The left-wing is forcing their views upon the rest of society by deliberately violating freedom of speech.
A New York-based firm is reportedly being forced by left-leaning liberal activists to set up an internal “human rights committee” that would monitor payments to white supremacist groups and anti-Islam activists. It does not matter what they may propose, everyone has a right to their view. The right to freedom of speech cannot exist if we shut down those we disagree with.
Can you imagine if they passed a law that if you voted for the losing political party you lose certain rights? There are situations like that throughout history. We should not use the law to subjugate the opposition
Against the backdrop of documents from the state department, Senator Lindsey Graham sends a letter to both OIG Michael Horowitz and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo seeking additional information about State Department contact with Christopher Steele.
Additionally, the FBI has apparently reversed course on the self-serving redactions they put in place when the Kavalec Memo was released. A less redacted version is below:
Apparently the Russian “mole” in the DNC didn’t warrant the investigative curiosity of the FBI. Instead, they took the sketchy dossier info and called Carter Page an “agent of a foreign power”…. Go figure.
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump participate in a celebration of military mothers at the White House earlier today [Video and Transcript].
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[Transcript] East Room – 4:30 P.M. EDT – THE PRESIDENT: Great job. Thank you very much. And thank you for being here. And, Melania, you did a beautiful job in organizing this incredible celebration of America’s military mothers. That’s good. I had a great mother — Mary. I loved my mother. I miss my mother.
Military moms are the backbone of America. I know it is still two days away, but I wish everybody right now a very Happy Mother’s Day. Happy Mother’s Day, everybody. (Applause.) Happy Mother’s Day. Thank you.
We’re especially pleased to be joined by our great Vice President, Mike Pence. Mike? Stand up, Mike. (Applause.) Stand up, Mike. Doing a great job. And our wonderful Second Lady, Karen Pence. Karen, thank you. (Applause.)
And, by the way, they’re a proud military family and tremendous advocates for our warriors and their loved ones. Thank you both very much for being here.
This afternoon, I want to express our incredible appreciation to all of you: the moms serving our nation in uniform, the mothers of our great heroes, and the moms with spouses who serve in the armed forces.
Your unwavering dedication and support strengthens our entire nation. Today, we honor you. We celebrate you. We salute you and everything that you do — so many things, so many great things — for our country.
To the active-duty moms here today: We thank you for your courage, and we applaud your noble service. You have two of the most important jobs in the world: bravely defending America from our enemies and helping to raise the next generation of American patriots. You have spent Mother’s Days — (applause) — and, you know — come on, let’s go. (Applause.) Let’s go.
You have spent Mother’s Days on ships out at sea, on bases in faraway lands, and staring down foreign threats in very, very dangerous areas. And you’ve done it all out of love for family, for country, and for duty. Our nation is forever in your debt. Thank you very much. Great job. Incredible job. (Applause.)
We’re also honored to be joined today by the moms whose spouses are serving in the military. We know that you also make that tremendous sacrifice for your country — so much so. They would never be as successful without you, I have to tell you. (Laughter and applause.) And most of them know that. Most of them. I’m not sure all of them know that, but most of them know that, right? (Laughter.) When you married an American warrior — which is exactly what they are — you became part of an elite group of heroes.
As military spouses, you help carry your families through frequent moves and long deployments. You uplift your communities, care for your fellow military families, and sustain our service members through their most difficult battles.
You know that one of the great challenges of military spouses is to find a meaningful job as you move in support of your active-duty spouse. That’s why, one year ago, I took action to increase employment opportunities, as you probably know — I hope you’re all taking advantage of it; I’m sure you are — for military spouses all across our nation.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Thank you! (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: Incredible people. Thank you. (Laughs.) Who said that? Stand up. I want to see. Who said that? (Applause.) Thank you.
We want military spouses to be able to pursue their careers and help their families thrive.
Finally, to the moms in this room who raised children that grew up to join the United States Armed Forces, you have given our country a gift beyond measure. You raised your children to live by the sacred values of loyalty, bravery, patriotism and service.
The greatest honor of my life is serving as your Commander-in-Chief. This extraordinary group of men and women — and there’s nobody like you on the face of the Earth — the heroes of the American Armed Forces are more courageous, selfless, and fearless than any fighting force in all of human history. So true.
And Mike and I have worked very, very long and hard. Our military is now regaining strength like it’s never had before. We had budgets of $700 billion — far, far more than ever before. And this year, $716 billion. And I know we’re going for $750 billion.
