Manhattan Grand Jury Not Expected to Vote on Trump Indictment This Week


Posted originally on the CTH on March 28, 2023 | Sundance

According to a leak provided to NBC News, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is not anticipated to poll the grand jury for a potential indictment of President Trump this week.

A delay in the timing would seem likely given the nature of the political winds that generally coordinate to manipulate public opinion.  An indictment timed in support of, and in concert with a Ron DeSantis campaign launch, would be more appropriate given the nature of the intentions.

(Via NBC) – The New York grand jury considering possible criminal charges against former President Donald Trump related to hush money payments to Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election is not expected to be asked to vote on an indictment this week, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

The grand jury is not expected to meet on Wednesday, the sources said, the next day the panel was regularly scheduled to convene. (more)

Everything in the corrupt world of manipulative politics is connected to itself by the interests of those conducting the manipulation.  An ideological alignment of individual people, institutions and organizations working in concert toward a common goal is not a conspiracy.

Organized coordination between individuals, groups and institutions is generally labeled as a conspiracy in order to avoid the reality of the connective tissue.  However, that dismissive labeling also allows the downstream beneficiaries of the outcome to dispatch, avoid, or more commonly pretend to ignore the collective goal.  But organized coordination is not needed in order to pursue a common goal; the only thing needed is an understanding of the objective.

Once the objective of the common interest is identified, all benefactory components operate individually.  What becomes visible is the similarity of the actions.

This is where we see patterns and common actions taken toward a common goal. This reality is the context to understand how the political dynamic is constructed in opposition to Donald Trump, and more specifically how the America First policy platform of Presidential candidate Donald Trump is viewed as a common threat.

Individuals, institutions, government ‘stakeholders’, and generally all status-quo interests stand in opposition, as reflected in the historic Niccolò Machiavelli quote:

“It must be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than a new system. For the initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by the preservation of the old institution and merely lukewarm defenders in those who gain by the new ones.”

When the new system is constructed to the benefit of the many yet disrupts the status of the few (the proverbial elite), who benefit from retention of the old, those in the at-risk minority must pretend not to know things.  Additionally, through passive aggressive undermining that same elite group frame their opposition to provide themselves plausible deniability.

It is in this political mix of eclectic interests where a person needs an intellectual filtration system, tuned to the granular nuances, in order to make sense of the landscape and see the big picture.

Do not disregard the difficulty of this process, for it takes a keen – almost exhaustive – state of awareness to maintain vigilance against the conniving schemes that flow as an outcome of the process.

However, once you see the patterns, you are essentially tuning in to see the strings on the marionettes.

Once you see the strings on the marionettes, you can never return to that moment in the performance when you did not see them.

In the 1980’s and 90’s, there was a fad of optical illusion images known as autostereograms.  For many people when you stare at the autostereogram image, a hidden 3D scene emerges.  It often takes a few seconds or even minutes to see the 3D aspect to the image; however, once your eyes adapt to the image it becomes easier to spot.  This is a metaphor for modern politics.  Often it is difficult to spot the 3D aspect to what we see, but over time the picture gains clarity.

Consider…. Much has been written about Mitch McConnell spending $10 million on the Alaska Republican Senate race when the race was between two Republicans.  Yet Mitch McConnell refused to support Republican Senate Candidate Blake Masters in Arizona?  However, less has been written critically about the Republican Governors Association, likely because it’s more challenging to accept the corporate Machievellian approaches extend far beyond DC, into our own backyards.

The Republican Governor’s Association (RGA) gave $21 million to the Super PAC “Friends of Ron DeSantis” in 2022 {Source}; however, in every single poll DeSantis was leading by double digits, and even the most die-hard leftists admitted months before the election that Florida was a lost cause; DeSantis was going to win.

So, why did the RGA transmit $21 million to the coffers of DeSantis, while the Arizona Republican candidate for governor, Kari Lake, struggled with major donor funding?  Arizona’s current Republican Governor Doug Ducey is head of the RGA.

Accepting these passive aggressive political realities only leads the intellectually honest observer in one researched direction.  The McConnell Senate Leadership Fund and the Republican Governors Association (RGA) all receive funds from the same Wall Street and multinational corporate mechanisms.

