Monday, Oct. 15

· President Donald Trump said he was dispatching Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to meet the Saudi king on the same day Turkish officials searched Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul searching for evidence in the case of disappeared journalist Jamal Khashoggi. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/saudis-to-allow-turkish-investigators-to-search-consulate/2018/10/15/4f1fd074-d000-11e8-a4db-184311d27129_story.html?_=2893478923748932&utm_term=.5f7da771fb3d&wpisrc=al_news__alert-world--alert-national&wpmk=1

· Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar proposed regulations that would require list prices of prescription drugs to be included in television advertisements. The draft rule must still go through a regulatory process before becoming final. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/tv-ads-for-drugs-will-send-patients-to-websites-with-pricing-information/2018/10/15/b74ac344-d090-11e8-b2d2-f397227b43f0_story.html?utm_term=.c898eea2d01d

· U.S. District Judge S. James Otero dismissed a lawsuit from adult-film actress Stormy Daniels that claimed President Trump defamed her when he suggested she had lied about being threatened to keep quiet about their alleged relationship. Her case against Trump and his former attorney, Michael Cohen, which seeks to invalidate her 2016 nondisclosure agreement, is still ongoing. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/judge-throws-out-stormy-danielss-lawsuit-against-trump/2018/10/15/402935e8-d0cc-11e8-b2d2-f397227b43f0_story.html?utm_term=.6093ef22271f&wpisrc=al_news__alert-politics--alert-national&wpmk=1

Tuesday, Oct. 16

· Trump said in a tweet: “The United States has strongly informed the President of Honduras that if the large Caravan of people heading to the U.S. is not stopped and brought back to Honduras, no more money or aid will be given to Honduras, effective immediately!”

· The Trump administration has selected Mary Mayhew, who served as Maine’s health commissioner for six years under Gov. Paul LePage and was the architect of Maine’s aggressive conservative reforms to the social safety net, to oversee the national Medicaid program. https://www.politico.com/story/2018/10/15/medicaid-head-lepage-mary-mayhew-901461?nname=playbook-pm&nid=0000015a-dd3e-d536-a37b-dd7fd8af0000&nrid=00000158-890d-dfd4-ad7b-c96fadf30001&nlid=964328

Wednesday, Oct. 17

· Trump said his administration has asked for any video or audio intelligence from Turkey’s investigation into the disappearance of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, who Turkey says was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. https://www.politico.com/story/2018/10/17/trump-wants-evidence-tape-khashoggi-911351?nname=playbook-pm&nid=0000015a-dd3e-d536-a37b-dd7fd8af0000&nrid=00000158-890d-dfd4-ad7b-c96fadf30001&nlid=964328

· Natalie Mayflower Sours Edwards, a senior adviser at the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network within the Treasury Department, was arrested on charges leaking bank records of Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, and accused Russian agent Maria Butina to a reporter. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-17/senior-fincen-adviser-charged-by-u-s-over-sars-disclosures

· ProPublica reported that its 8-month investigation with WNYC of Trump’s business dealings revealed that the Trumps were typically way more than mere licensors or bystanders in their deals. They were deeply involved in these projects, helped mislead investors and buyers and profited handsomely. https://features.propublica.org/trump-inc-podcast/trump-family-business-panama-city-khafif/

· Trump announced that he plans to withdraw from a 144-year-old postal treaty that has allowed Chinese companies to ship small packages to the United States at a steeply discounted rate. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/17/us/politics/trump-china-shipping.html

· The Washington Post reported that Border Patrol agents arrested 16,658 family members in September, the highest one-month total on record and an 80 percent increase from July. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/record-number-of-families-crossing-us-border-as-trump-threatens-new-crackdown/2018/10/17/fe422800-c73a-11e8-b2b5-79270f9cce17_story.html?utm_term=.a039abc48dfb&wpisrc=al_news__alert-politics--alert-national&wpmk=1

