EU officials say there have been "promising signals" in Brexit talks

• Michel Barnier, the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, also said Friday that he had a "constructive meeting" with the U.K.'s Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay, continuing the positive language from Europe, per AP.

Yes, but: The U.K. is set to exit the EU on Oct. 31, so any hope for a deal is getting close to the wire. Johnson has promised to exit the EU "do or die" at the end of the month, indicating that he'd be willing to stomach the expected economic shock of a no-deal Brexit.

• Tusk acknowledged the time crunch in his remarks, saying, "Of course, there is no guarantee of success and the time is practically up — but even the slightest chance must be used. A no-deal Brexit will never be the choice of the EU."

The bottom line: There have been positive signals from both sides before as the U.K. approached its previously planned exit dates under former Prime Minister Theresa May. She was able to produce a fully negotiated withdrawal agreement that took months to hammer out — and it was soundly rejected on multiple occasions by Parliament.

• "So, in summary, there's a narrow pathway to a landing zone, which could give access to a tunnel, which would pass under a summit, but perhaps reach sunlit uplands rather than the last ditch before the cliff edge," astutely tweets the AFP's Dave Clark.

Go deeper: Northern Ireland's Brexit balancing act

• Guliani's business dealings with Ukraine are being investigated by federal prosecutors in the New York case against his associates. He's also at center of the impeachment inquiry for allegedly trying to press Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden over unsubstantiated corruption allegations.

What they're saying: Brian Benczkowski, the head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, and other top Justice Department officials met with Giuliani before the pair was charged to discuss a fraud case "in which he and other attorneys were representing the defendants," per the Times.

"When Mr. Benczkowski and fraud section lawyers met with Mr. Giuliani, they were not aware of any investigation of Mr. Giuliani’s associates in the Southern District of New York and would not have met with him had they known."

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What they're saying: According to a copy of the talking points obtained by Vox, the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs wrote that "Turkey’s military offensive is severely undermining counter-ISIS efforts, endangering innocent civilians, and threatening peace, security, and stability in the region."

• "Turkey does not appear to be mitigating the humanitarian impact of its invasion and occupation of some parts of northeast Syria," the cable adds. The U.S. has "called on Turkey to investigate possible violations of international humanitarian law, especially unlawful attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure."
• The talking points also note that the department has withdrawn humanitarian and stabilization assistance advisers from northern Syria, which will make it difficult to implement the $50 million aid that the U.S. plans to distribute, per Vox.

Meanwhile, Trump has brushed off concerns that ISIS fighters could take advantage of the chaos and escape prisons and detention camps. On Oct. 9, Trump said ISIS fighters would defect to Europe if they escaped.

• So far, at least 950 ISIS supporters have escaped camps for displaced people.
• On Oct. 16, the president said that "the Kurds are much safer right now. But the Kurds know how to fight, and as I said, they're not angels. They're not angels. ... I wish them all a lot of luck."

Of note: The State Department released the talking points before Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and agreed to a temporary ceasefire that would force Kurdish forces to evacuate the area.

• A State Department official told Vox the talking points have not been updated since the ceasefire.

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