Acting DNI Joseph Maguire Congressional “Whistleblower” Testimony – 9:00am Livestream…


You know the Democrats had a pre-planned strategy to use the “whistleblower” complaint, because Adam Schiff has the production scheduled for 9:00am public hearing today.

Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire is appearing before the House Intelligence Committee to face lawmakers’ questions about his handling of the hearsay whistleblower complaint relating to a phone call between President Donald Trump and the president of Ukraine.  The transcript of the non-controversial call was released yesterday.

Lawmakers also received their copy of the 6-page complaint Wednesday afternoon after criticizing the White House and Department of Justice for complying with Office of Legal Counsel guidance and handling recommendations. The declassified complaint, consisting of hearsay and political media spin, is expected to be released to the public today.

C-Span Livestream Link – PBS Livestream Link – CBS Livestream Link

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In the Justice Department’s OLC opinion, they point out that ICIG Atkinson’s internal justification for even accepting the whistleblower complaint was poor legal judgement.  [See Here]  I would say Atkinson’s decision is directly related to his own risk exposure:

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TheLastRefuge@TheLastRefuge2

Rep. Stewart: Whistleblower complaint has been declassified and released https://video.foxnews.com/v/6089531581001/ 

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Bernie Doubles Warren’s Wealth Tax to Win Votes


The war on eradicating the rich is fully on. Bernie Sanders realizes that Elizabeth Warren is rising in the polls among liberal Democrats, and Bernie knows how politics works. “Vote for me and I will rob other people for you.” They are competing now on how high they could raise taxes for the rich. Warren’s proposed wealth tax would impose an annual 2% tax on all personal wealth above $50 million, so a family worth $100 million would owe 2% of $50 million or $1 million. The tax would rise to 3% for assets above $1 billion. Warren says her wealth tax would raise $275 billion per year, which she’d use to pay off student debt for millions, cover college costs for the majority of students, and finance universal child care. What she fails to explain is that this is NOT an income tax. This is on the portfolio value. So say you bought a stock for $100 and it soared to $1,000 and you find yourself in that class but you have no cash. You will then be forced to sell stock to pay the tax. But it does not end there. You must pay the same tax every year even it the portfolio was the same price. If you had that in government bonds, you would face the problem that with low interest rates, you cannot earn enough to even pay the tax.

Sanders has gone further, more than doubling Warren’s proposed tax rate on billionaires. The Sanders plan has a lower threshold for wealth, and higher tax rates. His plan has 8 different tax levels, starting with a 1% tax on wealth above $32 million. The rate would rise to 2% on wealth from $50 million to $250 million, with a top rate of 8% on wealth over $10 billion. Sanders says his plan would raise $435 billion per year, which he’d use to fund a single-payer health plan, more affordable housing, and universal child care.

How about we simply forgive student debt and call it a day? All of these proposals are about raising taxes and never looking at the subsidized problem in student loans and health care that was created in the first place. Once government subsidizes anything, the prices rise because they know government will pay the bill. They fund degrees that are worthless and universities are happy to take the money with no responsibility if the degree will ever land you a job. There is no free market competition whatsoever. Health care should simply be turned into a public utility. It will never be reformed in this manner by just paying whatever bills the government is handed.

Trump Impeachment


Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House is opening a formal impeachment inquiry of Trump, saying he’s violated his oath of office and obligations under the Constitution. Her announcement that she will begin an impeachment inquiry over Ukraine has now been the excuse for US stocks to revisit support. There was no announcement of a vote on the floor to endorse an inquiry. Pelosi’s action does not even mean that there will ever be actual charges against the president. It would have to be a trial in the Senate if charged, and there is no conduct that would warrant actually removing him from office. Clearly, we should expect this for the 2020 election just as the Republicans used that against Bill Clinton. It backfired on the Republicans and it will backfire on the Democrats. It’s a great distraction from trying to get a complete socialist takeover of the US government in 2020.

People are not elected to Congress to simply obstruct and oppose anything the opposite side proposes. This is what politics has degenerated into — political wars. They no longer see themselves as “representatives” of the people. It is all about personal power. This is why politics is doomed. It does not matter who is elected. If the Democrats won in 2020, the Republicans would adopt their strategies and obstruct whatever they could. We have lost any hope of a functioning government.

The First Clean Air Act was 535AD


To me, all this propaganda that humans are responsible for climate change implies that somehow the climate is static and would not be changing but for human activity. This may make great headlines and inspire youth to create strikes and march upon the institutions of capitalism demanding their closure. However, any unbiased review of history reveals a shocking fact – the climate has ALWAYS changed and it too has been a force incorporated in the Economic Confidence Model.

Civilization has always expanded during warming periods and collapsed during global cooling. Simply correlating historical weather and disease reveals a very solid relationship. When there are global cooling periods, this is when disease rises and the worst plagues take place. When it turns cold, crops fail and malnutrition takes place weakening people’s immune systems leaving them more susceptible to plagues.

This global warming seems to have risen to a religion and it is being used by the Communists/Socialists to kill the Industrial Revolution and redistribute the wealth. Raising all the taxes in the world is ONLY pure PUNISHMENT – there is no program to reverse climate change – no fantastic machine. Anyone who was really a scientist just has to look at the historic data on temperature and you will discover that civilization thrives when it gets warm, and it contracts when it gets cold. But above all else, it has ALWAYS changed.

In 61AD, Seneca the Younger (c. 4BC– 65AD) the philosopher, statesman, and adviser to Emperor Nero who ordered him to commit suicide, wrote about the pollution in Rome.

“No sooner had I left behind the oppressive atmosphere of the city [Rome] and that reek of smoking cookers which pour out, along with clouds of ashes, all the poisonous fumes they’ve accumulated in their interiors whenever they’re started up, than I noticed the change in my condition.”

