. “Those interactions in some ways I think reveal you for who you are,” Holder said.


President Donald Trump is growing frustrated that his administration is facing the prospect of another contentious confirmation battle as the President and his aides scramble to shore up support for Gina Haspel, Trump’s pick to run the CIA, several sources tell CNN. Trump stepped up his involvement in the rescue effort Saturday when he spoke with Haspel by phone, according to a source with knowledge of the conversation. The call came a day after Haspel offered to withdraw her nomination – an offer she walked back after conversations with White House legislative affairs director Marc Short and Sarah Sanders, the press secretary. During the phone call, Trump dismissed concerns about Haspel’s role in past interrogations of suspected terrorists and voiced support for her nomination, a separate source said. Trump reiterated his support of Haspel in a Monday morning tweet. Related article National security officials preparing contingency plans if Haspel's nomination fails Meanwhile, Haspel was on Capitol Hill Monday making the case for herself. She was scheduled to conduct multiple meetings with lawmakers who could decide her fate, a White House aide said. Those meetings included time with West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a red-state Democrat whose vote is seen as crucial to her confirmation. After meeting with Haspel for about 45 minutes, Manchin said he’s “very open-minded” about her nomination and has a “curiosity” to hear what his other colleagues have to say and how she responds to questions during a confirmation hearing slated for Wednesday. But foreshadowing the potential trouble ahead, Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Monday it was “unacceptable” how little material about Haspel has been made public — and he urged her to intervene herself. Warner on Monday wrote a letter to Haspel, obtained by CNN, saying that the CIA has failed to make public the leadership and supervisory positions Haspel held at CIA headquarters. Warner also wrote that the information the CIA has released thus far about Haspel, who is currently acting CIA director, opens the agency up “to the criticism that it is only releasing favorable materials while suppressing related items that could reflect negatively.” Related article Warner asks Haspel to fix 'unacceptable' public disclosure of her record “Given that we are only two days from the date of your confirmation hearing on May 9, 2018, this lack of transparency for the American people about someone nominated for a cabinet-level position is unacceptable,” Warner wrote. The CIA dropped off a new batch of classified documents related to Haspel to the Monday, according to a source familiar with the matter. The source did not say what the documents contain because they’re classified. If Haspel wins Senate confirmation, her margin of victory will likely be razor thin. The uncertainty surrounding her fate is an unwelcome development for an administration recovering from the botched nomination of Ronny Jackson to become the secretary of Veterans Affairs, a failure that highlighted the White House’s struggle to coordinate with Capitol Hill and professionalize its nominations process. Sanders told reporters Monday Haspel is “100%” committed to seeing her confirmation process through. She said Haspel’s goal is to ensure the “integrity of the CIA remains intact” and “isn’t unnecessarily attacked.” Trump has vented that his team isn’t doing enough to prevent the kind of headwinds that Haspel and other Cabinet picks have faced in the Senate, according to one White House official. Related article Boris Johnson takes to Fox News in last-ditch effort to save Iran deal After the Jackson debacle, White House officials have taken a different approach with Haspel, touting her decades of service in the intelligence community and highlighting the bipartisan support she enjoys among former national security and intelligence officials. Though Trump has expressed some private skepticism about Haspel, newly installed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other senior administration officials have convinced the President she still has a chance of surviving the confirmation process. Trump continues to support Haspel in part because he likes the optics of installing the first female director at the agency, two White House officials said. Pompeo, the CIA’s most recent director, played a major role in Trump’s decision to nominate Haspel as his replacement. But lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have cited Haspel’s ties to CIA torture tactics as a major red flag heading into her confirmation hearing slated for Wednesday. Haspel oversaw a CIA black site in Thailand in 2002 where harsh interrogations were conducted, although she was not at the site when al Qaeda suspect Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded at least 83 times. She was also chief of staff to the director of the National Clandestine Service, Jose Rodriguez, in 2005 when the CIA tapes of interrogations were destroyed. Rodriguez wrote in his memoir that he asked Haspel to prepare a cable granting permission to destroy the tapes, though he made the decision. A 2011 internal review cleared Haspel of wrongdoing in the matter. Related article How Trump gets his daily dose of secrets, minus Pompeo Trump has been receptive to the argument from some GOP allies that Haspel is part of what he has described as the “deep state,” two sources told CNN. One Republican lawmaker warned Trump in a recent conversation that the White House’s citation last week of supportive statements from James Clapper, former Director of National Intelligence, and John Brennan, former CIA director, did more to generate opposition to Haspel among some conservatives than support for her, one source familiar with the talk said. Trump has labeled both Clapper and Brennan, former Obama administration officials, as liars and leakers. CNN’s Kevin Liptak, Jeff Zeleny and Manu Raju contributed reporting


Tactical medicine trains doctors for urban combat Assault weapons create terrible injuries that need immediate triage on the scene Before his local SWAT team arrived on the scene of the San Bernardino shooting massacre, Dr. Michael Neeki was already there, arriving just minutes after the shooting began, to join the other agencies on the scene. Related gallery San Bernardino shooting “The call came in on the radio: There’s an active shooter scenario in San Bernardino,” said Neeki, an emergency room doctor at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center’s trauma center in Rialto, California. “I just hop in the car with my tactical equipment and go to the scene. Often I don’t have time to notify anybody, I just go.” Pulling up in front of the Inland Regional Center, Neeki immediately began suiting up in his military boots, helmet and Kevlar vest, and checked his assault rifle, eerily similar to the one being used by the shooters.  Without waiting for the rest of his SWAT team, he grabbed his medical pack and headed into the unknown. Related video San Bernardino shooting: Inside the ER “At the time that you go in it is still an active situation, so you don’t know what you will encounter,” Neeki said.  “It was one of the most organized scenes I had ever seen but you could feel that energy of worry.  They [police on the scene] were worried if the shooters were [still] in the building and are they going to hurt more victims.” Unfortunately, on this day 21 people were wounded, and 14 people died.  “There were a lot of head injuries, chest injuries, and they didn’t have a good chance of surviving,” Neeki said.  “We are very sad. There is no good news when you find out that your fellow citizens have died for no good reason.” As shots rang out, former office mate shielded his friend Neeki is a new kind of doctor, a hybrid of healer and solider, an increasingly necessary type of medic trained to be able to defend as well as save lives.  As assault rifles have replaced handguns as the weapon of choice in gang, street and mass shootings, the injuries and treatment needs have changed. “So, we are now going to this assault rifle injury-type pattern which rips and shreds apart organs in your body, tissues in the body, vessels as they’re going through,” Neeki explained.  “So you have to be ready to put in a tourniquet to avoid the bleeding, or quickly staple a wound in the field. Or use an Israeli bandage, which is a compression dressing. I also have a clotting factor you could put in a lesion.” If this sounds like battlefield medicine, that’s because it is. Neeki said much of what doctors know today about treating assault rifle wounds has come from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And because wounds like these shorten survival time for victims, it also means physicians need to be on the scene immediately, just like medics in foreign combat zones. Putting medics into U.S. urban combat zones is a relatively recent phenomenon. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives started putting paramedics in the field after the deadly shooting at the Branch Davidian compound in February 1993.  Now in the second decade of the program, the bureau has about 70 special agents embedded with their special response teams. Another recent shift in law enforcement tactics has been to put officers in emergency medical training. But critics worry they may not develop enough skills to function as well as a fully trained medical practitioner.  Thus the notion of training medical professionals to become soldiers. “Shooters ready?” yells the sergeant. “Yes sir!” comes the chorus of voices from the men in the training room. “Then move!” he barks. “Threat!”  The assault rifles blaze. “Threat!” All 14 victims identifiedWho were the shooters?What we know, don’t knowDoctor was first responderFear at the scene: ‘A shooter @ work’In mass killings, multiple shooters rareWhen is a mass shooting terrorism?Complete coverage All 14 victims identified Who were the shooters? What we know, don’t know Doctor was first responder Fear at the scene: ‘A shooter @ work’ In mass killings, multiple shooters rare When is a mass shooting terrorism? Complete coverage With each sound-off, the men advance, aiming another blast of ammo at the targets on the wall.  Neeki is one of them, training the day after the massacre next to his SWAT team brothers. “I don’t want to get hurt,” said Neeki.  “If someone has the intention like yesterday of coming in and just indiscriminately shooting and I’m the first there, I want to be able to defend myself and those civilians. A good guy should be able to defend himself and also help everybody else.” Neeki, 51, is familiar with self-defense, having been born in Iran and drafted into the Iraqi war at age 18.  But after 27 years in his adopted country, he didn’t expect his combat experience would be needed here. “Never in a million years, but now that I’m here this is one of my duties,” said Neeki. “It’s a privilege to work here and it’s a privilege to be a part of this team, to serve the community out there. It’s the least I could do.” First responder feared shooters were still active CNN’s Ben Tinker and Sandee LaMotte contributed to this report.


