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Good morning. I'm James Holman from the Washington Post and this is the Daily 202

for Thursday October 18th. In today's news, vulnerable Republicans are trying to co-opt Democratic policy ideas as the midterms

near.

Bob Mueller's team pumps Paul Manafort for information on Roger Stone.

And President Trump is furious about rising border crossings.

But first, the big idea.

As the gruesome details of Jamal Koshoggi's alleged killing and dismemberment at the hands

of Saudi operatives trickled into the public domain this week, calls sounded in capitals across the globe for immediate retaliation to the apparent

human rights atrocity.

But President Trump has remained dogged about the bottom line.

In days of private phone calls and Oval Office huddles, Trump has repeatedly reached for

reasons to protect the U.S. Saudi relationship.

Several administration officials and presidential advisors

tell our White House reporters Bob Costa, Josh Dossian, Phil Rucker,

that Trump has stressed Saudi Arabia's huge investment in U.S. weaponry and expressed worry that it could

instead purchase arms from China or Russia. He's fretted about the oil-rich

desert kingdom cutting off its supply of petroleum to the US.

He's warned against losing a key partner

encountering Iran's influence in the Middle East.

He's argued that even if the US tried to isolate the Saudis,

...