During a segment today with Maria Bartiromo, Representative Devin Nunes notes the “two parallel tracks” CTH has previously outlined. The “parallel track” explanation begins at 11:15 of the interview. [Prompted – Just Hit Play]
“Two Parallel Tracks”
CTH Archive – Everything after March 9th, 2016, is a function of two official intelligence units, the CIA and FBI, operating together with two private political operations, Fusion GPS and the DNC, to coordinate -then coverup- political surveillance and spy operations.
Prior to March 9th, 2016, the CIA/FBI political surveillance and spy operation was using the NSA database to track and monitor their opposition. However, once the NSA compliance officer began initiating an internal review of who was accessing the system, the CIA and FBI moved to: (1) continue the operation; and (2) create ex post facto justification for their endeavors. [Full Backstory]
The evidence for this is found in the documents attached to both operations; and bolsters the original 2018 statements by Congressman Devin Nunes as highlighted below.
♦The Official CIA/FBI track took place between late 2015 and July 2016, and consisted of using foreign intelligence allies in Italy, the U.K and Australia to create a background illusion of Russian involvement with the Trump campaign. This operation was based on earlier -more innocuous- contacts from various countries, weaponized and redeployed in what everyone calls “spygate”. This track successfully culminated in Operation Crossfire Hurricane on July 31st, 2016.
♦The Unofficial FBI/Fusion/DNC track was domestic-centric, albeit sub-contracted to Fusion GPS and later a former British intelligence officer, and took place between late 2015 and October 2016; also to create the illusion of Russian involvement. This operation is best known around the Steele Dossier and FISA warrant against U.S. person Carter Page. The FBI track continued with the Mueller investigation into 2017, 2018 and 2019.
[Transcript] “So it took us a long time to actually get this, what’s called the electronic communication, as we know it now for your viewers, what it is it’s the original intelligence, original reasons that the counterintelligence was started.
Now this is really important to us because the counterintelligence investigation uses the tools of our intelligence services that are not supposed to be used on American citizens. And we’ve long wanted to know: what intelligence did you have that actually led to this investigation? So what we’ve found now, after the investigators have reviewed it, is that in fact there was no intelligence.
So we have a traditional partnership with what’s called the Five Eyes Agreement. Five Eyes Agreement involves our friends in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Canada, and of course, us. So long time processes and procedures in place where we move intelligence across.
We are not supposed to spy on each others’ citizens. And it’s worked well. And it continues to work well. And we know it’s working well because there was no intelligence that passed through the Five Eyes channels to our government.
And that’s why we had to see that original communication. So now we’re trying to figure out, as you know, we are investigating the State Department, we think there’s some major irregularities in the State Department, and we’re trying to figure out how this information about Mr. Papadopoulos of all people who was supposedly meeting with some folks in London, how that made it over across into the FBI’s hands.” (video link)
The direct evidence for what Devin Nunes is describing is found in two specific documents. Each of the documents is unique to their track. One track is the CIA the other track is the FBI. The merging point that binds them is the U.S. State Department.
♦ First, we review the Official CIA/FBI track.
The evidence for the CIA track is found in the Weissmann-Mueller report. More specifically, it is found in the intentional way the report tries to conflate two contact points.
This track is CIA Director John Brennan’s work, with enlisted help from the FBI counterintelligence unit (Peter Strzok and Bill Priestap) as they travel to the U.K.
After western intelligence asset Joseph Mifsud (posed as a Russian) plants a story on George Papadopoulos about Russia having “emails of Clinton”, the operation then needs Papadopoulos to share the information. That’s where a joint network comes in. The network is the U.S. embassy in London; the Australian embassy in London; the Australian Ambassador to the U.K. Alexander Downer; and his top aide Erika Thompson.
Notice page #89 of the report; but read carefully and specifically notice the date Weissmann and Mueller use to frame the Russia story extraction from Papadopoulos:
The meeting on May 6th, was NOT a meeting with Australian Ambassador Alexander Downer. That meeting did not happen until May 10th. The recent release of documentsfrom Australia confirm this timeline.
The meeting on May 6th was between George Papadopoulos and Downer’s aide, Erika Thompson: …”that the Trump campaign had received information from the Russian government that it could assist the campaign through the anonymous release of information that would be damaging to Hillary Clinton.”
So, if the U.S. used the information from the May 6, 2016, meeting as conveyed on July 26th, 2016, it was the conversation with Erika Thompson that opened Crossfire Hurricane; not the meeting with Alexander Downer on May 10th. {Go Deep}
This subtle but important distinction in contact and communication reconciles the statement by Devin Nunes; because Thompson is also a reported intelligence operative (spy) and information from her would not be passing through “Five Eyes” official channels. However, for their intents and purposes, the U.S. operation needed to give the appearance of official channels, so the *inference* between the claim and the footnote *implies* Ambassador Downer. But you can see that’s not actually what happened.
This is an example of Weissmann/Mueller disguising the actual origin in their report. They are giving cover to the reality that unofficial intelligence was the actual basis for the originating “EC” or two-page electronic communication from CIA Director John Brennan to FBI Director James Comey. It was that 2-page EC, likely written by FBI counterintelligence agent Peter Strzok, that initiated “Crossfire Hurricane”.
The page in the Weissmann/Mueller report is factually true but the inference is false. It is written in the way they intended, to give a false impression. It is quite subtle and sneaky.
What is outlined on Page #89 is also the CIA track that ran from March to July 31st, 2016.
The operation positioned Joseph Mifsud as a Russian spy; has him plant information on George Papadopoulos; then uses U.S. and AU operatives to withdraw the information; thereby giving the appearance that a Trump campaign official, Papadopoulos, was receiving and passing-on Russian intelligence. This is the CIA justification for creating the EC. This is the CIA cover story.
Now let’s review the evidence of the unofficial FBI track and how it also connects to the U.S. State Department. This path is more brutally obvious because the document had to be less ambiguous in construct to track through the FISA Court. This operation involves the FISA application on U.S. Person Carter Page.
♦ The FBI Track – The Steele Dossier, FISA Warrant and Carter Page.
The second page of the FISA application used to gain a Title-1 surveillance warrant against U.S. Carter Page identifies where the material came from. Notice the direct attribution is to the State Department; not the DOJ or FBI, and certainly not Christopher Steele.
Applying hindsight to the backstory of Fusion GPS hiring Nellie Ohr (Oct. 2015); the Clinton Campaign hiring Fusion GPS (April 2016); and Fusion hiring Christopher Steele for the Dossier; and the Steele Dossier being passed on to the FBI and DOJ via various official and unofficial channels… Question: why would the DOJ be citing the State Department for their FISA application?