Chile's navy receives a request to rescue 14 crew off the country's coast The crew of the Kon-Tiki2 will be transferred to the naval vessel Saturday Fourteen adventurers have been rescued off the coast of Chile after “atypical” weather forced them to abandon the recreation of a historic maritime journey. The Kon-Tiki2 expedition had been sailing two balsa rafts from Peru to Easter Island and back, documenting climate change, marine life and the impact of pollution. The crew had spent 114 days on the Pacific Ocean, reaching Easter Island and covering 4,500 nautical miles (8,334 km) before they requested a rescue Wednesday around 950 nautical miles from Chile “due to atypical winds.” “This is an El Nino year and the weather patterns we have encountered have been atypical. We realize that reaching South America will take too long and we prefer to evacuate to ensure safety for all,” expedition leader Torgeir Higraff said in a statement. The Chilean navy said it received the rescue request Wednesday after one of the rafts “lost navigational capability.” It instructed a merchant vessel in the rafts’ area – the Hokuetsu Ushaka – to come to the expedition’s aid. A navy boat and plane were also dispatched, the latter establishing the exact location of the vessels Thursday. It is expected the crew of the Kon-Tiki2 will be transferred to the naval vessel Saturday local time and returned to land Monday, according to the Chilean navy. “We maintained permanent contact with them, since they departed from Easter Island, foreseeing that they could be experiencing some issues,” said Mario Montejo, director of security and maritime operations. “They are in good health, a little tired. The rafts were beginning to deteriorate and that made the stay of the people on board risky,” he said. Social media photos show the expedition crew dismantling what had been their home for more than four months and retrieving monitoring equipment prior to abandoning the rafts. #kontiki2 Tupac crew in partially dismantled cabin:home since November 7 2015, prior to evacuation @HeyerdahlInstit pic.twitter.com/X2cBEmVE6a Echo sounder retrieved prior to evacuation of  #kontiki2 raft, Tupac Yapanqui @KOGMaritime @NTNU @NIVA pic.twitter.com/BtCp1MO2xP In a blog post Monday, crew member Lisa te Heuheu described the adverse conditions that had hit the rafts, saying they had seen the wildest weather of their journey over the two days prior. “The waves were throwing us around like a spin cycle on a washing machine and the 5-6 meter holes we were falling into felt as though you were being swallowed whole by the ocean itself,” she wrote. “With the wind in an unfavorable direction, our sail has been down now for almost 36 hours, the easterly position we had made before the storm is slowly coming upon us as we are pushed West by winds and currents.” The weather, she said, was erasing their gains. “It is hard to swallow this backwards and forwards of sailing out here. Every day that you gain seems to be taken away in a single stormy event,” she said. The Chilean navy said the Kon-Tiki2 left Peru in November , arriving in Easter Island on December 15. Weather conditions diverted the rafts as they traveled toward Valparaiso, Chile, on January 1, sending them farther south. The Kon-Tiki2 expedition was inspired by Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl’s 1947 trip from Peru to Tahiti on a balsa wood log raft, named Kon-Tiki. Heyerdahl was trying to prove that people from South America could have colonized Polynesia. “Kon-Tiki2 got its name because we seek to double-down on Thor Heyerdahl’s famous voyage by sailing two rafts from South America to Polynesia and then back,” the expedition’s website says. #kontiki2 leader says, "It is one of the saddest days in my career, but I am at the same time happy no one is hurt." pic.twitter.com/sEwgdxHmgF


