NEWS SUMMARY INTELLIGENCE REPORT WEDNESDAY 2/13/2019

(EDITING, UPDATES, ADDITIONS ETC. POSSIBLE UNTIL 645 AM EASTERN)

President Trump praising the work of Senator Richard Shelby, Republican of Alabama, in reaching a deal for funding a barrier on the nation's southern border.

No firm commitment from the President on signing a bill expected to reach him by the coming weekend, but the President says he is reviewing the deal tweeting that it "will be hooked up with lots of money from other sources".

He was arrested in Mexico just over two years ago, escaped from prison there twice, then extradited to the United States last year and now Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman found guilty of ten federal charges in New York Tuesday.

Guzman, guilty of distribution of heroin and cocaine, possession of firearms and money laundering.

He may face life in prison after his conviction on all ten charges against him.

Guzman was accused of being the leader of a major drug cartel in Mexico that distributed in the US.

The leader of the "New Right" Party in Israel, Naftali Bennett, says that religious Israelis are used by Benjamin Netanyahu at election time, but then he abandons them afterwards.

Bennett, Education Minister in the current government, is appealing to both secular and religious Israelis on the Right to support the new party that he and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked have formed to contest the April 9th General Election.

Bennett says the "New Right" Party will not participate in the creation of a Palestinian state expected in President Trump's "Deal of the Century" peace plan to be rolled out after the election saying:

"We will not enter government supporting a Palestinian state"

Israel's Channel 13 has reported that 90 percent of Judea and Samaria, commonly called the "West Bank", will be given to Palestinians to form a state.   The US has said the news report was not accurate.

Later this month President Trump's envoy working on the deal will join another major player, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, on a tour of at least five wealthy Arab countries including Saudi Arabia to work out financial details of the "Deal of the Century".

On Tuesday, Russian's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the "Deal of the Century":

"would destroy everything that's been done so far"

Lavrov was meeting with Palestinians in Moscow.

The messaging and the message from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, now acting as Defense Minister in the election period remains focused on Iran.

On Tuesday he said:

"We act against Iran every day, including yesterday"

An attack on the Golan Heights in Syria Monday reportedly killed two Iranian officers.

A female Air Force officer who led the Viper demonstration team for the last month is relieved of duty.

Captain Zoe Kotnik losing her position due to a:

"loss of confidence in her ability to lead and command"

The Battle of Brexit.

Prime Minister Theresa May backing down from plans for "meaningful votes" on Brexit this week saying she needs more time to talk with European Union leaders about her plan.

Opposition Leader Jeremy Corbyn accusing May of running the clock down to the March 29th deadline for Brexit to blackmail Parliament into accepting her plan, which he called "deeply flawed".

"Mr. Brexit" Nigel Farage spoke on his radio show Tuesday evening saying:

"That is what she's doing.  She is running down the clock and she's going to say ultimately at the end 'Look I've got these concessions, vote for this if you don't you won't be honoring Brexit.  If you don't vote for this we'll probably have to extend the date and it will be your fault, not my fault'".

From France, there was a vote in the National Assembly this week to force display of the European flag in schools alongside the French flag and words from France's national anthem.

Meanwhile, President Emmanuel Macron spoke with Italy's President Sergio Mattarella.  Macron is the head of state plus head of government in France while Mattarella serves as the symbolic head of state in Italy.

Macron reaching out to an Italian leader from the "mainstream parties" amid his disputes with the  outsider governing parties in Italy who have fought him on migration and over the Yellow Vests protests.

In Venezuela, Interim President Juan Guaido says humanitarian aid will be arrive next week even though the Maduro government opposes it.

Guaido spoke to a rally in Caracas also saying that Nicolas Maduro, "the usurper", has to leave.

He added that 300,000 Venezuelans will die if the aid does not come in with the health of two million others at risk.

The date set for arrival of the aid in the country is next Saturday, February 23rd.

Multiple sources at the Vatican say that former Cardinal and Washington DC archbishop Theodore McCarrick will be defrocked.

McCarrick was removed from public ministry last summer following multiple allegations of sexual abuse and sexual harassment.

The final decision is expected after a meeting next week in Vatican City.

From Indonesia an Instagram account has been removed that published cartoons about the struggles of gay people in the predominately Muslim country.    The cartoons presented the idea that people can be Muslim and gay.   They also depicted harassment and discrimination.

The Ministry of Communications deemed the account pornographic and wrote a warning letter to Instagram.

Congressman Walter Jones, Republican of North Carolina , died Tuesday at the age of 76.   Jones was a champion of the families of 9/11 victims, fighting for declassification of a 28-page chapter of the Joint Congressional Inquiry into the terrorist attack.

That chapter revealed how members of the Saudi monarchy were supporters of the Al-Qaeda terrorists who perpetrated the 9/11/ attack.  It was finally made public in 2016 over the objections of then President Barack Obama.

And that's the way it really is this Wednesday morning February 13th, 2019.