The answer is simple. Carter Page was a known person to the FBI and DOJ. Carter Page was a subject witness from 2012 to 2016 in the Evgeny Buryakov case [DOJ March 2016]. How could the FBI claim Carter Page was “an agent of a foreign power” to the FISA court in October 2016, when they only finished using him as a cooperating subject witness in May of 2016? [DOJ May 2016]
The short answers are: (1) they couldn’t; (2) they were in a big hurry; there was a sense of urgency; they needed the FISA and Steele Dossier as insurance policy; and (3) it wasn’t safe for the DOJ/FBI to make the ‘foreign agent‘ claim against their own prior witness if things went sideways.
Remember, there are dual purposes, one critical purpose is a coverup. Their efforts are about gaining position and appearances to justify the preceding action. Their efforts are not focused on an actual investigation. They told the FISC the information came from the State Department and [Redacted]…. Whichever source could give them the best legal justification to gain the FISA warrant was the leading point in the thought process.
Despite everything around the Steele Dossier primarily inbound from Fusion-GPS and Chris Steele to the DOJ and FBI, the people creating the FISA illusion needed to use the State Department as a valid reference for fraudulent claims they were making.
From the beginning Fusion-GPS was not hired to research Donald Trump; the intelligence community (FBI, CIA and DOJ-NSD) were already doing surveillance and spy operations. The intelligence community needed Fusion GPS to give them a plausible justification for already existing surveillance and spy operations. Fusion created the dossier for them.
In essence it was the Steele Dossier that merged unofficial political opposition research being conducted by Fusion GPS, into official investigative use in the FBI to join with Crossfire Hurricane.
The FISA application is the point of merging, joining one unofficial track with the official FBI track as noted by Devin Nunes in today’s interview with Maria Bartiromo.
The FBI knew Carter Page. Essentially Carter Page was irrelevant, what they needed was the FISA warrant and the Dossier in the system {Go Deep} as their insurance policy.
So there we see two parallel tracks; one from the CIA/FBI, and one from Fusion, DNC and the FBI. Both tracks intended to: (1) set up Trump for the Russian collusion narrative; and (2) provide a cover story for political surveillance and spy operations that preceded March 9, 2016.
The CIA track created ‘crossfire hurricane’. The Fusion/FBI track created the Steele Dossier. Both had the same purpose and merged with the FISA application.
Both tracks originated from ‘unofficial channels’ and then transferred into official status through the use of two documents. The CIA generated the two-page “EC”; and the FBI generated the FISA application from the Steele Dossier.
Both tracks held the same essential purposes; both tracks were insurance policies; and both tracks merged for intelligence exploitation continuing after President Trump won the election. After the election the goal was shifted to remove the risk Trump represented.
Once they had the legal justifications for targeting Trump, albeit fraudulently obtained, the effort could move into phase three: by-the-book processes. The FBI track evolved into the Mueller probe; that’s why the Dossier is so important to the validity of the special counsel.
A big part of everything after March 9th, 2016, through today – was/is covering for everything that happened before March 9th when political “contractors” were allowed by the FBI and DOJ to have weaponized access to the NSA database for political surveillance and spy operations.
This two-track process and ultimate merging is what all of the documentary evidence supports. I suspect when the arc of the story concludes, this is where we will be.
…”many of these non-compliant queries involved the use of the same identifiers over different date ranges.”..
This Page #82 sentence specifically highlights that during the 2016 presidential campaign, those who had access to the NSA database were searching the same phone numbers, email addresses, electronic “identifiers”, or people, repeatedly over different dates.
Those who haven’t followed the backstory might not catch what Nunes is saying. However, if you followed closely, and accept that Rosenstein was part of the problem, then you see how FBI Director Christopher Wray came into office; and, more importantlyhow/why Wray selected former DOJ-NSD head Dana Boente to shift from main justice to be legal counsel for the FBI.
Boente took over for former chief legal counsel James Baker, after the discoveries around Baker and McCabe could no longer be hidden. After being removed from responsibility eventually Baker resigned and went to work with the Lawfare group. Boente’s job at FBI was/is to bury information, block congressional inquiry, and protect the crew. Boente, along with Christopher Wray, is still there.
In a Fox News interview on Sunday, Nunes said “someone at the FBI” appears to have been “determined to hide” then-Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kathleen Kavalec’s notes from both the FISA court and Congress. Our research identified that “someone” as Dana Boente and crew more than a year ago.
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[*Note* There’s a snap-load of mistaken and ‘steered’ reporting by a bunch of people who have dined on the buffet of controlled leaks. Hopefully, that will all become clear soon. Bookmark this ⇓and prove me wrong]
Throughout 2016, 2017 and through today, across both administrations, the corrupt group within the FBI in DC were/are protecting themselves. The FBI redacted the Lisa Page and Peter Strzok text messages. The FBI removed Page and Strzok texts and emails. The FBI hid texts and emails from Lisa Page to Andrew McCabe. The FBI kept documents from congress. The FBI has leaked false information to media to cover their tracks; and yes the Trump FBI and GOPe politicians have participated writ large, many still do.
The corrupt FBI under Comey, McCabe and Baker is being protected and facilitated by the corrupt FBI under Christopher Wray, David Bowditch (San Bernadino infamy) and Dana Boente. It’s one long continuum of exactly the same behavior. Remember, 50 FBI ‘agents’ on Mueller’s team? Etc…. This DC network is ideologically aligned, operating on their own self-interests, and facilitated by a compliant media.
In 2015 the DOJ-OIG (office of inspector general) requested oversight of the DOJ National Security Division. It was Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates who responded with a lengthy 58 page legal explanation saying, essentially, ‘nope – not allowed.’ (PDF HERE) All of the DOJ is subject to oversight, except the DOJ-NSD.
The DOJ-NSD is where FISA warrants come from. The weaponized and highly politicized officials within the DOJ-NSD were using the auspices of FARA violations (foreign agent registration act) to gain FISA court authorized surveillance on politicians all over Washington DC. Combined with the NSA database extractions, by federal contractors authorized by the FBI, it’s a massive web of political surveillance.
When John Carlin resigned as Asst. Attorney General in charge of the DOJ National Security Division in October 2016 he was replaced by Principal Deputy Asst. Attorney General and Chief of Staff, Mary McCord. After President Trump took office on January 20th, 2017, Sally Yates was Acting AG and Mary McCord was in charge of the DOJ-NSD.
