Everyone Is Going to Think I’m Nuts, But I’m Not Nuts…


Posted originally on the CTH on June 22, 2023 | Sundance 

This is a totally freehand writing for CTH readers, not written with any intent other than our conversation.

For a long time, I have written various forms of an article and deleted it – crumpled it up and thrown it away… because it’s just so hard to write about.

However, an insightful comment by Dutchman today has just pushed me to write it.  Unlike most writing, this is no notes, few citations, just thoughts.

You guys are having a discussion about Larry Hogan’s commentary to CBS News.

In the middle of the discussion, someone writes the familiar and common sentiment about Ron DeSantis, a reasonably decent and good governor, doing his big politically stupid run for 2024.   Dutchman responds:

DUTCHMAN – […] “IMHO, you and others who express your sentiment, don’t REALLY “get it”;

The WHOLE reason DeSantis was the most popular Governor throughout his first term, was a CON;
EVERY action he took as Governor, was a political calculation planned and intended to create the image of “the free State of Florida” and RDS as “Trump lite”.

It wasn’t that “he changed” after getting the $millions, he was ALWAYS terrible at connecting with voters, a terrible campaigner, and he was NEVER MAGA; it was all a “PR.” or advertising campaign to create a totally artificial, and unconnected from reality IMAGE.

And it is that IMAGE that people “fell in love with” and it never existed.

This is important because if people don’t understand this, recognize they were “conned” and understand HOW they were manipulated, they will keep falling for it, every time.

However, once you understand your own vulnerability to being manipulated, accept you need to CHANGE how you view things, THEN you won’t need someone else (like Sundance) to point it out to you, again.

5 minutes of OBJECTIVELY looking at a candidate, will be about 4 1/2 minutes more than necessary, to spot the phonies.” (link)

Perhaps, let me take you back to the spring of 2022 in my thoughts, and show you just how subtle, weird and difficult it is to really understand the nature of this political world we are in right now.  A political world where nothing is what it seems.  I have been inside this research rabbit hole for over a decade, so bear with me.

[SIDEBAR – Y’all know how I dug, and dug, and dug, and dug into the GOPe after the 2012 election to figure out just how the powers that be are able to construct the illusion of choice.  From that research I was able to drill down into the raw material, the stuff they actually did, that outlined the concept of the “splitter strategy”, which I then held in my notes until 2015 while watching for the replay.  The work back in 2012 helped me to foresee what would happen in 2016, and like clockwork, it rolled out exactly as expected.]

In the winter of 2021 and spring of 2022, every Spidey-sense within me said Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is setting himself up for a 2024 run for the GOP nomination. Every data point that I was looking at aligned with it happening, and that included the part that no one was paying attention to in 2016.

BACKGROUND – In 2015, when Marco Rubio filed to run as a candidate for the 2016 GOP nomination for President, then little known one-term congressman Ron DeSantis filed to run for Rubio’s Senate seat.  WTF?  DeSantis’ only real qualification to run for that Florida Senate seat was a big donor assist from the Club 4 Growth.  CfG supported DeSantis in Congress, big time – and CfG was the financial mechanism behind DeSantis in 2016 to take the Rubio Senate seat if he won the GOP nomination.  Just keep this in mind.

In the latter part of 2021 and early 2022, all of the obscure stuff in the background of DeSantis looked like he was being positioned to run in 2024.

It was January 6, 2022, when someone (Pushaw) organized that influencer confab at the governor’s office.  However, and this is where my own intellectual bias comes into play at times defeating my cynicism, I kept telling myself there’s no way DeSantis could be so stupid.

No way, regardless of all the mechanics that were paving this path, that Ron DeSantis would be stupid enough to run against a likely reelection bid by Donald Trump.  For over six months, I kept putting the human factor at the forefront and forcing myself to ignore all of the datapoints that indicated DeSantis was being managed to do this.  After all, c’mon, he’s not a stupid guy….  I kept telling myself.

Even in July 2022, every time the thought crossed my mind to revisit this issue, I kept making the mistake of denying the data, denying what was visible, simply because the alternative to stupidity was almost unthinkable in scale.

♦The Alternative – If DeSantis wasn’t stupid, and if DeSantis was indeed going to run for 2024, the alternative to stupidity was a long-term plan… A plan that would have been laid out essentially before his first campaign in 2018…. A plan that times to the exact same moments when Paul Ryan and the other GOPe member of congress announced they were not seeking midterm reelection for Trump’s midterm race…. A plan that coincided with buckets of former CIA operatives running for congress in both the Democrat and Republican races in that 2018 midterm….  A plan that had Eric Holder working in California to trigger the first ballot harvesting test run….