And we had a very depleted military. You know it better than I did. And now it’s raring. It’s just something special. Hopefully, we don’t have to use it. They’re going to look at it, and they’re going to say, “We don’t want to mess with them.” Right? (Laughter.) We don’t want to mess with them.
So, our military is in great shape and I think it’s something you know, but I want you to know it just in case you had any questions. Anybody have any questions? (Applause.) It really is. Thank you.
And I just have to say that our nation is eternally grateful to our military mothers. Your love and devotion and sacrifice keeps America safe, strong, proud, and free. Today, and every day, we thank God for our military moms. You have always been there for us, and my administration will always be there for you. And you know that. You know that. (Applause.)
So I just want to finish by saying — to let me, once again, wish everyone in this room a very, very Happy Mother’s Day. You are very special people. I don’t even know if you know how special you are. You work so hard. Sometimes you don’t realize it. But you are very, very special people.
And I want to just say, God bless you and God bless our great country. God bless America. Thank you very much. Thank you everybody. (Applause.) Thank you.
According to Reuters, House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler is negotiating terms for special counsel Robert Mueller to testify before the committee… [I doubt this].
In my opinion, no-one in DC wants Robert Mueller to testify because they know Mueller was/is purely a figurehead for a corrupt investigative enterprise that was simply an extension of the 2016 DOJ and FBI effort.
Mueller was the 2017 cover that allowed the 2016 DOJ and FBI team to continue their efforts. Mueller didn’t select an investigative team, a pre-assembled TEAM that included Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe and FBI Counsel James Baker selected Mueller; and they successfully leveraged DAG Rod Rosenstein to appoint him.
(Reuters) […] Nadler’s committee is continuing to negotiate for Special Counsel Robert Mueller, author of the report on Trump and Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, to testify before he leaves the Justice Department in coming weeks.
“Hopefully he will come in. It won’t be next week,” Nadler said. “If necessary, we will subpoena him and he will come.”
The House Judiciary panel has not set a date for Mueller to testify, but lawmakers had spoken tentatively about May 15. The panel is still negotiating with Mueller and the Justice Department. It was unclear where negotiations stood on Friday.
Barr has said he has no objection to Mueller testifying. But Trump has tweeted that Mueller should not testify.
The Justice Department told the House committee that Mueller is expected to leave his post in “a matter of weeks”, according to Nadler. (read more)
There’s no way Nadler wants to see Mueller solo at a congressional hearing, unless Nadler has total control over the situation… there’s far too much inherent risk from questions that Mueller would be asked; including the May 16th, 2017, meeting in the Oval Office.
Mueller and Weissmann together yes, but Mueller solo – no way.
Whoever advised President Trump (likely Senator Lindsey Graham) to tweet about not having Mueller testify is only trying to protect the institutional deep state; and that protection encompasses the familiar process to control information.
The DC system knows how to manipulate narratives and diminish risk. Robert Mueller being asked questions about the framework and origination of his investigation is adverse to the interests of those who advanced and protected the insufferable investigation for two years. The only way the administrative state officials will allow Mueller to speak without script is if they control everything around his appearance.
Robert Mueller had no more control or influence over the extended investigative unit than any other useful idiot has toward a similar effort.
Mueller is the DOJ equivalent of a corporate “chairman emeritus“, nothing more.
Giddy up… President Trump has fulfilled another campaign promise to confront China and hold firm. As promised, three decades of Donald Trump’s intense commitment to stop the exfiltration of Amerian wealth is on display today.
When you plant your tree in another man’s orchard don’t be surprised when you end up paying for your own apples….
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer; U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin; U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and U.S. President Donald Trump are confronting Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping and Vice-Chairman Liu He… and now consequential things get economically very serious.
There are going to see multiple geopolitical background moves now as the confrontation shifts to the painful phase…. who can outlast the economic standoff.
WASHINGTON DC – Negotiations to end the US-China trade war came to a surprisingly early close in Washington on Friday with no signs of a deal – reportedly just hours before the Chinese delegation will return to Beijing.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters at noon that the talks had been constructive as he left the US trade representative’s office, where negotiators held their latest round of talks in an attempt to end a months-long trade dispute. (more)
Steel your nerves; we’ve waited decades for this.
