First Draft on Politics: A Legal Pit Bull Unleashed

View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Wednesday, November 1, 2017 [NYTimes.com/Politics »]( [Andrew Weissmann, second from left, and other members of Robert S. Mueller III’s legal team outside the United States Courthouse in Washington in September.]( Andrew Weissmann, second from left, and other members of Robert S. Mueller III’s legal team outside the United States Courthouse in Washington in September. Al Drago for The New York Times Good Wednesday morning. Here are some of the stories making news in Washington and politics today: - Andrew Weissmann, a top lieutenant of the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, [brings decades of experience prosecuting Mafia heads]( and white-collar crime to the Russia investigation. - As he closed in on the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, Donald J. Trump [named foreign policy advisers]( who are now under scrutiny for Russia ties. - A day after the first charges from the Russia investigation, [the president seethed]( his party ducked and the opposition chortled. - Facebook, Google and Twitter representatives are on Capitol Hill for [marathon hearings over the next two days](. All three already admitted that Russia’s use of their platforms to sway the American electorate was bigger than previously acknowledged. - The opacity of tech companies is [matched by the efforts of some conservative media outlets]( to confuse and distract, leaving one to wonder how the nation will come together. — The First Draft Team HAVE A CONFIDENTIAL NEWS TIP? Do you have the next big story? Want to share it with The New York Times? We offer several ways to get in touch with and provide materials to our journalists. [Learn More »]( ADVERTISEMENT Times Talks D.C. | Wednesday, Nov. 15 [Bipartisanship: A Lost Art?]( Join The Times in Washington as we explore whether groundbreaking legislative achievements are still possible in a fractious Congress and politically divided America. Two senators and friends — Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and Mark Warner, the highest-ranking Democrat on the Senate Committee on Intelligence — will candidly assess the reasons behind the dissolution of compromise in American politics. [• Buy Tickets »]( Economic Scene [Trump’s Trade Endgame Could Be the Undoing of Global Rules]( By EDUARDO PORTER [A cargo ship in New York Harbor heading toward Port Newark.]( A cargo ship in New York Harbor heading toward Port Newark. Bryan Anselm for The New York Times What if President Trump’s ultimate goal is to kill the World Trade Organization? When Robert Lighthizer, Mr. Trump’s top trade negotiator, cut his teeth on trade diplomacy, back during the presidency of Ronald Reagan, the United States had an idiosyncratic way of solving its grievances over trade: asking its trading partners to curb their exports, or else. In the early 1980s, Japan signed on to “voluntary export restraints” to curb the exports of Toyotas, Hondas and Nissans that were causing so much heartburn in Detroit. “Voluntary restraint agreements” were negotiated with 15 countries that accounted for 80 percent of American steel imports. They were voluntary in the sense that foreign exporters preferred these agreements over the threat of punitive duties. In Washington, they were popular. As the Dartmouth College economist [Douglas Irwin]( notes in his timely new book, “Clashing Over Commerce: A History of U.S. Trade Policy,” the share of American imports covered by some form of trade restriction rose to 21 percent in 1984, from only 8 percent in 1975. Today, trade grievances are adjudicated differently: Since 1995, the United States has been required, like any other country, to take its complaints to the World Trade Organization’s dispute settlement system. It has lost some cases, especially those against Washington’s unique way of measuring dumping. But it tends to win when it brings a charge against some unfair practice abroad. [Read more »](  [President Trump and Melania Trump, the first lady, handed out candy to children on Monday at the White House.]( [Trump Belittles George Papadopoulos as ‘Low Level’ Adviser]( By PETER BAKER In his first comment on George Papadopoulos, President Trump said that “few people knew” him and that he “has already proven to be a liar.” [The indictment of Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, included a detailed list of lavish purchases including everything from suits to rugs.]( [In Wealthy Enclaves Manafort Frequents, His Spending Fails to Impress]( By KATIE ROGERS, JACOB BERNSTEIN AND ADAM NAGOURNEY The document charging Paul Manafort with money laundering, tax evasion and foreign lobbying reads less like a 12-count federal indictment and more like the ultimate spendthrift whodunit. [Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, on Capitol Hill on Oct. 17. Mr. Pruitt issued new rules barring researchers who receive E.P.A. grant money from sitting on panels that advise the agency.]( [Pruitt Bars Some Scientists From Advising E.P.A.]( By LISA FRIEDMAN The new rules implemented by Scott Pruitt, the Environmental Protection Agency chief, would effectively shut out many academic scientists who rely on federal funding, replacing them with researchers from industry. [Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, listening as President Trump addressed top business executives during a meeting at the White House on Tuesday.]( [Mnuchin Talks Taxes and That Vanishing Treasury Study]( By ALAN RAPPEPORT Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, shared his thinking about the status of the tax overhaul, financial regulation and life in the spotlight. [The concrete lid of a Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile at Warren Air Force Base, in Wyoming, in 1965. The Minuteman is the only I.C.B.M. still in use in the United States.]