“Controversial” should be retired as a descriptor for these latest Trump administration appointments. These are not candidates just with stray comments or personal foibles. Rather, many have fundamentally different views of the functions of the agencies they’re nominated to lead and views lining up with some of Trump’s more
extreme positions. 1/ 2/ Hegseth at DOD opposes women in combat, has identified a third of senior officers as guilty of a “woke” agenda and deserving of removal, and is a proponent of Trump’s “America First” agenda which would upend U.S. relations with allies and adversaries.

This election - unlike previous ones with differences at the margins - may prove to have an enormous impact not just on US foreign policy but on America’s very role in the world. Trump has repeatedly expressed he’s ready to deliver on “America First” and depart from what used to be a bipartisan worldview. 1/ 2/ Trump, like in domestic politics, has demonstrated a transactional view of U.S. relations abroad - and one that often fails to differentiate based on values or shared history. He’s repeatedly communicated he sees the U.S. as no better or worse than its adversaries. From “You think we’re so innocent” to O’Reilly in 2017 to “Our allies are worse than our enemies” in the last week of the campaign.

Breaking: In newly released brief, Special counsel Jack Smith’s team works to show how Donald Trump was directly involved in the plot to nominate fake electors – a central part of the allegations that Trump himself was working to undermine the 2020 election results. 1/ 2/ For example, Smith’s team identifies one individual, whose name is redacted in filings, who worked in Trump’s White House and appears to have relayed information about the fake electors plot to Trump while the strategy was unfolding.
 
The person, identified only as “P9,” appears to have personally had discussions over the phone about the fake electors strategy with Trump, and had repeated text conversations with other people in the campaign about how the strategy was “crazy” or “illegal,” according to the filing.

New: US Army issued a stark rebuke of Trump campaign staff over the incident on Monday at Arlington National Cemetery, saying in a statement participants in the ceremony “were made aware of federal laws” regarding political activity at the cemetery, and “abruptly pushed aside” an employee of the cemetery.  1/ 2/ “Participants in the August 26th ceremony and the subsequent Section 60 visit were made aware of federal laws, Army regulations and DoD policies, which clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds. An ANC employee who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside,” the Army spokesperson said in the statement, @halbritz reports.

As X battles over Trump’s bloodbath comment, remember his fmr chief of staff told me he praised Hitler. Consider the character of his comments together, from those he attacks - immigrants, stutterers - to those he praises - Putin, Jan 6 rioters. 1/

timesofisrael.com/trump-admires-… 2/ The themes are fairly consistent; admiration of unfettered power, demonization of critics and those he sees as weak (Gen Kelly also detailed his disdain for wounded veterans), and predictions of carnage and chaos if he’s not in control.

New: To Donald Trump, Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán is “fantastic,” Chinese leader Xi Jinping is “brilliant,” North Korea’s Kim Jong Un is “an OK guy,” and, most alarmingly, he allegedly said Adolf Hitler “did some good things”, former senior advisers recalled to me. 1/ 2/ It’s a worldview that would reverse decades-old US foreign policy in a second term should he win November’s presidential election, an assessment laid out in “The Return of Great Powers” which is out tomorrow. Full story: cnn.com/2024/03/11/pol…

CNN Exclusive: In late 2022, the US began “preparing rigorously” for Russia potentially striking Ukraine with a tactical nuclear weapon in what would have been the first nuclear attack in war since the US dropped atomic bombs on Japan in WW2, two senior admin officials told me.1/ 2/ In my new book, “The Return of Great Powers” publishing on March 12, I reveal exclusive details on the unprecedented level of contingency planning carried out as senior members of the Biden administration became increasingly alarmed by the situation.

Breaking: Fmr FBI informant charged with lying about the Bidens’ dealings in Ukraine told investigators after his arrest Russian intel officials were involved in passing information to him about Hunter Biden, prosecutors said in a filing, noting that the information was false. 1/ 2/ Alexander Smirnov claims to have “extensive and extremely recent” contacts with foreign intel officials, prosecutors said. He previously told the FBI he has longstanding and extensive contacts with Russian spies, including individuals he said were high-level intel officers…

Since this equivalency has become a talking point for some in GOP, let’s compare.

Navalny’s “crime” was challenging Putin as a candidate and exposing his corruption. Russia first attempted to murder him with the world’s most powerful nerve agent. When that failed… 1/

https://twitter.com/leemzeldin/status/1758476966410289534

2/ …they essentially called him a terrorist and convicted him with nothing approaching a fair trial and sent him to a penal colony where they denied him basic medical care. He has now died in prison.