As most CTH readers are aware, Lighthizer has focused heavily on the enforcement mechanisms within the trade talks. [Previous Bookmark] Apparently, when the 150 page draft agreement was presented to the Chinese politburo, Beijing balked at allowing the U.S. to hold controlling enforcement over the trade agreement terms.
The fallback presentation from Vice-Chairman Liu was: we cannot put the binding enforcement mechanisms in writing, you’ll have to ‘trust us’ to honor the agreement; at which time Lighthizer said no-way.
However, Lighthizer and Trump are not only fighting China, they are fighting U.S. politicians who are beneficiaries of China. They are also fighting against the U.S. CoC, the multinational corporations, Wall Street and members of both political parties who desperately want to stop any trade balance reset.
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Almost half, perhaps more than half, of congress has a better financial self-interest if China can gain economic superiority over the United States. This congressional hearing, and the severity of Lighthizer toward those purchased politicians, highlights this very tenuous internal challenge.
Stop and think about this again.
The U.S. economic, trade and manufacturing system is so structurally broken, after three decades of severe corruption by corporate financial interests: Almost half, perhaps more than half, of congress has a better financial self-interest if China can gain economic superiority over the United States.
The likely response from China will be additional tariffs on U.S. goods and/or refusal to purchase U.S. agriculture products. Their strategy will be to get key BIG AG senators, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, to target fire toward President Trump over diminished farm prices.
CTH anticipated this dynamic in 2016. Any Chinese pull-back from U.S. farm purchases hits the Wall Street multinational corporations hardest.
Multinational corporations, BIG AG, are now invested in controlling the outputs of U.S. agricultural industry and farmers. This process is why food prices have risen exponentially in the past decade.
The free market is not determining price; there is no “supply and demand” influence within this modern agricultural dynamic. Food commodities are now a controlled market just like durable goods. The raw material (harvests writ large) are exploited by the financial interests of massive multinational corporations.
Because the domestic supply-side agricultural market is based on perishable goods; this predictable Chinese response has a rapid downstream impact. The wholesale price of domestic food drops rapidly inside the U.S. as the supply now exceeds the market. The multinational mega-food conglomerates will be apoplectic.
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The prices of imported durable goods (stuff from China) will increase, slowly over time; depending on the supply chain for the specific product sector. However, if China retaliates by stopping import of U.S. agriculture products, the prices for U.S. domestic highly-consumable goods drops quickly.
In this scenario Wall Street is hardest hit. Other than the AG sector, Main Street -and the U.S. consumer therein- actually benefits.
The Big Club will go bananas.
There are trillions at stake.
It is simply incredible how President Trump has taken his 2015/2016 proposals, and made them current policy, absolutely proving he was right. Go back and READ THIS from February 2016…. it’s stunning how he was able to deliver on the plan.
What you will find in all of Donald Trump’s positions, is a paradigm shift he necessarily understands must take place in order to accomplish the long-term goals for the U.S. citizen/worker as it relates to “entitlements” or “structural benefits”.
All other politicians begin their policy proposals with a fundamentally divergent perception of the U.S. economy. They are working with, and retaining the outlook of, a U.S. economy based on “services”; a service-based economic model. Consequently their forecasted economic growth projections are based on ever-increasing foreign manufacturing dependency, and even more solidifying service-based economics.
While this economic path has been created by decades old U.S. policy, and is ultimately the only historical economic path now taught in school, candidate Donald Trump intended to change the course entirely.
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Because so many shifts -policy nudges- have taken place in the past several decades, few academics and even fewer MSM observers, are able to understand how to get off this path and chart a better course.
President Trump has begun a process for less dependence on foreign companies for cheap goods, (the cornerstone of a service economy) and a return to a more balanced U.S. larger economic model where the manufacturing and production base can be re-established and competitive based on American entrepreneurship and innovation.
No other economy in the world innovates like the U.S.A, President Trump sees this as a key advantage across all industry – including manufacturing.
The benefit of cheap overseas labor, which is considered a global market disadvantage for the U.S., is offset by utilizing innovation and energy independence.
The third highest variable cost of goods beyond raw materials first, labor second, is energy. President Trump unleashed the U.S. energy sector and slashed regulations; as a consequence the U.S. manufacturing price of any given product now allows for global trade competition even with higher U.S. wage prices.
In addition the U.S. has a key strategic advantage with raw manufacturing materials such as: iron ore, coal, steel, precious metals and vast mineral assets which are needed in most new modern era manufacturing. Trump proposed we stop selling these valuable national assets to countries we compete against – they belong to the American people, they should be used for the benefit of American citizens. Period.