If DeSantis wasn’t stupid, the alternative was that he was part of a larger operation being carried out by the real power brokers who control U.S. elections, the billionaire donors and control agents, ie. “The Big Club.”

Now, stay with me… Under this scenario, if DeSantis wasn’t stupid, then he was always a controlled ‘political’ operative waiting to be triggered and have his career boosted by the Big Club crowd who funded him.  Names like Bush, Clinton, Cheney, McCain, Romney and McConnell all circle this controlled orbit.

The odd, and seemingly impossible, DeSantis registration to run for the Florida Senate seat of Marco Rubio aligned with this almost conspiratorial outlook; except it wasn’t based on conspiracy theory, it was just a big datapoint, sitting there – staring back.

All of the data aligned that way, but I kept telling myself to ignore it – because at a certain point human reason has to be placed into the analysis, and there’s no way that DeSantis would be so stupid.  Surely, regardless of how much he was controlled and influenced, he -the person- would have the ability to say, “No, this is just silly.”

That said, throughout the spring and summer of 2022, 80% of the objective data, and even more when considered in historic context, indicated DeSantis was going to enter the 2024 election at the behest of the people who control the Republican National Committee, the Republican Governors Association and the various political fundraising committees in both the House and Senate along with PAC’s and Superpacs.

In essence, if DeSantis was indeed planning a 2024 White House run, then all of the datapoints reconciled.   If he wasn’t going to run, then there was just a lot of coincidental questions that didn’t make sense in the activity.

When faced with that scenario, you apply the scientific method and try to prove the opposite of the thesis.

Could I prove: DeSantis was *not* going to run and was *not* under the control of the Big Club (Sea Island et al)?  The answer was no.

Now it’s July 2022.  The headlines were all about Donald Trump and the conflicts with the NARA over documents and presidential records.  Something was coming.

I told myself to put away all of the DeSantis questions until that moment with Trump was triggered; then wait and see how he responds.

If DeSantis is abhorred by the outcome of the DOJ/FBI targeting of Florida resident Trump, then he likely was not part of the plan to use him.  However, if DeSantis was not abhorred by whatever was being cooked up, well, that would tell a big story.

On August 8th, 2022, when the FBI raided the home of Donald Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis sent out one short twitter comment from his “personal” page and then went fully silent and invisible.

Despite his extremely high Florida visibility, literally almost every single day of the year holding press conferences and media events, DeSantis went fully into a bunker after the raid, and for five days was completely silent and missing from the public. There was no opportunity to question DeSantis about his feelings on the raid.

Instead, the people managing the governor broadcast two pre-recorded video messages about innocuous subjects and never made a public appearance.

Simultaneously, the people around the governor restructured a newly branded national campaign, and launched a national tour outside the State of Florida immediately after the five days in the bunker.   These tours are planned long in advance, so someone knew something.

Mid-August 2022, the national tour, the book, the media use, the change in tone and personality, the new branding message, the people visited for fundraising, all of it…  carefully scripted, long planned and being executed on cue.   All prior polling showed a double-digit lead in Florida.  Democrats had pulled out of financing; the Democrat Governors Association didn’t put in a dime to support Charlie Crist, and yet DeSantis was banging a big tin cup raking in tens-of-millions.

Immediately, I said that’s it… that’s enough.  The evidence is overwhelming… It’s August 2022, and its crystal-clear; DeSantis is running for 2024, and I was confident outlining every step in the customary sequence that would take place including the timing of his announcement to May 2023.  It was all obvious.

But back to the scenario…. Back to the discussion y’all are having…. Back to my original thoughts in 2021….

….If DeSantis isn’t stupid, that means?

It means exactly what Dutchman has just said.  “This is important because if people don’t understand this, recognize they were “conned” and understand HOW they were manipulated, they will keep falling for it, every time.

It means Ron DeSantis was a Big Club operation put into play in 2018.

Start there, review the timeline, review the events and everything makes sense.  Republicans are very good at creating the illusion of choice.  They are doing it again, only this time they are failing.

Larry Hogan is Big Mad, Says Ron DeSantis Running “One of Worst Campaigns” Ever


Posted originally on the CTH on June 22, 2023 | Sundance 

Former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan is big mad at all the billionaires that are pouring money into Ron DeSantis and not providing enough money for the other guys, like himself, who isn’t even a candidate.

Hogan hates Donald Trump and finds himself bitter and angry that political income (general political grifting) has become much harder now. The billionaires are all searching for someone, anyone who can defeat Trump and his insufferable America-First agenda. Hogan jumps up and down shouting look at me, over here, I’m acceptable; but the billionaires are just not giving him any attention. It is tough to be Larry Hogan right now.