Yates and McCord were the two Main Justice officials who then engaged with White House Counsel Don McGahn on January 26th, 2017, regarding the General Flynn FBI interview conducted on January 24th. The Trump-Russia Collusion Conspiracy was the headline.
On January 30th, 2017, Sally Yates was fired for refusing to defend the Trump travel ban from extremist countries. Yates was replaced on January 31st by the U.S. Attorney from the Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA), Dana Boente.
With his shift to Main Justice Dana Boente was Acting Attorney General, and Mary McCord was Asst. AG in charge of the DOJ-NSD. Boente was in the Acting AG position from Jan 31st, 2017, until Jeff Sessions was confirmed on February 8th, 2017.
When Jeff Sessions became AG, Dana Boente became Acting Deputy AG, a role he would retain until Rod Rosenstein was confirmed on April 25th, 2017. [Mary McCord remained head of the DOJ-National Security Division]
On March 2nd, 2017, Dana Boente was one of the small group who participated in a conversation that led to the recusal of Jeff Sessions from anything related to the 2016 election. This recusal included the ongoing FBI counterintelligence investigation known as Crossfire Hurricane, which was later picked up by Robert Mueller.
The other attendees for the recusal decision-making meeting (see above schedule) included Sessions’ chief of staff Jody Hunt; Criminal Chief in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland, Jim Crowell; Deputy Assistant Attorney General (DAAG) in the Department of Justice National Security Division Tash Gauhar (FISA lawyer); and Associate Deputy Attorney General Scott Schools. [Note: Tash Gauhar was lawyer for FBI Clinton case; and Scott Schools was part of drafting Clinton exoneration letter.]
The Main Justice group influenced Jeff Sessions to recuse.
With AG Jeff Sessions recused on March 2, 2017, FBI Director James Comey now reported to Acting Deputy AG Dana Boente. [Technically, Boente is still EDVA U.S. Attorney and is only ‘acting’ as Deputy AG] Additionally, on March 31st, 2017, President Trump signs executive order 13787 making the U.S. EDVA Attorney the 3rd in line for DOJ succession.
Question: If Dana Boente was appointed “Acting Attorney General” on January 31st, 2017 (he was), then why did Don McGahn need to draw up XO 13787 on March 31st, 2017… especially after confirmed AG Jeff Sessions was already in place Feb 9th?
The answer likely has to do with a sign-off needed for FISA.
See the issue?
How does somebody (unknown) advise White House Counsel Don McGahn to draw up an executive order so that Boente can sign a FISA…. without telling Don McGahn the reason why AG Sessions can’t sign off on the FISA? See the issue now?
In the period between March 2nd and April 25th – With AG Sessions recused, and without a Deputy AG confirmed, Dana Boente is simultaneously:
U.S. Attorney for EDVA
Acting Deputy AG.
Acting AG for all issues related to Sessions recusal.
It is James Comey and Dana Boente who sign the April 2017 FISA renewal for Carter Page.
This dynamic would later become important as notes Boente took from conversations with James Comey became evidence for Mueller’s expanded obstruction investigation. [3/2/17 Mary McCord is still head of DOJ-NSD]
Somehow Acting Deputy AG Dana Boente’s personal and handwritten notes were mysteriously leaked to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow.
On April 20th, 2017, Mary McCord announces her intent to resign from the DOJ National Security Division effective with the confirmation of Deputy AG nominee Rod Rosenstein.
On April 25th, 2017, Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein is confirmed. Rosenstein now takes over the responsibilities held by Acting DAG Dana Boente; this includes the FBI counterintelligence probe.
On May 9th, 2017, FBI Director James Comey is fired.
On May 10th, 2017, FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe opens a criminal ‘obstruction of justice investigation’ of President Trump to parallel/compliment the ongoing counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign and administration.
On/Around May 11th, 2017, Mary McCord departs. Dana Boente now becomes the Asst. Attorney General and head of the DOJ National Security Divison. Simultaneously retaining role as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of VA.
On May 16th, 2017, Rosenstein takes Robert Mueller to the White House to meet President Trump. On May 17th, Rosenstein appoints the Robert Mueller special counsel probe. On May 18th, 2017, Scott Schools authorizes Robert Mueller:
And we’re off to the Trump-Russia-Collusion-Obstruction races…
With hindsight it is now clear the various players inside Main Justice and the FBI had a vested interest in maintaining the assault against Trump. By now everyone can see the bigger goal was against the office of POTUS. [“obstruction” etc.] All of the personnel moves should be reviewed with hindsight of the larger anti-Trump objective in mind.
Against the known fraud that was the Trump-Russia Collusion-Conspiracy narrative, there are no visible people who didn’t participate in one form or another.
Dana Boente was head of DOJ-NSD from May 11th, 2017 through end of October 2017 when he officially announced his intent to retire. However, the timeline gets cloudy here because Boente said he was staying on until an official replacement was announced. There’s no indication of when he actually left the DOJ-NSD or the EDVA role.
On January 23rd, 2018, FBI Director Christopher Wray announces Boente has shifted over to the FBI to be Chief Legal Counsel (replacing James Baker). As Mueller is using 19 lawyers, and 40 FBI investigators, Boente now becomes a legal adviser to Christopher Wray while the Mueller probe is ongoing.
As we recently discovered, Mueller’s lead FBI agent for the corrupt Russia collusion-conspiracy investigation, was David W. Archey. Archey was selected by Robert Mueller when FBI Agent Peter Strzok was removed. The Mueller probe took over the counterintelligence investigation in May 2017, a few months later Special Agent Peter Strzok was removed (July) and David W. Archey was brought in:
As David Archey arrives in August 2017, Mueller is getting the new scope memo from Rod Rosenstein. There’s little doubt the entire FBI group would have known the Trump-Russia collusion-conspiracy narrative was false. So Archey status as lead agent has to be considered *corrupt/sketchy*; FBI activity was likely focused on the obstruction angle.
Interestingly at the conclusion of the Mueller investigation Archey was promoted by Christopher Wray to head of the Richmond, Virginia FBI field office (March 4, 2019). This field office overlaps with another FBI/DOJ filing from the EDVA.
The April 11th, 2019, recently released Julian Assange indictment stems from the EDVA. From the indictment we discover it was under seal since March 6th, 2018:
However, on Tuesday April 15th more investigative material was released. Again, note the dates: Grand Jury, *December of 2017* This means FBI investigation prior to….
The investigation took place prior to December 2017, it is coming from the EDVA where Dana Boente was still, presumably, U.S. Attorney. The grand jury indictment was sealed from March of 2018 until April of 2019.
Why the delay? Here’s where it gets interesting….