Pollution has had its cycles as well and this entire Global Warming nonsense implies that it has ONLY been post-Industrial Revolution that threatens the planet and we will all die in 12 years according to AOC, our latest entertainer in Congress. Low and behold, pollution became so bad that the capital city of the Roman Empire, Constantinople, that the Emperor Justinian I (527-565AD) even enacted the first known Clean Air Act.

In 535AD, then Emperor Justinian I proclaimed the importance of clean air as a birthright. “By the law of nature these things are common to mankind—the air, running water, the sea.”

There has always been pollution. When there are forest fires started by lightening, they put off CO2. Volcanoes put out CO2. Plants and trees need CO2 to survive. This is simply a divine mechanism of how the earth functions.

The entire climate change issue has become a covert means in this final confrontation between the left and the right. This is the very issue that will destroy the Western Society for it has been elevated to such heights and governments love it for all they see is more power and money. The activists behind the curtain are simply Marxists who are determined to make communism work one more time.

Further Evidence Intelligence Community Inspector General is Part of Lawfare Alliance…


Details are beginning to surface about the deep state Whistleblower complaint.  It is possible in the next few days the 6-page complaint, which utilized media reports to construct the supportive evidence for the phone call accusation against President Trump, will be made public.

That said, within a heavy propaganda report from the New York Times there are details about the Intelligence Community Inspector General that show the tell-tale fingerprints of the ICIG supportive intent (emphasis mine):

[…] Mr. Atkinson, a Trump appointee, nevertheless concluded that the allegations appeared to be credible and identified two layers of concern.

The first involved a possible violation of criminal law. Mr. Trump’s comments to Mr. Zelensky “could be viewed as soliciting a foreign campaign contribution in violation of the campaign-finance laws,” Mr. Atkinson wrote, according to the Justice Department memo. (read more)

Does the “foreign campaign contribution” angle sound familiar?  It should, because that argument was used in the narrative around the Trump Tower meeting with the Russian Lobbyist Natalia Veselnitskaya.  More specifically, just like FARA violations the overused “campaign contribution” narrative belongs to a specific network of characters, Lawfare.

The center of the Lawfare Alliance influence was/is the Department of Justice National Security Division, DOJ-NSD.  It was the DOJ-NSD running the Main Justice side of the 2016 operations to support Operation Crossfire Hurricane and FBI agent Peter Strzok.  It was also the DOJ-NSD where the sketchy legal theories around FARA violations (Sec. 901) originated.

The Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG) is Michael K Atkinson.  ICIG Atkinson is the official who accepted the ridiculous premise of a hearsay ‘whistle-blower‘ complaint; an intelligence whistleblower who was “blowing-the-whistle” based on second hand information of a phone call without any direct personal knowledge, ie ‘hearsay‘.

Michael K Atkinson was previously the Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General of the National Security Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ-NSD) in 2016. That makes Atkinson senior legal counsel to John Carlin and Mary McCord who were the former heads of the DOJ-NSD in 2016 when the stop Trump operation was underway.

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[Irony Reminder: The DOJ-NSD was purposefully under no IG oversight. In 2015 the OIG requested oversight and it was 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 NSD.]

Put another way, Michael Atkinson was the lawyer for the same DOJ-NSD players who: (1) lied to the FISA court (Judge Rosemary Collyer) about the 80% non compliant NSA database abuse using FBI contractors; (2) filed the FISA application against Carter Page; and (3) used FARA violations as tools for political surveillance and political targeting.

Yes, that means Michael Atkinson was Senior Counsel for the DOJ-NSD, at the very epicenter of the political weaponization and FISA abuse.

Immediately after the Carter Page FISA warrant is approved, in the period where DOJ-NSD head John Carlin has given his notice of intent to leave but not yet left, inside those specific two weeks, the National Security Division of the DOJ tells the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) they have been breaking the law. The NSD specifically inform the court they are aware of contractors who have been using FISA 702(16)(17) database search queries to extract information on political candidates.

DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz has looked into the FISA application used against U.S. Person Carter Page. Additionally, U.S. Attorney John Durham is said to be looking at the intelligence communities’ use of systems for spying and surveillance.

If the DOJ-NSD exploitation of the NSA database, and/or DOJ-NSD FISA abuse, and/or DOJ-NSD FARA corruption were ever to reach sunlight, current ICIG Atkinson -as the lawyer for the process- would be under a lot of scrutiny for his involvement.

Yes, that gives current ICIG Michael Atkinson a strong and corrupt motive to participate with the Schiff/Lawfare impeachment objective.

Atkinson’s conflict-of-self-interest, and/or possible blackmail upon him by deep state actors who most certainly know his compromise, likely influenced his approach to this whistleblower complaint.   That would explain why the Dept. of Justice Office of Legal Counsel so strongly rebuked Atkinson’s interpretation of his responsibility with the complaint.

In the Justice Department’s OLC opinion, they point out that Atkinson’s internal justification for accepting the whistleblower complaint was poor legal judgement.  [See Here]  I would say Atkinson’s decision is directly related to his own risk exposure:

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UNGA Bilat #10 – President Trump Meets With President Zelenskyy of Ukraine – Video and Transcript…


A much anticipated bilateral meeting between President Donald Trump and Ukraine President Zelenskyy. [Video and Transcript Below]

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[Transcript] – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, thank you very much, everybody. We’re with the President of Ukraine, and he’s made me more famous, and I’ve made him more famous. (Laughter.) I will say he’s got a great reputation. He’s very, very strongly looking into all sorts of corruption and some of the problems they’ve had over the years. I think it’s one of the primary reasons he got elected. His reputation is absolutely sterling. And it’s an honor to be with you.

And we spoke a couple of times, as you probably remember. And they’d like to hear every single word, and we give them every single word, and then they’ll say, “Well, about today?” I think the press would like to stay in the meeting, but we have lots of witnesses, if you’d like to have it.