Thursday, Oct. 18

· Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin announced he will not participate in the upcoming Future Investment Initiative summit in Saudi Arabia, the first action of any kind by the Trump administration to rebuke that country over the presumed death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/treasury-secretary-steven-mnuchin-pulls-out-of-saudi-investment-conference/2018/10/18/6949007c-d2eb-11e8-8c22-fa2ef74bd6d6_story.html?utm_term=.e96ece43c207

· The U.S. downgraded the status of its main diplomatic mission to the Palestinians by placing it under the authority of the U.S. Embassy to Israel. https://apnews.com/d586cb33f7a1461e9ceae0915a101cbc

· The New York Times reported that the Heritage Foundation, a conservative legal group, has been running a closed-door “training academy” to train and influence law clerks who obtain clerkships with federal judges. A few hours after the online article was published, Heritage announced it was suspending the program. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/18/us/politics/heritage-foundation-clerks-judges-training.html

· The Department of Interior’s Inspector General’s Office released a report criticizing Secretary Ryan Zinke over his wife’s travel in government vehicles and changed department policy so family members could travel with him. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-administration-does-about-face-on-its-own-announcement-that-top-aide-at-hud-would-be-interiors-watchdog/2018/10/18/d90bbf7a-d2fb-11e8-8c22-fa2ef74bd6d6_story.html?utm_term=.8173e356bafd&wpisrc=al_news__alert-politics--alert-national&wpmk=1

Friday, Oct. 19

· Mnuchin has decided to take part in an anti-terrorism finance meeting with Saudi security officials and their Middle Eastern counterparts in Riyadh later this month, despite his decision yesterday to not attend a separate financial summit also in Riyadh. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/mnuchin-still-plans-to-attend-saudi-anti-terror-financing-meeting-in-wake-of-khashoggi-death/2018/10/19/9b5d76e4-d3a7-11e8-8c22-fa2ef74bd6d6_story.html?utm_term=.36a4d0f17197

· The Justice Department charged Elena Khusyaynova with taking part in a plot to interfere in the 2018 U.S. election by managing the finances of “Project Lakhta,” a foreign influence operation funded by Russian oligarch Yeveniy Viktorovich Prigozhin and two companies he controls. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/director-of-national-intelligence-warns-of-ongoing-campaigns-to-interfere-with-elections/2018/10/19/64973a7a-d3b4-11e8-b2d2-f397227b43f0_story.html?utm_term=.d434c13bbcbe&wpisrc=al_news__alert-politics--alert-national&wpmk=1

· Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Mexican officials in Mexico City trying to avert a caravan of migrants traveling through that country before it reaches the U.S. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/pompeo-meets-with-mexican-officials-as-a-migrant-caravan-inches-north/2018/10/19/721d0448-d31b-11e8-a4db-184311d27129_story.html?utm_term=.d62f681d4504

· Trump broke with U.S. intelligence agencies, and with lawmakers of both parties, by appearing to accept Saudi Arabia’s explanation that the journalist Jamal Khashoggi was accidentally killed during a fistfight, while the intelligence professionals are increasingly convinced that he was assassinated on high-level orders from the Saudi royal court. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/19/us/politics/trump-saudi-arabia-journalist-khashoggi.html

Saturday, Oct. 20

· In an interview with the Washington Post, Trump criticized Saudi Arabia’s explanation for the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, saying that “obviously there’s been deception, and there’s been lies.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/white-house-privately-doubts-saudi-account-of-journalists-death/2018/10/20/4c459c07-eceb-4600-91ea-95228128e7ec_story.html?utm_term=.6421cdd704e3

Sunday, Oct. 21

· The Wall Street Journal reported that a new WSJ/NBC News poll found that nearly two thirds of registered voters showed a high level of interest in the election, the highest level ever recorded in a midterm election since the poll began asking the question in 2006. https://www.wsj.com/articles/interest-in-midterms-surges-boosting-trump-approval-rating-1540126920?mod=hp_lead_pos2

· The New York Times reported that the Health and Human Services Administration is considering establishing a legal definition of sex under Title IX as a biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at birth in an effort to roll back protections of transgender people under federal civil rights law. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/21/us/politics/transgender-trump-administration-sex-definition.html