Mueller’s Office Takes Action On Manafort, Cohen

John Kelly to step down: President Trump said on Saturday that his chief of staff, John F. Kelly, would step down by the end of the year, the latest move in a long-planned staff shake-up as the president heads into the 2020 campaign facing growing peril from the special counsel and newly empowered Democrats. New York Times
 
Vice President Pence’s Chief of Staff, Nick Ayers, was rumored to take Kelly’s position. On Sunday evening, however, White House officials said that Ayers won’t be the next White House chief of staff after he and the president failed to agree on a time frame for the job. Ayers had reportedly told Trump he couldn’t commit to the job for more than the first three months of next year. Trump, who initially proposed that timeline, ultimately decided he wanted someone in the job for the long term. White House officials familiar with the planning said it was unclear whether the next chief of staff would come from inside or outside the administration.Wall Street Journal
 
Roger Stone associate Jerome Corsi sues Mueller, Justice, CIA, FBI, NSA for $350 million: Jerome Corsi filed a lawsuit on Sunday accusing special counsel Robert Mueller of blackmailing him to lie about President Trump in the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The suit, which seeks $350 million in actual and punitive damages in U.S. District Court in Washington, was filed six days after Corsi entered a formal complaint with the Justice Department alleging prosecutorial misconduct by Mueller. Corsi, the former Washington bureau chief of InfoWars, accuses Mueller's office of having illegally leaked secret information from the grand jury investigating Russian election interference. NBC News
 
Kushner reportedly offered advice to Saudi crown prince after journalist's death: The President's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, reportedly continued to have private conversations with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.  Kushner allegedly offered the de facto Saudi ruler advice "about how to weather the storm" following the death of Khashoggi. Although White House protocol stipulates that National Security Council staff be present on all phone calls with foreign leaders, Kushner and bin Salman reportedly continued to chat informally after Khashoggi's death. Even after the CIA's assessment, Kushner allegedly emerged as bin Salman's most important defender, arguing that Trump needed to support the crown prince because the Saudis remain a key component to the Trump administration's Middle East policy. CNN
Related:
CNN: 'I Can't Breathe.' Jamal Khashoggi's Last Words Disclosed in Transcript, Source Says
 
Air Force failed six times to report Sutherland Springs church gunman: The Air Force failed six times to report information that could have prevented the ex-airman who killed more than two dozen people in a Texas church from purchasing a gun, according to a government report released Friday. The Department of Defense inspector general's report details Devin Patrick Kelley's decade-long history of violence, including violence against women, and longstanding  interest in guns. That history culminated in Kelley's November 2017 attack on the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, the church his wife and mother-in-law attended. Kelley served almost five years in the Air Force, during which he was court-martialed and sentenced to one year's confinement for assaulting his wife and stepson. He was able to purchase four firearms after being discharged in 2014, three of which he carried into the church. Dallas News
 
Trump, in reversal, calls for Pentagon to raise budget request to $750B: President Trump  is reportedly calling for the Pentagon to raise its budget request for next year to $750 billion, significantly more than he previously wanted and $12 billion more than top military officials have been pushing for. Defense Secretary Mattis and other top defense officials have been seeking a $733 billion budget for fiscal year 2020 and the president had originally floated a $700 billion budget. The Hill
 
CIA taps 34-year agency veteran as first woman to lead its clandestine arm: The CIA has tapped Beth Kimber to lead its Directorate of Operations, making her the first woman to lead the agency's clandestine arm in its 70-year history. Kimber, a 34-year veteran of the agency, is currently the assistant director of Europe and Eurasia Mission Center. She also took on an additional role during CIA director Gina Haspel's transition, serving as acting deputy director of the CIA. In her new role, Kimber will lead the CIA's efforts to "strengthen national security and foreign policy objectives through the clandestine collection of human intelligence and by conducting Covert Action as directed by the President." CNN
 
FBI says the Proud Boys are not an extremist group: A high-ranking FBI agent told reporters that the Proud Boys group, which has made headlines for its part in violent clashes in Portland, Oregon and New York City, is not considered an extremist group, contradicting a report from a Washington state sheriff’s office that circulated in November. Special Agent in Charge Renn Cannon said during a discussion with Portland-area journalists that the FBI had not intended to designate the group as extremist during a slide show with the Clark County Sheriff’s Office. That office later released a report that said the FBI considers the group to have ties to white nationalism, an assertion to which the Proud Boys objected. The Proud Boys describe themselves as a “Western chauvinist” fraternal group that believes in ending welfare, closing the borders, and adhering to traditional gender roles. Washington Post
 