This FBI submission to the Grand Jury in December of 2017 was four months after congressman Dana Rohrabacher talked to Assange in August of 2017: “Assange told a U.S. congressman … he can prove the leaked Democratic Party documents … did not come from Russia.”
(August 2017, The Hill Via John Solomon) Julian Assange told a U.S. congressman on Tuesday he can prove the leaked Democratic Party documents he published during last year’s election did not come from Russia and promised additional helpful information about the leaks in the near future.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican who is friendly to Russia and chairs an important House subcommittee on Eurasia policy, became the first American congressman to meet with Assange during a three-hour private gathering at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where the WikiLeaks founder has been holed up for years.
Rohrabacher recounted his conversation with Assange to The Hill.
“Our three-hour meeting covered a wide array of issues, including the WikiLeaks exposure of the DNC [Democratic National Committee] emails during last year’s presidential election,” Rohrabacher said, “Julian emphatically stated that the Russians were not involved in the hacking or disclosure of those emails.”
Pressed for more detail on the source of the documents, Rohrabacher said he had information to share privately with President Trump. (read more)
It would appear the FBI took keen interest after this August 2017 meeting and gathered specific evidence for a grand jury by December 2017. Then the DOJ sat on the indictment (sealed in March 2018) while the Mueller probe was ongoing; until April 11th, 2019, when a coordinated effort between the U.K. and U.S. was launched. Assange was arrested, and the indictment was unsealed (link).
To me, as a person who has researched this three year fiasco; including the ridiculously false 2016 Russian hacking/interference narrative: “17 intelligence agencies”, JAR report(needed for Obama in December ’16), and political ICA (January ’17); this looks like a Deep State move to control Julian Assange because the Mueller report is dependent on Russia cybercrimes…. AND that narrative is contingent on the Russia DNC hack story:
(Bloomberg) Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said Friday that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report describes Russian cybercrimesduring the 2016 election.
The report, which is expected to be released soon, will clear up questions about the Russian campaign to interfere in the election President Donald Trump won, Rosenstein said in a speech given to a private group at the Metropolitan Club of Washington, according to three people in attendance. (more)
The Weissmann/Mueller/Rosenstein report contains claims that Russia hacked the DNC servers as the central element to the Russia interference narrative in the U.S. election. This claim is directly disputed by WikiLeaks and Assange, as outlined during the Dana Rohrabacher interview. There’s the FBI motive to shut Assange down.
The DNC hack claim is contingent upon analysis by Crowdstrike computer forensics who were paid by the DNC to look into the issue. The FBI was never allowed to review the servers independently, and now we know the FBI never even looked at a full forensics report from Crowdstrike. Almost all independent research into this DNC hack claim also challenges the claims of a Russia hack of the DNC servers.
Dana Boente was part of the group who advised Sessions to recuse. Boente later authorized the second renewal of the Title-one surveillance warrant and worked with James Comey. Boente then leaked his Comey notes to the media, essentially to support Comey’s narrative about Trump; and participated from within the FBI as legal counsel to Chris Wray who told everyone in July 2018 there was no political bias in the FBI… but hey, everyone is going to bias training….. and pay no attention to the 40 FBI agents who were investigating an invisible Trump Russia-Collusion-Conspiracy for two years.
Seriously?
There are no “good guys” in this. There are no “white hats” here. Certainly not Mueller, Rosenstein, Wray, Bowditch or Boente. Instead, this is a matrix of broad interests positioned only to benefit and sustain the status quo of the administrative state; and protect the larger community from the Trump disruption.
In the end it all comes back to the same series of questions. Who was recommending to President Trump that he retain and promote DOJ and FBI officials who were part of the anti-Trump Russia collusion-conspiracy program?
People who knew the DC system and were vulnerable to DC peer influence. People who would take counsel and advice on who was needed and where. People in positions of influence with President Trump. People who could intentionally, or unwittingly, steer these placements from a position of advisement close to the President.
Appointing Rod Rosenstein as DAG was one of those key placements.
Appointing DC U.S. Attorney Jessie Liu was another.
From Rosenstein we get: Mueller, Chris Wray, David Bowditch and Dana Boente.
Meanwhile Jessie Liu quashed cases against: Awan bros, James Wolfe, Greg Craig and Andrew McCabe.
The Russia Conspiracy Collusion is built on a foundation of purposeful lies. The DC network within the FBI and DOJ are at risk if those lies are exposed.
One of the cornerstone lies is that the Russians hacked the DNC servers…. that entirely false claim was manufactured in the heart of the December 2016 Joint Analysis Report and January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment. The central claim is based on a secret evaluation by political operatives, and pushed by an intelligence apparatus that needs the Russian Conspiracy to hide their schemes.
President Trump sat down last Friday for a lengthy one-on-one interview with Chuck Todd on Meet The Press. In credit to NBC they provide the full unedited interview. WATCH:
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, you had a situation that was very bad because the night before, they shot down an unmanned drone. And the unmanned is a very big factor. The fact that there was not a person on it, a U.S. person on it, or anybody. And that had an impact on me. I said, “Well, you know, we got a little problem.” And I think they did that on purpose because they understand that they will be hit very hard if that were a plane with a person in it. And I think they knew that there was nobody there. So we had a very, you know, modest but pretty, pretty heavy attack schedule.
CHUCK TODD: And this is a pre-plan that you had, something that if they did something, you had something —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah, we had it —
CHUCK TODD: — these were sort of ready-made plans —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Sure, we have many of them —
CHUCK TODD: — to use if necessary, right?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Oh, I have so many targets you wouldn’t believe.
CHUCK TODD: Right.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We have targets all over.
CHUCK TODD: So did you green light something? Or had you said —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Nothing’s —
CHUCK TODD: “If we do it, I’ll do this.” What was, what was the order you gave?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Nothing is green lighted until the very end because —
CHUCK TODD: Ok.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: — things change, right?
CHUCK TODD: So you never gave a final order?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, no, no, no. But we had something ready to go, subject to my approval. And they came in. And they came in about a half an hour before, they said, “So we’re about ready to go.” I said, “I want a better definition –”
CHUCK TODD: Planes in the air? Were planes in the air?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, no. “We’re about ready to go.” No, but they would have been pretty soon. And things would have happened to a point where you wouldn’t turn back or couldn’t turn back. So they came and they said, “Sir, we’re ready to go. We’d like a decision.” I said, “I want to know something before you go. How many people will be killed, in this case Iranians?” I said, “How many people are going to be killed?” “Sir, I’d like get back to you on that,” great people these generals. They said, came back, said, “Sir, approximately 150.” And I thought about it for a second and I said, “You know what? They shot down an unmanned drone, plane, whatever you want to call it. And here we are sitting with 150 dead people that would have taken place probably within a half an hour after I said go ahead.” And I didn’t like it. I didn’t think it was, I didn’t think it was proportionate. Now that doesn’t mean —
CHUCK TODD: You think they were trying to provoke you?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, I don’t think so. And I think it was very important that they, to them, don’t forget, their economy —
CHUCK TODD: They don’t — they, they –you don’t think they intended to get you to respond militarily?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, their economy is shattered. Shattered.