It is easy to see the agenda of McConnell because he’s been using the same ‘Citizens United’ playbook for over a decade, and the media draws attention to it.  McConnell is the enmity and preservation group that Machiavelli described.  However, it’s much more difficult to see the RGA as the ‘lukewarm defender’ group in our backyard.

The corporate alignment of the RGA is also more difficult to accept; but that is, as my grandpa would say, “the reality of the thing.”

I am going to begin outlining the 2023 and 2024 political club landscape soon.  Much of the continued exposing will be on a granular, cited and difficult to accept level. Yet, it becomes necessary because we need to see the strings on these GOPe marionettes if we are going to avoid the “illusion of choice” that each component element, RNC, GOP, RGA, RCCC, is constructing for us.

(SOURCE PIC)

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK, Nov 16 (Reuters) – Blackstone Inc (BX.N) Chief Executive Stephen Schwarzman [pictured left], who has been one of Wall Street’s biggest donors to Donald Trump’s election campaigns, said on Wednesday he will not back the former president in 2024.

Trump announced he would run in the 2024 U.S. presidential election on Tuesday, launching an early bid to become the Republican nominee in an effort to pre-empt potential rivals.

Schwarzman said it was time for new party leadership and that he would back a different Republican in the presidential contest. “It is time for the Republican Party to turn to a new generation of leaders and I intend to support one of them in the presidential primaries,” he said in a statement, which was first reported by Axios.

Schwarzman, 75, is a prominent Republican donor. He spent $35.5 million to support Republicans ahead of last week’s midterm election. Republicans are still one seat short of capturing control of the U.S. House of Representatives and have failed to take over the U.S. Senate. (more)

NEW YORK – Rupert Murdoch has reportedly warned Donald Trump his media empire will not back any attempt to return to the White House, as former supporters turn to the youthful Florida governor Ron DeSantis.

After the Republican party’s disappointing performance in the US midterm elections, in particular the poor showing by candidates backed by Trump, Murdoch’s rightwing media empire appears to be seeking a clean break from the former president’s damaged reputation and perceived waning political power.

[…] “We have been clear with Donald. There have been conversations between them during which Rupert made it clear to Donald that we cannot back another run for the White House.”

[…] Lachlan Murdoch, the heir apparent and eldest son, who co-chairs News Corp and runs the parent company of Fox News, has reportedly told DeSantis that the group would back him if he ran in the next election. “Lachlan has been keen on Ron for some time,” said the i’s source. “He’s viewed within the organization as a sanitized version of Donald.” (read more)

Once you see the strings on the corporate marionettes, it’s impossible to return to that moment in the political performance when you did not see them.

Wall Street -vs- Main Street.

Giddy up…

Boasberg Strikes Again – Deep State DC Judge, with a Long History of Deep State Rulings, Rejects Trump’s Executive Privilege Over Pence Forced J6 Testimony


Posted originally on the CTH on March 28, 2023 | Sundance 

Former FISA Court Presiding Judge James Boasberg is no longer on the FISC.  However, he continues to advance the interests of the DC Deep State with rulings specifically tailored to protect the national security state.  [Boasberg Background Here]

In his latest ruling as the top federal judge in the DC circuit court, Boasberg has decided that executive privilege between President Trump and Vice-President Pence does not exist when it comes to any conversations that led up to Pence’s role on January 6th presiding over the senate and the confirmation process for state electoral votes.

Boasberg, an ally of SSCI Chairman Mark Warner, has intercepted several cases that brought sunlight upon the corrupt DC system.  In each case Boasberg ruled in favor of maintaining the corruption, including his willfully blind support of the FBI searching NSA databases to conduct illegal surveillance of Americans, and including Boasberg’s personal appointment of Mary McCord to run defense on behalf of the corrupt DOJ main office.

ABC News – The top federal judge for the D.C. district court has issued a swift rejection of former President Donald Trump’s assertion of executive privilege to prevent former Vice President Mike Pence from testifying before a grand jury investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 election, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

At the same time, the judge issued a ruling that narrowly upheld parts of a separate legal challenge brought by Pence’s attorneys, who have argued Pence should be exempt from providing records or answering certain questions that align with his duties as president of the Senate overseeing the formal certification of the election on Jan. 6, 2021.