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EXAMPLE: Currently China buys and recycles our heavy (steel) and light (aluminum) metal products (for pennies on the original manufacturing dollar) and then uses those metals to reproduce manufactured goods for sale back to the U.S.
President Trump stopped this process with global Steel and Aluminum tariffs; and shifted the dynamic to where we do the manufacturing ourselves with the utilization of our own resources; and we use the leverage from any sales of these raw materials in our international trade agreements.
When we combine FULL resource development (in a modern era) with with the removal of over-burdensome regulatory and compliance systems, necessarily filled with enormous bureaucratic costs, President Trump has proven we can lower the cost of production and be globally competitive.
In essence, Trump changed the economic paradigm, and we are no longer a dependent nation relying on a service driven economy.
In addition, an unquantifiable benefit comes from investment, where the smart money play -to get increased return on investment- becomes putting capital INTO the U.S. economy, instead of purchasing foreign stocks.
With all of the above opportunities in mind, this is how Trump takes us back to the pathway of rebuilding our national infrastructure. The demand for labor increases, and as a consequence so too does the U.S. wage rate which has been stagnant (or non-existent) for the past three decades.
As the wage rate increases (it is), and as the economy expands (it is), the governmental dependency model is reshaped and simultaneously receipts to the U.S. treasury improve. More money into the U.S Treasury and less dependence on welfare programs have a combined exponential impact. You gain a dollar, and have no need to spend a dollar. That is how the SSI and safety net programs are saved under President Trump.
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When you elevate your economic thinking you begin to see that all of the “entitlements” or expenditures become more affordable with an economy that is fully functional.
As the GDP of the U.S. expands, so too does our ability to meet the growing need of the retiring U.S. worker. We stop thinking about how to best divide a limited economic pie, and begin thinking about how many more economic pies we can create.
Today President Trump outlines an approach to head-off the anticipated retaliation from China over the increase in U.S. tariffs that began today. Whether this is structurally possible, or whether this is Trump’s attempt to diminish the leverage carried by Vice-Chairman Liu He, is an interesting question. However, the strategy is clear.
Overall U.S. inflation remains low relative to the economic gains from MAGAnomic policy. [Current CPI HERE]. GDP and wage growth are both exceeding inflation. As such, now is indeed the best time to confront China. President Trump notes this today in a tweet:
Inflation in the U.S. remains low overall at 1.8%…. now is the perfect time to hit Beijing with expanded tariffs. However, President Trump knows China will retaliate through the multinationals on Wall Street. President Trump knows China will specifically target the U.S. Agriculture sector. China will likely attempt to put pressure on Trump by refusing to buy U.S. farm product. The BIG AG multinationals will go bananas.
The BIG AG multinationals, those who control food/farm production, also control key Senators; they have been purchased through lobbyists. This is part of the Big Club approach/strategy. Wall Street and the U.S. Senate will be aligned to support China; as a consequence President Trump needs to counteract their effort.
President Trump’s approach to counteract China’s strike against the U.S. agricultural community is visible in a series of tweets today. I don’t necessarily agree with the proposal long-term, BUT I do understand the short-term objective…. optimum expediency.
As you can see, President Trump is proposing to counteract the Chinese boycott of U.S. farm product, by using income from the Chinese tariffs to purchase the farm product. It would appear the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Secretary Sonny Perdue, would be in charge of the program.
In the short term this would mean the corporate income losses from BIG AG multinationals would be offset by U.S. purchases. The Dept. of Agriculture would purchase harvests that exceed the domestic U.S. supply need. President Trump is proposing we then give that harvest to nations who need food: “poor and starving countries”.
In essence income from the tariffs on China would be used to subsidize U.S. farmers.
Perhaps as a short-term, optimal solution, this is a good plan. However, the downside is the U.S. food prices, what you pay at the grocery store, will remain artificially elevated.
If there was no intervention, domestic farm production would far exceed internal U.S. consumer demand. This would mean prices on U.S. food products would necessarily drop (rather quickly). The supply would far exceed demand.
This over-production dynamic is caused by more than 25 years of BIG AG growth, where multinationals have contracted with U.S. farms to grow and export food product. We’ve talked about this corrupted and “controlled market” system extensively here on these pages. [Go Deep]
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The process of multinationals controlling farm output is very similar to how the multinationals controlled manufacturing output and moved the process to the place of lowest production costs; and highest profits. The outputs of U.S. farms are moved around the globe to the location of highest return; it is a controlled market. This process has driven up the domestic price of U.S food rapidly in the past 20 years.
