President Trump will give remarks regarding tax cuts for American workers. Anticipated start time 1:45pm EST
UPDATE: Video Added
WH Livestream Link – RSBN Livestream Link – PBS Livestream Link
Monthly Archives: April 2018
War & Markets – The Pre-Russian Revolution
Armstrong Economics Blog/War
Re-Posted Apr 12, 2018 by Martin Armstrong
QUESTION: Marty; You so casually mentioned that Britain closed the share market during World War I and that such a risk exists in Europe. Can you elaborate on this at all?
Thank you for all you contribute to society
OD
ANSWER: The entire period leading into World War I was a period of extreme socialism. This is when the world was enamored with Karl Marx. That lasted until the Russian Revolution in 1917 and the murder of the Czar and his family. The Romanov family were shot, bayoneted and clubbed to death in Yekaterinburg on the night of 16-17 July 1918. This demonstrated the hatred that Karl Marx unleashed upon the entire world. Only then did people in the West begin to look at this Marxist rebellion as something serious rather than a fashionable liberal change of mind.
Most people are ignorant about how the world economy functions no less its history. They assume that today this is a “Global Market” for the first time in history. That notion is completely wrong. Prior to World War I, the world economy was open and global. It was this openness of global financial markets prior to the war that led to the closure of stock markets. Europe will do the same so beware. It is important to understand what took place because history will REPEAT going forward in Europe.
Before World War I, financial capital was free to move from one country to another without exchange controls. All the major countries of the world were on the Gold Standard. People assume this meant that money was real and stable. That is just propaganda for the world currency markets were still arbitraged despite the gold standard. The differences in exchange rates were arbitraged back then through the buying and selling of international bonds that were listed on the world’s stock exchanges. Russia would issue a bond that was then listed on the St. Petersburg stock exchange as well as the major world stock exchanges in London, New York, Paris, Berlin, and Amsterdam. Differences in exchange rates between countries were arbitraged according to the shifts in CONFIDENCE with respect to nations by buying and selling bonds in different markets. In reality, this made European stock exchanges a single, integrated market which they claim they are trying to accomplish today with the Euro
To the shock of most people, even back in 1914, currency flowed between countries with lightning speed thanks to the telegraph and international banking. Even during the Napoleonic wars, money moved, but it was slower in that physical metal and coin needed to be transported by ship or train from one country to another. By 1914, the Transatlantic cable stretched across the ocean connecting North America and Europe. This reduced the communication from 10 days to 17 hours with the first communication taking place on August 16th, 1858. By the Roaring ’20s Bull Market, stockbrokers were on ships so you could trade while traveling between New York and Europe.
Therefore, arbitrage kept the currencies in check through the bond markets predicated upon CONFIDENCE. Because traders throughout the world could sell bonds and shares instantly, this is why the European governments shut down the markets. This was the check and balance based upon CONFIDENCE in their governments. On July 31st, 1914, the New York Stock Exchange closed its doors for the longest period in exchange history due to the political pressure for fear that European bonds would be sold there. The New York Stock Exchange remained closed until November 28th, 1914, when bonds began trading once again. Here is a chart of the bonds listed on the NYSE that crashed during the Sovereign Debt Crisis of 1931. That was the end of the formal bond arbitrage.
Europe feared massive selling and foreign investors would try to repatriate their money which would aid an enemy. Effectively, the free markets shut down and this was a political directive. In London at that time, individual trades were made on a daily basis, then carried until Settlement Day when trades were matched and crossed. Brokers would make up the surplus or deficit on their accounts by settling outstanding trades with cash. As long as there were no significant swings in stock or bond prices, brokers had sufficient capital to settle their accounts. However, since traders relied on credit, large swings in prices could and would bankrupt many of the brokers, worsening the financial panic. This was one more concern that the brokers themselves had fearing volatility and thus supported the closures during World War I. Trading became a black market off exchange.
We have the largest database ever constructed when it comes to the global economy. Research has been carried out with one simple rule – let’s see what happened. Instead of beginning with a predetermined theory, we approached the global financial history with a view to learning how it worked rather than trying to prove a point. Markets speak to us when we listen. They show the trend and are not arbitrary. We have all been connected globally for a very long time. Capital has moved around the world based on fear and opportunity from ancient times.
At this year’s WEC. we will be also looking at how the markets speak to us and what are they saying this time about the years just ahead. Here is a chart of the Russian share market where we have created an index to expose how capital functioned and behaved going into the Russia Revolution. There was a period of two years with compressed consolidation following the 1911 high in Russia just prior to the move with the second attempt at a Russian Revolution. The market always reveals what is to come.
President Trump Signs Law to Target On-Line Sex Trafficking…
H.R. 1865, the “Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017,” which makes it a Federal crime to own, manage, or operate a website with the intent to promote or facilitate prostitution. [Summary Details]
[Transcript] 11:08 A.M. EDT – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much for being with us today as we sign this crucial legislation to combat online sex trafficking and bring criminals to justice.