According to sources, D.C. Chief Judge James Boasberg ordered that Pence should have to provide answers to special counsel Jack Smith on any questions that implicate any illegal acts on Trump’s part.

Pence’s team had argued that such communications could run afoul of the Speech and Debate Clause that shields officials in Congress from legal proceedings specifically related to their work.

“The DOJ is continuously stepping far outside the standard norms in attempting to destroy the long accepted, long held, Constitutionally based standards of attorney-client privilege and executive privilege,” a Trump spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News. (read more)

The entire judicial system is corrupt.. soup to nuts, all of it.

Water Contamination – Is America Still a First-World Nation?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Conspiracy Re-Posted Mar 28, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

America is deteriorating so quickly that it’s hard to consider it a first-world nation due to the lack of clean drinking water. There was a massive chemical spill in Bristol, PA, on Friday. Officials failed to make an announcement until Sunday afternoon. Numerous people have sent me links saying they first learned about the chemical spill through TikTok, not traditional media. Over 1.5 million people call the Philadelphia area home, as it is the sixth-largest city in the US. The city sent out a mass text on Sunday, but the surrounding areas were not informed. At this time, the government is doing absolutely nothing to help.

The Philadelphia Water Department claimed that the tap water was safe to use until midnight on March 27, 2023. They claimed the water was safe for an additional day AFTER their mass text triggered panic buying. No one, absolutely no one, trusts the government, and there has been a massive run on the stores reminiscent of March 2020. The government claims that New Jersey has not been impacted, but they are urging NJ residents to conserve water. Don’t worry; they’re “monitoring the situation.”

How could a second major chemical spill occur one month after the incident in East Palestine, Ohio? The company responsible for this disaster is Trinseco PLC (TSE). This company contaminated the Baxter Drinking Water Plant after pouring between 8,100 and 12,000 gallons of toxic chemicals into Otter Creek, which flows into the Delaware River. Allegedly, this began when a pipe burst in Bristol, PA. “It hit the roof of a building, went down a gutter, from the gutter it went to a storm drain, from the storm drains it found another outfall basin, from there it started to leak into the river,” Tim Thomas, senior vice president of manufacturing and engineering at Trinseo, told reporters at ABC.

Tim Thomas seems to be controlling the narrative surrounding the disaster. “It’s like the material you find in paint,” said Thomas. “It’s your typical acrylic paint you have in your house, that’s what really this material is, in a water base.” What’s really in the water? Butyl acrylate, ethyl acrylate, and methyl methacrylate–all volatile organic compounds that are extremely toxic.

We saw the extensive damage in East Palestine, Ohio, where people were forced to vacate their homes, the environment was destroyed, and countless pets and animals dropped dead. The long-term impact of that spill is unknown. There is no transparency around the situation in PA. The US Coast Guard claimed their resources are stretched thin since they’re still handling the “situation” in Ohio. The Biden Administration has done nothing to address the panic spreading across the northeast. They are not handing out water or visiting the area to quell fears. People are now forced to bathe in toxic water and ration whatever drinking water they can find. Perhaps the government would act if the people claimed Putin had dealings with Trinseo since they only care about the safety of their international allies.

Categories: ConspiracyDiseaseGov’t Incompetence
Tags: Baxter Drinking Water PlantDelaware RiverPA Chemical SpillTim ThomasTrinsecoTrinseco PLCTSEWater Shortage

Pfizer and EU Corruption Out of Control


Armstrong Economics Blog/Vaccine Re- Posted Mar 28, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

The confidence in the entire EU government is rapidly collapsing. They desperately need a war with Russia to retain power. Here is a video of the speech on the floor of Parliament by the Croatian MEP Mislav Kolakušić with respect to the EU contract with Pfizer. It was done in secret and nobody was allowed to even vote on this issue – so much for our FAKE NEWS which sois hand-in-hand with our FAKE DEMOCRACY. They then ordered that we could even leave out home or work without a Pfizer vaccine. There will be a special place reserved in hell for both Urlsula von der Leyen and Albert Bourla – who is not even a doctor. He is only a vegetarian. I would let him even pet my dog.