Raja Ampat is one of the world's most beautiful diving spots "It is simply impossible to restore that part of Raja Ampat," government says The captain of a cruise ship could be charged after his boat rammed into a pristine coral reef, Indonesian authorities said Wednesday. The 297-foot (90.6 meter) MS Caledonian Sky crashed into the reefs at Raja Ampat on March 4. Raja Ampat is frequently included on lists of the the world’s most beautiful coral reefs and is often described as an “untouched” beach paradise. “The destruction of Raja Ampat coral reefs, which were developed by nature for hundreds of years, was done in less than one day by Caledonian Sky and its captain,” Djoko Hartoyo, of the Information and Law Bureau of the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs, said in a statement. “It is simply impossible to restore that part of Raja Ampat. Fish that were normally seen in that particular area were all gone.” Nearly 140,000 square feet (more than 13,000 square meters) of reef were destroyed, Ketut Putra, the vice president of Conservation International Indonesia, told CNN. The ship crashed into one of the best diving areas, he said. Noble Caledonia, the cruise company that operates the vessel, apologized for the incident. It said in a statement that the ship went aground, but did not give a reason why. “We are working with local experts to understand how we can assist with the regeneration of the reef. We value our relationships around the world with local people and we are sorry to have impacted the local community,” the statement said. The company said it will establish a fund to help the local economy and help pay for repairs. But residents are outraged. “The damage done to the reef is not only a disaster from an environmental point of view, but also due to the fact that the livelihoods of local communities depend upon healthy reefs,” Doug Meikle, who runs a website supporting the work of the local Papuan community’s tourist accommodation association, told CNN in an email. “It’s quite remarkable that the ship was so close.” Related gallery 2016: The incredible coral reefs of Indonesia's Raja Ampat Ruben Sauyai, who owns the nearby Koranu Fyak Bungalows and is the president of the professional divers association in Raja Ampat told CNN he was about 200 feet away with some divers when the incident happened. “You could hear it crush the reef,” he said. Meikle believes there’s a strong case to ban ships like this from the area. “Quite apart from the risk of accidents, just anchoring such ships does incredible damage to reefs.” Though insurance could pay for some of the environmental damage, Indonesian authorities said they believe the captain committed a crime and could face prison time if convicted. “Insurance company may be willing to pay the environmental damage, but it does not absolve criminal side of the case,” authorities said. The company described the master on duty at the time of the crash as “one of the world’s leading expedition captains” and said he had many years of experience. The crash could affect the local tourism industry and the economy. Putra told CNN the damaged reef won’t attract as many tourists, and the number of fish in the area will be reduced because of their damaged habitat. “I’m actually worried,” he said. Related article Australia's Great Barrier Reef suffers worst ever coral bleaching Cruise ships themselves are a source of dangerous pollutants that threat coral reefs – especially in Southeast Asia, according to the industry website Marine Insight. The ships “are often found flushing their enormous amount of sewage and food waste and oily bilge water as a suspension of insoluble particles, into the ocean.” A 2016 study in the journal Nature found that the shipping industry also produced a significant amount of carbon dioxide in Asia. But coral reefs from around the globe remain under threat from environmental problems as well. The Great Barrier Reef suffered its most devastating die-off on record last year, according to a report from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies. The report linked the rise in destructive bleaching events to warmer water temperatures. CNN’s Steve George contributed to this report


Getu River National Park in Guizhou, China is a playground for the fearless Its karst limestone spires, caves and arches attract climbers from all around the world With bare hands, no safety ropes and loosely laced canvas sneakers on his feet, Huang Xiaobao clambers up the sheer rock face with surprising ease. Below him churn the silted waters of China’s Getu River, swollen with the previous day’s heavy rain. Above him in the gloom of the cave is a scarlet Chinese flag, which he unfurls and waves to a small crowd standing on a floating walkway almost 300-feet (100 meters) beneath. It’s a show for tourists, whose gasps suggest they are suitably awed, but Huang’s climbing skills were honed long ago for a completely different purpose. He knows the giant cavern intimately. As a 12-year-old living in this remote and beautiful part of China he began climbing in search of swallow droppings to fertilize the terraced fields. Guizhou photos: 14 beautiful images from China’s most underrated region Huang climbs for money – he gets a tiny share of the park’s $28 (190 yuan) entrance ticket plus a basic salary of $135 (900 yuan) per month. But Getu’s karst limestone spires, caves and arches are fast becoming a playground for the fearless – attracting thrillseekers from around the world. Esteban Degregori and two friends have traveled from Argentina to tackle Getu’s Great Arch – a natural tunnel 165-feet-high (50 meters), 230-feet-wide (70 meters) and 450-feet (137 meters) long. “The climbing is explosive,” he says. The place was put on the map by Olivier Balma, a French alpinist, who visited in 2007 and was astonished by its potential. At his urging, Petzl, a maker of outdoor gear, brought hundreds of climbers here in 2011. They set up more than 300 routes – placing bolts in the rock where climbers clip their ropes to catch any falls. “I was blown away. I knew it could be a world-class climbing spot,” said Balma. China’s spicy Guizhou province: How to eat like a local The less intrepid can still appreciate what Getu, a national park in Guizhou, southwest China, has to offer. The scale of the karst landscape left me with an otherworldly sense of awe – a topological oddity that was hard to get my head around. A path from the park entrance takes you to Swallow Cave – where Huang performs – and a floating walkway takes you inside close to where the river plunges into an underground cave network hidden from view. Not far beyond us lies the world’s largest cave chamber, said to be big enough for a 747 jumbo jet. Accessible only via an underground stream, it’s not possible to visit it yet. From there, it’s a nerve-wracking climb up to a new glass elevator, which ascends through a second, vertical entrance to the cavity 370 meters above – what Chinese describe as a “tiankeng” – a heavenly pit or sinkhole. Above ground, a grove packed with rare square bamboo and wild banana plants reveals a blind valley encircled by  cliffs – a hidden world blanketed by primeval vegetation. And just when you think it can’t get anymore mind boggling, Getu’s Great Arch emerges –  framing a stunning rural vista. At certain times of the year – I was told July and August – sunlight threads through the arch making for a magical if rarely snapped photograph. The hike takes about two to three hours – a boat takes you back to the park entrance or up stream to a small village in the park, where I stayed overnight. Getu River, sometimes called Gebihe, was only connected to China’s road network in 2003 and it’s still not an easy place to get to. Local authorities have high hopes for tourism in the region, which is a national park. A huge car park has been built at the entrance in anticipation of scores of tour buses and the rough road from the nearest town Ziyun, which is connected by highway to the provincial capital Guiyang,  is being upgraded. For now, the number of visitors is more a trickle than a flood – I visited during a national holiday in June and didn’t see any crowds. Most climbers who visit stay in the village just outside the entrance – cheap accommodation and food allow them to explore the many peaks and crags for weeks. Even though the routes are bolted for sport climbing, it’s not really a place for beginners, says Mike Dobie, a U.S. climber who’s been at the forefront of climbing development in China. Those who want to learn to climb in China would be better served by Yangshuo, he says – a more developed and equally stunning rock climbing destination some 370 miles (600 kilometers) away. For adventurers who prefer riskier, bolt-free climbs using the natural cracks in the rock, the sandstone canyons in Liming in Yunnan province are an emerging place for traditional, or trad, climbing. Spectacular, rarely seen images of China’s railways Ironically, the influx of foreign climbers to Getu comes just as locals are seeing their skills die out. Huang is one of just six “spidermen” (their ranks actually include one woman) from the local area who perform their jaw-dropping stunts for tourists up to three times a day. They’re finding it hard to recruit fresh blood. He says his three children can’t and don’t want to climb. He wants to teach some of the younger villagers to climb but hasn’t been able to find anyone to follow in his footsteps just yet. Like many areas of rural China, it’s common for young people to leave the village to find work in richer cities. Some return, others do not. Huang says he’s never fallen – but the near daily show climbs take their toll. His muscled hands that seem too big for his slight frame are gnarled and calloused. He uses the same route each time but takes it slower when it rains. At 56, he has no plans to retire. “It’s better than farming,” he says. “Dangerous, but not as tiring.” Hong Kong: Insider Travel Guide Macau: Insider Travel Guide