And the people behind me have been working on this long and hard. That’s political, as well as some of our great citizens. And we appreciate it.
I want to thank House Majority Leader McCarthy. Kevin, thank you very much. Senator Portman. Senator Portman? Thank you very much, Senator. I know you two have really been working along with Congresswoman Wagner, Congresswoman Walters — thank you very much; great job — and all of the members from both parties who worked tirelessly to pass the Fight of the Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017. So we have an official name: Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act.
REPRESENTATIVE WAGNER: FOSTA.
THE PRESIDENT: Sounds good, right?
REPRESENTATIVE WAGNER: FOSTA. (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: You, did you work hard. (Laughter.) I also want to thank Governor Kenneth Mapp of Michigan [the U.S. Virgin Islands]. And we have — where’s Kenneth? Kenneth.
GOVERNOR MAPP: Right here.
THE PRESIDENT: Hi, Kenneth.
GOVERNOR MAPP: How are you doing, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: We got you all straightened out on that beautiful island, right? (Laughter.)
GOVERNOR MAPP: Yes, thank you so much.
THE PRESIDENT: Governor Kenneth Mapp and Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, who has been so great in so many ways. And good luck with your race.
SCHUETTE: Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: And I think Dick Blumenthal is here. I saw Dick. So thank you very much for coming. I appreciate it very much.
SENATOR BLUMENTHAL: Thank you, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: And the rest of the people are much more important because they’re not politicians. Right? (Laughter.) And, Bill — Bill Schuette, thank you very much. We appreciate it.
Most importantly, I want to thank the survivors and families who join us today. I’m signing this bill in your honor. And we are all together — politicians, both Republican and Democrat — signing this and representing this to you in your honor. So thank you all very much. We very much appreciate it. You’re very brave. (Applause.)
You’ve endured what no person on Earth should ever have to endure, and we are going to do everything in our power to make sure that traffickers are brought to a swift and firm justice. And I’ve heard statistics where trafficking in the world is more now than it ever has been ever in the history of the world. And you wouldn’t believe that with, you know, modern-day everything. But they use modern-day better than law enforcement can use modern-day, whether it’s the Internet or anything else. And you wouldn’t believe that. But trafficking, it’s probably worse today than at any time in history.
So I want to thank you for your courage, and thank you for helping survivors across our country. And you are not alone. You are not alone. And this is a very important day. If we work together, we can get the criminal traffickers off our streets and off of the Internet. We can bring safety and hope to every community across the country, and we can create a culture that respects the dignity of every child of God.
So I just want to thank everybody for being here. And I think what we’ll do is I’d love to have a few of you make statements. Kevin, maybe we start with you.
MAJORITY LEADER MCCARTHY: Well, first I want to thank you. And I want to thank all the survivors. We would not be here today if it wasn’t for your courage. And the difference that this is already making — we’ve tried for 10 years to get this bill through. You just achieved something we haven’t been able to do because, of the hundreds of thousands of children who are trafficked, 70 percent of them are online. And because of what you’re doing today, that’s already shut down. Eighty-seven percent of that is already shut down.
THE PRESIDENT: That’s fantastic.
MAJORITY LEADER MCCARTHY: You are saving lives.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Kevin. That’s so nice. And I have to give credit to Ivanka Trump. She’s here someplace. (Applause.) She’s been a great representative, I will say.
MAJORITY LEADER MCCARTHY: At the very beginning of your administration, she put a meeting together of all of us over there — the start of making this happen.
THE PRESIDENT: That’s true. Thank you, Ivanka, very much.
Rob, would you like to say something?
SENATOR PORTMAN: Mr. President, you’re correct about Ivanka. (Laughter.) Early on, she sent some personal tweets out which were very helpful to us, at a time when, to be frank, many people thought we couldn’t get here. There were people who believed that this was not the appropriate way to go, and we instead persevered, with the help of all these survivors with us today.
They kept saying, “You know, it’s unbelievable” — as you just said — “that trafficking could be increasing in this country, in this century.” And yet, it has been. And all the experts say it’s because of the Internet. So we had to deal with this issue.
And there was a federal law, unbelievably, that actually gave these websites immunity, that shielded them from prosecution or from these victims and survivors you see here being able to have their day in court. And so, they persevered.
And by signing this today, Mr. President, you will make a huge difference in the lives of so many women, girls, boys going forward. And I want to thank you for that and, again, thank the survivors who are here because they’re the ones who led this fight.
THE PRESIDENT: That’s true. That’s so true.
Dick?
SENATOR BLUMENTHAL: I want to thank my partner, Rob Portman. It was really a partnership in the Senate, and the bipartisanship on this issue really can provide a model for the country of how we can work together and do anything if we are together.
And I just want to add my thanks to the survivors. I’ve been working on this issue for more than a decade. And they said it literally couldn’t be done because we couldn’t overcome the power and the wealth of the folks who had a vested interest in that statute that was protecting the online traffickers. But with your help, your courage, your strength, we did it. Thank you.
