Overnight Defense: Trump steps up fight with California over guard deployment | Heitkamp is first Dem to back Pompeo for State | Dems question legality of Syria strikes

Happy Thursday and welcome to Overnight Defense. I’m Ellen Mitchell, and here’s your nightly guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond.

 

THE TOPLINE: President Trump lashed out at California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) on Thursday, accusing Brown of sending his state’s National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border “to do nothing” and insisting that the federal government would not pay for the deployment.

“Governor Jerry Brown announced he will deploy ‘up to 400 National Guard Troops’ to do nothing,” Trump tweeted. “The crime rate in California is high enough, and the Federal Government will not be paying for Governor Brown’s charade. We need border security and action, not words!”

 

The background: Brown last week said he would accept federal funding to add 400 California Guardsmen, but insisted the troops not be used for immigration enforcement.

Defense and Customs and Border Patrol officials were hopeful Monday that those troops could instead be used in a later phase of the border mission and that talks between the state and federal government were ongoing. 

But talks seemed to have gone well after Brown said Wednesday night that the Trump administration agreed to fund the deployment of the potentially 400 guardsmen – focused specifically on combating criminal gangs, human trafficking and drug and gun crimes along the border, the California coast and within the state.

 

Hold on. Nothing has changed, governor says: In response to Trump’s tweet, the California Guard on Thursday afternoon wrote on Twitter that they had received “written confirmation from the Pentagon that it’ll continue to fund” the California Guard mission and personnel mobilized to combat transnational crime consistent with the order issued by Brown.

 

HEITKAMP FIRST DEM TO BACK POMPEO: Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) said Thursday that she will support  Trump’s nomination of CIA Director Mike Pompeo as secretary of State, becoming the first Senate Democrat to announce back him.

“The role of the State Department is to support our diplomatic missions to avoid conflict, support American interests, and stand up for our allies, and having a leadership team in place is essential to carrying out those jobs,” she said in a statement.

 

What it means: Heitkamp’s backing virtually guarantees Pomepeo will win confirmation.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) opposes Pompeo’s nomination and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has been absent, leaving Republicans with a maximum of 49 votes for his confirmation. Heitkamp’s vote would get them to 50, the simple majority needed to be confirmed.  

 

Why she backed him: Heitkamp was one of 15 Democrats, including Independent Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who supported Pompeo’s nomination last year to be secretary of State.

This fall she faces a difficult reelection race in a state Trump won by double-digits. Support for Pompeo could win her points from more conservative voters. 

Heitkamp on Thursday said that she decided to vote for Pompeo because he showed that he is “committed to empowering” State Department diplomats after the agency’s morale took a hit under former secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Tillerson tried to restructure and cut staffing at the department, moves unpopular with State employees.

 

TOP DEMS DEMANDS ANSWERS ON LEGALITY OF SYRIA STRIKES: Sen. Tim Kaine (Va.) and House Intelligence Committee ranking member Adam Schiff (Calif.) sent a letter to Trump Thursday demanding he give the legal justification used to carry out the strikes last week on three Syrian chemical weapons facilities.

Trump provided a letter to Congress on Sunday that stated he ordered the strikes under Article II, the president’s constitutional authority to use military force to protect the national interest from immediate threats.

“This is not sufficient information for the American public to understand what limits, if any, you and your Administration believes constrains you as the President from taking military action anywhere in the world for any purpose,” Schiff and Kaine contend.

 

What they want: Schiff and Kaine’s want “a full legal justification for strikes under domestic and international law to the Congress or the American people.”

They also urged Trump to release a memo created by his administration that lays out the legality of the 2017 Syrian airbase strike.

“We are highly dismayed that despite our repeated requests, the Administration has refused to make it available to Congress,” the two write, referring to the memo.

“This lengthy, largely unclassified memo and any additional legal analysis underpinning the 2018 strikes must be provided to Congress immediately.”

 

Syria could still launch another chemical attack: The legality of the strikes seems all the more pressing as Pentagon official on Thursday said the Syrian government still has limited ability to launch a future chemical weapons attack.

Joint Staff Director Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie told reporters the government of President Bashar Assad retains “a residual capability” to conduct an attack, “probably spread throughout the country at a variety of sites.”

“They will have the ability to conduct limited attacks in the future. I would not rule that out. However, as they contemplate the dynamics of conducting those attacks, they’ve got to look over their shoulder and be worried that we’re looking at them and we’ll have the ability to strike them again should it be necessary,” McKenzie added.

 

TRUMP’S CYBER WAR STRATEGY: President Trump sent Congress a long-awaited report on U.S. policy for deterring and responding to attacks in cyberspace. Lawmakers from both parties have been pressing the administration for a comprehensive cyber strategy for several months.

 

What we know. The policy was sent to the House and Senate committees with oversight of the departments of State, Homeland Security, Defense and Justice, according to a letter released Thursday by the White House.

 

But no public details. The text of the letter sent Thursday contains no clues about the actual contents of the report. An aide to the Senate Armed Services Committee told The Hill that the document is classified.

 

ON TAP FOR TOMORROW

Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson will speak on increasing the service’s lethality at 10 a.m. at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C.

 

ICYMI:

— The Hill: Following US strikes in Syria, Israel concerned by new Russian weapons

— The Hill: Navy, Marines chiefs say no morale issues with transgender troops

— The Hill: Mnuchin on Haley’s Russia sanctions comments: ‘She wasn’t left twisting in the wind’

— The Hill: South Korea: North Korea ‘expressing a will for complete denuclearization’

— The Hill: Pompeo, Kim discussed 3 US citizens held in North Korea: report

— Defense News: US Army stops accepting AH-64E helicopters from Boeing in ‘critical safety’ row