CHUCK TODD: So what’s the message you think they’re sending?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Their inflation is through the roof. They’ve never had, the highest in the world right now. Worse than any place. They’re, they’re living not well.
CHUCK TODD: Do you want to do a separate deal with Iran? Or do you want to get everybody involved in the same deal? Get the Russians, get the Chinese?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don’t care which, what kind of a deal. It can be separate or it could be total.
CHUCK TODD: But it’s one-on-one talks, you and the Ayatollah?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: All it is — all it is —
CHUCK TODD: Is it one-on-one talks, you and the Ayatollah, or you and the President?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It doesn’t matter to me. Here’s what I want, anything that gets you to the result. They cannot have a nuclear weapon. It’s not about the straits. You know, a lot of people covered it incorrectly. They’re never mentioned. They cannot have a nuclear weapon. They’d use it. And they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon.
CHUCK TODD: Did you send a message —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And it’s not about the oil.
CHUCK TODD: — last night? You know, Reuters is reporting that you sent a message to the Iranians saying, “I don’t want war. I want to talk.”
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Wrong. It’s wrong. I did not send that message. I did not send that message. I don’t know who —
CHUCK TODD: Ok.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don’t know who would have said that.
CHUCK TODD: Send a message right now to the Ayatollah.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I mean it’s fake news.
CHUCK TODD: Then send a message right now to the Ayatollah.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Wouldn’t be much different than that message.
CHUCK TODD: Which is?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I’m not looking for war and if there is, it’ll be obliteration like you’ve never seen before. But I’m not looking to do that. But you can’t have a nuclear weapon. You want to talk? Good. Otherwise you can have a bad economy for the next —
CHUCK TODD: No pre-conditions?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: — three years. Not as far as I’m concerned. No pre-conditions.
CHUCK TODD: And you’ll talk anywhere?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Here it is. Look, you can’t have nuclear weapons. And if you want to talk about it, good. Otherwise you can live in a shattered economy for a long time to come.
CHUCK TODD: If you, are you, do you feel like you were being pushed into military action against Iran by any of your advisors?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I have two groups of people. I have doves and I have hawks.
CHUCK TODD: Yeah, you have some serious hawks.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I have some hawks. Yeah, John Bolton is absolutely a hawk. If it was up to him he’d take on the whole world at one time, okay? But that doesn’t matter because I want both sides. You know, some people said, “Why did you put –” You know, I was against going into Iraq for years and years. And before it ever happened I was against going into Iraq. And some people said, “Oh I don’t know.” I was totally against and I was a private citizen. It never made sense to me. I was against going into the Middle East. Chuck, we’ve spent $7 trillion in the Middle East right now.
CHUCK TODD: What would a candidate Trump have said about a president who, on his watch, had Iran shooting down a drone, a Venezuelan dictator thumbing his nose at you, Obamacare still on the books and no results yet on the border? The border getting tough —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, let’s, let’s take a look. Let’s take a look —
CHUCK TODD: I just say — what would candidate Trump have said about that?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Okay, let’s take a look. The border’s doing great. Mexico’s been fantastic. They’ve been trying to get a deal with Mexico for 45 years, right? So for 45 years, they couldn’t get a deal. I got one in one day. I said, “We’re going to put tariffs on and we’re going to either have a deal or not. We agreed in one day.” Mexico just moved 6,000 people to their southern border. 6,000 troops to their southern border. The border’s working out well. And the wall is being built. I mean, a lot of people don’t like to talk about it. We’re building the wall. We will have 400 miles of wall built by the end of next year and that’s hard because the Democrats don’t want to approve it. We just beat them in a big lawsuit, as you know, in Washington, in D.C. We just beat them in a very big lawsuit.
CHUCK TODD: But does it frustrate you that your border numbers are worse than Obama’s?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, because the people are coming up because our economy is so good. They’re pouring up because the economy is so good. Obama had a lousy economy. It was a dead economy.
CHUCK TODD: Can I ask you about that?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Our, our economy is good.
CHUCK TODD: Let me show you this chart. Do you see that chart?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah.
CHUCK TODD: It’s the unemployment rate from the peak of the recession.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Right.
CHUCK TODD: Your economy is great. I’m not saying it’s not great. But this recovery started and in the 28 months that you’ve been president and the last 28 months of Obama’s presidency, he averaged more new jobs than your first 28 —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: That’s because he started off with a, with such a bad base. I mean, he hit —
CHUCK TODD: Ok. But it is — is it not a continuation?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah, but Chuck, you have to understand, nobody was working. The whole place was a disaster. And I don’t– I’d never take that away.
CHUCK TODD: Ok.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: But it’s very easy —
CHUCK TODD: Alright.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: — because when that turned around they pumped a tremendous amount of money into the economy. He also had a Federal Reserve person who kept the interest rates low. I don’t. I don’t have that privilege.
CHUCK TODD: Sounds like you do now. Do you feel like you have —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, no, no.
CHUCK TODD: — do you feel you have sent —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: He raised them far too fast.
CHUCK TODD: — the threat —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: He raised them far too fast.
CHUCK TODD: — your threat to demote him, do you think that’s had an impact?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I didn’t ever threaten to demote him.
CHUCK TODD: There’s been some talk that you might demote him to the number two slot.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I, I, I’d be able to do that if I wanted but I haven’t suggested that. I mean —
CHUCK TODD: That’s not a threat —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, it’s not —
CHUCK TODD: — that’s just a reminder that you can?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, no, I have the right to do that. But I haven’t said that. What he’s done is $50 billion a month in quantitative tightening. That’s ridiculous. What he’s done is he raised interest rates too fast.
CHUCK TODD: Do you worry it’s going to hurt —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I’ve been proven right.
CHUCK TODD: — your reelection?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think the economy’s so strong we’re going to bull through it. But I’m not happy with his actions. No, I don’t think he’s done a good job. I think this, if he didn’t raise rates Obama had very low rates. So Obama was playing with funny money. I wasn’t. I’m playing with the real stuff.