MAJORITY LEADER MCCARTHY: Mr. President, it was Ann and Mimi who put this bill together to make it get to your desk, too.
THE PRESIDENT: Good. Well, say something. (Laughter.)
REPRESENTATIVE WALTERS: First of all, thank you to all the survivors. You have a lot of courage. It’s difficult to come forward, and we couldn’t have done this without you.
I come from Orange County, California, and last year there was a sex trafficking ring that was uncovered. As you said, didn’t know it could happen in my backyard, and it is everywhere. And I became much more involved once I found out what had happened. So I am so honored to be here today. I’m so glad that we’re now going to hold those accountable who are hurting people.
THE PRESIDENT: Really great work. We appreciate it.
REPRESENTATIVE WAGNER: H.R. 1865, Mr. President, FOSTA.
THE PRESIDENT: That’s right.
REPRESENTATIVE WAGNER: We are so excited. And this is landmark legislation that is truly, as the Leader said, going to save lives, and it already is. I received a text message from the Manhattan DA last night that said we have already shut down 87 percent — 87 percent — of the online sex trafficking ads out there. And we’re after the remaining 13 percent.
It’s amazing what this is going to do to give prosecutors, the Department of Justice, state and local district attorneys the ability to go after and shut down these websites and put people behind bars, give victims the justice they deserve, and to actually go to the heart of the Communications Decency Act and make sure that the courts know, that the public knows, that survivors know that it was never Congress’s intention, through CDA, to make a red-light district out of the Internet. If it’s a crime offline, it’s a crime online. And we are grateful to your leadership, Mr. President, and to Ivanka who has really led the charge in helping us bring this together.
THE PRESIDENT: Great job. Thank you very much. And I didn’t know you were going to be here. You have to say — you have been so good to us. (Laughter.) I didn’t know she was going to be here. Now I’m happy.
REPRESENTATIVE FOX: Well, I just want to say, Mr. President, that we have the Center for Missing and Exploited Children in the jurisdiction of the Education Workforce Committee, and we want to highlight that too. Just as Congresswoman Wagner has talked about what’s been happening, there is a resource there of the federal government, and we want people to go to that and to pay attention to it and use the center when necessary.
But hopefully, of course, we’d like to see that be able to go away because we wouldn’t have exploited children.
THE PRESIDENT: Right. That would be nice.
REPRESENTATIVE FOX: Thank you, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much.
MAZZIO: So, Mr. President, we have a survivor. This is M.A. She was the first person to sue Backpage in 2010 and she elbowed me and would like to say something.
REPRESENTATIVE WAGNER: From Ferguson, Missouri.
THE PRESIDENT: Absolutely.
M.A.: I am not a survivor. I am M.A. It’s about damn time. (Laughter and applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Bill, say something?
SCHUETTE: The credit goes to the survivors, Mr. President. Because of the leadership in Congress, and your signature, as Attorney General of Michigan, it will give me and others attorneys general and county prosecutors the ability to shut down these bad actors, the Craigslist, the Backpage. And so this is a monumental day. Thank you, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Bill. Thank you.
SCHUETTE: My pleasure. You bet.
THE PRESIDENT: I’d love to have you say something.
REPRESENTATIVE WAGNER: Yvonne, please. She lost her daughter, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: I know that, and I heard, and it’s very special. And we’d love to have to you say a few words.
AMBROSE: I don’t want to cry in front of you, Mr. President. (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: Don’t cry. Don’t cry.
AMBROSE: This is so important to all of us, and I thank you, Mr. President, so much for signing this bill into law. It means so much to our family. To lose your child who has been trafficked, which is modern-day slavery in our country, and to get that call on Christmas Eve that your one daughter, your oldest child has been brutally murdered because she said, “no”, because she did not want to be a part of this, is the worst thing.
Unfortunately, my daughter was not the first person whom this has happened to. And thanks to you and everyone here, hopefully there won’t be many more after her that have to endure this pain. The pain that has brought on my family is unimaginable.
So I thank you, Mr. President. I thank you all to the survivors and my husband for everything that you guys have done.
THE PRESIDENT: How old was your daughter?
AMBROSE: She was 16.
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, boy. We’re with you 1000 percent, okay?
AMBROSE: Thank you so much.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Very brave to be here.
AMBROSE: Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Would anybody want to say anything? Anybody else? Anybody? Please.
SVENGARDE: Mr. President, I’d just like to thank you on behalf of my family as well. My daughter was trafficked at the age of 15. And by signing this, like Yvonne said, hopefully there won’t be too many more.
And I would like to thank all the representatives in the bipartisan leadership that it took to get this across the finish line and onto your desk.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. They really worked hard. Thank you. This was a tough one, but it was something that we got done. And it shouldn’t have been tough.
REPRESENTATIVE WAGNER: Right. That’s right.