In this video Hogan blasts Ron DeSantis campaign and says it’s likely the end of the DeSantis effort. WATCH (prompted):

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BOOM! Ron DeSantis Privately Tells Corporate Donors He Is Against U.S Tariffs on Chinese Goods


Posted originally on the CTH on June 20, 2023 | Sundance 

This is the big one.  The Economic Policy is the distinct and singular policy at the core of Make America Great Again.  The MAGA coalition is centered around the principles of America First economics, and Ron DeSantis has just admitted he does not support them.

CTH has long warned about Ron DeSantis’ economic policy being driven by the donors who fund him.  When he was in congress, DeSantis voted in support of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) for President Obama, and DeSantis voted in support of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement (TPP).

These are the trade policies supported by the Club for Growth who was congressman DeSantis’ biggest funder.  The Club for Growth also held the pre-announcement donor fundraiser in February of this year in support of DeSantis ’24.

The Wall Street billionaire, hedge fund, multinational corporate alliance, that assembles at Sea Island and funds Ron DeSantis, are fully against America First trade and economic policies.  DeSantis has just made an admission of his alignment with that corporate “globalist” outlook to a private confab of donors in California.

The DeSantis campaign is in full panic and retreat mode now that his establishment position is exposed.  The statements during the secret meeting were leaked.

[CALIFORNIA] […] The Republican snuck in and out of the Coalinga landmark undetected by the public nor the media, by design. He flew in and out of the nearby Coalinga airport, ushered to the back loading docks by unmarked Fresno County Sheriff’s vehicles.

The Central Valley lunch stop for 60 donors — paying $3,300 — was in between a breakfast event in Sacramento, and an evening in southern California.  The only indication that something special was going on was a “private event” sign. Most of the questions for the security guard related to the location of the restrooms.

[…] John Harris, the rancher and entrepreneur, hosted the DeSantis event at his eponymous resort, along with Fresno developer Richard F. Spencer.  Harris was unable to attend, but Spencer did grant a rare media interview with GV Wire.

[…]  The Florida governor also talked about global supply chain problems and China, and “how to make life better for the people here in the United States,” Maher said.  Others reported that DeSantis said Trump’s tariffs were “not effective.” (read more

More about the donor event is HERE – “Around 50 people joined DeSantis for lunch at Harris Ranch in Coalinga, which was hosted by Harris Farms Chairman John Harris and Richard Spencer, the owner of Fresno-based Harris Construction.” (link)

In addition, while in California, DeSantis also went to another Big Club fundraiser. “Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis’s Silicon Valley Peninsula fundraiser was hosted by John Hamilton, a real estate investor who has donated tens of thousands to RINOs and former presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney and John McCain.” (more)

Ron DeSantis aligning against the core values of America First economics is a HUGE warning flare.  We have discussed this issue on these pages and in every platform we can reach for a long time.  The DeSantis team is trying desperately to recover from sunlight upon their donor influence, but they cannot refute the words of their candidate in support of those donor priorities.

Keep in mind also that Donald Trump recently announced the sweeping “Economic Agenda 47“, which includes baseline tariffs against all imported goods.

♦UNIVERSAL BASELINE TARIFFS: President Trump has announced a plan to replace the Biden system of punishing domestic producers and rewarding outsourcers with a new system that rewards domestic production while taxing foreign companies.

Rather than raising taxes on American producers, President Trump will impose tariffs on FOREIGN producers through a system of universal baseline tariffs on most imported goods.  Higher tariffs will increase incrementally if other countries manipulate their currency or otherwise engage in unfair trading practices. (link)

Candidate Ron DeSantis now stands in opposition to this approach, and the current tariffs against imported Chinese goods which have been exceptionally effective.  So effective, even the Biden administration has admitted their value.

As long as Donald J. Trump singularly represents the only counterforce against this UniParty globalist construct, he will continue to be targeted by the system of financial controllers who fund the political system.  For the sake of brevity, this alignment of multinational corporate and financial economic interests is called the “Big Club.”

As part of the strategic political effort, the Republican wing of the Big Club needs to carve up the supporters of Donald Trump into smaller, easier to target, pieces.  This is where the value of the culture war, what is now considered as ‘wokeism’, plays into the strategy of those who seek to control political outcomes and remove the threat that Trump represents to their financial interests.

In many ways, this is why we are seeing prominent Republican officeholders pushing the culture war as a tool for their own political advancement.  The same Big Club members who are directly fighting against the America-First economic agenda, are the same Big Club members who are funding the Republican politicians to push the culture war.

The corporations, billionaires and multinationals who are funding the Republican candidates do not have any vested interest in the culture war. For them the social issues are a tool, technique or insurance policy to guarantee security of the interest that does matter – their financial status.