Trump’s alleged crimes are attempting to overturn an election he lost…

Breaking: Special counsel David Weiss charged a former FBI informant with lying about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter’s involvement in business dealings with Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings. 1/ 2/ Alexander Smirnov, 43, is facing charges in connection with lying to the FBI and creating false records. He was arrested Thursday at Harry Reid Int’l Airport in Las Vegas, after his arrival in the US from overseas, and will make his initial appearance in federal court Thursday

New: As Ukraine aid continues to stall in Congress, U.S. and its allies describe a potentially debilitating impact on Ukraine’s longer-term prospects of losing the war, multiple officials tell me. “..no guarantee of success with us but
..certain to fail without us,” one said.1/ 2/The most immediate concern is the impact on Ukraine’s ongoing counteroffensive in the east and south, where Ukrainian forces have struggled to make significant forward progress even when US support was still coming.

Two years ago today, the US announced the last C-17 carrying the last US forces had left Afghanistan. Today, many thousands of Afghans who served alongside the US and its allies remain behind. Listen to the harrowing & deeply frustrating story of just one family I know well. 1/ 2/ I’m leaving out personal details for their safety but their story mirrors that of many others. I met them on a series of assignments in Afghanistan in the 2000s. They were full of hope the fall of the Taliban meant a new life, in school and at work and, for a time, it did.

New: The federal prosecutor overseeing the Hunter Biden criminal investigation sent a letter to House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan in early June making clear that he has “ultimate authority” over the criminal probe into President Joe Biden’s son. 1/ 2/ “I want to make clear that, as the Atty Gen has stated, I have been granted ultimate authority over this matter, including responsibility for deciding where, when, and whether to file charges and for making decisions necessary to preserve the integrity of the prosecution…”

Where does the Ukraine war stand? UK Def Sec Ben Wallace briefed some of us in DC. Some headlines:

1- On Ukrainian offensive: Ukraine is “in a stronger position than the media might report or, indeed, reports might suggest. They're not going to be rushed, and that's important.” 2- NATO has trained some 29,000 Ukrainian soldiers, 20,000 in 2022 and 9,000 so far this year, with, Wallace said, “basic training, supported by our Scandinavian colleagues.”

New: Israeli PM @netanyahu has fired his Defense Minister Yoav Galant after Galant called for a pause on Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul. More from our @Hadas_Gold: The PM summoned Minister Gallant to his office and told him that he had lost confidence in him after he acted against the government and against the coalition while the Prime Minister was on a political visit abroad.

20 years ago today, I was on a C-130 from Constanta, Romania to Sulaymaniyah, Iraq with the Green Berets, who were spearheading the US invasion from the north alongside Kurdish Peshmerga units. We sat on our packs as a (shaky) precaution against Iraqi fire from the ground. 1/ 2/ Among the Special Forces units were Chem/Bio teams tasked w/finding & documenting chemical or biological warfare sites in northern Iraq, specifically those the US believed the Kurdish Islamist group Ansar Al-Islam might be running. As embedded reporters, we would join the raid

New: US is assessing drone ops over the Black Sea following harassment by Russian jets, 4 US officials tell CNN. US is “taking a close look” at the drones’ routes and assessing how to better deconflict w/ the Russians. W/my colleagues @NatashaBertrand @OrenCNN 1/ 2/ The US has not stopped the flights entirely amid the assessment—the military sent the same model of drone, an MQ-9 Reaper, on a mission in approximately the same area over the Black Sea shortly after the collision occurred.

Current trend lines on the Ukraine war are disturbing and point to a longer - and potentially larger - conflict:

-In his speech Tue, Putin made clear he’s committing Russia more, not less, to the war. His forces are ineffective but he’s willing to pour in more cannon fodder. 1/ 2/ -China’s potential entry into Ukraine, by providing lethal assistance to Russia as US officials are warning, will potentially lengthen the war. It also would inject a third superpower into the conflict, with all three seeing the war as defining for a new world order.

Breaking: President Putin says Russia is suspending its participation in the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty. Under the key nuclear arms control treaty, both the US and Russia are permitted to conduct inspections of each other’s weapons sites, though inspections have been halted since 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

This is quite a moment in Ukrainian and US history. A leader at war, in a conflict he and the US president both portray as a battle for the free world. Echoes of Churchill’s address at the start of World War Two. This is quite a welcome. Zelensky says to Pelosi with a smile “I think this is too much.”

Biden just now dismisses current prospects for peace in Ukraine: “Putin has no intention of stopping this war.” “We will stay with you as along as it takes,” Biden makes clear.