Kelly Gissendaner was convicted of murder for recruiting her lover to kill her husband A representative of Pope Francis asked the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to spare her life Another convicted murderer who didn't actually kill is scheduled to be executed Wednesday in Oklahoma After a five-hour delay, Georgia death row inmate Kelly Gissendaner was executed early Wednesday morning for her role in the killing of her husband. Gissendaner was scheduled to die at 7 p.m. Tuesday, but her lawyers filed appeals to state and federal courts in her final hours to try to spare her life. Her children had to make a heart-wrenching choice Tuesday: go see their mother one last time, or make a final appeal in front of the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles. “We chose to try and save her life, and they still denied us,” daughter Kayla Gissendaner said outside the state’s execution facility in Jackson. Even a recent letter on behalf of the Pope wasn’t enough to sway the parole board. So Gissendaner’s legal team filed three appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court – all of which were denied. When Gissendaner finally walked to the execution chamber after midnight, she saw the witnesses through a window and began sobbing, witness Jeff Hullinger of WXIA-TV said. She then made a final statement “apologizing to an amazing man that lost his life because of her,” Hullinger said. Gissendaner was convicted of murder for persuading her lover to kill her husband in 1997. She became Georgia’s first female prisoner to be executed in 70 years. As Gissendaner was being executed, the Gwinnett Daily Post reported, she sang “Amazing Grace.” While waiting for an answer from the board, a representative for Pope Francis sent a letter saying that the Pope wanted the board to spare Gissendaner’s life. Related video Lethal injection at the Supreme Court in two minutes “While not wishing to minimize the gravity of the crime for which Ms. Gissendaner has been convicted, and while sympathizing with the victims, I nonetheless implore you, in consideration of the reasons that have been presented to your Board, to commute the sentence to one that would better express both justice and mercy,” the letter read. It wasn’t clear whether the board saw the Vatican representative’s letter. A spokesman for the board declined to comment, saying what happens inside the hearings is private. This isn’t the only U.S. case to draw the attention of  Francis, who called for an end to the death penalty when he spoke to Congress last week. His representative has also sent a letter to Oklahoma’s governor, asking her to commute the death sentence for Richard Glossip, who’s scheduled to be executed there Wednesday. The Pope and the future of the death penalty The death row cases of Gissendaner and Glossip have something in common: Neither of the convicted murderers actually killed the victim. In Glossip’s case, the man who bludgeoned the victim to death testified that Glossip had hired him for the murder. That killer is serving a life sentence. The family of Gissendaner’s slain husband, Douglas, said they had faith in the legal system. Related video Detective recalls how he put Georgia woman on death row “Kelly planned and executed Doug’s murder. She targeted him and his death was intentional. Kelly chose to have her day in court and after hearing the facts of this case, a jury of her peers sentenced her to death,” the statement read in part. “As the murderer, she’s been given more rights and opportunity over the last 18 years than she ever afforded to Doug, who, again, is the victim here,” it said. “She had no mercy, gave him no rights, no choices, nor the opportunity to live his life. His life was not hers to take.” An unlikely friendship blossoms between a killer and a scholar But Kelly and Doug Gissendaner’s children pleaded with authorities to show mercy. “My dad would not want my mom to be executed, even knowing her role in his murder,” Kayla Gissendaner said in an earlier statement. “He would not want us to endure another devastating loss.” The daughter has said her mother changed over the past 18 years. “I had to face what my mom had done and find a way to forgive her,” she said. “In the process, I saw that my mom had struggled through the years to come to grips with what she had done and face her own horror about her actions.” More than 90,000 people signed a petition urging Gov. Nathan Deal to halt the execution, claiming the mother of three has turned her life around and calling her a “powerful voice for good.” “While incarcerated, she has been a pastoral presence to many, teaching, preaching and living a life of purpose,” the petition states. “Kelly is a living testament to the possibility of change and the power of hope. She is an extraordinary example of the rehabilitation that the corrections system aims to produce.” Her lawyers have argued that Gissendaner’s sentence was “disproportionate” compared to that of her co-defendant. Gissendaner arranged to have her husband killed by Greg Owen, who stabbed Doug Gissendaner in the neck and back. Owen testified against Kelly Gissendaner as part of a plea bargain that got him a life sentence instead of death. Only 15 female inmates have been put to death in the United States since 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The last woman executed in Georgia died in the electric chair in 1945. Officials had previously set a date for Gissendaner’s execution, but called it off in February due to inclement weather. Related video Georgia woman's execution delayed for 'cloudy' drugs A few days later, the Department of Corrections indefinitely postponed Gissendaner’s execution after finding “cloudy” lethal injection drugs. The constitutionality of lethal injection drugs has made headlines in recent years and European manufacturers – such as Denmark-based Lundbeck, which manufactures pentobarbital – banned U.S. prisons from using their drugs in executions in 2013. That meant 32 states had to find new drug protocols. Last year, Oklahoma issued a moratorium on executions after murderer and rapist Clayton Lockett convulsed, writhed and lay alive on a gurney for 43 minutes before dying. It was the state’s first time using a new three-drug cocktail for an execution. Marcus Easley, a retired Chattanooga, Tennessee, police officer who was a friend and supporter of Kelly Gissendaner, told CNN affiliate WSB he met with her on Tuesday. Related video Ashleigh Banfield discusses Kelly Gissendaner's fate Gissendaner’s children, he said, were not able to visit her in prison because they were making a case for her life. “They gave the children the choice between coming and seeing their mother one last time, or going before the parole board and fighting for her,” he said. Easley said he met Gissendaner years ago while bringing students to her prison for prevention programs. “We just became very close and very good friends, and I support her, totally,” he said. Easley said he asked Gissendaner whether she had a message for her children. “I love you, I love you, I love you. I am so proud of you,” she said, according to Easley. Those were the last words he heard her say before he left. CNN’s Tina Burnside, Ashley Fantz, Ariane De Vogue, Tristan Smith, Greg Botelho, Marylynn Ryan, Gigi Mann, Rosa Flores, Kevin Conlon and Diane Ruggiero contributed to this report.