There are trillions at stake, literally trillions.  Additionally, decades of their prior investment interests are contingent upon the ‘service driven economy’ being maintained.

Dollars drive the U.S. global trade and financial exchanges.  The multinationals, both corporations and banks, have pre-deployed investments all around the globe.  However, many of those investments are entirely contingent upon the retention of the U.S. economic system they pre-established before the investment was made.  President Donald J. Trump represents the threat to that entire financial system.

Once you understand this, then a great deal of the more nuanced and granular U.S. political moves, almost all of which are funded by the corporations and billionaires who are attached to the global investment process, begin to make sense.

Every non-Trump candidate, funded to create the opposition to America First, is part of this process to use anti-wokeism as a strategy.

With this level of money at stake, do not be surprised when you look at how much is being spent to construct the system that guarantees the continuation of globalism. The money spent in funding the Republican candidates to advance the distracting cultural war pales in comparison to the amount of money at risk in the 2024 election outcome.

We know it works, because we have the results to cite.

It was the Fourth Quarter of 2019…..

Right before the pandemic would hit a few months later, despite two years of doomsayer predictions from Wall Street’s professional punditry, all of them said Trump’s 2017 steel and aluminum tariffs on China, Canada and the EU would create massive inflation – it just wasn’t happening!

Overall, year-over-year inflation was hovering around 1.7 percent [Table-A BLS]; yup, that was our inflation rate.  The rate in the latter half of 2019 was firmed up with less month-over-month fluctuation, and the rate basically remained consistent.   [See Below]  The U.S. economy was on a smooth glide path, strong, stable, and Main Street was growing with MAGAnomics at work.

A couple of important points.  First, unleashing the energy sector to drive down overall costs to consumers and industry outputs was a key part of President Trump’s America First MAGAnomic initiative.  Lower energy prices help the worker economy, middle class and average American more than any other sector.

Which brings us to the second important point.  Notice how food prices had very low year-over-year inflation, 0.5 percent.  That is a combination of two key issues: low energy costs, and the fracturing of Big Ag’s hold on the farm production and the export dynamic:

(BLS) […] The index for food at home declined for the third month in a row, falling 0.2 percent. The index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs decreased 0.7 percent in August as the index for eggs fell 2.6 percent. The index for fruits and vegetables, which rose in July, fell 0.5 percent in August; the index for fresh fruits declined 1.4 percent, but the index for fresh vegetables rose 0.4 percent. The index for cereals and bakery products fell 0.3 percent in August after rising 0.3 percent in July. (link)

For the previous twenty years, food prices had been increasingly controlled by Big Ag, and not by normal supply and demand.   The commodity market became a ‘controlled market’. U.S. food outputs (farm production) was controlled and exported to keep the U.S. consumer paying optimal prices.

President Trump’s trade reset was disrupting this process.  As farm products were less exported, the cost of the food in our supermarket became reconnected to a ‘more normal’ supply and demand cycle.  Food prices dropped, and our pantry costs were lowered.

The Commerce Dept. then announced that retail sales climbed by 0.4 percent in August 2019, twice as high as the 0.2 percent analysts had predicted. The result highlighted retail sales strength of more than 4 percent year-over-year.   These excellent results came on the heels of blowout data in July, when households boosted purchases of cars and clothing.

The better-than-expected number stemmed largely from a 1.8 percent jump in spending vehicles. Online sales, meanwhile, also continued to climb, rising 1.6 percent. That’s similar to July 2019, when Amazon held its two-day blowout Prime Day sale. (link)

Despite the efforts to remove and impeach President Trump, it did not look like middle class America was overly concerned about the noise coming from the pundits.   Likely that’s because blue collar wages were higher, Main Street inflation was lower, and overall consumer confidence was strong.  Yes, MAGAnomics was working.

Additionally, remember all those MSM hours and newspaper column inches where the professional financial pundits were claiming Trump’s tariffs were going to cause massive increases in prices of consumer goods?

Well, exactly the opposite happened [BLS report] Import prices were continuing to drop:

[Table 1 – BLS report link]

This was a really interesting dynamic that no one in the professional punditry would dare explain.

Donald Trump’s tariffs were targeted to specific sectors of imported products.  [Steel, Aluminum, and a host of smaller sectors etc.]  However, when the EU and China responded by devaluing their currency, that approach hit all products imported, not just the tariff goods.

Because the EU and China were driving up the value of the dollar, everything we were importing became cheaper.   Not just imports from Europe and China, but actually imports from everywhere.   All imports were entering the U.S. at substantially lower prices.

This meant when we imported products, we were also importing deflation.