But the country of — our country is doing phenomenally well. We are — we have the best economy we’ve ever had. We have the best employment numbers that we’ve ever had. We have now almost 160 million people working, which is more than we’ve ever had. So we’re doing very well in every respect. And I have a feeling that your country is going to do fantastically well. And whatever we can do. You just take care of yourself. Thank you.

PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Mr. President.

Thank you very much. It’s a great pleasure to me to be here, and it’s better to be on TV than by phone, I think.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yeah. (Laughter.)

PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: And, Mr. President, thank you very much. And I’m not the first time to stay in New York —

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Right.

PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: — but I know that you’ve never been in Ukraine.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: That’s right.

PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: And your predecessor also — how do you say it in English? — didn’t find time; I mean that. (Laughter.)

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Right.

PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: So, can you give me a word that you will come to our great country?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I’m going to try. (Laughter.) And I know a lot of people — I will say this: I know a lot of people from Ukraine. They’re great people. And I owned something called the Miss Universe pageants years ago, and I sold it to IMG. And when I ran for President, I thought maybe it wouldn’t be the greatest thing to own the Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants. But it’s a great thing. And we had a winner from Ukraine, and we’ve really had — we got to know the country very well in a lot of different ways. But it’s a country, I think, with tremendous potential.

PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: Yes, I know it, because I’m from this country.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Right. (Laughter.)

PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: And I want to thank you for the invitation to Washington.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Right.

PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: You invited me. But I think — I’m sorry, but I think you forgot to tell me the date. (Laughter.) But I think in the near future.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: They’ll tell you the date.

PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: (Laughs.) Yes, they know before us. And I want to thank you — to thank you, especially, Mr. President, to USA, to your government. Like I said, I know many people, many faces, like the Second Family, after you — my Ukrainian family, we know each other.

Thank you for your support, especially now when — you know, when we have two — really, two wars in Ukraine. The first one is with corruption, you know. But we’ll fight — no, we’ll be winner in this fight, I’m sure. And the priority — my priority is to stop the war on Donbass and to get back our territories: Crimea, Donbass, Luhansk.

Thank you for your support in this case. Thank you very much.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, thank you very much, Mr. President. If you remember, you lost Crimea during a different administration, not during the Trump administration.

PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: Yeah. So you have chance to help us.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: That’s right. I do. But that was during the Obama administration that you lost Crimea, and I didn’t think it was something that you should have. But that was done a long time ago, and I think it was handled poorly. But it’s just one of those things.

One of the elements that we discussed is the United States helps Ukraine, but I think that other countries should help Ukraine much more than they’re doing — Germany, France, the European Union nations. They really should help you a lot more. And I think maybe, together, we’ll work on that. They have to feel a little bit guilty about it because they don’t do what they should be doing.

You’re very important to the European Union. You’re very important — strategically, very important. And I think they should spend a lot more in helping Ukraine. And they know that also, and they actually tell me that, but they don’t seem to produce. So I’m sure you’ll talk to them, and I’ll certainly be talking to them.

PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: Thank you very much, Mr. President. And, you know, now we need — I want to tell you that we now (inaudible) the new country. And, I’m sorry, but we don’t need help; we need support. Real support. And we thank — thank everybody, thank all of the European countries; they each help us. But we also want to have more — more. But I understand, so only together, America and EU — only together we can stop the war. And, you know, we are ready. We just want to tell that we are — remember that we are the biggest country in Europe, but we want to be the richest one. It’s true; it’s in my heart.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, you know, you have great people in Ukraine, and you have very talented people —

PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: Very smart.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: — in terms of manufacturing, in terms of some of the things they do. And we’ll be doing — we’re doing trading already, but we should be doing a lot more trading with Ukraine. But you have very talented people. They make great things. You’re at the top of the line, really. So that’s very important.

And the other thing is I’ve heard you actually have — over the last fairly short period of time, you’ve really made some progress with Russia. I hear a lot of progress has been made. And just keep it going. It’d be nice to end that whole disaster.

PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: First of all, I want to tell you, before — before the relations with Russia — I will prolong, just one minute — I mean, you have to know — I want world to know that now we have the new team, the new parliament, the new government.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Right.

PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: So now we (inaudible) about 74 laws, new laws, which help for our new reforms: land reform, big privatization. They did the law about concessions. Did — we (inaudible) general for security, and we launched the Service Secretary.

Is it right Service Secretary?

AIDE: Yes. Anti-corruption court, as well.

PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: An anti-corruption court. As we came, we did — we launched the anti-corruption court. It began to work on the 5th of September. It was — you know, it was — after five days, we had the new government.

So, we are ready. We want to show that we — we just come. And if somebody, if you — if you want to help us, so just let’s do businesses cases. We have many investment cases. We’re ready.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: And stop corruption in Ukraine, because that will really make you great. That will make you great personally, and it’ll also be so tremendous for your nation, in terms of what you want to do and where you want to take it.

Thank you very much. It’s a great honor.

PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: Thank you very much, Mr. President.

Q President Zelensky, have you felt any pressure from President Trump to investigate Joe Biden and Hunter Biden?

PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: I think you read everything. So I think you read text. I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be involved to democratic, open elections — elections of USA.

No, you heard that we had, I think, good phone call. It was normal. We spoke about many things. And I — so I think, and you read it, that nobody pushed — pushed me.

Yes.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: In other words, no pressure.

Q President Trump, would — President Trump, would you like Mr. Zelensky to —

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Because you know what? There was no pressure. And you know there was — and, by the way, you know there was no pressure. All you have to do it see it, what went on on the call. But you know that. But you can ask a question, and I appreciate the answer.

Go ahead.

Q Mr. President, would you like President Zelensky to do more on Joe Biden and investigate (inaudible)?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: No. I want him to do whatever he can. This was not his fault; he wasn’t there. He’s just been here recently. But whatever he can do in terms of corruption, because the corruption is massive.

Now, when Biden’s son walks away with millions of dollars from Ukraine, and he knows nothing, and they’re paying him millions of dollars, that’s corruption.

