Today's Headlines and Commentary

Following Tuesday’s Senate Intelligence Committee hearing in which U.S. intelligence leaders contradicted some foreign policy statements made by President Trump, Trump rejected their assessments, calling intelligence officials “passive and naive” and saying “Intelligence should go back to school!,” the New York Times reports.

Amid political uncertainty in Venezuela, Vice President Mike Pence hosted the new Chargé d’Affaires of the U.S.-recognized Venezuelan opposition government, reaffirming White House support for opposition leader Juan Guaidó’s claim to the presidency, according to McClatchey.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell proposed an amendment to Middle East policy legislation that would explicitly recognize the continuing threat of terrorist groups remaining in Syria, contradicting President Trump’s rationale behind his planned withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria, CNN details.

Two subunits of Chinese telecom giant Huawei are set to be arraigned in Seattle on Feb. 28, stemming from charges related to conspiring to steal trade secrets; these charges are separate from the Eastern District of New York’s Monday indictment of the conglomerate and its CFO, Reuters reports.

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) claimed that Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s financial ties to businessman Len Blavatnik—who stands to benefit from the Treasury Department’s removal of sanctions on Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska—could be a conflict of interest, according to the Times.

ICYMI: Yesterday on Lawfare

Matthew Waxman reflected on President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s 1955 authorization of force to defend Taiwan from Communist China.

Matthew Kahn shared the livestream of intelligence leaders’ testimony on global threats in front of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on Tuesday.

Stewart Baker shared a new episode of the Cyberlaw Podcast featuring a discussion on the right to be forgotten, an interview with author John Carlin on his book about Chinese cyber espionage and other topics.

Daphne Keller explored the murky realities of First Amendment rights on digital platforms for the most recent edition of the Aegis Paper series from the Hoover Institution.

Jen Patja Howell shared a new edition of the Lawfare Podcast featuring a discussion between Molly Reynolds and former House of Representatives general counsel Stan Brand on subpoena enforcement and congressional contempt.

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