CHUCK TODD: Let me ask you this.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Wait, wait. Obama had somebody that kept the rates very low. I had somebody that raised the rates very rapidly. Too much. He made a mistake. That’s been proven. And yet my economy is phenomenal. We have now the best economy, maybe in the history of our country. One — just to finish off, when I took over, this country, the economy was ready to collapse. You take a look at the numbers. It was ready to collapse. And if I didn’t win —
CHUCK TODD: I just showed you the numbers. It was not ready to collapse.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No no, no, that’s — You showed me unemployment numbers.
CHUCK TODD: That was unemployment. It was not ready —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Excuse me.
CHUCK TODD: — to collapse.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Excuse me. Take a look at your GDP, take a look at your jobs, take a look at your optimism.
CHUCK TODD: Ok.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Take a look at all of the charts. When I took over from election day on, I mean, you show me one chart which, where I did —
CHUCK TODD: It was the unemployment rate.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: — well in that too, but I’m not —
CHUCK TODD: Ok.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: — talking about that. Take a look at some of the optimism charts and everything else. It went from 57 to 92. Nobody’s ever seen anything that —
CHUCK TODD: You’re right. You’re right.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: — right after I won.
CHUCK TODD: The optimism, you’re right.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, optimism is a big part of success in business. Okay.
CHUCK TODD: You were always hard on Obama. You thought he wasn’t enough of a cheerleader.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: He was not a cheerleader.
CHUCK TODD: If you could have one do over as president, what would it be?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, it would be personnel.
CHUCK TODD: Who is it?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I would say if I had one do over, it would be, I would not have appointed Jeff Sessions to be attorney general. That would be my one —
CHUCK TODD: That’s your, in your mind, that’s your worst mistake?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah, that was the biggest mistake.
CHUCK TODD: Is Bill Barr your Roy Cohn?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: He should’ve never — I think he’s a very talented, very–
CHUCK TODD: But do you know what I mean by that? You’ve always said —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, no, look —
CHUCK TODD: “Where’s my Roy Cohn?” Is he your Roy Cohn?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You have to understand, Roy Cohn, but I had many, many lawyers. I mean, a lot of lawyers. Roy was one of them. He was a tough guy. Bill Barr is a — first of all, Bill Barr —
CHUCK TODD: Is he cut from the same cloth, do you think?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Bill Barr is a very, he’s equally tough. He’s a fine man. He’s a fine man. The job he’s done is incredible. He’s brought sanity back. I think he’s real — I don’t think, I know, he’s respected. You know, he loves the Department of Justice. He saw what was happening. He has done a spectacular job. Now he’s in the process of doing something and I stay away from it. I really, I stay away from it. But I think he feels that what’s happened in this country was a very bad thing and very bad for our country.
CHUCK TODD: They’re in terrible shape down there, Mr. President. Down in Homestead, Florida, that’s where I grew up, it’s, the conditions are terrible.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I agree. And it’s been —
CHUCK TODD: Do something.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: — that way for a long time.
CHUCK TODD: Do something.
CHUCK TODD: I want to ask what’s going down with the, these, the children in these migrant camps. The stories are horrible, Mr. President. You have children without their parents. You have kids taking care of kids.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah.
CHUCK TODD: You’ve, you’ve read these reports. I know people are coming to you. I know you think this is the Democrats’ problem.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, it —
CHUCK TODD: Forget it.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It was —
CHUCK TODD: Why aren’t you doing something?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Are you ready?
CHUCK TODD: They’re in terrible shape down there, Mr. President. Down in Homestead, Florida, that’s where I grew up, it’s, the conditions are terrible.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I agree. And it’s been —
CHUCK TODD: Do something.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: — that way for a long time.
CHUCK TODD: Do something.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And President Obama built the cages. Remember when they said that I built them? And then it was 1914 —
CHUCK TODD: Do two wrongs —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Excuse me.
CHUCK TODD: — make a right?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It was 2014. Chuck, just listen for one second.
CHUCK TODD: Ok. Alright.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Separation, President Obama, I took over separation. I’m the one that put it together. What’s happened though are the cartels and all of these bad people, they’re using the kids. They’re, they’re, it’s almost like slavery.
CHUCK TODD: But let’s not punish the kids more.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No this has been happening —
CHUCK TODD: Aren’t you — the kids are getting punished more.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You’re right. And this has been happening long before I got there. What we’ve done is we’ve created, we’ve, we’ve ended separation. You know, under President Obama you had separation. I was the one that ended it. Now I said one thing, when I ended it I said, “Here’s what’s going to happen. More families are going to come up.” And that’s what’s happened. But they’re really coming up for the economics. But once you ended the separation. But I ended separation. I inherited separation from President Obama. President Obama built, they call them jail cells. They were built —
CHUCK TODD: Let’s talk about what’s happening now.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: — by the Obama —
CHUCK TODD: Your administration, and–
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I’m just telling you —
CHUCK TODD: –you’re not doing the recreation. You’re not even schooling these kids anymore. You’ve gotten rid of all that stuff.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We’re doing a fantastic job under the circumstances. The Democrats aren’t even approving giving us money. Where is the money? You know what? The Democrats are holding up the humanitarian aid.
CHUCK TODD: It looks like these kids are being used as, as some sort of — is it hostages? They’re being held —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, they are being used.
CHUCK TODD: — hostage.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They are being used by very bad people on the other side where they actually get —
CHUCK TODD: But now they’re politically being used.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: –paid, where money is being made using them because our laws are so bad. Because if you have a child, you have an advantage. You know that better than anybody. And what should happen, Chuck —
CHUCK TODD: But why let the political debate hurt these children?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Chuck, we could —
CHUCK TODD: They could be impacted for years.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: If the Democrats would change the asylum laws and the loopholes, which they refuse to do because they think it’s good politics, everything would be solved immediately. But they refuse to do it. They refuse to do it.
CHUCK TODD: Let me ask you this.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You know what? If they change those, I say, I used to say 45 minutes. It’s 15 minutes. If they changed asylum and if they changed loopholes everything on the border would be perfect.
CHUCK TODD: Let me ask you this, why do you think Nancy Pelosi has held off her impeachment caucus?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Because I think she feels that I will win much easier. I mean, I’ve been told that by many people.
CHUCK TODD: Do you think impeachment’s good politics for you?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think I win the election easier. But, you know, I’m not sure that I like having it. Look, I did nothing wrong. I was spied on. What they did to me was illegal. It was illegal on the other side. I did nothing wrong. So impeachment’s a very unfair thing because nothing that I did was wrong. And if you look at the Mueller report, there was no collusion. This was all about collusion.