This price result is exactly the opposite of what the economic experts and Wall Street pundits predicted back in 2017 and 2018 when they were pushing the rapid price increase narrative.

Because all the export dependent economies were reacting with such urgency to retain their access to the U.S. market, aggregate import prices were actually lower than they were when the Trump tariffs began:

[…]  Prices for imports from China edged down 0.1 percent in August following decreases of 0.2 percent in both July and June. Import prices from China have not advanced on a monthly basis since ticking up 0.1 percent in May 2018. The price index for imports from China fell 1.6 percent for the year ended in August.

[…]  Import prices from the European Union fell 0.2 percent in August and 0.3 percent over the past 12 months.

[Page #4 – BLS Report, pdf] – BLS press release.

So yes, we know President Trump can save Social Security and Medicare by expanding the economy with his America First economic policy.  We do not need to guess if it is possible or listen to pundits theorize about his approach being some random ‘catch phrase’ disconnected from reality.  Yes folks, we have the receipts.

This was MAGAnomics at work, and this is entirely what created the middle class MAGA coalition.  No other Republican candidate has this economic policy in their outlook, because all other candidates are purchased by the Wall Street multinationals.

America First MAGAnomics is unique to President Trump, because he is the only one independent enough to implement them.

That’s just the reality of the situation.  They hate him for it… 

Robert Barnes Summary – The Administrative State Motive to Weaponize Secrets and Create Precedent


Posted originally on the CTH on June 19, 2023 | Sundance 

Attorney Robert Barnes does a good job framing the motive of the DC administrative state, specifically the Lawfare ideologues currently in control of the DOJ, to create a precedent to usurp constitutional power by targeting President Trump.

Segment prompted to 23:40 WATCH:

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President Trump Interview With Fox News Brett Baier


Posted originally on the CTH on June 19, 2023 | Sundance 

Earlier this evening, President Trump sat down for an extensive interview with Fox’s human cabbage patch doll, Brett Baier.  {Direct Rumble Link} Many people were apprehensive about President Trump talking to DC gatekeeper Mr. Baier given that Fox News would like to support the prosecution effort against Trump.

President Trump appears with Baier because President Trump has done nothing wrong.  The legal arguments against him, and more succinctly against the power of the office of the president, are nonsensical.   There is no person, agency, bureaucracy or process that exists above the executive office of the president.

The President has every right to any and all documents that are created, distributed, reviewed and/or utilized during his administration.  WATCH:

Anyone who is saying President Trump did not have the unilateral right to define his presidential records -as he sees fit- needs to answer this question:

Who is this power that supersedes the executive office of the President? and where are they outlined in the constitution?

WE THE PEOPLE are the only entity that grants and/or removes presidential authority.  We vest and affirm our power every 4 years to the President of the United States.  We do not vest power to a bureaucracy or administrative state that believes they are above the power of We The People.  The President reports to us, and we affirm or deny our support with reelection.

There is no governmental system or constitutional process that supersedes the Office of the President within the executive branch.

There are co-equal branches outside the Executive, the Legislative and Judicial branches, with their own constitutional power.  However, the Legislative and Judicial cannot impede or reach into in the structure of the Executive to limit the power outlined in the constitution and granted by We The People.

Apparently, President Trump is Aware of Lisa Monaco’s Purpose


Posted originally on the CTH on June 19, 2023 | Sundance 

Posted to Truth Social by President Trump:

A little more than a week before Special Counsel Jack Smith released his indictment against President Trump, Andrew Weissmann, Norm Eisen and fellow lawfare travelers, wrote an internal prosecution memo for current Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco to use on behalf of the conscripted Special Counsel. [SEE 186-page Guidance MEMO HERE]

When Jack Smith revealed his indictment in Florida, not accidentally it was almost identical to the guidance memo that Weissmann had written.  Even the novel use of the Espionage Act was identical in format to the outline by Weissmann, Eisen and their crew.

Here are the instructions from Andrew Weissmann:

Here is the Special Counsel indictment:

[NOTE: In the post 9-11 surveillance state, this approach by the DOJ-NSD is a pillar holding the Fourth Branch of Government in place, as we have outlined.  The other pillars are (2) the Dept of Homeland Security, (3) the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and (4) the secret FISA Court system.  All four pillars maintain an omnipotent fourth branch of government that operates entirely without oversight.  As you can see in the 11th Circuit Court ruling, there is no check or balance in the post 9-11 national security state.]

Essentially, what we are witnessing is what Lawfare researchers would expect.

The Lawfare operatives, represented by Weissmann, Eisen and company, are all ideological agents connected directly to the anti-Trump efforts.  Their ally in the DOJ is Deputy AG Lisa Monaco.