Satellite imagery shows Russian buildup near the border with Ukraine: Satellite imagery from Google Earth taken in November shows hundreds of Russian battle tanks at a new military base on the outskirts of the Kamensk-Shakhtinsky, only 18 kilometers away from the border with eastern Ukraine. Separate images obtained by Fox News on Saturday show three Russian Ilyushin -76 cargo planes at the Dzhankoi air base in Crimea. Ilushin-76 cargo planes are used typically used by the Russian Army to deliver heavy cargo unable to be carried on the ground, but they are also used for mobilizing large numbers of troops. Russia has been ramping up its forces near the border with Ukraine since August and now poses the greatest military threat since 2014, the year Moscow annexed Crimea, the commander of Ukraine’s armed forces told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.Defense Blog, Fox News
 
Rebel delegates at Yemen peace talks report some progress: Yemeni rebel delegates at talks underway in Sweden to try end their country’s civil war reported progress on Saturday on the key issues of reopening the Sanaa airport and the implementation of an agreement reached earlier this week on the exchange of prisoners. UN special envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, struck a positive note, saying in a brief statement that the two sides were demonstrating a “positive spirit” in the talks, held at a castle in the town of Rimbo, north of Stockholm. Washington Post
 
Ex-inmates say torture is rife in prisons run by Yemen rebels:  An Associated Press (AP) investigation has shed light on accusations of torture in Houthi detention sites. Interviewees told the AP that they had been smashed in their faces with batons, hung from chains by their wrists or genitals for weeks at a time, and scorched with acid. In total, the AP spoke with 23 people who said they survived or witnessed torture in Houthi detention sites, as well eight relatives of detainees, five lawyers and rights activists, and three security officers involved in prisoner swaps who said they saw marks of torture on inmates. The accounts underscore the significance of a prisoner-swap agreement reached Thursday at the start of UN-sponsored peace talks in Sweden between the Houthi rebels and the Yemeni government backed by Saudi Arabia and the United States. The Abductees’ Mothers Union, an association of female relatives of detainees jailed by the Houthis, has documented the stories of more than 18,000 detainees in the last four years, including 1,000 cases of torture in a network of secret prisons, according to Sabah Mohammed, a representative of the group in the city of Marib. Washington Post
 
U.S. airstrike outside Somalia’s capital kills four Al-Shabaab members: The U.S. military says it has killed four members of Al-Shabaab with a “self-defense airstrike” outside of Mogadishu after partner forces were attacked. The U.S. Africa Command statement says the airstrike occurred on Saturday near Basra. The statement says no civilians were involved. The U.S. military has carried out 39 airstrikes this year against Al-Shabaab. Associated Press
 

China summons U.S. envoy over Huawei CFO:  China’s Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng has summoned the U.S. Ambassador to China, Terry Branstad, in a protest over the arrest of Huawei Technologies Co. Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, and said it will take “further action” if needed.
Meng was arrested in Vancouver on December 1 on the orders of U.S. authorities for allegedly violating American sanctions on selling technology to Iran. Canada’s ambassador to China was summoned to the ministry on Saturday. The minister said U.S. actions have violated the “legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens and are extremely bad in nature,” according to a posting on the ministry website.Bloomberg
 
Meanwhile, Meng argued that she should be released on bail while awaiting an extradition hearing, citing her longstanding ties to Canada, properties she owns in Vancouver, and fears for her health while incarcerated. Reuters
Related:
Politico: Beijing Threatens Canada With ‘Grave Consequences For Hurting Feelings of Chinese People’
 
Sikh temple could build bridge between India and Pakistan: The Pakistani government has announced plans to open a border crossing directly across from a Sikh temple where where Guru Nanak Devji, a founder of Sikhism, spent the last decade of his life and passed away, nearly 550 years ago. The government also plans to build a connecting road, which it intends to open next November. Pakistani officials say they hope the announcement will help improve relations with India. For the past 70 years the temple has remained either closed or mostly empty.  Indian Sikh pilgrims who want to visit the temple on special occasions, such as anniversaries of Guru Nanak’s death, must obtain Pakistani visas, walk across the only official border opening, 75 miles away, and travel two hours by bus to reach the isolated temple. Many Pakistanis have expressed strong support for the border opening, saying they hoped it could ease the long-standing tensions that have kept two neighboring armies on alert and the specter of nuclear war hanging over the region. Washington Post
 
Trump wants South Korea to pay more for U.S. troop presence: President Trump reportedly wants South Korea to pay significantly more money for American troops stationed in South Korea, a demand that has snarled negotiations over a defense pact as the Seoul government resists.  The standoff puts a key American alliance under pressure at a time when the U.S. is pushing for the denuclearization of North Korea, and could weaken U.S. standing with Seoul as it pursues rapprochement with Pyongyang. The current agreement requires the Republic of Korea to pay about $830 million per year to the U.S. to host the more than 28,500 American troops based in South Korea, or about half of the estimated annual cost. Trump reportedly wants South Korea to pay as much as double the current amount, the equivalent of $1.6 billion per year for the next five years. Others familiar with the talks said Trump’s administration is pushing for 150% of the current deal, or about $1.2 billion. Wall Street Journal