THE PRESIDENT: It’s even tough politically, if you can believe that. But we got it done. Right, Kevin?
MAJORITY LEADER MCCARTHY: Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: So this is in honor of your daughter, okay? This is very important. I think we may have to give you the pen. (Laughter.)
AMBROSE: Thank you, Mr. President.
(The bill is signed.)
AMBROSE: Thank you. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I want to thank everybody. This is my great honor. I will say, the political people around the desk, every one of them — Democrat and Republican — have worked very hard. And it was surprisingly difficult. You would think it would be easy, but it was much more difficult than any of us would have assumed because people have reasons. But I personally don’t understand those reasons. This should not have been as hard and it shouldn’t have taken as long. It’s been many years in the making.
So on behalf of everybody, and just in honor of your daughter and all of the folks behind me, I want to thank you and I want to really congratulate you. This is a great piece of legislation. It’s going to make a tremendous difference.
AMBROSE: Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much.
AMBROSE: Thank you so much, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: And we have some extra pens, all right? (Laughter and applause.) Thank you all very much everybody.
Has the ECB Been Manipulating the Euro?
Armstrong Economics Blog/Euro €
Re-Posted Apr 12, 2018 by Martin Armstrong
There have been persistent rumblings behind the curtain that the ECB has been “frowning” on anyone taking short positions on the Euro. They have already outlawed shorting government bonds and they are trying to wrestle the market in the Euro from London to bring it within their power and control. Up until now, they have been politely discouraging shorting the euro. The Brussels empire is crumbling before our eyes and with each and every step, the EU Commission is moving to eliminate free markets because they have been moving against the dreams of the EU Project to federalize Europe without federalizing all the debts of member states.
The Telegraph in London published a piece where they call the “remain” crowd supported by George Soros ‘remainiacs’ who are trying to halt Brexit and like those in Brussels, think the people are too stupid to understand what they even voted for. They obviously hate democratic votes when they go against their goals and this is why they want to go fully into the EU which has also eliminated democracy since their leaders are also all unelected running Brussels machine to subjugate all of Europe with the same goal of Napoleon and Hitler – to create the United States of Europe. They appropriately called the deal would keep Britain shackled in a ‘Hotel California’ Brexit – one where you can check out anytime but you just can’t leave?
The author was a historian and cultural anthropologist, and he applied those techniques to review the EU. He wrote: “By getting out now we may just avoid the cliff-edge of a major crisis in the EU. And the ‘remainiacs’ just don’t see it. If we apply a famous technique for analyzing the risk of collapse in complex societies to the EU, we find that it is squarely within the zone of that risk.”
He points out that even the last President of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso actually called it an empire. Indeed, our models agree that the EU must be seen as an empire and the member states are just vassals no different from the Soviet Union, the Athenian Empire (454–404 BC) and its the Delian League, or even the United States. Not a single empire has ever survived because centralized control and dictatorship is unable to comprehend the difference within the economic trends of its vassal state empire. It attempts to impose one rule upon the whole, which historically always fails.
When the Federal Reserve was first established, it had 12 branches and each was autonomous. The structure recognized that there were regional differences based upon the economic dominance of each region. Some were oil based, others agricultural, and others leisure and still others were manufacture or financial. It was always the New York Texas Arbitrage because when oil was booming, inflation rose and when oil crashed stock markets and bonds rallied. Even in Canada, it was the Western commodity regions against the financial East of Toronto. To this day, we see rising separatist movement in Alberta all because of this same disease from trying to run an empire from a single central rule. One size does not fit all!
As pointed out in the Telegraph, the models used to analyze the risk of the fall of empires is surprisingly simple. The risk of collapse in empires is when the complexity of a central government reduces the benefits of individuals in a society. It emerges when the government sees itself as the sovereign nation and the people as the great unwashed economic slaves to be exploited. Indeed, this very simple analysis shows that even the United States is at risk of collapse. As I just explained, prosecutors are above the law and have absolute immunity. That is the essence of tyranny. Our model adds the economic backdrop and correlates this with the rest of the world and we see that historically people migrate economically when the costs rise, freedom declines, and the standard of living is in a bearish trend when even their children see their own future will be worse than their parents. This is why there was such a great migration to America from Europe. It is also why America was more isolationist. FDR had to plead for support in Boston to just send arms to Britain. That city was dominated by Irish who rejected sending their sons to battle to defend the English after their import restrictions on food for trade led to millions of Irish deaths.
The refugee migration to Europe is economic. They see the opportunity for a better life. That is the very same reason the barbarians invaded Rome. The Ostrogoths when they invaded Rome, wanted to be Roman. They issued coins imitating the Roman Empire after Rome fell in 476AD. They tried to pretend to be Roman but they failed in culture and management skills. This demonstrates that the invasion of Rome by the barbarians was economic. Even in the USA, the net migration from Illinois to Texas and Florida is economically driven. The Greek youth have been migrating because there are no jobs and they see no future in staying in Greece. These are the signs of how an empire crumbles into dust.
