1/ Trump intends to sign the bipartisan border security deal and avoid another partial government shutdown. Trump said he was “not happy� with the deal and suggested that he’d find “other methods� for financing his border wall without congressional approval by “moving things around� in the budget from “far less important areas.� The agreement includes $1.375 billion for 55 miles of physical border barriers – short of the $5.7 billion Trump wanted for his wall – and is less than the $1.6 billion included in a Senate package last year. Republicans and administration officials, meanwhile, have signaled that Trump will sign the measure and then immediately use his executive authority to redirect federal money to fund the additional border barriers. The agreement must be signed into law in both chambers of Congress and signed by Trump before the end of the week in order to avoid another shutdown. (CNN / Bloomberg / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC)

2/ Paul Manafort and Rick Gates met with a Russian political operative in August 2016. Prosecutors believe that Manafort and Konstantin Kilimnik may have exchanged key information relevant to Russia and Trump’s presidential bid, including a proposed resolution to the conflict over Ukraine and Manafort sharing internal polling data from Trump’s presidential campaign to the Russian associate. (Washington Post)

📌 Day 753: Robert Mueller’s lead prosecutors disclosed that the special counsel is continuing to pursue collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia based on the conversations between Paul Manafort and Konstantin Kilimnik, who allegedly is linked to Russian intelligence. Prosecutors have been focused on discussions the two had about a “peace plan� to end the conflict following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea in 2014. The two repeatedly communicated about the plan for Ukraine starting in early August 2016, while Manafort was still running Trump’s campaign, and continuing into 2018 – months after Manafort had been charged by Mueller’s office related to his work in the country. (New York Times)

📌 Day 750: Mueller’s team accused Paul Manafort of lying to them about “an extremely sensitive issue� in hopes of increasing “his chances for a pardon.� Prosecutors allege that Manafort worked on Ukrainian political matters from August 2016 to December 2018 – after his first indictment by the special counsel in 2017 – and that he tried to avoid providing informatio...