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ECUADOR SINGING 'THANK U, NEXT?': Ecuadorian President Lenín Moreno on Thursday said "the road is clear" for Julian Assange to leave country's embassy in London, adding that he has been assured the WikiLeaks founder he would not face extradition to faces charges abroad.

The United Kingdom and Ecuador have been quietly discussing Assange's eventual departure from the embassy for months, The Associated Press reported.

"The road is clear for Mr. Assange to take the decision to leave," Moreno said during a radio show on Thursday, referencing a written assurance he had received from Britain, according to the AP.

Moreno added that Ecuador does not plan to force Assange out of the embassy, where he has been living since 2012. Assange fled to the embassy when U.K. courts ordered he be extradited to Sweden to be questioned in a sexual assault case, which has since been dropped.

WikiLeaks faces a U.S. grand jury investigation for publishing U.S. diplomatic and classified military information under Assange's leadership, and Assange has said that he is facing charges in the U.S.

The Department of Justice last month inadvertently revealed in an unsealed court filing that they have prepared charges against Assange, according to The Washington Post. The charges were disclosed in a filing in an unrelated case.

More on Assange here.

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TRUMP OFFICIAL KNEW IN ADVANCE OF HUAWEI EXEC'S ARREST: National security adviser John Bolton said Thursday he knew in advance about the arrest of a top executive of Chinese telecom giant Huawei, an incident that could reignite the trade dispute between the U.S. and China.

"I knew in advance. This is something that we get from the Justice Department. And these kinds of things happen with some frequency," Bolton said in an interview with NPR.

The White House later told The Hill that President Trump Donald John TrumpOmar fires back at Trump over rally remarks: 'This is my country' Pelosi: Trump hurrying to fill SCOTUS seat so he can repeal ObamaCare Trump mocks Biden appearance, mask use ahead of first debate MORE did not know in advance of Meng Wanzhou's impending arrest Saturday by authorities in Canada.

Background: Wanzhou is reportedly suspected of violating U.S. trade sanctions on Iran.

China has demanded the release of Meng, the chief financial officer and daughter of the founder of Huawei, the world's largest supplier of telecom equipment. She faces potential extradition to the U.S.

The company has become the target of some U.S. agencies over concerns it is too close to the Chinese government and is involved in activities like forced technology transfers and intellectual property theft.

Markets: The Dow dropped soon after its Thursday opening on fears of worsening U.S.-China trade tensions, fueled in part by the arrest. The Dow recovered though to close 79 points down.

More on the arrest here.

BACK TO THE SPOTLIGHT -- FOR BOTH OF THEM: Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon Stephen (Steve) Kevin BannonJuan Williams: Swamp creature at the White House Engineers say privately funded border wall is poorly constructed and set to fail: report Bannon and Maxwell cases display DOJ press strategy chutzpah MORE reportedly interviewed with the Senate Intelligence Committee last month about Cambridge Analytica.

The Daily Beast reported Thursday that Bannon, who helped found the since-shuttered data company, faced questions from investigators about the firm during a closed-door session.

Bannon and his attorney did not immediately return requests for comment.

A spokeswoman for Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr Richard Mauze BurrRep. Mark Walker says he's been contacted about Liberty University vacancy Overnight Defense: Trump rejects major cut to military health care | Senate report says Trump campaign's Russia contacts posed 'grave' threat Senate report describes closer ties between 2016 Trump campaign, Russia MORE (R-N.C.) declined to comment, and a spokeswoman for the committee's ranking member, Sen. Mark Warner Mark Robert WarnerIntelligence chief says Congress will get some in-person election security briefings Overnight Defense: Trump hosts Israel, UAE, Bahrain for historic signing l Air Force reveals it secretly built and flew new fighter jet l Coronavirus creates delay in Pentagon research for alternative to 'forever chemicals' House approves bill to secure internet-connected federal devices against cyber threats MORE (D-Va.), did not immediately return a request for comment.

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Bannon's attorney, William Burck, told The Hill earlier this year that the intelligence panel was seeking an interview with the former top White House aide as part of its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

"The Senate Intelligence Committee has expressed an interest in interviewing Mr. Bannon as a witness, just as they have many other people involved in the Trump campaign," Burck said in an email in October. "But the committee has never suggested that he's under investigation himself."

Cambridge Analytica came under fire after it was reported that the firm used improperly obtained Facebook user data to create models for clients, including the Trump campaign.

Read more here.

WHITE HOUSE TECH ROUNDTABLE: Google CEO Sundar Pichai and other tech executives visited the White House today for a roundtable on American innovation.

"We had a productive and engaging discussion at the White House today about America's leadership in emerging technologies," Pichai said in a statement. "At Google, we are proud to work together with government as we develop new and innovative services and continue to invest in the U.S. and the future of the American workforce. I look forward to continuing the conversation."