Don’t want to deal with people today? Too bad you don’t live in Nipton, California – population: 16. Here’s what else you need to know today to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door. (You can also get “5 Things You Need to Know Today” delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up here.) The UN Security Council slammed North Korea with intense sanctions over the weekend because the rogue country can’t seem to stop firing off intercontinental ballistic missiles. The sanctions will slash North Korea’s annual export revenue of $3 billion by more than a third and will affect primary exports like coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and seafood. US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley the new sanctions ”a gut punch” and said the US will do “whatever it takes” to keep the world safe from North Korea’s increasingly reckless overtures. Meanwhile, a spot of good news: The foreign ministers of North Korea and South Korea reportedly spoke face-to-face at a gala in Manila last night in the first known high-level encounter between the two Koreas since May. It was a minor diplomatic victory with probably no material benefit, but when it comes to North Korea any diplomatic victory is worth noting. Unrest, protests and suffering are still plaguing Venezuela a week after an election stacked the government with allies of President Nicolás Maduro. Yesterday, authorities said they quelled an anti-government paramilitary attack at a military base that led to the deaths of two people. The act of rebellion came at the same time ousted Attorney General Luisa Ortega Diaz said she’ll defy the newly-elected National Constituent Assembly that fired her and froze her assets. The result of the election has left the already-unstable country in a state of panic, since the new assembly has wide-ranging powers and is expected to rewrite the Venezuelan Constitution at Maduro’s behest. Here’s a primer from Doug Criss why the crisis in Venezuela should matter to all of us. “Excessive corrosion:” That’s what a ride maker says is to blame for an accident at the Ohio State Fair in July that killed a teenager and left several others riders injured. Even though the “Fire Ball” ride was inspected several times in the days before the accident, reports after the incident claimed interior corrosion had reduced the strength of a beam. That defect led to the horrific scene in which a swinging car on the ride broke loose and became airborne, flying over the heads of horrified onlookers. Vice President Mike Pence hit back at a New York Times report that he was considering running for president in 2020 if Trump didn’t seek reelection. In an unusual official written statement over the weekend, Pence called the report “disgraceful and offensive to me, my family, and our entire team.” It also called the claims “laughable and absurd.” The Times’ report noted Pence’s aggressive political schedule and fund-raising operation and said multiple advisers told donors that Pence would run for president if Trump did not. Of course, Trump certainly seems to have no plans of missing the 2020 race – he has already held several campaign events while in office. Google is having to quell fury, both inside the company and out, after a 3,300-word manifesto written by one of its male engineers became public. The screed argues that women aren’t suited for tech jobs for “biological” reasons and rails against diversity in the workplace. All in all, it was a bad look for one of the world’s most powerful companies. Over the weekend, Google diversity vice president Danielle Brown and engineering VP Ari Balogh addressed the controversial document in separate messages to employees. Balogh called the rant “deeply troubling.” Brown said ”[I]t’s not a viewpoint that I or this company endorses, promotes or encourages.” People are talking about these. Read up. Join in. Here’s what ‘Game of Thrones’ can tell us about trauma Be warned: This read is dark and full of Season 7 spoilers. This explains how some people always get what they want And no, it’s not all good looks and charm (though that couldn’t hurt). Dunkin’ Donuts may rebrand as Dunkin’ for… reasons? And yes, it means there may be less ‘Donuts.’ This is upsetting. Actors Chris Pratt and Anna Faris split This is also upsetting! Sean Spicer will not be on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo! “This is a mass fatality crisis” Dr. Kent Harshbarger, an overworked coroner in Montgomery County, Ohio, on the devastating opioid crisis in the state. Hey, waiter! Monday seems like a good time for a solid cat video. (Click to view)


McMaster stressed that the administration is presenting Trump with "integrated options" to approaching the Venezuelan regime Trump first mentioned the possibility of using military force in Venezuela earlier this month The US doesn’t anticipate intervening militarily in the Venezuela crisis “in the near future,” national security adviser Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster said Friday, two weeks after President Donald Trump said he hadn’t ruled out such an option. McMaster stressed that the administration is presenting Trump with “integrated options” to approaching the Venezuelan regime led by leftist President Nicolas Maduro. Maduro has consolidated power by holding a vote to replace the opposition-controlled National Assembly with a new legislature fulled with his supporters, drawing sanctions and rebukes by nations including the United States. Social unrest and violent protests have left more than 120 dead since April. The economy also is spiraling out of control, with food shortages that have led to widespread malnutrition, and analysts expecting the country will soon default on loans. According to McMaster, Trump has asked top national security officials not only for plans for economic sanctions, but also options in case of “further deterioration” in the country. He was careful not to rule out the use of military force while speaking to reporters on Friday. “No military actions are anticipated in the near future,” McMaster said. Related article What can Trump do about Venezuela? Trump first mentioned the possibility of using military force in Venezuela earlier this month, telling reporters: “We have many options for Venezuela, and by the way, I’m not going to rule out a military option for Venezuela,” Trump said. He went on to say that, “Venezuela is not very far away and the people are suffering and they’re dying.” But Vice President Mike Pence, during a visit to Colombia last week, tried to walk back the idea without flatly contradicting the President. According to Pence, Trump’s comments about military action were meant to convey “resolve and determination … to not let this moment slip, to not stand idly by while a neighbor collapses into dictatorship.” Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos called military action “unacceptable” as he stood next to Pence. Asked about the Vice President’s recent trip to South America, McMaster said that he doesn’t think “there’s ever been a time where we’ve been better aligned with our partners in the region.” CNN’s Nicole Gaouette and CNNMoney’s Julia Horowitz contributed to this report.

US administration's approach to Venezuela


The two officers in charge of the destroyer USS John S. McCain have been relieved of duty after a deadly accident earlier this year, the US Navy said in a statement Tuesday. The guided-missile destroyer collided with a merchant ship off Singapore on August 21, leaving 10 US sailors dead and five more injured. The accident left a large highly visible hole in the US ship. The McCain’s commanding officer, Cmdr. Alfredo J. Sanchez, and executive officer, Cmdr. Jessie L. Sanchez, were “relieved due to a loss of confidence,” according to statement from the US 7th Fleet in Yokosuka, Japan, the ship’s home port. “While the investigation is ongoing, it is evident the collision was preventable, the commanding officer exercised poor judgment, and the executive officer exercised poor leadership of the ship’s training program,” the statement said. Both officers were assigned to other duties in Japan. The McCain accident was the fourth involving a US warship in the Pacific this year. In June, the guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald collided with a cargo ship off Japan, killing seven US sailors. In May, the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain was struck by a South Korean fishing boat off the Korean Peninsula. And in late January, the guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam ran aground in Tokyo Bay, damaging its propellers. The accidents prompted the dismissal of the Navy’s 7th Fleet commander Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin, as well as multiple reviews of the way the Navy trains, maintains and deploys its fleet. US Government Accountability Office data obtained by CNN in September found that both the McCain and Fitzgerald had lengthy records of failing to fulfill key training requirements. Senior Navy officials told Congress that the service is committed to getting to the root of the issues that have contributed to the spate of collisions. “We ask the sailors to do an awful lot … and perhaps we’ve asked them to do too much,” Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. William Moran told the House Armed Services Committee at a hearing on the collisions in September. “That’s what the comprehensive review will look at.” Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer told lawmakers a failure of leadership as well as a lack of resources contributed to the collisions. “We have a problem in the Navy and we are going to fix it,” Spencer said. The McCain was loaded onto a heavy lift transport ship off Singapore last weekend and is being taken to Yokosuka for repairs, the Navy said. The Fitzgerald, meanwhile, will be taken in a similar manner to the US for repairs. CNN’s Jeremy Herb and Ryan Browne contributed to this report.


