1. Gina Haspel wants to withdraw from consideration to become the next CIA director. White House officials raised concerns that her role in the torture of suspected terrorists at a CIA black site in Thailand could derail her Senate confirmation hearing. Haspel oversaw a secret CIA detention facility in Thailand in late 2001, where at least one al-Qaeda suspect was waterboarded. Three years later, she was involved in the CIA's destruction of roughly 100 tapes of video recordings of the interrogations. Trump has decided to continue pushing for Haspel as the nominee, after he originally indicated that he would accept whatever decision was taken. (Washington Post)

  2. Rudy Giuliani said Trump would not be required to comply with a potential subpoena from Robert Mueller. "He’s the president of the United States," Giuliani said on Sunday. "We can assert the same privilege that other presidents have." Giuliani said Trump wants to testify but would only do so if Mueller's team treats him fairly. "It’s only prosecutable if they have some built-up, manipulated evidence," Giuliani said. (Politico)

  3. Giuliani said he is "focused on the law more than the facts right now," when it comes to Trump's legal situation. "Well, I have just on been on board couple of weeks," Giuliani said. He continued: "The whole situation of the $130,000 doesn't require an analysis of the facts because it wasn't intended as a campaign contribution. It was intended as a personal, embarrassing, harassing claim." (CNN)

  4. Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee plan to release a trove of 3,000 Russian-linked Facebook ads later this week. The release of the ads would offer a broad picture of how the social network was used by the pro-Russian Internet Research Agency during and after the 2016 presidential election. (Wall Street Journal)

  5. An interview with Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and her shipping magnate father has raised ethical questions about the appearance. Chao has appeared in at least a dozen interviews alongside her father, one of which features the pair sitting in what appears to be the Department of Transportation. Public officials are legally prohibited from using their office for any form of private gain for themselves or others. Experts say Chao's media appearances with her father may be a violation of that prohibition. (Politico)

  6. Trump's aides hired an Israeli spy firm to find incriminating material on diplomats in the Obama who helped negotiate the Iran nuclear deal. People inside the Trump administration reached out to investigators at an Israeli private intelligence agency last May to "get dirt" on Ben Rhodes, one of Obama's top national security advisers, and Colin Kahl, deputy assistant to Obama. The move was part of an elaborate scheme to discredit the Iran deal. (The Guardian)