Today's Headlines and Commentary

Responding to international outcry about fires raging in the Amazon rainforest, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro sent military planes to supplement fire-fighting missions in the Amazon state of Rondonia to try to combat the blaze, Reuters details.

Violence between police and protestors in Hong Kong reignited after two weeks of relative peace, The New York Times writes. Police fired a live round in the air, pointed pistols at protestors, fired off tear gas into crowds and deployed a water cannon against demonstrators. Some protestors threw bricks at officers and others, brandishing sticks, charged toward police. The police arrested 65 people throughout the weekend including a 12 year-old.

To the surprise of White House aids, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif arrived this Sunday at the G-7 summit in Biarritz, France, according to NBC News. Zarif received an eleventh-hour invitation from the French foreign minister, and U.S. officials expressed frustration at the lack of advanced notice or consultation they received about Zarif’s presence at the conference.

An Israeli military spokesperson claimed that the Isreali military successfully intervened to stop the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps from sending out “killer drones” from Syria to attack various targets in northern Israel, Reuters details.

ICYMI: Last Weekend on Lawfare

Bruce Schneier challenged the validity of a claim, recently made by Attorney General William Barr, about the limited scope of the back-door device access that the Department of Justice seeks from technology companies.

Richard English discussed the implications of Brexit for counterterrorism cooperation and attempted to quell fears that Britain’s departure for the European Union would entail danger for Britain’s existing CT partnerships.

Hilary Hurd explained the latest developments unfolding in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals regarding the protracted battle between two House committees and Donald Trump over the president’s financial records.

Erica Newland highlighted the key components of a new white paper written by her and her colleagues at Protect Democracy, which analyzes the ways in which the authors fear that Donald Trump will interfere in the 2020 election and proposes measures for Congress to take to combat any presidential efforts to manipulate the election.

Jen Patja Howell shared a Lawfare Podcast episode in which Benjamin Wittes sat down with Jessica Marsden, counsel for Protect Democracy, to dive deeper into the Protect Democracy white paper and to talk about what the organization sees as the challenges posed by President Trump to a free and fair election in 2020.

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