White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, seeking to blunt criticism that the Trump administration has not punished Russia over its 2016 election meddling, cryptically hinted Tuesday that an unpublicized action had already been taken. President Donald Trump “has done a number of things to put pressure on Russia and be tough on Russia,” Sanders said at the Tuesday briefing. “Last week there was an incident that will be reported in the coming days.” She added: “He has been tougher on Russia in the first year than Obama was in eight years combined.” Related article Mueller indicts 13 Russian nationals over 2016 election interference Her defense comes days after special counsel Robert Mueller released a detailed indictment against 13 Russian nationals for allegedly interfering in the 2016 US election. Sanders later echoed some recent Trump tweets, claiming Trump has been tougher on Russia than former President Barack Obama ever was. That statement doesn’t seem to reflect reality, however. While Trump and even some Democrats have criticized the Obama administration as not speaking up enough on Russia’s actions before the election, Obama did take some steps to reprimand the country. Obama confronted Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in China in 2016, something Trump has yet to forcefully do in meetings with the Russian leader. Trump and Putin discussed election interference in Hamburg, Germany, in July 2017. Trump later said he thought the Russian leader was earnest when he denied any election meddling. “He said he didn’t meddle. He said he didn’t meddle. I asked him again. You can only ask so many times,” Trump said in November from Da Nang, Vietnam. During his last two years in office, Obama imposed sanctions on Russian individuals and entities for election meddling, kicked out 35 Russian diplomats and closed two Kremlin compounds in the United States. Trump has yet to impose sanctions overwhelmingly passed by Congress last year and missed deadlines to identify which Russian individuals and entities would be on the sanctions list. Last month, the Trump administration decided against implementing the sanctions against Russia and instead published a list of already prominent Russian oligarchs. Trump’s Cabinet, however, has forcefully spoken out against Russia. “It’s important we just continue to say to Russia, ‘Look, you think we don’t see what you’re doing. We do see it, and you need to stop. If you don’t, you’re going to just continue to invite consequences for yourself,’ ” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in an interview with Fox News earlier this month. National security adviser H.R. McMaster also said this month – in response to the Mueller indictment – that Russia’s election meddling is “‘now really incontrovertible.” Even Sanders on Tuesday said: “It’s very clear that Russia meddled in the election. It’s also very clear that it didn’t have an impact on the election, and it’s also very clear that the Trump campaign didn’t collude with the Russians in any way for this process to take place.” At the same time, though, Sanders defended Trump’s decision not to impose sanctions earlier this year. “There’s a process that has to take place, and we’re going through that process,” Sanders said. “That law also says that the countries have to violate something in order for those sanctions to go in place, and that hasn’t necessarily happened.”


