Abby D. Phillip
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@abbydphillip
This was a conversation about drone policy:

“Kirstjen, you didn’t hear me the first time, honey,” Mr. Trump said, according to two people familiar with the conversation. “Shoot ’em down. Sweetheart, just shoot ’em out of the sky, O.K.?”https://nyti.ms/2ofZlR0

ROME–When Attorney General William Barr showed up at the U.S. embassy’s Palazzo Margherita on Rome’s tony Via Veneto last week, he had two primary requests. He needed a conference room to meet high level Italian security agents where he could be sure no one was listening in. And he needed an extra chair for U.S. Attorney John Durham of Connecticut who would be sitting at his right hand side.

Barr was in Rome on an under-the-radar mission that was only planned a few days in advance. An official with the embassy confirmed to The Daily Beast that they had to scramble to accommodate Barr’s sudden arrival. He had been in Italy before, but not with such a clear motive. Barr and Durham are looking into the events that led to Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, and suddenly all roads were leading to Rome.

The Daily Beast has learned that Barr and Durham were especially interested in what the Italian secret service knew about Joseph Mifsud, the erstwhile professor from Malta who had allegedly promised then candidate Donald Trump’s campaign aide George Papadopoulos he could deliver Russian “dirt” on Hillary Clinton. The Italian Justice Ministry public records show that Mifsud had applied for police protection in Italy after disappearing from Link University where he worked and, in doing so, had given a taped deposition to explain just why people might want to harm him.

A source in the Italian Ministry of Justice, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The Daily Beast that Barr and Durham were played the tape. A second source within the Italian government also confirmed to The Daily Beast that Barr and Durham were shown other evidence the Italians had on Mifsud.

blmohr
@blmohr
"Vatican police raided the offices of the Holy See’s Secretariat of State and its Financial Information Authority on Tuesday and took away docs and electronic devices as part of an investigation of suspected financial irregularities."https://reut.rs/2mK9zbV

Secretary Michael R. Pompeo’s Travel to Italy, The Holy See, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Greece - United States Department of State

Angry Staffer
@AngrierWHStaff
Rudy just told Hannity he had tapes and audio recordings

Josh Lederman
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@JoshNBCNews
Just in: Sebastian Gorka is traveling with @SecPompeo to Europe, @Abs_NBC reports. He was seen getting into a State Department van headed to Joint Base Andrews for departure

...

But as my colleague Jack Goldsmith recently argued, one area where presidents deserve a great deal of confidentiality is their private, one-on-one dealings with foreign leaders. In a dangerous world, we have to permit presidents (or their appointed representatives) to conduct candid conversations with adversaries or allies about highly sensitive topics—including issues involving war and peace—without worrying that the content of their conversations will end up on the front page of the New York Times.

But granting any president this level of trust—again, on the grounds that such latitude is necessary to preserve national security in a dangerous world—critically depends on a minimal level of presidential integrity. Americans must be confident that a president’s dealings with foreign powers are intended to advance the broad national interest and not their own private ends. We can disagree with how a president is handling relations with another country or another world leader, but we have to be confident—not just hopeful but confident—that they are doing what they think is best for the country and are not just out for themselves.

Trump has been flaunting his disregard for this principle since day one of his presidency. He refused to divest himself of his real estate business and has openly advertised on its behalf at least 70 times since taking the oath of office. He has spent part of at least 378 days of his presidency at one of his properties (usually a golf resort), costing taxpayers millions of dollars. Foreign governments seeking to curry favor with the president have spent millions of dollars at Trump properties since his inauguration, while his sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. burn up more money on Secret Service protection while they fly around doing Trump Organization business.

Foreign governments have been quick to discern this part of the president’s agenda. As the memo reconstructing details of Trump’s July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reveals, foreign leaders understand that flattering Trump and slipping the Trump Organization a few bucks is one way to get on his good side. So Zelensky is quick to tell Trump that he stayed at the Trump Tower when he was in New York, hoping this bit of kiss-up will win the president’s favor. All it did, of course, was line Trump’s pockets a bit more

Amy Fiscus
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@amyfiscus
NEW: Trump also asked Australian prime minister to help Barr with review of Russia investigation @MarkMazzettiNYT @ktbenner https://nyti.ms/2oJL1jT