CHUCK TODD: Nowhere in the Mueller report —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: This was about conspiracy.
CHUCK TODD: By the way, Mr. President, you say no collusion. There is not a single, I’ve read this Mueller report, both, both parts of it —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Use the word collusion, or use —
CHUCK TODD: — there’s not one place it says nothing happened.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Use the word collusion. Use the word conspiracy.
CHUCK TODD: It never says no collusion.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I’ll be honest with you, nobody even mentions Russia anymore since the Mueller report. They don’t mention it, in all fairness.
CHUCK TODD: I —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Nobody mentions Russia anymore. And it was about Russia. It was a hoax.
CHUCK TODD: Let me ask you this —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Wait a minute.
CHUCK TODD: — during the campaign —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Wait, wait. We’ll give you the time that you need.
CHUCK TODD: What hoax it was?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It was a hoax. The Russian hoax with me.
CHUCK TODD: You don’t believe it happened?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I had nothing to do —
CHUCK TODD: You don’t believe the Russians interfered —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: What they did with —
CHUCK TODD: — in our election?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: — respect to the election is different. We’re not talking about that. We’re talking about —
CHUCK TODD: The idea that you were conspiring.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: — my campaign working is a hoax.
CHUCK TODD: Fair enough.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Okay. Good.
CHUCK TODD: But going back, on WikiLeaks, knowing now that that was stolen foreign material, do you regret using it?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I, I wouldn’t have. But this was well-known. I think it was in papers. And, again, I’m going back now a long ways. But —
CHUCK TODD: It was all rumored to be Russian stolen property.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Wait a minute. But —
CHUCK TODD: So why’d you use it?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: –but how would I even know that? I made a speech. It was in there about WikiLeaks. I’m not a —
CHUCK TODD: Right, but I’m saying knowing now —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: — WikiLeaks person.
CHUCK TODD: Knowing that they are a Russian intelligence —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Hey, Chuck.
CHUCK TODD: — asset —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Ok.
CHUCK TODD: — do you regret it?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Let me tell you– WikiLeaks, et cetera, that’s not my deal in life. You know, in other words, I don’t know about WikiLeaks. It was a strange name. But there were stories about something WikiLeaks that they had information. And I say it in a joking manner at a speech. Joking. Everybody laughing. Everybody having a — And they made it like it was serious. No, I don’t want anything bad to happen to our country. Anything bad happens to this country, I will end it and I’ll end it fast. I don’t want any of that to happen.
CHUCK TODD: You’re going to see Vladimir Putin in a week.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yes. I’m going to see many people.
CHUCK TODD: Are you going to address him directly about interference in 2020?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I may.
CHUCK TODD: Are you going to tell him —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I may.
CHUCK TODD: — not to do it?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I may if you’d like me to do it, I’ll do that.
CHUCK TODD: Because some — Well, some people think that your answer —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You know what? Here’s what you do —
CHUCK TODD: — that your answer last week invited him to do it again.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Oh, that’s not true. That’s not true.
CHUCK TODD: Are you going to tell him not to and what are the consequences?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: My answer last week was both. I said both. I’d do both. Except they didn’t put it on. And when they did put it on people understood. But they didn’t put it on because they put a different segment on. So they ask me a question. But when I said, “Yeah, I’d do both,” people saw that in the last version of it because the thing played like all weekend and on Friday. So it’s just more fake news. Chuck, there’s so much fake news. It would be so good if —
CHUCK TODD: The Republican Party has changed in your image. Do you think you caused that change or do you think the party was changing and you were the leader they selected?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think common sense caused it. You know, I’m about common sense. People say, “Are you conservative?” I guess I’m conservative, but I’m about common sense. I’m about we need borders. We’re going to have borders. And we have strong borders. And by the way, Mexico has done a great job. It’s slowed down so much. But we have an amazing economy and people want to come up. But it’s slowed down so much. But I’m about borders. I’m about great health care. Obamacare is a disaster. I got rid of the individual mandate.
CHUCK TODD: By the way, why is the economy doing so well if Obamacare is still law of the land? You had said in 2011 —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We are managing —
CHUCK TODD: — “Obamacare’s going to destroy the economy.” Obamacare’s still here and —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Because I’ve managed it great.
CHUCK TODD: — the economy’s great.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I had a choice. I could have let it implode and killed it or I could have managed it —
CHUCK TODD: You’re still trying to kill it.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, no.
CHUCK TODD: Why are you still trying to kill it with the getting rid of preexisting — If you — This lawsuit that the Department of Justice joined, it could get rid of —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I am in favor —
CHUCK TODD: — coverage of preexisting conditions.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I am in favor of preexisting conditions. I am fighting —
CHUCK TODD: So get rid — so drop the lawsuit.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We will —
CHUCK TODD: So drop your aspect of the lawsuit.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It has nothing to do with it. The lawsuit is one thing. We are going to put in a bill, total preexisting conditions. And the Republicans are in favor of preexisting conditions.
CHUCK TODD: Mr. President, you had full Republican control and they couldn’t pass anything.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Chuck, are you ready?
CHUCK TODD: What makes you think you’re going to get it done this time?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We had a negative vote from John McCain. It was a surprising vote. But I got rid of the worst part of Obamacare which was the individual mandate.
CHUCK TODD: Ok.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We will always protect pre-existing conditions. And the reason Obamacare continues is my decision. Wait, I made a big decision.
CHUCK TODD: Ok.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We have a man named Azar, our secretary, he’s fantastic man, Alex. A total pro. I could have managed Obamacare so it would have failed or I could have managed it the way we did so it’s as good as it can be. Not great, but it’s as good — It’s too expensive and the premiums are too high. I had a decision to make. I could have politically killed Obamacare. I decided not to do it. But still it’s not good. We’re going to come up with great health care if we win the House, the Senate and the presidency.
CHUCK TODD: Are you prepared to lose?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No. Probably not. Probably not.
CHUCK TODD: Very hon — I mean, you joke —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It would be much better, it would be much better if I said, “Yeah.”
CHUCK TODD: You’re, you’re —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It would be much easier for me to say, “Oh yes.” No I’m probably not too prepared to lose. I don’t like losing. I haven’t lost very much in my life.
CHUCK TODD: You didn’t like the fact that you lost the popular vote. That bothered you, didn’t it?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I think it was a — I mean, I’ll say something that, again, is controversial. There were a lot of votes cast that I don’t believe. I look at California.
CHUCK TODD: Mr. President.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Excuse me.