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Also attending the meeting were the CEOs of Microsoft, Qualcomm, Oracle, IBM and Blackstone. Those from outside the tech world who participated were Henry Kissinger, Ivanka Trump Ivana (Ivanka) Marie TrumpSpecial counsel investigating DeVos for potential Hatch Act violation: report Trump, Biden vie for Minnesota Trump luxury properties have charged US government .1M since inauguration: report MORE, Jared Kushner Jared Corey KushnerAbraham Accords: New hope for peace in Middle East Tenants in Kushner building file lawsuit alleging dangerous living conditions Trump hosts Israel, UAE, Bahrain for historic signing MORE, Robert Lighthizer Robert (Bob) Emmet LighthizerWhiskey, workers and friends caught in the trade dispute crossfire GOP senator warns quick vote on new NAFTA would be 'huge mistake' Pelosi casts doubt on USMCA deal in 2019 MORE and White House CTO Michael Kratsios.

Senior administration officials said on a call with reporters ahead of the meeting that the agenda would partly focus on the rollout of 5G networks and why beating China is a priority.

The meeting comes a week before Pichai will testify before the House Judiciary Committee about allegations of anti-conservative bias and Google's data collection practices.

WELL, THAT'S SOMETHING: The top consumer protection official at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is barred from handling cases involving more than 100 different companies due to conflicts of interest from his prior work as a private sector attorney, according to documents obtained by the consumer group, Public Citizen.

Andrew Smith, who was tapped as the chief of the FTC's Consumer Protection Bureau in May, listed 120 conflicts on a financial disclosure form that Public Citizen released on Thursday. Among them are Facebook, Equifax and Uber, all of which are either under investigation by the FTC or operating under consent agreements with the agency.

"Even in an administration full of unprecedented conflicts of interests, Mr. Smith's conflicts stand out from the pack," Lisa Gilbert, Public Citizen's vice president of legislative affairs, said in a statement.

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"The Federal Trade Commission should be protecting consumers against predatory payday lenders and corporate bad actors rather than giving the corporate lawyer who has represented these companies a job. This is one more example of the fox guarding the henhouse," Gilbert added.

Smith's hiring caused an early rift among the new slate of FTC commissioners confirmed this year, with the two Democrats voting against his appointment in a 3-2 party-line vote. Rohit Chopra, a Democrat on the commission, said his private sector work would hamper his ability to oversee the bureau's operations.

Read more here.

TURNING UP THE HEAT ON A MAJOR MERGER DEAL: Judges on a federal appeals court on Thursday grilled the Department of Justice (DOJ) over its challenge to a lower court decision blessing the AT&T-Time Warner merger.

The government is seeking to block the $85 billion dollar deal but faces a high burden in the appeals process and took tough questions from the judicial panel.

"This is a merger that will shape the industry for decades to come," Michael Murray, the DOJ's lawyer, said during his oral argument before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

It was unclear from the tough questioning where the judges will land in their consideration of the appeal. The questioning centered on the economic model that the government relied on in court earlier this year and the trial judge's interpretation of it in his decision to approve the merger unconditionally.

In a brief filed to the appeals court in August, the DOJ argued that D.C. District Judge Richard Leon ignored "fundamental principles of economics and common sense" in blessing the deal.

The landmark case marks the first time that an administration has gone to court to block a vertical merger since the Nixon era. The DOJ and other critics say that the deal would give AT&T and its television-provider subsidiaries unfair leverage over competitors negotiating to distribute Time Warner content.

More here.

GOING PUBLIC? Lyft has confidentially filed for an initial public offering (IPO), pulling out ahead of its ride-sharing competitor Uber in the race to go public.

Lyft announced in a statement Thursday that it has not yet decided how many shares will be offered or how far the price will range, but that it has submitted early documentation for the IPO.

Ride-sharing services have drawn billions of venture capital dollars, but have yet to be tested in a wider investor market.

Uber is trying to get an IPO in the first half of 2019, people familiar with the matter have told Bloomberg. Lyft is aiming to lead an IPO in the same timeframe, people familiar with the matter told the outlet in October.

The banks working with Lyft – JPMorgan Chase & Co., Credit Suisse Group AG, and Jeffries Financial Group Inc. – have valued the company from $18 billion to $30 billion, sources told Bloomberg.

More on the company's plans here.

AN OP-ED TO CHEW ON: The United States needs better quantum science as a national policy.

A LIGHTER CLICK: Tis the season.

NOTABLE LINKS FROM AROUND THE WEB:

Arrest shakes Huawei as global skepticism of its business grows. (The New York Times)

What Washington Post employees actually think about Amazon. (Huffington Post)

Microsoft pushes urgency of regulating facial-recognition technology. (The Wall Street Journal)

Tumblr's porn ban reveals who controls what we see online. (Wired)