( [Trump Plans for Nuclear Arsenal Require $1.2 Trillion, Congressional Review States]( By WILLIAM J. BROAD AND DAVID E. SANGER The report from the Congressional Budget Office was an authoritative accounting of the cost of rebuilding a nuclear arsenal that relies on Cold War-era technology. [John F. Kelly’s comments praising General Robert E. Lee and saying a lack of compromise led to the Civil War stirred intense reactions among historians.]( [A Refusal to Compromise? Civil War Historians Beg to Differ]( By JENNIFER SCHUESSLER Historians respond to John Kelly’s assertion that “the lack of an ability to compromise” led to the Civil War. [An Exxon Mobil refinery in Baton Rouge, La. The Environmental Protection Agency said the company had been fined for flaring gases at several plants along the Gulf Coast.]( [Exxon Will Pay $2.5 Million for Pollution at Gulf Coast Plants]( By LISA FRIEDMAN In a settlement with the Justice Department and the E.P.A., the company also agreed to spend $300 million to upgrade technology at eight facilities. [George Papadopoulos in his office at Hill West Architects in New York City. His co-workers made him a banner that quoted a passage from a HuffPost article about another George Papadopoulos who has suddenly made the name famous.]( [He’s George Papadopoulos, Just Not That George Papadopoulos]( By ZACH WICHTER It’s been an interesting couple of days for the many George Papadopouloses who are not a former Trump campaign adviser who pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. [President Trump said that he wants the House to vote on its version of the tax reform bill by Thanksgiving so it can still pass the Senate and be reconciled in time to be signed into law by Christmas.]( [Republicans Delay Releasing Tax Bill, Signaling Trouble for Party]( By JIM TANKERSLEY, THOMAS KAPLAN AND ALAN RAPPEPORT The bill was delayed for another day as Republicans struggled with cutting tax rates without alienating key constituencies by eliminating popular breaks. [Workers at JA Solar in Hefei, China, making solar panels. On the campaign trail, President Trump repeatedly talked about imposing sweeping tariffs on products from China, Mexico and elsewhere.]( [To Protect U.S. Solar Manufacturing, Trade Body Recommends Limits on Imports]( By ANA SWANSON Trade officials made a number of recommendations to help the solar industry, setting the stage for the president to make a final decision. [Representative Kevin Brady, Republican of Texas and the chairman of the Ways and Means committee. Republicans are considering eliminating a deduction on state and local taxes, but he said they may allow taxpayers to deduct property taxes, softening the blow.]( [Republicans Still Wrestling With Major Details of Tax Overhaul]( By ALAN RAPPEPORT AND JIM TANKERSLEY House Republicans had planned to release their tax bill on Wednesday, but many details remain in flux and important choices have not been made. [Amber Higgins, a navigator with Insure Georgia, answered questions and gave out information about enrolling in health insurance through the Affordable Care Act in Macon, Ga., on Saturday.]( [As Open Enrollment for Obamacare Begins, Confusion Reigns]( By ABBY GOODNOUGH AND ROBERT PEAR The Affordable Care Act’s fifth open enrollment season starts Wednesday, but after months of attacks in Washington, many consumers are confused about the law. Right and Left: Partisan Writing You Shouldn’t Miss Read about how the other side thinks. We have collected political writing from around the web and across ideologies. From the Right [Timothy P. Carney]( in [The Washington Examiner]( “Manafort’s shadiness makes Trump look bad because Trump hired him during the campaign. But Manafort’s shadiness also means it’s less likely he’s being squeezed in pursuit of someone higher up — he may be being indicted simply because federal investigators think he broke the law in a significant and deliberate way.” Mr. Carney reminds his readers that an indictment is not a guilty verdict and that Mr. Manafort and his associate, Rick Gates, who was also indicted, should be afforded the courtesy of being presumed innocent until proven guilty. That said, he also proposes that the simplest explanation of any wrongdoing as it relates to Mr. Manafort and Mr. Trump is “that Manafort wanted to peddle to the Russians his Trump access.” [Read more »]( _____ From the Left [Ryan Cooper]( in [The Week]( “So what happens if Trump fires Mueller and issues blanket pardons to all of his associates? Finding enough Republicans to vote to impeach, much less convict in the Senate, is not going to happen.” Mr. Cooper is worried that Mr. Trump may try to fire Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, before his investigation goes any further. What’s needed, he argues, is a group of Republicans (“as few as three senators, or a couple dozen G.O.P. lawmakers in the House”) to protect the investigation and the special counsel’s independence while incurring the wrath of “Fox News and the rest of the conservative propaganda apparatus, which treats any opposition to Trump as blasphemy and treachery.” [Read more »]( _____ [More selections »]( ADVERTISEMENT HOW ARE WE DOING? We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [washington-newsletter@nytimes.com](mailto:washington-newsletter@nytimes.com?subject=Newsletter%20Feedback). FOLLOW NYTimes [Facebook] [FACEBOOK]( [Twitter] [@NYTPolitics]( Get more [NYTimes.com newsletters »](  | Get unlimited access to NYTimes.com and our NYTimes apps for just $0.99. [Subscribe »]( ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's First Draft newsletter. 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