Today's Headlines and Commentary

Prosecutors on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s legal team said Monday that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort breached his plea deal by lying to repeatedly to the special counsel’s office in their 2016 election interference investigation, says the Washington Post. Manafort denies intentionally lying, but both sides agreed in a court filing that a sentencing date should be set immediately.

Anonymous sources have told the Guardian that Paul Manafort held secret talks with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2013, 2015, and 2016. Manafort and Assange deny the claims and Manafort’s lawyers have declined to speak with the Guardian on the matter.

A roadside bomb near Ghazi city in Afghanistan killed three U.S. soldiers and wounded three more soldiers and an American contractor, marking the worst loss of life for the United States in Afghanistan this year, reports the New York Times.

President Trump delivered a sharp rebuke to British Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit proposal on Monday, saying that it was a “great deal for the E.U.” and that it may hinder a free trade deal between the U.S. and Britain, says the Times.

In the wake of the border skirmish and use of tear gas in Tijuana, United Nations agencies reaffirmed their position that asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border have the right to safely seek asylum, says Reuters.

The U.S. military is considering extending the deployment of troops to the southern border past the original mid-December deadline, reports the Wall Street Journal. No formal orders have been issued yet.

Reviews of confidential UN documents and interviews with U.S. officials have revealed at least 40 ships and 130 companies that international authorities link to illegal trade with North Korea, says the Journal. The shipping schemes reportedly severely weaken the “maximum pressure” sanctions campaign that the U.S. and UN levied against the DPRK.

ICYMI: Yesterday on Lawfare

Benjamin Wittes flagged a new limited edition ‘Material Support’ shirt from the Lawfare store.

Emma Broches assessed the prospect for accountability for the Syrian conflict through both civil society and the United Nations.

Ned Price and Chuck Rosenberg explored the present relevance of congressional reforms implemented in the years after Nixon’s resignation.

Lyu Jinghua analyzed the Pentagon’s decision to choose a ‘defending forward’ strategy.

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