The entire project has been a con-job. They introduced the currency FIRST and believed they would gradually move to federalize Europe thereafter. The failure to consolidate the debts was devastating. They effectively wanted a free ride with leaving the garbage behind. Then, because the debts were not consolidated, they left each member state to also retain its central bank. Then they tried to enforce spending criteria on each state in one-size fits all policy. This has been the federalization of Europe on the cheap.
Nobody in their right mind would have begun a country with such a model. This is why the European Project is going down in flames and the very thing they convinced themselves was the real purpose, to end European wars, they have ignited the old hatreds that have existed within Europe for thousands of years.
All the manipulation tactics in the world will not save the Euro. They have made it illegal to short Eurozone bonds. The currency will be next. They are converting the Euro into the old Russian ruble drained of liquidity. Euro accounts are being charged 2.4% annually to have more than 100k in the bank. This is a tax on money.
Former Key Defense Intelligence Agency Official Resurfaces in AG Jeff Sessions Top Staff…
Do not get so caught up watching the granules moving at our feet that we forget to look up and notice the landscape is shifting….
A key DIA official from within the White House National Security Council has resurfaced today as reports show Ezra Cohen-Watnick has been hired by Attorney General Jeff Sessions to assist on issues surrounding counterintelligence and counterterrorism.
WASHINGTON — A former American intelligence official who came under intense scrutiny during a stint at the White House last year is returning to government as the national security adviser to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, according to a person familiar with the decision.
The official, Ezra Cohen-Watnick, will play an important role at the Justice Department, advising Mr. Sessions on counterintelligence and counterterrorism. (NYT Link)
Before getting to the big picture of Cohen-Watnick, let’s look at a few recent granules which at first might seem disconnected – but they are not.
♦U.S. Attorney John Lausch was brought on by AG Jeff Sessions to coordinate investigative document releases to congressional oversight. Specifically, Lausch has been assigned as the point of contact for discussion with congress. This move keeps Federal DOJ Prosecutor John Huber (IG Horowitz’s investigative partner) away from political engagement, and allows Huber to continue culling through potentially criminal evidence without political concerns.
Earlier today Lausch was asked about the two-page “electronic communication” (EC) letter that initiated the 2016 FBI Counterintelligence operation against candidate Donald Trump and his campaign officials. The “EC” relates to the origin of the surveillance conducted by the corrupt DOJ-NSD and FBI officials; and ties directly to the abuse of FISA(702((16)(17) search abuses – and later to the issues of a fraudulent, potentially criminally misrepresented, FISA Title-1 surveillance application by those same officials.
In responding to the questioning, Attorney Lausch stated the EC document, and as a consequence the FISA documents, are not under his authority for review and release. So the DOJ has carved out the FISA and EC issues from the investigative releases to congress.
This distinction is important.
♦Remember, previously the Eastern District of Virginia attorney, Dana Boente, was identified as being a problem for the ‘small group’ of co-conspirators during their activity. Following the firing of AAG Sally Yates, April 2017, Boente was put in charge of the DOJ National Security Division. Acting Attorney General Boente granted IG Horowitz previously denied access to oversight within the DOJ-NSD. After Jeff Sessions confirmation Boente remained in charge of the DOJ-NSD.
Near the end of 2017 Dana Boente left Main Justice and then resurfaced late in January 2018 when FBI chief legal counsel James Baker was outlined as being a key participant in the 2015, 2016, 2017 anti-trump operation. Baker was removed from all responsibilities and replaced with Boente. Mr. Boente remains the current chief legal counsel of the FBI serving under Christopher Wray.
♦The Head of the FBI Counterintelligence Unit is E.W. “Bill” Priestap. In ’15, ’16, and 2017 Priestap was Peter Strzok’s boss. Text messages between Andrew McCabe’s former office lawyer, Lisa Page, and FBI Agent Peter Strzok, during the DOJ/FBI operations against candidate Trump, showed multiple examples of the ‘small group’ working around Priestap.
FBI Agent Peter Strzok was even promoted to #2 without Priestap’s prior knowledge.
On March 20th, 2017, when FBI Director James Comey was asked by congress why he did not inform oversight -as required- about the 2016 counterintelligence operation against candidate Trump, James Comey stated the decision not to inform congress was recommended by his FBI Director of Counterintelligence, Bill Priestap.
There is also evidence from Priestap’s statements to investigative officials that contradicts FBI, DOJ-NSD and intelligence community leadership, McCabe, Comey, Brennan (CIA) and Clapper (ODNI); in that the source documents (Clinton/Steele Dossier) for the October 2016 FISA surveillance application were not vetted at the time they were used.
On January 30th, 2018, after Chairman Nunes personally took FBI Director Christopher Wray to view his HPSCI “FISA Memo”, and prior to the House Intel Committee vote to release the memo the next evening, FBI Director Christopher Wray sent a Main Justice official and a “counterintelligence official” to view the content. According to Catherine Herridge reporting: those officials: “could not point to any factual inaccuracies.”