Back in 2021, I warned that Socrates was suggesting that Pfizer would peak out and begin a serious decline. Many people wrote in and said I would be wrong. How can that happen when they bought every government on the planet? Even in August 2021, I warned, despite the criticism, that Pfizer would peak out and it did not look like the stock would continue a rally.

I’m sorry, but Socrates does not listen to MSNBC the most extreme left-wing propaganda machine destined to ruin every life in America if not the planet by supporting vaccines from Pfizer and of course war against everyone a Neocon can think of. Socrates was right. The glory days for Pfizer are over. I think whatever vaccines are left over, Pfizer should refund the money to all the taxpayers of the world and close the doors. It has become a corrupt organization and I for one would NEVER now agree to ANY vaccine produced by this evil empire. Senior management belongs in prison for life. Bankers may hurt people financially, but Pfizer, in my opinion, killed people to make money and physiologically damaged people forever. I still see some people wearing a mask in a car and driving by themselves.

The Tech Industry


Armstrong Economics Blog/AI Computers Re-Posted Mar 27, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: The tech industry has been shedding jobs like it’s no tomorrow. Are you still hiring when everyone else is firing?

GH

ANSWER: Yes, but only experienced people in Machine Learning/AI. We are in a different field with completely different end goals. Not a start-up company and not trying to create an AI that will know the name of Lady Gaga’s dog.

The layoffs are because they are focused on consumer spending. We are not directed at that. In fact, the worse the economy gets, the greater our demand becomes. We have always been counter-trend in that regard.

Full Sean Hannity Interview With President Donald Trump – Video


Posted originally on the CTH on March 27, 2023 | Sundance

With a myriad of key and important issues facing the nation, including the fraudulent indictments being presented against President Trump, Fox News host Sean Hannity invites Trump onto his show so the President can listen to Hannity talk about them. {Direct Rumble Link}  WATCH:

Staffer for Senator Rand Paul Stabbed in DC During Daylight, 42-Year-Old Suspect Arrested Who Was Just Released from Prison


Posted originally on the CTH on March 27, 2023 | Sundance 

Earlier today Senator Rand Paul released a statement: “This past weekend a member of my staff was brutally attacked in broad daylight in Washington, D.C. I ask you to join Kelley and me in praying for a speedy and complete recovery, and thanking the first responders, hospital staff, and police for their diligent actions. We are relieved to hear the suspect has been arrested. At this time we would ask for privacy so everyone can focus on healing and recovery.”

Fox5DC has details, including the attacker was a 42-year-old man named Glynn Neal.  Apparently, the attacker was just released from prison Friday night before he attacked the member of Rand Paul’s staff.

[…] Federal Bureau of Prisons records show Neal was released from prison on Friday – the day before the stabbing.   He spent nearly 12 Years behind bars for compelling two North Carolina women to engage in prostitution through the use of threats. (read more)

DC Police released a statement [SEE HERE]  “Detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department’s First District announce an arrest has been made in reference to an Assault with Intent to Kill (Knife) offense that occurred on Saturday, March 25, 2023, in the 1300 block of H Street, Northeast.”

“At approximately 5:17 pm, members of the First District were dispatched to the listed location for the report of a stabbing. Upon arrival, members located an adult male stabbing victim. The victim was transported to a local hospital for treatment of life-threatening injuries.

On Saturday, March 25, 2023, as a result of the detectives’ investigation, 42-year-old Glynn Neal, of Southeast, DC, was arrested and charged with Assault with Intent to Kill (Knife).” (LINK)

Sunday Talks – Matt Taibbi Discusses the Twitter Files and TikTok Hypocrisy


Posted originally on the CTH on March 26, 2023 | Sundance

Independent journalist Matt Taibbi appears on Fox News with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the current U.S. position on social media platform TikTok and the larger issues with government censorship and control as he has outlined within the ‘Twitter Files.’