I use the term “Lawfare” to describe their general group association, as well as the actual organization funded by the Brookings Institute that carries the same name.

Essentially, Lawfare et al, are the group of current and former Dept of Justice ideologues that we find throughout the deployment of all Main Justice weaponization, activism and corruption.

The Muller team were all Lawfare members. The legal team in/around the accusations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, what Christine Blasey-Ford called “beach friends,” are all Lawfare members.  The legal team behind both of Trump’s impeachment efforts were all Lawfare members.  It is one large network of legally minded ideologues working toward a common goal; they are inside government and connected to the same DOJ minds outside government.

The second thing they have in common is their collective risk within their action.  Many of their activities were/are unlawful (spygate, FISA, Mueller probe, impeachment background etc), so to the extent the Lawfare group can mitigate risk by attacking anyone who would be a threat to them, this is what we see.

Andrew Weissmann and Norm Eisen are two of the most well-known members of this politically motivated group.  Together they have created novel legal theories to use by the DOJ against their political opposition.  They write the legal filings for Main Justice to use inside government.

The fact the DOJ uses these novel theories and legal filings in the actual practice of law and prosecution shows how deeply connected the outside Lawfare group is to the Lawfare group inside DC.

Much of their Lawfare approach, that is using the law as a weapon, is based on a goal of attrition. Wear down the target until they are eventually destroyed.  The same approach and motive is intended toward the supporters of the target.  Wear down the psyche of the target’s supporters until they too are destroyed.

Creating demoralization is a very familiar approach from the Saul Alinsky methods rulebook.  It is another way to create fear through isolation, ridicule and marginalization of their opponent.  Threatening to make any defender a target is exactly the key behind Andrew Weissmann’s entire tenure as a prosecutor.  You will note, they did this Lt Gen Mike Flynn when Weissmann expanded their scope and then threatened Flynn’s son, Mike Flynn Jr.

On June 2, 2023, Andrew Weissmann and Norm Eisen published their “Model Prosecution Memo” for use inside the DOJ and for the legal scribes in media to review prior to the DOJ making any Trump indictment announcement.  {SEE MEMO HERE}  This is the same playbook they have used successfully in the past to get all of their allies on the same page for the preferred narrative.

Anticipating that Lisa Monaco would then be distributing the talking points and giving Jack Smith the groundwork for his upcoming novel indictment effort, Andrew Weissmann then appears on MSNBC to discuss.

World Events


Armstrong Economics Blog/World Events Re-Posted Jun 18, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

GREAT POINT by Lee Smith – The FBI May Not Be Burying the Evidence Against Joe Biden, The FBI May be Using it as Leverage Against the White House


Posted originally on the CTH on June 17, 2023 | Sundance 

In this podcast interview between former HPSCI Chairman Devin Nunes and journalists Margot Cleveland and Lee Smith, the discussion begins with the recent revelations provided by Senator Chuck Grassley about audio tapes as evidence in the Biden bribery scandal. {Direct Rumble Link}

As the story has unfolded, the Confidential Human Source who tipped off the FBI to Joe Biden taking bribes from foreign governments, also claims to have audio tapes of himself talking to Joe Biden about the issues when Biden was vice-president.  The FBI has been sitting on this Biden bribery knowledge for multiple years.

The most common opinion of the FBI motive was their intent to burying or capture negative information about Biden.  However, with the institutional corruption of the domestic national security apparatus being very visible within DOJ and FBI, Lee Smith ponders whether the FBI/DOJ might be holding back the Biden bribery material as part of their leverage against the White House.  It is an interesting angle to consider. WATCH:

Lee Smith is very wise in the ways of the Deep State.

It Begins, DOJ Files Motion to Limit President Trump’s Ability to Defend Himself


Posted originally on the CTH on June 17, 2023 | Sundance 

One of the ways you can immediately detect federal Lawfare deployment is to look at how media articles are written when they outline court filings without direct citation for review.  The Hill began SEE HERE. The New York Times is similar, SEE HERE.

Notice both national publications talk about a DOJ court filing, presumably made under seal, that limits President Trump’s defense access to materials and documents used in the case against him.  Notice the media do not say how they gained insight into the details of the sealed filing itself; nor do they provide any source context for how their reporting is structured.  Nothing like, “according to sources with familiar with the matter” or anything similar. Just nothing; no attribution at all.

That media context is a BIG red flag indicating the need to ‘create a narrative’ is more important than the actual substance of the evidence material underpinning it.