Mr. Bill Priestap, has given statements to ongoing FBI investigators and remains the head of FBI Counterintelligence today. [Absolutely no change in status, role or responsibility]
♦Responding to the initial results of an NSA FISA audit – on April 28th, 2016, NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers shut down the DOJ-NSD and FBI access to the NSA database based on 702(16) “about” search inquiries. When the full audit was completed, October 2016, Admiral Rogers informed the FISC court of serious FISA search violations, breaches, extraction of raw intelligence information and misrepresentations by FBI and DOJ officials to the FISA court.
In April 2017, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, declassified and released a substantive portion of the 99-page response from the FISA court. The FISC reviewed the DOJ-NSD and FBI FISA misrepresentations and the NSA compliance audit reports provided by NSA Director dmiral Mike Rogers.
On June 7th, 2017, Admiral Mike Rogers informed congress the NSA deleted all of the results of those unlawful FISA(702) searches, but also stated he directed “all audit logs of the activity to be preserved/retained”. (ie. the NSA preserved the evidence of conduct)
♦Early April this month: (Via The Hill) […] Attorney General Jeff Sessions quietly tapped Prosecutor John Huber — apparently last fall — to work in tandem with the Justice Department’s inspector general to determine whether allegations of abuse at the FBI and the Justice Department merit investigation. […] The Justice Department has declined to comment on his budget or what Sessions meant when he said that Huber is working “in cooperation” with Inspector General Michael Horowitz. Horowitz’s office also declined to comment.
♦Back to Today’s News – The IG Horowitz and Prosecutor Huber investigation is ongoing; the FBI has Dana Boente as chief legal counsel; Bill Priestap remains in place as head of Counterintelligence; and now Attorney General Jeff Sessions has added former DIA official Ezra Cohen-Watnick to “advise Mr. Sessions on counterintelligence” matters.
2017: […] “Washington got its first real look at Cohen-Watnick when he was identified as one of two White House sources who provided House Intelligence chairman Devin Nunes with evidence that former national security adviser Susan Rice requested the “unmasking” of the names of Trump associates in intelligence documents.” (Atlantic – link)
I think everyone can see how each of these moves and shifts relates to the larger matters at hand. It is obvious Mr. Cohen-Watnick is part of the dynamic to capture all those who participated in the scheme to destroy the Trump presidency.
You can call it a soft-coup, or you can call it politicization of the DOJ and FBI, but the end result is the same – the intentional effort to manipulate, influence, and ultimately subvert an election for the presidency of the United States. ~SD
Access Granted – DOJ Gives Devin Nunes, Trey Gowdy and HPSCI Leadership Access To Intelligence Origination Documents…
Last night House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes threatened to impeach FBI Director Christopher Wray and Asst. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, if not granted access to review the two-page intelligence community origination document that kicked-off the 2016 FBI counterintelligence operation against candidate Donald Trump.
Today Rosenstein and Wray allowed Chairman Nunes and Trey Gowdy to review the origination document, also known as the “electronic communication” (EC). House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes issued the following statement today:
“After numerous unfulfilled requests for an Electronic Communication (EC) related to the opening of the FBI’s Russia counterintelligence probe, Chairman Trey Gowdy and I met this afternoon with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. During the meeting, we were finally given access to a version of the EC that contained the information necessary to advance the Committee’s ongoing investigation of the Department of Justice and FBI. Although the subpoenas issued by this Committee in August 2017 remain in effect, I’d like to thank Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein for his cooperation today.” (link)
The two-page electronic communication (EC) is essentially the intelligence report from CIA Director John Brennan, that started the FBI Counterintelligence Operation against the campaign of Donald Trump.
From The Hill: […] According to a Justice Department official, the remaining redactions in the document are “narrowly tailored to protect the name of a foreign country and the name of a foreign agent.” Specifics have been replaced with identifiers like “foreign official” and “foreign government,” the official said.
“These words must remain redacted after determining that revealing the words could harm the national security of the American people by undermining the trust we have with this foreign nation,” the official continued, adding that they appear “only a limited number of times, and do no obstruct the underlying meaning of the document.” (link)
However, thanks to leaks from John Brennan (CIA) and James Clapper (ODNI) to the New York Times we already know the ridiculous content of the redactions. The “foreign nation” was Australia, and the “foreign agent” was Alexander Downer.
WASHINGTON — During a night of heavy drinking at an upscale London bar in May 2016, George Papadopoulos, a young foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign, made a startling revelation to Australia’s top diplomat in Britain: Russia had political dirt on Hillary Clinton.
About three weeks earlier, Mr. Papadopoulos had been told that Moscow had thousands of emails that would embarrass Mrs. Clinton, apparently stolen in an effort to try to damage her campaign.