Readers and observers should note how Council on Foreign Relations member Ms. Bartiromo again introduces the TikTok narrative around the ability of the Chinese government to request user data from TikTok, while Ms. Bartiromo seemingly ignores the U.S. surveillance policy that grants DOJ/FBI officials identical access to user data from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Google, Apple, etc.

However, independent thinking Matt Taibbi does a great job with that question and reminds Ms Bartiromo the Senate Select Committee functions in the USA exactly as she is concerned about the CCP acting in China. [lolol.. Go Matt!]  Bartiromo quickly dodges the point and moves on. WATCH:

.

I like Matt Taibbi, even when he was a willfully blind lefty, he was always a curious cat.  Deep State gotta Deep State.  The cause of the “dramatic change” Taibbi notes has a name, it’s called Donald Trump.

Political Pundit Mark Simone Admits Team Bush and Karl Rove are Group Behind Ron DeSantis Effort….


Posted Originally on the CTH on March 26, 2023 | Sundance 

Put a fork in the opposition denials to what was increasingly obvious; it’s over.

Last summer we saw the fingerprints of the professional republican apparatus all over the construct that was creating the Ron DeSantis 2024 effort.  The data was all going in one direction, all of the constructs were identical to the Karl Rove playbook with the single addition of the Republican Governor’s Association as a participant.   As the months moved forward the Rovian elements became more and more clear.  The DeSantis supporters tried to deny it, but the truth of the issue is just too obvious.

Now, insider republican political pundit Mark Simone admits that Team Bush and Karl Rove are the specific organizers of the DeSantis 2024 effort.   Appearing on Fox Business, Larry Kudlow asks directly, “who is behind the DeSantis campaign?”   Simone admits, “yeah, it’s Karl Rove – Karl Rove has been advising DeSantis, that’s why he’s been getting a little bit better every week.”  WATCH:

.

Thanks to user ‘Escalated Entrophy” who cut the clip for me after I found it.  Additionally, CTH has also heard from a new source that has been hired to do part of the DeSantis 2024 campaign operation.  Anticipate a formal 2024 campaign announcement within the next two weeks.   The RdS team goal is not for DeSantis to win, the goal is to stop Trump from winning.

Everything is exactly what I have been saying it was since last August.   CTH was 100% correct.

Sunday Talks – Mark Warner, Senate Intelligence Committee Very Upset U.S Govt Cannot Control TikTok Content


Posted originally on the CTH on March 26, 2023 | Sundance

Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) Chairman Mark Warner is very concerned about the U.S. government inability to control, restrict and censor the information within the TikTok social media platform.

As outlined in this Face the Nation interview with Margaret Brennan, Chairman Warner states it is very alarming that China may permit content that is against the interests of the U.S. government to control it.  Additionally, by law, the Chinese platform “has to be willing to turn over data to the Communist Party“.

Now, if you find yourself thinking, how is this different from U.S. laws that force Twitter, Facebook, Apple or Google to turn over user data to the DOJ/FBI, well, you are probably too smart for this regime narrative and should officially consider yourself a dissident American intellectual. Just sayin’.

The bottom line is very simple when you look at TikTok from the position of the U.S. surveillance state.  The Dept of Homeland Security can only monitor TikTok content, they cannot do anything to modify, remove, censor or control the content, as a result TikTok exists as an existential threat.  WATCH:

[Transcript] –  MARGARET BRENNAN: We go now to Senator Mark Warner, the Democratic Chairman of the Intelligence Committee. He joins us from King George Virginia. Good morning to you, Senator.

SEN. MARK WARNER: Good morning Margaret.

MARGARET BRENNAN: It was a pretty intense five hours of questioning of Tiktok CEO this past week. Your bipartisan bill has White House support, and it would deal with Tiktok by giving the Commerce Department power to review and potentially ban technology flagged by US intelligence as a credible threat. Will it pass in a divided Congress?