The multinational agriculture lobby is massive. We willingly feed the world as part of the system; but you as a grocery customer pay more per unit at the grocery store because domestic supply no longer determines domestic price.
Within the agriculture community the (feed-the-world) production export factor also drives the need for labor. Labor is a cost. The multinational corps have a vested interest in low labor costs. Ergo, open border policies. (ie. willingly purchased republicans not supporting border wall etc.).
To offset the 20 year increase in U.S. prices, the multinational lobbyists paid DC to expand food subsidies (SNAP, Food stamps, EBT benefits); this helps their bottom line and shifts tax dollars onto their Profit-and-Loss statements. This is the ‘exfiltration’ of American wealth. It is a corrupt system.
The proposal by President Trump to shift tariff proceeds to off-set farm losses is okay, perhaps likely necessary, in the short term; but once the issues with China are resolved we are still going to have to deal with the underlying cause of this corrupted market process.
Economic security is national security.
We need to start looking at food production as a National Security issue.
House Intelligence Committee ranking member Devin Nunes discusses James Comey’s recent comments and the ongoing efforts against Attorney General Bill Barr.
Earlier today President Trump met with Slovakia Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini in the White House. Prior to bilateral meetings they held a press availability in the oval office and President Trump took questions from the media. [Video and Transcript]
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[Transcript] – Oval Office – 1:55 P.M. EDT – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. It’s my honor to have the Prime Minister of Slovakia with us today in the Oval Office. We have a lot of talking to do. We’re dealing on trade. We have a very big trade arrangement and deal. They’re buying quite a few of the F-16 planes from us. And a very big order, actually. I’m very impressed. And it’s — I have to say, it’s a great plane. It’s a great, great plane.
But we do a lot of trade. And NATO partner. And our relationship has been very good. And this is the Prime Minister’s first time in the Oval Office, and I think he’s impressed with it.
PRIME MINISTER PELLEGRINI: Yeah, I am.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much for being with us.
PRIME MINISTER PELLEGRINI: Mr. President, I’m really very glad to meet Mr. President today here in the White House. And I think the timing is really perfect because this year we are celebrating 30 years of freedom of Slovakia.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: That’s right.
PRIME MINISTER PELLEGRINI: And the United States played a key role in our struggle for democracy, and it helped us to transform our country. And I’m very happy that today I can say that the United States and Slovakia are strategic partners and allies.
And, as the Prime Minister, I can say today that Slovakia is really a success story. And I would like to congratulate you, Mr. President, because, in Slovakia, we are able now to create thousands of new jobs and we have the lowest unemployment rate in our history. And I would like to congratulate you on the amazing numbers, which were published today, and about the jobs which were created thanks to you policies. I think it’s a huge success.
And congratulations, Mr. President, because I know how difficult it is to reach such numbers and to boost the economy. And Slovakia has, in this moment, really a robust growth — even one of the highest in European Union and Eurozone. And we are lucky that also your economy is doing very well, because if the United States is going well, also Slovakia —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: That’s right.
PRIME MINISTER PELLEGRINI: — is going well.
And I have to say, ladies and gentlemen, that Mr. President is really a leader, which is very clear that we have to do even much more when it comes to defense. And as Mr. President mentioned, Slovakia is delivering. It’s spending more. We are modernizing our armed forces. We are buying, also, U.S. military equipment. And I can say that the 2 percent of GDP, we will reach earlier, as was our plan. And in 2022, we will be on that number.
And, once again, it’s a great honor for me, great honor for our country, to be here in the White House with you, Mr. President.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: That’s really nice.
I just want to add a little bit further that — and it’s very nice what you said — but we are aligned with you and it has helped your economy, and that’s been good. And that makes me very happy because those are incredible people. And the relationship has never been stronger than it is now. And you’ve been with us all the way.
And what you said is true: Slovakia is very close to being up to the benchmark number — the 2 percent number — and maybe even go beyond it, because they understand the value — the tremendous value — from the United States. Some countries aren’t.
But NATO — as your Secretary General has said — they’ve, over the last short period of time, picked up over a hundred billion dollars of additional money since I’m President because of the fact that I said you have to pay for your defense. I mean, you have to help us because the United States pays for a really disproportionate share of NATO.