Exactly how much Mr. Papadopoulos said that night at the Kensington Wine Rooms with the Australian, Alexander Downer, is unclear. But two months later, when leaked Democratic emails began appearing online, Australian officials passed the information about Mr. Papadopoulos to their American counterparts, according to four current and former American and foreign officials with direct knowledge of the Australians’ role.
The hacking and the revelation that a member of the Trump campaign may have had inside information about it were driving factors that led the F.B.I. to open an investigation in July 2016 into Russia’s attempts to disrupt the election and whether any of President Trump’s associates conspired.
If Mr. Papadopoulos, who pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. and is now a cooperating witness, was the improbable match that set off a blaze that has consumed the first year of the Trump administration, his saga is also a tale of the Trump campaign in miniature. He was brash, boastful and underqualified, yet he exceeded expectations. And, like the campaign itself, he proved to be a tantalizing target for a Russian influence operation.
The information that Mr. Papadopoulos gave to the Australians answers one of the lingering mysteries of the past year: What so alarmed American officials to provoke the F.B.I. to open a counterintelligence investigationinto the Trump campaign months before the presidential election?
It was not, as Mr. Trump and other politicians have alleged, a dossier compiled by a former British spy hired by a rival campaign. Instead, it was firsthand information from one of America’s closest intelligence allies. (link)
The New York Times leak was specifically structured around the CIA “electronic communication”. However, the story within the origination document is abject nonsense.
♦If Papadopoulos having a conversation in a London bar in May 2016 was the origination of the FBI counterintelligence operation against the Trump campaign. Then why did the FBI wait until January 15th 2017 to talk to Papadopoulos for the first time?
♦Further, if a Papadopolous conversation in May 2016 was the origin, the source material, of the FBI counterintelligence operation, then why was the FBI denied a FISA application in June/July 2016?
The far more realistic review says George Papadopoulos talking in May 2016, is likely about this open and public information from April 2016 about Guccifer hacking Hillary Clinton email [LINK].
The intelligence community “EC” was an excuse to start an FBI counterintelligence operation against the candidacy of Donald Trump. The true intent of the counterintel-op was to provide a cover-story for the DOJand FBI “small group” political opposition research and surveillance that was already ongoing.
We’ve previously debunked this Origination Story HERE
War is Coming Because We Need It?
Armstrong Economics Blog/War
Re-Posted Apr 12, 2018 by Martin Armstrong
QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong; I find it amazing that you were the only analyst I found who consistently called the bull market in the Dow until January. You have forecast even weather. You have so many correct forecasts there is nobody who even comes close. Then there is your War Cycle that turned up in 2014. You warned that 2018 is where it would start to pick up steam. You have also said it is in the west rather than with Korea. The newspapers are starting to talk about war with Russia. Is everything still on track?
MS
ANSWER: Unfortunately yes. The NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has constantly been pushing for a confrontation with Russia, He has been moving military installations to the Russian border while Putin has been forced to pursue buffer zones around Russia. The European Member States have been instructed that they should construct roads and bridges that will allow tanks to freely move throughout Europe. Interestingly, it was the construction of the roads in Turkey that allowed Cyrus the Great of Persia to invade and conquered the entire Anatolia region. So what on the one hand would allow Europe to deploy tanks against Russia, would also allow Russia to take Europe much easier. Indeed, in Poland, there is a motorway leading east to the Ukrainian border that is rarely used.
What you must understand is that the West NEEDS a war desperately as a distraction from the collapse of Socialism. NATO has been looking for any excuse to turn this into a confrontation with Russia. The crazy thing is that war has changed. Neither side wants to “occupy” the other as was the case with Napoleon and Hitler. So why are we preparing for war? What is the objective?
Turkey needs a war and they are becoming much more aggressive because the currency is collapsing. Yet Turkey is a NATO member who is threatening Greece another NATO member. Turkey is strategically moving closer to Russia than Europe. At the Ankara summit, the impression was clear that Turkey was on his side of Russia. This has fundamentally changed the situation on the Black Sea and indirectly also in Eastern Europe. In the east of the Black Sea, that is also Russia’s southern border.
Russia had included the Crimea peninsula. It gave it to Ukraine when it was part of the Soviet Union. Russia took it back because it was strategic and you can bet that the USA would have done the same had Japan tried to take Okanowa. The Russian Black Sea Fleet has been located in Crimea for more than two centuries. There was no possible way Russia would have given that back to Ukraine. The West knew that and have used that excuse for sanctions against Russia knowing full well that they were turning up the heat that could easily lead to war.
NATO has signed numerous agreements with Ukraine providing it with arms and has in all but name made it a NATO member. NATO continues to portray Russia as an aggressor when it knows that Crimea was part of Russia until 1954 when it formally gave it to Ukraine to manage, But the dominant language spoke in Crimea remains Russian – not Ukrainian. NATO is also encouraging Romania and Bulgaria to create fleets to confront Russia using the Crimea crisis as justification.