President Donald Trump declared Tuesday on Twitter that “the facts” prove he’s been tougher on Russia than his predecessor, President Barack Obama. They don’t – especially when it comes to punishing Russia for interfering in US elections. That hasn’t stopped the President from pushing that line or from seeming to suggest in a Wednesday tweet that Obama be investigated for unspecified “Dem crimes” and not doing anything about Russian meddling in the 2016 election. “Question: If all of the Russian meddling took place during the Obama Administration, right up to January 20th, why aren’t they the subject of the investigation?” Trump tweeted Wednesday morning. “Why didn’t Obama do something about the meddling? Why aren’t Dem crimes under investigation? Ask Jeff Sessions!” Question: If all of the Russian meddling took place during the Obama Administration, right up to January 20th, why aren’t they the subject of the investigation? Why didn’t Obama do something about the meddling? Why aren’t Dem crimes under investigation? Ask Jeff Sessions! After the Friday indictment by special counsel Robert Mueller of 13 Russians and three Russian entities for an extensive effort to interfere with US elections, Trump went on the attack against Democrats, tweeting in a spectacular fashion. Among his Twitter tirades, the President railed that, “I have been much tougher on Russia than Obama, just look at the facts. Total Fake News!” The facts tell a different story. Trump, who has been consistently and openly admiring of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has yet to levy a single sanction to punish Russia for election interference, despite the fact that Congress almost unanimously passed legislation that took effect on January 29 requiring him to do so, and despite senior intelligence officials testifying that Russia is trying to disrupt the 2018 midterms. Administration officials say the Jan. 29 date was not a deadline but a starting date for levying sanctions and that the process will take time. But as time goes by, Trump’s failure to act raises questions among his critics. Despite the consensus view of all US intelligence agencies that Russia did indeed interfere, and public affirmation of this from members of Trump’s own Cabinet, the President persists in doubting Russia played a role at all, according to CNN reporting. US officials on Wednesday tried to assuage concerns about the White House stance on Russia, telling reporters that the administration has taken “direct action” to address Moscow’s election meddling under the Trump administration, including delivering a direct warning to Putin. “He has been warned,” one senior administration official said. The official declined to detail any specifics about the actions the administration is taking, citing concerns including the classified nature of some information. “There are different kinds of direct action,” the official said. This official and others stressed that the process is slow but underway. “These things take a lot of time,” one official said. “We don’t want to be sued. Once we are sued, the entire sanctions process unravels.” “We take this very seriously. This is a national security issue,” the official added, asking for time and space to work. “I would hope that you would just give us a little bit of an indulgence to do some of these things behind the scenes.” The official said US warnings to Russia about the 2018 midterm elections have been stark. “We’re sending very clear messages to the Russian government, at the highest levels, that if they continue to take the kinds of actions that we’ve seen, that the intelligence chiefs have been laying out, this will have an extraordinarily negative effect on our relationship and there will be consequences,” the official said in a briefing with reporters. None of those messages have been delivered publicly, but the senior official said Wednesday that in Moscow, “we are getting their attention. … There is a great deal of anxiety in Moscow.” But last week, the administration had yet another chance to levy sanctions for Russian cyber activity and, so far, has chosen not to. Related article Sarah Sanders cryptically hints at action against Russia And although a series of officials told CNN there has been an ongoing “punitive review” to address past election meddling, it has yet to yield sanctions, though the officials said they are possible. That review, the officials added, began before Mueller’s indictments. The Wednesday briefing by the official reflected a key dynamic in the Trump administration’s approach to Russia: The warnings to Moscow, the official said, have not necessarily come from Trump. The official said the tougher messages have been delivered in direct comments between US and Russian officials. “They get the message when other professionals talk to them,” the official said, adding that they have used “different channels” that are “actually much more effective.” Indeed, while the President himself seems unable to criticize Russia for meddling and unwilling to lead a fight to protect future elections, officials around him, more hawkish about Moscow than the President is, frequently call out Russia, with military officials in particular taking steps that are likely to make Moscow feel pressured. The administration used its national security strategy to explicitly label Russia a “revisionist” foe that’s seeking to change the status quo, and it recommended developing several new nuclear weapons to counter Russian activity. The US recently began ramping up its presence in the Black Sea, which sits on Russia’s doorstep, between Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Western Asia. The increased American presence makes Russia feel threatened, US officials said, and may be why Moscow seems to do more dangerous intercepts of US surveillance aircraft in the area than in other places. The Trump administration has asked to increase funding for the European Deterrence Initiative, an Obama program aimed at bolstering NATO’s defenses against Russia, by almost $2 billion. The White House has also built on the Obama administration’s support for the Ukrainian military by providing it with arms. The administration has done “a whole lot of other things that people tend to forget about” to pressure Russia and hold it accountable, said State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert. But compared with the Obama administration, Trump is so far pulling punches when it comes to sanctions for election interference. In the lead-up to the 2016 election, when officials became aware of Russian meddling, Obama personally warned Putin in September against doing so. That October, the US publicly accused Russia of stealing emails from the Democratic National Committee, among others. Administration officials briefed lawmakers, and sought help from Republican leadership in issuing statements challenging Russia. After the election, in December 2016, Obama targeted Russia for its election interference, sanctioning three companies, four top intelligence officials and two Russian intelligence agencies, the military spy service called the GRU, and the FSB, the civilian spy agency formerly known as the KGB. Trump hasn’t taken a single independent step to punish Russia for its election meddling that’s been publicly visible, not even with the powers granted by a new law, the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act. That law allows the administration to target Moscow’s powerful elites and companies and countries that do business with blacklisted Russian military and intelligence entities. “We don’t have sanctionable activity just yet, but we are working every day to determine if there is something taking place,”  Nauert said Tuesday. But CIA Director Mike Pompeo told the Senate Intelligence Committee that the CIA has already “seen Russian activity and intentions to have an impact on the next election cycle here.” There has been no public action from the administration on the issue to date. Democratic lawmakers point out that the White House itself highlighted another example of Russia’s sanctionable activity under the new law just last week, when it issued a statement blaming the Russian military for the June 2017 cyberattack called NotPetya. Related article Russia sanctions may force US to punish key allies Calling it “the most destructive and costly cyber attack in history,” the White House said last Thursday that the virus “quickly spread worldwide, causing billions of dollars in damage across Europe, Asia, and the Americas.” It’s a case where sanctions under the new law’s cyber provisions would certainly apply, according to Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “I expect the imminent imposition of sanctions by the administration,” Menendez said. He added that if they’re not imposed, the White House statement rings “hollow.” Menendez pointed out in a February 13 interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that, “it has been more than six months since CAATSA was signed into law, and not one mandatory sanction has been imposed. It’s inexcusable.” Trump “continues to ignore congressional will with respect to the mandatory sanctions passed last year,” Menendez said. Nauert, along with White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders, defended the administration’s record. “The sum of our actions as it pertains to Russia … is not CAATSA. We have done a lot more than just CAATSA,” Nauert said. Related video Trump targets Obama in Twitter tirade Sanders pointed to the fact that the Trump administration has continued measures begun under Obama, who on top of the December 2016 sanctions expelled 35 Russian diplomats and seized two Russian diplomatic compounds in the US. At the time, the Kremlin said it wouldn’t retaliate but would wait until the Trump administration took power. Trump, then president-elect, said it was time for the country to “move on” from the issue. Since Trump took office, his administration has used existing sanctions to target Russians for human rights abuses in December 2017 under the Global Magnitsky Sanctions and for Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in January 2018, when it sanctioned 21 individuals, nine entities and the senior leaders of two Ukrainian separatist groups. After Russia retaliated against Obama’s December 2016 expulsion of its diplomats by demanding the US reduce its embassy and consular staff by more than 700 people, Trump initially thanked Putin for helping him pare down staff levels, in what he later described as a joke. The Trump administration eventually seized Russian diplomatic facilities in San Francisco, New York and Washington. “That is partly because of what they did in our 2016 elections,” Nauert said. Related video WH: Trump has done more than Obama on Russia Sanders also highlighted Trump’s request for funding to increase the size of the military, the fact that he has upheld Obama administration sanctions and his decision to provide arms to Ukraine as examples of the President being tougher on Russia than Obama. And she hinted that some action might be coming. “He has done a number of things to put pressure on Russia and be tough on Russia,” Sanders said. “Last week there was an incident that will be reported in the coming days.” CNN’s Ryan Browne, John Kirby, Pamela Brown and Dan Merica contributed to this report.

Trump administration's approach to Russia


Many feared dead as rough weather makes rescue efforts more difficult More than 550 people have died crossing the Mediterranean into Europe in 2017 Rescue workers have been battling for more than 24 hours in a bid to save as many as 1,800 migrants stranded on boats off the coast of Libya, according to charities leading the operation. The Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) said in a statement they “believe there have been deaths,” but it is not clear how many people have drowned. So far rescuers have pulled 453 people to safety, but were forced to suspend the operation overnight with their rescue vessel the Phoenix running at full capacity. #BREAKING: #Phoenix crew reporting multiple casualties from this morning's rescues. @SeaEye_It @jugendrettet taking remaining survivors #Med pic.twitter.com/GJxbuDFrrZ The charity’s founder, Christopher Catrambone, said yesterday: “Nobody has ever seen anything like what we are witnessing this weekend.” He later described in a tweet carrying a dead child on board the ship at Easter. Imagine to carry a 8 year old boy's lifeless body into your house on Easter Sunday. I will never forget this day. “There were 8-10 people dead on board but the situation is not finished yet,” said Michael Buschheuer, founder of Sea-Eye, another rescue charity based off the coast of north Africa. “At the moment, many boats will not get found, they will get lost. Definitely, on our boat there were about 10 (drowned), but maybe there are 300, I have no idea. It is still ongoing.” “Around us are another 400 people – many of them woman and children – in small rubber boats and small wooden boats,” Pauline Schmidt, a press officer with another charity Jugend Rettet who is on board the Iuventa rescue ship, said in an email to CNN. “Not all of them wear life jackets. No vessel nearby that can provide help to us. Also around 5 more rubber boats coming northwards in our direction. We are not able to navigate anymore due to the high amount of persons on board.” Earlier this week the International Organization for Migration said nearly 32,000 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in 2017 through 9 April, with over 80% arriving in Italy and the rest in Spain and Greece. The organization said 554 drowned making the crossing. As the rescue effort continued, bad weather was complicating matters further, MOAS said in a tweet. All three charities said that calls for help to the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Center in Rome had not yet been answered. Separately, Medicins Sans Frontieres and Italian authorities said they had successfully brought to shore 649 migrants in the southern Italian port of Reggio di Calabria. Another boat carrying 72 migrants landed this morning at the nearby seaside resort of Melito Porto Salvo. “There were Somalis, Afghans, Syrians and Bangladeshis on board. We will taken them first to be registered with the police and then they will be taken on buses to reception centers” said Francesco Campolo, senior officer with the Italian state police in Reggio di Calabria told CNN. How many lives could have been saved in the last two years if the #EU had conducted a proactive search and rescue operation? #WhereIsFRONTEX pic.twitter.com/wtiWKbYHtZ Some 6,000 migrants were rescued by the Italian coast guard on Friday and Saturday alone according to Italian newspapers – as people smugglers in Libya took advantage of calm seas to launch boats.