When Biden’s son walks out of China with $1.5 billion in a fund — and the biggest funds in the world can’t get money out of China — and he’s there for one quick meeting, and he flies in on Air Force Two, I think that’s a horrible thing. I think it’s a horrible thing.

But I’m going far beyond that. I know the President, and I’ve read a lot about Ukraine. I’ve read a lot about a lot of countries. He wants to stop corruption.

He was elected — I think, number one — on the basis of stopping corruption, which unfortunately has plagued Ukraine. And if he could do that, he’s doing, really, the whole world a big favor. I know — and I think he’s going to be successful.

Q Mr. President, on Rudy Giuliani, why do you think it’s appropriate for your personal attorney to get involved in government business?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, you’d have to ask Rudy. I will tell you —

Q You mentioned it to the President here.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I will tell you this, that Rudy is looking to also find out where the phony witch hunt started, how it started. You had a Russian witch hunt that turned out to be two and half years of phony nonsense.

And Rudy Giuliani is a great lawyer. He was a great mayor. He’s highly respected. I’ve watched the passion that he’s had on television over the last few days. I think it’s incredible the way he’s done.

What he’s at is he wants to find out where did this Russian witch hunt that you people really helped perpetrate — where did it start. How come it started? It was all nonsense. It was a hoax. It was a total hoax. It was a media hoax and a Democrat hoax. Where did it start?

And Rudy has got every right to go and find out where that started. And other people are looking at that, too. Where did it start? The enablers — where did it all come from? It was out of thin air. And I think he’s got a very strong right to do it. He’s a good lawyer; he knows exactly what he’s doing. And it’s very important.

Q Mr. President, do you believe that the emails from Hillary Clinton — do you believe that they’re in Ukraine? Do you think this whole thing originated —

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I think they could be. You mean the 30,000 that she deleted?

Q Yes.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yeah, I think they could very well — boy, that was a nice question. I like that question. (Laughter.) Because, frankly, I think that one of the great crimes committed is Hillary Clinton deleting 33,000 emails after Congress sends her a subpoena. Think of that. You can’t even do that in a civil case; you can’t get rid of evidence like that. She deleted 33,000 emails after — not before — after receiving the subpoena from the U.S. Congress.

I mean, I have never heard — now, she’s done far worse than that. Although, I don’t know how much worse it can be. But there were many other things she did that were wrong. But that’s so obvious. She gets a subpoena from the United States Congress and she deletes them. And then she said, as I remember it, that, “Oh, well, they had to do with the wedding and yoga.” She does a lot of yoga, right? So they had 33,000 emails about the wedding of her daughter and yoga. I don’t think so.

How she got away with that one is just — but it’s one of many. And it’s corrupt government. Because we have corruption also, Mr. President. We have a lot of corruption in our government. And when you see what happened with Hillary Clinton, when you see what happened with Comey, and McCabe, and all of these people — we have a lot of things going on here too. Hopefully, it’s going to be found out very soon. But I think that a lot of progress has been made. A lot of progress has been made.

Q Will the military aid continue? Can you assure that it will continue in the future?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, we’re working with Ukraine. And we want other countries to work with Ukraine. When I saw “work,” I’m referring to money. They should put up more money. We put up a lot of money. I gave you anti-tank busters that — frankly, President Obama was sending you pillows and sheets. And I gave you anti-tank busters. And a lot of people didn’t want to do that, but I did it.

And I really hope that Russia — because I really believe that President Putin would like to do something. I really hope that you and President Putin get together and can solve your problem. That would be a tremendous achievement. And I know you’re trying to do that.

Q President Zelensky, in the phone call, you said that you would look into Joe Biden — you would ask your prosecutor to look into the matter. Have you had that conversation —

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I think — no, I haven’t. But I think that — I think this —

Q I’m asking President Zelensky.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I think that somebody, if you look at what he did, it’s so bad — where his son he goes to China, he walks away with a billion and a half dollars. He goes to Ukraine and he walks away with $50,000 a month and a lot of money in addition to that. And the whole thing with the prosecutor in Ukraine.

And he’s on tape. This isn’t like “maybe he did it, maybe he didn’t.” He’s on tape doing this. I saw this a while ago. I looked at it and I said, “That’s incredible. I’ve never seen anything like that.” Now, either he’s dumb, or he thought he was in a room full of really good friends, or maybe it’s a combination of both, in his case.

Q President Zelensky —

PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: I heard your question. Thank you very much. Don’t cry.

I mean that we have independent country and independent general security. I can’t push anyone, you know? That’s it. That is the question — that is the answer. So I didn’t call somebody or the new general security. I didn’t ask him. I didn’t push him. That’s it.

Q Do you feel obligated to fulfill your promises to President Trump?

PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: Just — sorry.

Q (Speaks Ukrainian.)

PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: (Speaks Ukrainian.)

(As interpreted.) Obligated to do what? (Speaks Ukrainian.)

Q (Speaks Ukrainian.)

PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: (Speaks Ukrainian.)

Q (Speaks Ukrainian.)

PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: (Speaks Ukrainian.)

PRESIDENT TRUMP: You want to just —

PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: I’m sorry.

(As interpreted.) Concerning the investigation, actually, I want to underscore that Ukraine is an independent country. We have a new prosecutor general in Ukraine — a highly professional man with a Western education and history to investigate any case he considers and deems appropriate.

While we have many more issues to care about and to tackle, we have (inaudible), we have Maidan, we have corruption cases, as President Trump rightly mentioned about that. So we know what to do, and we know where to go and what to tackle.

Q President Trump, is it appropriate to ask the Attorney General to be involved in this matter?

THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead.

Q Did you ask House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to find a way out of impeachment yesterday?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Not at all. No. Look, she’s lost her way. She’s been taken over by the radical left. She may be a radical left herself, but she really has lost her way. I spoke to her about guns yesterday. She didn’t even know what I was talking about. She’s not interested in guns.