Russia, unlike China, lacks a strong domestic economy for it has been much like the Middle East – counting on commodity exports. However, as commodity prices have declined, this has weakened the Russian economy and here too Putin will need a war to overcome the economic decline ahead. NATO is an organization that can no longer be defined and it seeks to hold onto old world philosophies to justify its existence. NATO needs a war to ensure its own funding. If Russia has no real designs to invade and occupy Europe, then why do we need NATO?
The Prince Eugene of Savoy (1663-1736) was considered even by Napoleon as one of the seven greatest strategists in military history. He was also plagued by a rumor that he was really the illegitimate son of King Louis XIV of France which he perpetually denied. Yet, Louis XIV was always ashamed of such offspring and he restrained Eugene’s ambitions as if he was perhaps his son so that after 20 years of living in Paris and at Versailles, he left France and offered his talent to the kings of Europe. He fought for Leopold I (1640-1705), Holy Roman Emperor who was fighting the Turks. He distinguished himself in the siege of Vienna in 1683 and his military career was born.
Yet the Prince of Savoy was a man who observed patterns. This helped in in military strategy, but it also allowed him to see the function of government. He came to comprehend that standing armies would be easily used. It was his observations that kings would go to war BECAUSE they had standing armies that they paid for even if they did nothing. The Prince explained that there should be no armies and that would reduce war by itself. He passed on this brilliant insight to Montesquieu, who the Founding Fathers of the United States understood and thus created the right to bear arms which became the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution which is under attack today. In Switzerland, you enter military service to be trained, and then you take your gun home ready to be called upon if there is an invasion.
Unfortunately, NATO by itself needs a war. As the budgets get tighter and tighter, funding is shifted to social programs. NATO will then layoff people and lose its power base. It needs to demonize Russia as much as possible and to even provoke a confrontation to justify getting more money. Of course, it seeks to provoke a confrontation for money but it assumes there will not be World War III because neither side desires to occupy the other. So exactly why do we need standing armies today is simply a political issue. However, maintaining such a military power also ensures that it will eventually be used.
If the reason for war is no longer occupation but more like a brawl between two drunks in a bar, they do we need standing armies especially when we can just push a button? It is sad to say that now we will see tensions rise from 2018 onward into the peak of the cycle.
U.S. Attorney John Lausch Discusses DOJ Responsive Document Release…
U.S. Attorney John Lausch appears on Fox and Friends morning show to discuss the ongoing issue of releasing documents to congress yet retain integrity of potential criminal evidence that may be used in future proceedings.
Lausch notes the FBI two-page document that initiated the 2016 FBI counterintelligence operation against candidate Donald Trump is not under his authority to release.
Senator Rand Paul Confirms Peter Strzok and Lisa Page Retain FBI Top Secret Security Clearances…
During an interview with Fox News host Harris Faulkner today U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) discussed a response letter he received from FBI Director Christopher Wray.
Senator Paul inquired with the FBI Director about whether reassigned FBI Agent Peter Strzok and DOJ/FBI Attorney Lisa Page still retained their Top Secret FBI clearances.
According to Senator Paul, the FBI director would not respond to specific agent inquiry, however, Wray did affirm that all existing FBI officials retain Top Secret clearances.
In essence, Lisa Page and Peter Strzok, despite being removed from investigative authority over their role in the political efforts to target President Trump, retain employment within the DOJ/FBI apparatus in an unknown capacity and thereby their clearances.
This information by Rand Paul dovetails into an increasingly obvious storyline where Lisa Page and Peter Strzok remain employed because they are cooperating with the internal investigation by Inspector General Michael Horowitz and parallel federal prosecutor John Huber.
Previously we identified Strzok and Page as part of a group of five key FBI and DOJ officials who were at the center of the corrupt operations and remain inside the organization.
In addition to Page and Strzok, former FBI chief legal counsel James Baker and former DOJ-NSD Deputy Bruce Ohr have been removed from their roles yet still remain inside the FBI and DOJ respectively. Those four are joined by the FBI Asst. Director in charge of Counterintelligence, Bill Priestap. However, despite Priestap’s centrality to the 2015/2016 corrupt FBI activity -including the Trump operation- Priestap remains untouched.
After FBI Asst Director Andrew McCabe was fired the subsequent information revealed what happened inside the group. McCabe lied to FBI and IG investigators about his coordinating leaks to media. McCabe’s story conflicted with the account of his office attorney, Lisa Page. {Go Deep}
To validate the truthfulness of her position Lisa Page provided FBI investigators with access to her text messages which showed conversations about McCabe directing leaks by Page and FBI communications Director Michael Kortan. After the Page messages confirmed her version of the events; eventually McCabe admitted to misleading investigators.
Lisa Page, Peter Strzok, James Baker and Bruce Ohr have all been removed from responsibilities within the DOJ and FBI yet all still remain inside the organization. FBI Director of Counterintelligence Bill Priestap, who was Peter Strzok’s’ boss throughout the corrupt group activity, remains in his role today.
Centinel2012 