SEN. WARNER: Well, Margaret, will – we’re now up to 22 Senators. 11 Democrats. 11 Republicans. We’ve had strong interest from the House. I think they wanted to get through their hearing. And clearly  while I appreciated Mr. Chew’s testimony, he just couldn’t answer the basic question. At the end of the day, Tiktok is owned by a Chinese company Bytedance. And by Chinese law, that company has to be willing to turn over data to the Communist Party. Or one of my bigger fears, we got 150 million Americans on Tiktok average of about 90 minutes a day, and how that channel could be used for propaganda purposes –

MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.

SEN. WARNER: -or disinformation, advocated by the Communist Party.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But has the White House made clear to you that they want this bill to pass and do intend to ban it? Or is a forced sale more likely?

SEN. WARNER: Well, I think the White House is very in favor of this bill. And clearly this is not just a phenomenon in America. We’ve seen Canada act. We’ve seen the UK act. Matter of fact, the Dutch said, if you’re a media person, please get off TikTok, the Chinese are spying on you. India’s already banned the bill- banned it outright. We give the Secretary of Commerce the tools to ban, to force a sale, other tools. And end of the day, one of the things that may lead to a ban is the Chinese Communist Party has said they felt like the algorithm, the source code that resides in Beijing, is so important that they’d rather see a ban than give that source code up to be placed in a third country, which again, I think speaks volumes about the potential threat that this application poses.

MARGARET BRENNAN

Well, the Commerce Secretary though recently said that the politician in her thinks a ban will mean losing every voter under 35. Forever. And if you look at use of Tiktok I mean, just last week, President Biden showed up and celebrity videos on Tiktok from the White House. Plenty of lawmakers, including your Democratic colleagues, Senator Cory Booker use it. A number of House progressives use it, given how important this platform is to Democrats, can you actually get TikTok taken care of before 2024 when you might need it for political outreach?

SEN. WARNER: Margaret, I think there’s a lot of creative activity that goes on on Tiktok, but I absolutely believe that the market- if TikTok goes away, the market will provide another platform and at the end of the day, that could be an American company. It could be a Brazilian company, it could be an Indian company. All those companies–

(CROSSTALK)

MARGARET BRENNAN: Right, but the Commerce Secretary is saying there’s a political cost if it goes away–

SEN. WARNER: –operate within a set of rules that–

MARGARET BRENNAN: and that’s what she fears.

SEN. WARNER: I think –

MARGARET BRENNAN: And you’re empowering her.

SEN. WARNER: Listen, I have met- I have met with Gina Raimondo on this issue. I think she will make very clear that she believes TikTok is a threat as well. And listen, if at the end of the day, you could end up with a forced sale. And that forced sale also makes sure that the core algorithm, the source code resides someplace different than China, that could be a outcome that would be successful as well. At the end of the day, you cannot have American data collected. Nor can you have the ability for the Communist Party to use TikTok as a propaganda tool.

MARGARET BRENNAN

60% of the company is owned by other investors, including US firms. So is this a policy that you really need to address with Americans to stop them from investing in companies like this?

SEN. WARNER: Well, that’s one of the reasons why I think our approach – the RESTRICT Act says – rather than dealing with Tiktok in a one off fashion, or a few years back, it was Huawei, the Chinese telecom provider or years earlier, the Russian software company Kaspersky. We need to have a set of tools, rules-based so they can stand up in court, Tiktok would still did get his day in court, even under our law that says, if there’s a foreign technology from a place like China and Russia, and it poses a national security threat, and one of the things we also require is that the intelligence community has to declassify as much of this information as possible. So it’s not simply like, hey, trust the government, we got to make the case. And I do think at the end of the day, if it ends up with a ban, there will be other platforms for the literally millions of influencers and folks who like this kind of video platform, they’ll still be able to get it.

MARGARET BRENNAN

Very quickly. They’re a number of Republican lawmakers who plan to meet with Taiwan’s president when she is here on US soil. Are any Democrats, will you?

SEN. WARNER

You know, I I’m not sure when the president of Taiwan is coming to the United States –

(CROSSTALK)

MARGARET BRENNAN: -they announced March 30 and again in April.

SEN. WARNER: Okay, I’m not sure. Well, if there- if there’s an invitation made to me and other Democrats, listen, I would like to have that meeting as well. I think protecting and ensuring the security of Taiwan is in America’s national interest.

MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask you, since you sit on the Senate Banking Committee about this rolling turmoil that we are in. You are one of 16 Democrats who voted in 2018 to change those Dodd Frank banking regulations regarding the mid-size banks, which obviously has been scrutinized, because that size bank is where we have seen recent issues. I know you’ve defended the vote in recent days. Do you think there needs to be more regulation of mid-size banks, now?

SEN. WARNER: Well, Margaret, Tuesday, we’re going to start getting the facts at the Senate Banking Committee. And if it ends up that a stress test that would have been applied to these mid-size banks would have spotted this, of course, I’d add additional regulation. I think, though, what it appears to me is two things happened. One, basic banking regulation. If this has been only a $5 billion bank, not a $200 billion bank, should have spotted the fact that this management, and the regulators missed basic banking 101, the interest rate mismatch. And two: one of the things that I think we also have to look at is this was the first time we’ve had an internet-based run. There was literally $42 billion taken out of this bank in six hours. That’s the equivalent of 25 cents on the dollar. And I’d like to know why some of the venture capitalists spurred this run in the first place.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Interesting topic. I want to ask you, though, as well, about your relationship with SVB bank, and political donations. USA Today had a great big list of all of the entities SVB’s political action committee or CEO had donated to. It’s the DNC. It’s President Biden’s 2020 campaign. Senator Schumer says he’s going to give back the money he received or donate it. Representatives Maxine Waters, Ro Khanna have returned the donations. You received $21,600 from their political action committee, nearly six grand from its CEO. Do you feel any pressure to give those funds away? Is there a point to it?

SEN. WARNER: Well, first of all, Margaret, campaign contributions have never affected my policy choices. They never have, and they never will. We’re going to hear the facts on Tuesday. And if there’s malfeasance at the bank, of course, I’m gonna give the money back.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay. Senator, before I let you go, I want to just follow up on what you shared with us when we spoke back in January, when you were very frustrated that the administration wasn’t sharing more information about the classified materials improperly held by the current president when he was out of office and the former president. You’ve been briefed. Any more clarity on this? Any further information?

SEN. WARNER: We need more information about these documents. And more importantly, we need to make sure that what the intel community has done to mitigate the harm. And we’re still in conversations with the Justice Department, the administration’s position does not- does not pass the smell test. We’ve got a job not to go into the legal ramifications, but to make sure that the intelligence community has done what’s right. And we’ve got some additional tools, we can restrict some of the spending. We’re in active conversations with the Justice Department. But we’ve got to get those documents

MARGARET BRENNAN: Specific to what just happened this week in Syria, with the Iranian-aligned groups attack on U.S. presence there. Are you satisfied with the amount of information that’s being shared? What is going on? And should there be a more robust response from the Biden administration to stop these kind of attacks?

SEN. WARNER: Well, we’ve got a few thousand troops there in Syria and Iraq. I’ve been briefed by the intel community. Protecting, frankly, the Kurds who are finishing wiping out the remnants of the ISIS forces, and, frankly, helping guard some of the ISIS prisoners. It has been a dangerous area, but I think the administration’s response has been appropriate. So far.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Some of your Republican colleagues have publicly complained, though, that the attack that was fatal Thursday morning wasn’t briefed to Congress until Thursday night. Does that concern you? I mean, Iran was a key topic being discussed on the Senate floor that day.

SEN. WARNER: We have no illusions about the malicious nature of the Iranian regime, and how they help these groups in Syria, Iraq, and frankly, across the whole region. But in this case I do think the administration briefed us in an appropriate way. And I think the response to the missile fire, or the drone attack from one of these Iranian-sponsored groups. That’s a dangerous part of the world. But our troops are doing something that’s terribly important in terms of making sure that we eliminate the final vestiges of ISIS.

MARGARET BRENNAN: All right, Senator Warner, thank you for your time today. Face the Nation will be back in a minute. Stay with us. [Transcript End]

Senator Warner is correct, an example is World War Reddit (Ukraine).  Creating the background narrative for World War Reddit is more complicated if TikTok users are showcasing the theatrics of it….

Po