Both stories hit on the issue of the DOJ filing a (presumably sealed) motion with the Florida court, to place limits, rules and restrictions on evidence against President Trump, that limits his ability to review it, talk about it and/or provide context for it.  THIS IS A LAWFARE MOVE.  This is what happens in the prosecutorial star-chambers where they hide information in order to create the appearance of something nefarious, where nothing nefarious exists.

When we see this legal approach, we can be assured the case that uses the evidence is built upon fraud and pretense.  Do not be afraid to tell your family, friends and others about this dynamic.  President Trump is being accused of the crime of violating 18 U.S. Code § 793(e) – Gathering, transmitting or losing defense information, a violation of the espionage act, and the DOJ is requesting that President Trump must not permitted to defend himself by discussing the evidence against him.

The DOJ wants to limit public knowledge of the material evidence, not because it would harm national security – but rather because the nature of the evidence itself would highlight to the nation how fraudulent the targeting is.  This is the guaranteed DOJ motive, that’s why everything is under seal and even the media will not talk about how they are gaining their leak knowledge.  This is LAWFARE narrative engineering at its apex deployment.

WASHINGTON DC – The Justice Department on Friday filed a motion seeking to block former President Trump from releasing any classified materials that will be shared with his legal team during his prosecution for the mishandling of records at Mar-a-Lago, noting that some are still being used in the course of their investigation.

The documents “include information pertaining to ongoing investigations” which could be used to further cases against uncharged individuals, the Department of Justice (DOJ) wrote.

The suggested protective order, which will be reviewed by Judge Bruce Reinhart, would allow Trump to review the 31 documents the DOJ is using in the case only while in the presence of his attorneys.

“Defendants shall only have access to Discovery Materials under the direct supervision of Defense Counsel or a member of Defense Counsel’s staff. Defendants shall not retain copies of Discovery Material. Defendants may take notes regarding Discovery Materials, but such notes shall be stored securely by Defense Counsel,” the DOJ wrote.

It also includes similar language to a protective order agreed to in another Trump case that bars the former president from disclosing evidence in the case. New York state prosecutors made that request as they pursue a 34-count indictment of Trump relating to a hush money scandal.

“The Discovery Materials, along with any information derived therefrom, shall not be disclosed to the public or the news media, or disseminated on any news or social media platform, without prior notice to and consent of the United States or approval of the Court,” the department wrote. (read more)

Watch this interview with Devin Nunes and Kimbery Guilfoyle – Start at 06:40 listening to Nunes:

I am correct about the documents grabbed.

I am correct about the nature of the DOJ/FBI intentions and motives.

I am correct about the Lawfare manipulation of the material to present the illusion of illegal where nothing illegal is taking place…

…and I am increasingly certain that Mary McCord is part of TEAM Jack Smith!

Wait for it!

The first two defense approaches will likely be: (1) the Presidential Records Act supersedes the issues of document holding as noted in the use of the Espionage Act. (2) However, if the Espionage Act [Statute 793(e)] has to be defended, the originating issue of “unauthorized possession” will be the second approach heading to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Some baselines are needed to understand what is happening.

First, the National Archives and the DOJ did not demand a return of Classified Documents.  They requested a return of documents containing classification markings.  These are two entirely different things.

Most documents containing classification markings are not classified documents; yet, most classified documents contain classification markings.  Additionally, one of the documents used by Jack Smith in his indictment [COUNT #11] contained no markings at all.

Second, it is critically important to remember that throughout the legal issues in the aftermath of the Mar-a-Lago raid, the DOJ has viciously denied any responsibility to describe the classified documents they claim to have retrieved.  In fact, the DOJ has fought against any entity, including the court appointed “special master”, from being able to look at the documents the DOJ *previously* claimed were either classified, or, vital to national security. {GO DEEP}

Because there is a very specific type of Lawfare taking place with words, it is critical to see the value in what former HPSCI Chairman Devin Nunes has stated about the way the language is being deployed.   Now we turn to the testimony of the national archivist office, and here is where it gets really interesting.

♦ During testimony to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) officials were asked specifically about Trump documents and how they could *KNOW* fulsome return of documents had not taken place.  The response from the NARA officials is enlightening:

[Source pdf, testimony transcript – page 43 and 44]

Notice that NARA had knowledge these documents were in the possession of Trump and were pertinent to their archive retrieval.  It was interesting at the time that NARA would know the content of the President Obama letter, and further interesting they would know there was more than one piece of correspondence between President Trump and Chairman Kim [Jong-un].  CNN even wrote about it HERE.

[Irrelevant note: Mr Bonsanko got the name wrong, Jong-il is dead]

Reminder, keep in mind the DOJ ferocity in not wanting anyone to know what documents they retrieved and/or defined.