Q Did it even come up or no?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I’ll tell you what: Nancy Pelosi is not interested in guns and gun protection and gun safety. All she is thinking about is this. She’s been taken over by the radical left, the whole Democrat Party. And you take a look at what’s happening in the media today. The whole party is taken over by the left.

And thank you very much. My poll numbers have gone up. But I don’t want it to go up for this reason. When they look, and when you see what’s happening, people are really angry at Democrats. They’re really angry at the Democrat Party.

And things like, as an example, drug pricing — getting drugs down — things like gun safety, infrastructure, the Democrats can’t talk about that because they’ve been taken over by a radical group of people. And Nancy Pelosi, as far as I’m concerned, unfortunately she’s no longer the Speaker of the House.

Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. Thank you very much.

END 2:36 P.M. EDT

President Trump Leads Multilateral UNGA Meeting on Venezuela – Video and Transcript…


Earlier today President Trump hosted a meeting of seven nations: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru and the United States to support a unified message toward the crisis in Venezuela.  [Video and Transcript Below]

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[Transcript] – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. Are you ready? Ready? Thank you very much. Thank you.

I’m honored to be here today among so many terrific leaders dedicated to the future of democracy, prosperity, and freedom for the people of Venezuela. We are behind you.

For this deeply important event, we are grateful to be joined by Secretary Mike Pompeo, Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Secretary Wilbur Ross, and Administrator Mark Green. Thank you all for being here. Thank you very much.

I want to extend my profound appreciation to every representative with us from across the Western Hemisphere. Each of you is part of a historic coalition of 55 countries that recognize the legitimate constitutional government of Venezuela. We are especially grateful to be joined by representatives of the people of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru, for their leadership and assistance in the face of an unprecedented political, economic, and humanitarian disaster, which has been going on for a long time. And we’re helping a lot. We’re helping a lot.

Let me also recognize two leaders from the government of Venezuela’s legitimate interim government, Presidential Commissioner for Foreign Affairs, Julio Borges. Where’s Julio? Julio? Please, stand up, Julio. Great. Thank you very much. Thank you. (Applause.) And Venezuela’s Ambassador to the United States, Carlos Vecchio. Where’s Carlos? Thank you, Carlos. Please. (Applause.) It’s very nice. Thank you.

As everyone in this room knows, the situation in Venezuela is a tragedy of historic proportions. The Maduro regime does not care about the welfare of their own people. They care about their own power. It’s what they want, is power and money. They want the money, too — not just power.

Socialism has destroyed what was once among the most prosperous countries anywhere in the world. You go back 20 years ago and you look: one of the wealthiest countries in the world, relatively speaking. And now, they don’t have water, they don’t have food, they don’t have medicine, they don’t have anything.

Today, Venezuelans are starving and they’re dying from lack of medicine, doctors, help. According to U.N. Human Rights Commissioner, Maduro’s Cuban-trained death squads have murdered up to 10,000 Venezuelans, and they think that number is extremely low. Citizens since — all since 2018. That’s over a very short period of time. These atrocities are an outrage to all and everything that we hold dear.

As President of the United States, I am committed to the future of stability, prosperity, and liberty for Venezuela. We will stand with the Venezuelan people every single day until they are finally freed from this horrible and brutal oppression. They will be freed. It will happen.

Our first objective is to ensure a peaceful and constitutional transition, paving the way for free and fair elections. That’s why we, at the United States, and in the United States, are doing everything we can to isolate Maduro and his cronies.

Over the past year, the U.S. Treasury Department has imposed very tough sanctions to prevent Maduro and his enablers from accessing the U.S. financial system. Last month, I issued an executive order to completely freeze the assets of the Maduro regime in the United States. Our sanctions have been tightly focused on closing down every avenue by which Maduro sustains his criminal and totalitarian rule. And he has been vicious, he’s been corrupt. He’s been as bad as you get.

At the same time, we have undertaken significant efforts to ensure that the Venezuelan people have access to food, medicine, and other humanitarian supplies, despite the regime’s efforts to stop aid from coming into Venezuela. They are making it very, very hard to get aid into Venezuela. We are getting aid into Venezuela, but it’s a very difficult thing. You would think, frankly, that would be to their benefit to let aid get in instead of letting people die from lack of medicine or food. But they don’t make it easy, but we get it in anyway.

We call on Maduro to immediately allow his lifesaving humanitarian aid. This has to be allowed to come into Venezuela for the long-suffering Venezuelan people. Unfortunately, a few countries outside of this hemisphere continue to enable this depraved regime with military and technological support. The most significant factor propping up the Venezuelan regime is the communist dictatorship in Cuba. Maduro allows Cuba to plunder Venezuelans’ oil, raid its wealth, and rob its people. Venezuela’s oil is at a low point. Not much is being taken out. Not many people are in there because of the dangers involved. But nevertheless, there’s some money coming out, and it goes into Cuba.

He’s allowed thousands of Cuban agents to infiltrate Venezuela’s security forces and other institutions. In other words, Maduro has sold out his nation to a foreign dictatorship, and it has been that way a long time.

The civilized world must pressure the Cuban regime to leave Venezuela immediately. The United States is ready to support a democratic transition government, and we know that our partners around the world — of which we have many — are ready as well. Venezuela’s rebuilding can begin the moment a peaceful transition occurs.

This is a critical moment for the world. We must not allow the destructive forces of socialism and communism to repeat the horrors of the last century. Can’t allow it to happen. There have been horrors like nobody would believe. We can’t allow this to happen today in Venezuela. We resolve that the future of the Western Hemisphere will not be written by socialists and tyrants, but by liberty-loving patriots. Our great destiny is to become the first fully free hemisphere in human history. We have a very, very good chance of doing that.

We work and we pray for the hour when every person across the region, and every suffering soul in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, will finally know the blessings of democracy and the full glory of freedom.

Once again, thank you all to so many of my friends in this room and to the nations that have helped us with respect to Venezuela and many other things.