European Union search and rescue operations


Trump faces his first major opportunity to make headway on his trade pledge He wants to level the US-China trade relationship President Donald Trump and his years-long rhetorical crusade against Chinese foreign trade abuses is finally colliding with the reality of face-to-face negotiation. The real estate businessman is staring down his first major opportunity to make headway on his campaign pledge to level the terms of the US-China trade relationship as he meets for the first time with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday. While Trump’s longstanding rhetoric on the trading relationship will hang over the meeting, the encounter also comes as Trump nears three months in office having done little to make good on his bold promise to fundamentally alter the trading relationship. Related article Americans warming to China ahead of Xi-Trump summit, poll finds Trump, it seems, has held his fire in favor of making a play to improve the trading relationship through direct talks. But how much will Trump be able to draw out of his counterpart? While Trump has focused the brunt of his rhetoric on simply reversing the United States’ $347 billion trade deficit with China, experts say an improved trading relationship will rest not on China simply changing that top-line number, but fundamentally altering the role it plays in its economy. The Chinese government plays a heavy hand in structuring its economy, moves that Trump and others have argued put US companies and manufacturers at a disadvantage against their Chinese counterparts. Trump’s attempts to change that reality come on top of years of attempts by previous administrations. The White House already sought Tuesday to lower expectations for Trumps and Xi’s first encounter. Senior White House officials called the series of meetings at Trump’s opulent south Florida residence, Mar-a-Lago, an opportunity to “set a framework for discussion” of the trading relationship and begin the process of urging China to change policies that have led to “an uneven playing field for US companies.” One official stressed that they did not view the meeting as an opportunity to “resolve any particular issue.” “We don’t want to be unrealistic about that,” the official said. Related article Trump: 'We can't continue to allow China to rape our country' Former US officials and experts on China and international trade said they were heartened to see that Trump had not made good on some of his boldest campaign pledges – like imposing double-digit tariffs on Chinese imports or labeling China a currency manipulator. The latter is now a moot point as China is no longer acting to devalue its currency to make its exports cheaper, but is instead trying to prop up its value. “China is such a big deal that you really want to make sure that you think through your long-term strategy before you do anything. The fact that they haven’t done anything yet on China, I think, is a good sign,” said Chad Bown, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and former World Bank economist. But experts also warned that Trump may be enticed by a Chinese public relations coup with little long-term value aimed at Trump’s eagerness for clear-cut “wins,” like a series of quick, pre-packaged Chinese announcements of investments in the US, or headline-worthy purchases of high-profile US products. Rather than a willingness to make fundamental changes to their economies, experts said the Chinese were more likely to come bearing political enticements, like promises of investments in manufacturing plants. “The risk is that the Chinese see President Trump as very transactional by nature and they would be all too happy to say, ‘OK tell us what you want us to buy of yours,’ rather than focus on the fundamental changes they need to make to their economy,” said Michael Froman, the former US Trade Representative under President Barack Obama. Trump and his advisers have thus far signaled they will aim for more than just window dressing changes. A senior White House official said Tuesday the US will look to “reduce the systemic trade and investment barriers that they’ve created.” Beyond Trump’s own longstanding views of China’s damaging impact on the US, he is surrounded by a coterie of aides who view China’s economic rise in similar terms. Trump’s National Trade Council director Peter Navarro has argued Chinese trade abuses amount to economic war and produced a 2012 documentary film, “Death by China,” while Trump’s chief strategist Steve Bannon is a leading economic populist and has warned about the prospects of a military war between the US and China. Last week, Trump signed two executive orders that many interpreted as an attempt to set the tone ahead of his meeting with the Chinese president. One order launched a report on the impact of trade abuses on the US’s trade deficit – of which China is the largest contributor – while the other called for stricter enforcement of the US’s anti-dumping laws, which Chinese companies have run afoul of relatively often. But the orders don’t stack up when compared to Trump’s bold campaign talk of stopping China’s “rape” of the US. Trump will now need to push Xi to reduce the Chinese government’s heavy-handed regulation of its economy to lower the barriers of access to its economy for US companies, said David Dollar, a China expert at the Brookings Institution. Dollar and other experts said top targets for the United States’ efforts to level the playing field will also include addressing China’s abuse of US intellectual property, high tariffs on certain goods and stricter labor standards that make Chinese manufacturer’s more competitive. But Dollar and other experts said they feared the US had already weakened its negotiating position before even arriving at the negotiating table. Most economists and China experts have argued that Trump’s move to withdraw the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement will only serve to embolden China. The deal, spearheaded by the Obama administration, would have represented a clear statement of US influence in a region China has sought to dominate and would have raised labor and environmental standards in the region – putting Chinese manufacturers on a more level playing field should China choose to join the agreement, as it was likely to do. “It was written very much as a way to signal to China explicitly these are the 21st-century trade rules that we want you ultimately to adhere to,” said Bown, the economist at the Peterson Institute. Froman, the former US trade representative who led TPP negotiations, said shelving TPP “has certainly been a huge gift to China.” But any headway Trump hopes to make on advancing his trade agenda could also be overshadowed by the increasing urgency of North Korea’s nuclear program, which Trump views as the greatest threat to US national security. Trump and his top advisers have ratcheted up their pronouncements on the issue, warning that the window to stop North Korea is quickly vanishing. North Korea fires ballistic missile, US State Department says Two days after Trump warned the US was prepared to act alone to stop North Korea if China refused to exert its influence on Pyongyang, a senior White House official warned that “the clock has now run out, and all options are on the table for us.” Related article White House: 'The clock has now run out' on North Korean nuclear program The White House was torn on which issue would carry more importance. One senior administration official told CNN talk of the trading relationship would be the “No. 1” priority, but acknowledged that the President’s top advisers were split on whether trade or the North Korean threat should be at the top of the agenda. Related article Rex Tillerson's incredibly odd and confusing statement on North Korea And while Froman said the Obama administration “purposefully made it clear that we were not willing to trade off one issue for another,” Trump signaled a willingness to wrap trade talks into his efforts to enlist China’s help in halting North Korea’s nuclear program. “I think trade is the incentive. It is all about trade,” Trump said when asked how he solicit Chinese cooperation on the issue. But amid Trump’s tough talk on curbing Chinese trade abuses and reversing the US’ trade deficit with China in favor of boosting US manufacturing, Trump has yet to telegraph what he is prepared to offer China in return.


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