Today's Headlines and Commentary

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo listened in on the July 25 phone call between President Trump and President Zelensky of Ukraine, according to the Wall Street Journal. Pompeo said in a letter released Tuesday that State Department officials who are set to appear before the House Foreign Affairs Committee this week for depositions related to the House impeachment inquiry will not be made available until State “obtain[s] further clarity on these matters,” reports the Washington Post.

Attorney General William Barr has allegedly conducted private meetings with intelligence officials of other countries, according to the Washington Post. Barr sought their help with a Justice Department inquiry that President Trump hopes will discredit U.S. intelligence agencies’ examination of connections between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election.

The New York Times reports that, during a recent phone call, President Trump pushed the Australian prime minister to help Barr gather information for the Justice Department inquiry that Trump hoped would cast doubt over the Mueller investigation and its origins. The Times adds that the White House restricted access to a transcript of the call to a small group of aides, an unusual practice similar to the administration’s handling of the July call with the Ukrainian president.

The U.S. Treasury Department issued new sanctions against Russian businessman Yevgeniy Prigozhin, who U.S. officials say directed the Internet Research Agency campaign to interfere with the U.S. political system through social media disinformation and bots, according to the Wall Street Journal. These particular sanctions are in response to Prigozhin’s alleged interference in the 2018 midterm elections.

Syria and Iraq announced a mutual decision to open a border crossing between the two states which had been closed since 2012, reports the Post. During the ceremony commemorating the opening of the crossing, the Syrian interior minister said the move was made possible by victories by both states against armed terrorist organizations.

October 1 marks the 70th anniversary of the official formation of the People’s Republic of China. The BBC reports that celebrations were overshadowed by violent clashes between police and protestors in Hong Kong.

ICYMI: Yesterday on Lawfare

Jon E. Bies argued that Rudy Giuliani cannot apply attorney-client privilege or executive privilege to avoid congressional testimony.

Jacob Schulz posted a statement from the inspector general of the intelligence community that said the whistleblower form used by the Ukraine whistleblower was not recently altered.

Nele Achten discussed the debates from the first substantive meeting of the U.N. open-ended working group on international law in relation to cyberspace.

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