I want to personally thank the President of Mexico for the incredible work and spirit and everything that they’ve done on our southern border. Our southern border has become secure, with 27,000 Mexican soldiers on the Mexican side, telling people, “Sorry, you can’t come in.” So I want to thank the President of Mexico. Thank you very much.

And for Venezuela: It will all work. It will all come back. And good things will happen.

Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you very much.

Q Mr. President, on the transcript, sir? On the transcript, sir?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Okay. You know what? Because you’re so anxious, we’re going to let you stay as certain presidents speak. Because I know that’s what you want to hear.

SECRETARY POMPEO: Thank you, Mr. President. Let me do the introductions. First of all, Mr. President, let me say how proud I am to be part of everything that you have led in this effort to try and bring the Venezuelan crisis to a peaceful and democratic resolution. Your leadership has been outstanding.

The work of the Lima Group, too, has been important. I believe it’s a sign of a new era in Latin America. And like your nations, the United States is tired of the heartbreaking stories of Venezuelans forced to dig through trash cans for food, of the hospital patients dying unnecessarily, of the millions of innocent children who go to bed hungry every night because 94 percent of Venezuelan households can’t get their basic necessities.

The United States wants to announce today an additional tranche of $118 million to aid the Venezuelan crisis response. The assistance will include $36 million for relief efforts inside of Venezuela. They’ll provide urgently needed medicines that improve access to quality healthcare of for the Venezuelan people. The remaining monies will protect and assist many of your countries, as you generously host a combined 4.4 million Venezuelans who have fled their country — over 10 percent of the Venezuelan population. We’ll help provide food, shelter, clean water, and legal support for them.

This brings to over $570 million the amount of aid that we have provided — the United States has provided — to ease the crisis, both inside Venezuela and throughout the hemisphere.

As long as the Maduro regime stands, it will stand between the Venezuelan people and their return to freedom and prosperity. The United States, under President Trump, remains a steadfast supporter of the Venezuelan people and of the Lima Group in its ongoing struggle for the prosperous, free, and democratic Venezuela.

It’s now my pleasure to introduce a member of the true government of Venezuela: Julio Borges. Mr. Borges is a longtime supporter of a return to democracy in Venezuela, and for this, he has been forced into exile by the Maduro regime. He now lives in Colombia.

Earlier this year, Interim President Juan Guaidó appointed him as Venezuela’s representative to the Lima Group, and later as presidential advisor on external relationships.

Julio, you’ve been instrumental in rallying the international community to place pressure on the Maduro regime, and we’re honored to have you with us today. The floor is yours, sir.

MR. BORGES: Well, thank you. Thank you for being here today. I would like to make a five-minute introduction about what’s going on in Venezuela.

I could be speaking in Spanish, but I have chosen to speak in English because, Mr. President, on behalf of the Venezuelan people, their democratic-elected National Assembly, and their President Juan Guaidó, I want to personally thank for the leadership that you have shown in our case.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you.

MR. BORGES: Your leadership has made a big difference. And I thank each and every one of you for what your governments have done to end the suffering in Venezuela and reclaim our democracy. You have helped us in our time of great need, which is something no Venezuelan will ever forget.

Venezuela is not alone. Nicolás Maduro and his criminal regime is responsible for the historic crisis impacting our country. To put it in perspective, from an economic standpoint of view: Venezuela’s economic crisis is almost three times bigger than the Great Depression. And from the humanitarian point of view, it’s become the second-largest refugee exodus in the world.

President Guaidó has been working closely with you to reverse the situation. We, as a Venezuelan, has been fighting for almost 20 years. We have gone down many paths, seeking a peaceful solution, but the dictatorship has stalled all possibilities time and time again.

Today, Venezuela is not passively asking for solidarity. The suffering of our people gives testimony of our times of need. This sacrifice have achieved important accomplishments.

Let’s be clear: The diplomatic pressure from democratic voices has been effective. The dictatorship is fractured and weak, and only backed by the Cuban regime that has tortured, persecuted our people and our brave armed force.

Michelle Bachelet’s recent report exposed the repression, torture, and executions that the regime carries out against civilians and members of our armed force in Venezuela. Mr. President and all leaders of Americas, over the last year, regime force have murdered a citizen every two hours.

Havana is the mastermind behind this tragedy to sustain Maduro. This is why crucial to break the regime of Díaz-Canel, Raúl Castro, and Maduro with more democratic pressure.

Our humble petition to the Americas is simple: First, that every country in the region should impose sanctions on Cuba. It is time for Castro and Díaz-Canel to understand the consequences of supporting a criminal regime.

Second, every country in the region should move forward, as agreed to in TIAR, to prosecute any regime member involved in drug trafficking, human rights violations, and corruption.

Third, maintain the support for Venezuelan National Assembly and our President, Juan Guaidó.

And last but not least, compel Europe to more actively join efforts to put more pressures on Maduro regime.

The alliance between the Cuban and Venezuelan regimes holds over 50 million hostage. Millions of Cubans and Venezuelans have had to abandon their homelands to escape oppression. And this should not be tolerated.

I have had the honor of traveling to the border of Cúcuta with President Duque, with President Piñera, with President Abdo, and as well with Secretary Pompeo. And most recently, with Ivanka Trump. I have seen them moved to tears because the stories of suffering cannot be put into words. Mark has been many times over there as well.

As rightly so, because we are not talking about cold numbers or (inaudible) statistics. Socialist dictatorships, such as Maduro, dehumanize. With great pain, we have seen the regime has done the most vulnerable people in my country. Child prostitution, President, has been normalized. Women are being sold into slavery and taken to other countries for profit, while children and (inaudible) have been recruited by terrorist organizations linked to drug trafficking. And our people are crawling through the streets of Venezuela looking for food.

