Today's Headlines and Commentary

Just before dawn on Monday, six bullets were fired from a moving car at the U.S. embassy in Turkey, though no one was hurt, the AP reports. Turkish officials swiftly condemned the shooting, and Turkish police and intelligence units are investigating the incident in tandem with American embassy officials. Turkey’s state-run Andalou news agency announced that Turkish authorities have detained one person in relation to the attack, Reuters adds. The incident comes amidst heightened tensions between the U.S. and Turkey, as the NATO allies remain locked in disputes over both tariffs and the Turkish government’s detention of American pastor Andrew Brunson.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced a conditional plan for a three-month ceasefire with the Taliban on Sunday, the Wall Street Journal reports. The plan calls for a truce between the Taliban and Afghan security forces starting on Monday with the beginning of the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha, and continuing through the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday on Nov. 19. Ghani, with the support of the U.S., has also tried to revive negotiations aimed at resolving the 17-year war. The Afghan president’s olive branch follows a particularly devastating period of fighting throughout the country, during which the Taliban killed 325 soldiers, police officers, and civilians.

The jury in former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort’s trial began its third day of deliberations, the Washington Post reports. Last week, the jury requested guidance from Judge T.S. Ellis III on some of the legal elements of the case raised by Manafort’s defense team.

On Monday morning, President Trump claimed that the special counsel investigation is “looking to impact” the midterm elections, Politico reports. Trump’s claim, and his labeling of the Mueller investigation as a “national disgrace,” comes in the wake of New York Times reporting that White House Counsel Don McGahn has provided 30 hours of interviews to the office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller—and that the president’s legal team does not know how much information McGahn shared with Mueller’s team. The president offered no evidence to support his accusation that the investigation seeks to impact the outcome of the November elections.

Iran urged European powers, China, and Russia to accelerate their efforts to save the Iran nuclear deal, Reuters reports. Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia have pledged to do more to encourage their companies to maintain business ties with Iran, even as the French oil company Total has officially withdrawn from a major gas project in the country. Businesses have grown wary of continued engagement with Iran in the wake of further U.S. sanctions and Washington’s declaration that any company that continues to engage with Iran will not be permitted to do business in the United States.

Former CIA Director John Brennan indicated that he may pursue legal action against President Trump in response to the president’s decision to revoke Brennan’s security clearance, Politico reports. A number of lawyers have contacted Brennan with advice on how best to submit a complaint or file for an injunction to bar Trump from revoking other former senior officials’ security clearances in the future.

Federal authorities investigating Michael Cohen, the president’s former personal lawyer, for tax and bank fraud related to over $20 million in loans obtained by taxi businesses that Cohen and his family own, the New York Times reports. Investigators are working to determine whether Cohen misrepresented the total value of his assets in order to obtain the loans. The Times indicates that any plea deal offered to Cohen would likely involve a requirement that Cohen share information with the special counsel.

The Washington Post documents the evolving, entrenched fight to silence ISIS’s propaganda machine.

ICYMI: Last Weekend on Lawfare

Quinta Jurecic and Benjamin Wittes examined that the special counsel’s sentencing memo in the Papadopoulos case.

Bob Bauer responded to the Times’ reporting on McGahn’s cooperation with Mueller, noting that the story leaves unclear the obligations and role of the White House counsel when asked by a special prosecutor to provide information pertinent to an ongoing criminal investigation.

Sarah Grant dissected military commissions judge Col. James Pohl’s latest ruling in the case against the alleged perpetrators of the attacks on 9/11.

Rhiannon Smith and Jason Pack warned that Libya’s upcoming elections could exacerbate violence rather than help resolve it.

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