We know, from President Trump describing the letter left to him by the former president, that Obama told Trump in the letter that the number one foreign policy and intelligence threat perceived by Obama (at the time of his exit) was a nuclear armed North Korea.  This is where you overlay the Jack Smith writing in the indictment of national defense secrets and nuclear security issues.

We know, from President Trump speaking publicly about his communication and diplomacy with Chairman Kim Jong-un, that the two leaders exchanged letters relating to aligned national security interests that centered around DPRK nuclear ambitions and status.

Trump and Kim formed a geopolitical truce, a friendship of sorts, based on respect and trust around the nuclear issue.  Chairman Kim decreased hostilities; President Trump no longer used inflammatory language about “Little Rocket Man.”  A diplomatic détente was created.

NARA was looking for the letter written by Obama that described DPRK nukes, and NARA was looking for letters between Trump and Kim that touched on DPRK nukes.

Now, does the wording in the Jack Smith indictment that pertains to “nuclear concerns” and “national security matters” make more sense?

Would all of this “nuclear national defense” hullaballoo really stem from President Trump not giving up personal letters written to him by President Obama and Chairman Kim?  YES!  Would President Trump even characterize those letters as government property?  NO!

♦ The indictment accuses President Trump of withholding documents containing “classified markings,” a very specifically deployed obtuse wording intended to create the implication of something nefarious where nothing nefarious exists.  It is entirely possible for a person, any person, especially a person who follows the news, to possess documents containing “classified markings.”

[SOURCE page 41]

There is a big difference between a classified document and a document containing classified markings.  As an example, anyone who has looked at the Carter Page FISA application, made public in July 2018, has reviewed a document containing “classified markings.”  When a document is declassified, they do not remove the markings.

This language is the underpinning of the entire DOJ/FBI framework that predicated the raid on Mar-a-Lago.   Specifically, neither NARA nor the DOJ-NSD requested President Trump or his team to return Classified Documents.  The DOJ demanded the return of any documents that contained “classified markings.” [SEE BELOW]

[Indictment Source, page 4]

Because the verbiage is so intentionally obtuse (ie. Lawfare), a fulsome production in compliance with this DOJ demand would include any newspaper or magazine articles that had a picture of the Carter Page FISA application, or any printed online article that might contain the same or similar elements.  There is a big difference between asking for a classified document return, and asking for a return of documents that contain “classified markings.”

Can you see the way it unfolds?   Of course, when you apply the Lawfare lingo, an approach entirely based on maintaining the targeting of Trump, then suddenly the seemingly innocuous becomes horribly nefarious.

In order to pull this off two things would be needed: (1) the DOJ would need to write about it in a certain way in the indictment√; and (2) simultaneously, the DOJ would need to stop anyone from viewing the actual documents, as they misleadingly described them√.  Hey, wait… that’s exactly what they did.

♦ In a previous court ruling by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, the court ruled in favor of the U.S. Dept of Justice – National Security Division (DOJ-NSD), and blocked the lower court order instructing a Special Master to review the DOJ claimed, “classified documents.” [pdf Ruling Here]

Essentially the order of the appellate court was based on the DOJ defining Trump’s Mar-a-Lago documents as “classified” and “vital to national security”, and the court’s determination said they have no authority to question the decision of the executive branch when it comes to how they DEFINE matters of national security.

The court (judicial branch) openly stated they defer to the DOJ (executive branch) regarding any/all claims of harm to national security that may be caused by a review of documents the DOJ-NSD determined, on their own authority, to be identified as classified or matters of “national security.”

In the prior opinion of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, if the DOJ states sharing the “classified documents” with a special master may harm national security, the court must accept that position without challenge and stop the special master review.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals did what the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) does with the DOJ-NSD and any matters defined by the originating Main Justice officials as “national security.”   The 11th Circuit is deferred to the DOJ.

The DOJ was granted legal benefit of the doubt on all matters of national security, which puts the DOJ-NSD in ultimate control over the star chamber they operate.

This ridiculous ruling meant the DOJ could define any document as a document of “national security interest” and there is no countervailing review of their definitions.  As soon as this decision was reached the DOJ then moved to appoint a special counsel.  Can you see how this works?

With this ruling in his briefcase, Special Counsel Jack Smith could now define the Mar-a-Lago documents according to the legal intention of his targeting.  That’s exactly what he did.  The case against Trump is not a case about classified documents, it is a case about the DOJ defining unilaterally what documents are considered “vital to national security.”

With the DOJ getting to define those documents, the special counsel then moves to claim national security threats created by Trump’s ownership.  The overlay of “vital to the nuclear capabilities of the defense dept,” can then be shifted to include letters from President Obama and Kim Jong-un about DPRK nuclear capabilities.