The Maduro regime is a corrupt, criminal enterprise that has turned what once was one of the most prosperous country in the region into a living and dying hell. The world needs to understand that Venezuela is not a dictatorship, not even a failed state. It’s something worse. The Maduro regime is a sanctuary for the promotion of terrorism, drug trafficking, and organized crime.

Faced with this reality, there are those who are shocked when we say that no option can be ruled out to rid Venezuela and the region for this corrupt regime. They say that keeping every option is very dangerous. However, Mr. President, evidence shows that the worst thing that could happen in Venezuela is that nothing happens.

What is truly dangerous, what is unacceptable, is having a regime destabilize the whole region while 35 million people are starving to death. Ignoring the crisis in Venezuela leaves an open wound that will infect the region and will destroy democracy throughout the continent. As I said, in the case of Venezuela, the worst thing that could happen is that nothing happens.

Presidents and leaders of the Americas, on behalf of millions of Venezuela, I thank you because we are close to victory.

President Trump, you have led the free world in the fight for freedom in Venezuela and Cuba. History and the Venezuelan people will remember and recognize you. Recent opinion research in Venezuela shows the total support for our policy, for your plans to Venezuela, and you have become the most important leader within Venezuela, which is very important for us.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Maybe I’ll move there. (Laughter.)

MR. BORGES: All right. (Laughter.) Next time.

I’m convinced that working together, working together the whole Americas, 30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, another wall will fall in the Americas and give the way to a chapter of peace, progress, and development for our hemisphere.

Venezuela will rise with the strength of its people. We will reveal our country with the spirit of those who refuse to surrender.

President and leaders of the Americas, 32 millions of Venezuelans and 12 millions of Cubans are at the gates of freedom. Let’s not make them wait any longer. Thank you very much. (Applause.)

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you. Thank you.

Would the presidents like to speak in front of the media or without the media? We have three presidents who are going to speak. Would you prefer the media or not, presidents?

SECRETARY POMPEO: President Duque, would you like to begin?

PRESIDENT DUQUE: Thank you so much, Mr. Secretary. Thank you so much, President Trump, for gathering this very important meeting. I’m going to be brief, but I’m going to try to be very (inaudible) in my statements.

What we have been seeing in Venezuela is a tragedy of major proportional dimensions. What we have seen is the worst humanitarian crisis in Latin America’s recent history. What we have seen is the brutality of a dictatorship that is only comparable to what some countries saw when Slobodan Milošević brutalized thousands of people.

That’s why we consider him a criminal. That’s why we have denounced him before the International Criminal Court with the support of many heads of state around the hemisphere, and also in Europe. We consider his behavior to be not only regrettable, but it has to punished, and that’s why we all must continue to embrace the diplomatic blockade and to explore as many sanctions are needed against that criminal.

The second thing I want to highlight is that the migration crisis — it’s really producing a major social impact. In Colombia, we have supported the migrants. We have 1.4 million Venezuelan brothers and sisters, and we will continue to provide support because we know they’re coming to our country with (inaudible), lacking of medicine, and many of them without any access to food.

But we have to make the call to the whole world that this situation is unsustainable. And that’s why the coalition that is sitting among this table, but also the coalition that has build of more than 54 states that have recognized President Guaidó and they have recognized the National Assembly, must also continue to bring more countries to the table, because this coalition has to be stronger day by day.

I also want to highlight that the behavior of the dictatorship is also affecting the national security of many states, obviously including Colombia. Nicolás Maduro has become a sponsor, and he’s providing safe haven to terrorist groups from Colombia to plot against the Colombian people. And that attitude is only comparable to what the world saw when the Taliban regime allowed al Qaeda to plot against the whole world, in their soil.

We continue believing that that behavior is in direct violation of Resolution 1373 that was issued by the United Nations Security Council right after September 11. And we’re going to make that denouncement public today when I deliver my speech before the U.N. General Assembly. I will present a report that is going to be given to the U.N. Security Council, the U.N. Secretary-General. And I believe that that report should be open for a debate.

We also believe that that behavior requires not only the whole world to be seen and to be addressed, but we also want to highlight what happened this week in a historical way. The Inter-American Treaty for Reciprocal Assistance had a historical voting, and they recognized that the Maduro regime is pretty much involved in terrorism sponsorship, narco-trafficking activities.

And last but not least, I also want to mention that the following months are crucial. The following weeks, the following hours are crucial. Some people speculate whether Maduro is going to last more. But I continue the debate should be different. The debate is: What is it that we’re going to do so that we can grant liberty to the Venezuelan people?

That’s why we’re gathered here at this table, and that’s why we support the approach of strengthening everything we can do so that three conditions are met: the end of the dictatorship, a transitionary government, the call for free elections, and maybe I’ll include a plan for economic and social recovery in Venezuela.

Thank you so much, Mr. President.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you. Thank you very much. (Applause.)

SECRETARY POMPEO: Thank you, President Duque. Now I would like to hear from President Piñera. Please.

PRESIDENT PIÑERA: Thank you very much. Well, we all know that we are dealing with a criminal, corrupt — (microphone is turned on.) I’m sorry.

Thank you very much. We all know that we are dealing with a criminal, corrupt, and drug-related regime. And the conclusion is very clear: This dictatorship has to stop.

Maduro is part of the problem and will never be part of the solution. The solution has been expressed by President Duque. We need to end this regime, have a transitional government, call to free and open and transparent elections, and then the big story of how to reconstruct Venezuela will start. And we will be supporting all of these stages.

But at the same time, we have to realize there are some allies that are helping Venezuela, and we are talking — we are talking about countries like Cuba, China, Russia, Iran, and Turkey. I think that the whole Latin American community, and maybe the whole world, should let them very clear that what they are doing is affecting — and it’s really affecting the interests of all Latin American countries.

We know that we have already more than 4.5 million refugees — migrants. But probably the number will double if the situation stays as it is. In the case of Chile, we have received more than 450,000, which is about 2 percent of our population. Compared to the U.S., it would be equivalent to 6 million Venezuelans in the U.S.