CHUCK TODD: But that’s a —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Take a look at Judicial Watch, take a look at their settlement where California admitted to a million votes. They admitted to a million votes.
CHUCK TODD: A million votes of what?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Take a look at judicial —
CHUCK TODD: What are you talking about?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Judicial Watch made a settlement. There was, there was much —
CHUCK TODD: About what?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: — there was much illegal voting. But let me tell you about popular vote. Do you have a second?
CHUCK TODD: Yes, because you were, you were a big fan of it —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: There are two —
CHUCK TODD: — until you weren’t
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I like popular vote.
CHUCK TODD: Yeah.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think I do better with a popular vote. But I didn’t campaign for the popular vote.
CHUCK TODD: You’re right. I —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You didn’t see me campaigning in California or New York. If I — if it was up to the popular vote, I would have been I think even better. I won 306 to 223, which was a lot in the Electoral College. But it’s like you’re training for the 100-yard dash versus the mile.
CHUCK TODD: Yep. You’re, you’re totally right.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It’s totally different.
CHUCK TODD: If it’s the popular vote, you campaign differently.–
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I went to Wisconsin. —
CHUCK TODD: — I don’t disagree.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: — She forgot. I went to Michigan. She didn’t go to Michigan enough. I won Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania. I won places that she didn’t do a good job. What can I tell you? No, maybe I did a great job. You know, I never get credit for that. They always say she was a lousy candidate. I actually think that Hillary Clinton was a great candidate. She was very smart. She was very tough. She was ruthless and vicious.
CHUCK TODD: You’d rather run against her again, wouldn’t you?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No.
CHUCK TODD: You only talked about her in your announcement speech.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No.
CHUCK TODD: You spent a lot of time talking about her.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No. I would actually rather run against Biden.
CHUCK TODD: Than Hillary.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think that would be my preference.
CHUCK TODD: Why?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Sleepy Joe. He’s sleepy. She was not sleepy. Let me just tell you something, the Electoral College is tougher for a Republican to win than the popular vote. At least me. I feel that I go to three places. I went to 19 or 21 states. I went to Maine four times because I wanted to get one. And I did get it. And that’s the beauty of the Electoral College.
CHUCK TODD: Right.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You know, I’ve been a proponent of the other sometimes and I change. But I will tell you, the Electoral College brings you to many of the states in this country.
CHUCK TODD: You, you have joked about a third term. You’ve joked about these things.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I only joke.
CHUCK TODD: Okay.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I joke. And I say “Watch, I will drive Chuck Todd crazy.”
CHUCK TODD: You will, you will accept the re — Ok. You will —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yes, there won’t be a third term.
CHUCK TODD: You will accept the results?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: 100%. Sure.
CHUCK TODD: And you will accept whatever happens in 2020.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Sure.
CHUCK TODD: You lose, you’ll be like — you’re not going to like it but you walk out.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: In fact, I said at a speech recently, I said, “Watch. We’ll drive the media crazy. Let’s go for a third time and then a fourth.” And some of the media said, “He’s going to do it.”
CHUCK TODD: Speaking of driving people crazy, when you were asked about Mike Pence in 2024 and you, and you, and you paused a minute about endorsing him as your successor, that got a lot of people going, “Is Mike Pence 100% on your ticket in 2020?”
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, look, look — 100%, yes.
CHUCK TODD: 100%?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Oh yeah.
CHUCK TODD: There is no wiggle room?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: He’s been, he’s been a terrific vice president. He’s my friend and —
CHUCK TODD: Ok.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: — a lot of things. No. Zero. Zero.
CHUCK TODD: So why’d you hesitate in endorsing him in being, succeeding you?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Because it was a surprise question.
CHUCK TODD: You hadn’t thought about it?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I mean, you know, I’m not even thinking of it. It’s so far out. I mean, It’s so far out. That would be the only reason. Now what happens in 2024? I don’t know that Mike is going to run. I don’t know who’s running or anything else.
CHUCK TODD: If you could have one do over as president, what would it be?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, it would be personnel.
CHUCK TODD: Who is it?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I would say if I had one do over, it would be, I would not have appointed Jeff Sessions to be attorney general. That would be my one —
CHUCK TODD: That’s your, in your mind, that’s your worst mistake?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah, that was the biggest mistake.
Reaction wheels in Kerbal Space Program might actually refer to a number of different technologies used to control the attitude of spacecraft. Let’s go into some detail about these.
Time to clear up some misconceptions and show how a spacecraft’s close encounter with a planet can change a spacecraft’s orbit and enable trajectories beyond its available delta-v. I specifically cover some of the math and look at the unusual trajectory employed by the OSIRIS REx mission.
Illustrating different classes of orbits commonly used by satellites in Earth orbit, there are special classes of orbit designed to solve certain problems and the physics behind them is important. All the orbits are displayed using Universe Sandbox 2. Buy it here: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/un…
The science of Aerothermodynamics covers what happens during a spacecraft’s fiery flight through a planetary atmosphere as it sheds speed, converting kinetic energy into thermal energy. This represents a complex interaction between fluid mechanics, thermal radiation and chemistry. The engineering required to shield hardware against this intense heating is an equally complex multi disciplinary art. If you want to learn the math then this course offered an excellent overview: https://tfaws.nasa.gov/TFAWS12/Procee…
Scott Manley
Published on Jun 21, 2019
When a satellite is designed these days it’s also important to think about what happens at the end of its lifetime, for more LEO satellites they’ll happily decay and fall into the atmosphere on their own. But there are many cases where this can’t happen, either because the spacecraft doesn’t have the fuel, or because the satellite is dangerous. For these, there’s a retirement home in the graveyard orbit.
Former Gov. Susana Martinez, R-N.M., on how President Trump’s has dealt with the immigration issue and the fallout from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s comments about border facilities. FOX Business Network (FBN) is a financial news channel delivering real-time information across all platforms that impact both Main Street and Wall Street. Headquartered in New York — the business capital of the world — FBN launched in October 2007 and is the leading business network on television, topping CNBC in Business Day viewers for the second consecutive year. The network is available in more than 80 million homes in all markets across the United States. Owned by FOX, FBN has bureaus in Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and London.
I have created this site to help people have fun in the kitchen. I write about enjoying life both in and out of my kitchen. Life is short! Make the most of it and enjoy!
This is a library of News Events not reported by the Main Stream Media documenting & connecting the dots on How the Obama Marxist Liberal agenda is destroying America
The meeting on May 6th, was NOT a meeting with Australian Ambassador Alexander Downer. That meeting did not happen until May 10th. The recent release of documentsfrom Australia confirm this timeline.
Centinel2012 