And we are happy to do so because that’s one way to help. But the solution and the final conclusion here should be we have to make it impossible for the regime to continue.

One thing is that we have to seize all their assets of their main members of this dictators; avoid and prevent any moment so that the situation will become more and more difficult for them; and, at the same time, we have to help and solidarize and continue with the democratic opposition in Venezuela.

But I know the situation is very, very difficult. But you know that the night never is so dark that just before dawn. Thank you very much. (Applause.)

SECRETARY POMPEO: Thank you, President Piñera. President Moreno, the floor is yours, sir.

PRESIDENT MORENO: (As interpreted.) Thank you. My dear colleagues, the ill that brings us here today has to do with the democracy of the world and the stability of a region. It is related specifically to this people — this people who was suffering and the presidents around the table from countries to which over 4 million migrants have gone; people who are living beings, who wander the streets, they wander our avenues, looking for refuge. They seek a way out. They seek a solution to the problems they face when it comes to hunger, safety, and health. They have been kicked out by this regime. They seek social justice.

However, this regime has been despotic for so many years, and it is due to this. But international action should never be interpreted as intervention. We cannot talk about intervention because all countries, including Venezuela, have signed all commitments, all agreements related to the democracy of this community.

This is an ethical obligation as well. My colleagues who preceded me have stated this. We are talking about over 4 million people, who are humble people, who have fled, who flee this despotic regime, this criminal regime — the regime of Nicolás Maduro, which is the most corrupt, which harbors terrorists, and where all international criminals go in the end to seek refuge, including those who represented corrupt regimes in our countries.

This is why it is — this meeting is so important. This meeting is important because I would like to energetically make the call for democracy to be put into place in Venezuela, as it should be in a country that has lived in democracy for so long. They cannot be going through a genocidal regime. The only exit is democracy — democracy with a broad international observation, with no pressure, with no red spots, so that people are able to vote freely.

This cannot happen under any circumstances unless they’re — unless all democratic institutions, all international organizations involved in democracy participate, are involved in making sure that the will of Venezuelans is no longer deceived.

Venezuela is most definitely a failed state. It is a failed state, and this is shown by the exit not of dissidents, not people opposed to policies. We’re talking about humble people — people who are personally living through how terrible it has been to suffer through the regime of a despot.

Unfortunately, we have to hear that this is a Bolivarian republic. No, we are a Bolivarian republic. We are aligned with the ideals of Washington, of Jefferson, and we converge with the ideals of Bolívar. And Bolívar never would have imagined any like this. Bolívar must be turning in his grave.

Looking at everything that has happened to a democracy that at one time was among the most prosperous in Latin America — and I will say this again — that is why this meeting is such a great one, and it will be great as long we can talk about benefitting that democracy. Maduro must leave power and, immediately, there must be a call for elections. That is the only way out. That is the only way out for this people. As I said, there must be elections with broad international observation. Thank you very much. (Applause.)

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. Thank you, everybody. Thank you very much.

Q Mr. President, in the Ukraine transcript, sir, you talk about how good the U.S. has been to Ukraine. You ask President Zelensky for a favor. And you ask him to talk to the Attorney General of the United States and Rudy Giuliani about Joe Biden. Sir, how is that not pressuring President Zelensky? How does the transcript —

PRESIDENT TRUMP: There was no pressure whatsoever. And if you take a look at the Democrats, they went down to see the President of Ukraine, and they asked him for all sorts of things. And, “Don’t go with the Republicans,” and, “Stay with us.” And — like it’s a political war. They shouldn’t have done that. That should be an impeachable event, I guess, based on what you’re saying.

The Democrats just came out. They went down there — a group of people — some of whom I was dealing with on the gun issue. And they went down and put tremendous pressure on Ukraine. The President himself just came out with a statement saying there was absolutely no pressure put on him. And there wasn’t.

What I do want to see is, is I want to see other countries helping Ukraine also, not just us. As usual, the United States helps, and nobody else is there. So I want to see other countries help.

Just so you understand, it’s the single greatest witch hunt in American history — probably, in history, but in American history. It’s a disgraceful thing. The letter was a great letter. Meaning, the letter revealing the call. That was done at the insistence of myself and other people that read it. It was a friendly letter. There was no pressure. The way you had that built up — that call — it was going to be the call from hell. It turned out to be a nothing call, other than a lot of people said, “I never knew you could be so nice.”

So, part of the problem you have is you have the fake news. You have a lot of corrupt reporting. You have some very fine reporters and journalists, but you have a lot of corrupt reporters, a lot of corrupt journalists. I would rate you right in there, by the way.

And —

Q You said —

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Excuse me. Excuse me.

(Cross-talk.)

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Excuse me. Excuse me.

So, we’re having — if you noticed, the stock market went up. When they saw the nonsense, all of a sudden the stock market went down very substantially yesterday when they saw a charge. After they read the charge, the stock market went up very substantially.

We have created the greatest economy in the history of our country. The greatest economy in the world. Had my opponent won, China would right now be the number one economy, by far. And right now, China is way behind us and they’ll never catch us if we have smart leadership. Way behind.

We’ve picked up trillions of dollars, and they’ve lost trillions of dollars. And they want to make a deal very badly. And it could happen. It could happen. It could happen. It could happen sooner than you think.

Our military is rebuilt. Our military has never been stronger. When I came in, it was depleted. Our vets are happy. So many great things are happening. And the Democrats feel they’re going to lose. We had the highest poll number — Rasmussen — 53, but they say you could add 10 to it. A lot of people say you could add more than 10 to it because a lot of people just don’t want to talk about it, but they want to vote for Trump.

So I just say this: We have the strongest country we’ve ever had. We have the best economy we’ve ever had. We have the best unemployment numbers we’ve ever had. We have the best employment numbers we’ve ever had. We have now almost 160 million people working. That’s far more than we’ve ever had working in our country before.

Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.

END 10:52 A.M. EDT