So, over $100 million — over $100 billion has been paid by the various members of NATO. Some are doing fantastically. You are doing really well. You’re almost up to the number, and others aren’t doing as well, but they will be, we predict.
And I think — I also just want to mention that the economy is unbelievable. We’re at 3.6 percent unemployment. That’s the lowest number since 1969. We have tremendous backing. The companies are doing really well. We have the lowest unemployment rates for different groups of people, whether it’s African American, Asian, Hispanic. Hispanic just set another all-time record for low unemployment.
The household income is the highest it’s ever been. Our country is doing well. Never, probably, has done as well as it’s doing right now, economically. And so we’re very proud of that fact.
We’re dealing on China right now. We’re doing fine. We’re taking in billions of dollars from China in the form of tariffs, as you know. We’re charging China tariffs. We’ve never taken in 10 cents from China, and now we’re taking in billions and billions of dollars. That’s had a very positive effect on things.
But the deal itself is going along pretty well. I would even say very well. We’ll see what happens over the next couple of weeks. But we’re getting close to a very historic, monumental deal. And if it doesn’t happen, we’ll be fine too. Maybe even better.
So I just want to thank you. It’s a great honor to be with you. I’ve heard tremendous things. And you’re a very popular man in your country. And I’ve had my best poll numbers too, so I feel very good.
But it’s — our economy is raging. And when we have an economy that maybe is the best economy we’ve ever had, people tend to like you.
So, we’re both doing well in that regard.
PRIME MINISTER PELLEGRINI: (Inaudible.)
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much for being here.
Steve, go ahead.
Q Mr. President, you spoke with Vladimir Putin earlier today.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yes, I did.
Q What options are you looking at to get humanitarian assistance to Venezuela?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yeah, I had a very good talk with President Putin — probably over an hour. And we talked about many things. Venezuela was one of the topics. And he is not looking at all to get involved in Venezuela other than he’d like to see something positive happen for Venezuela.
And I feel the same way. We want to get some humanitarian aid. Right now, people are starving. They have no water, they have no food. This is, Mr. Prime Minister, one of the richest countries in the world 20 years ago, and now it’s — they don’t have food and they don’t have water for their people. So we want to help on a humanitarian basis.
And I thought it was a very positive conversation I had with President Putin on Venezuela.
Q Are you talking about extending the New START Treaty or adding China to it? Or what, exactly?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: We’re talking about a nuclear agreement where we make less and they make less, and maybe even where we get rid of some of the tremendous firepower that we have right now.
We’re spending billions of dollars on nuclear weapons, numbers like we’ve never spent before. We need that, but they are also — and China is, frankly, also — we discussed the possibility of a three-way deal instead of a two-way deal. And China — I’ve already spoken to them; they very much would like to be a part of that deal.
In fact, during the trade talks, we started talking about that. They were excited about that. Maybe even more excited than about trade. But they felt very strongly about it.
So I think we’re going to probably start up something very shortly between Russia and ourselves, maybe to start off. And I think China will be added down the road. We’ll be talking about nonproliferation. We’ll be talking about a nuclear deal of some kind. And I think it will be a very comprehensive one.
Q Mr. President, did you address the election meddling issues that came up in the Mueller Report with Mr. Putin today?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: We discussed it. He actually sort of smiled when he said something to the effect that it started off as a mountain and it ended up being a mouse. But he knew that because he knew there was no collusion whatsoever.
So, pretty much, that’s what it was. It started off —
Q Did you tell him not to meddle, Mr. President? Did you tell him not to meddle in the next election?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Excuse me. I’m talking. I’m answering this question. You are very rude.
So we had a good conversation about many different things. Okay?
Q Did you ask him not to meddle?
Q Did you tell him not to meddle in the next election?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: We didn’t discuss that. Really, we didn’t discuss it. We discussed five or six things. We also — we went into detail on various things, especially, I would say, the nuclear. Especially, maybe, Venezuela. We talked about North Korea at great length, and pretty much that’s it.
Also discussed trade. We intend to do a lot of trade with Russia. We do some right now. It’s up a little bit. But he’d like to do trade and we’d like to do trade.
And getting along with Russia and China, getting along with all of them is very good thing, not a bad thing. It’s a good thing. It’s a positive thing. Getting along with other countries — including your country, by the way — but getting along with countries is a good thing. And we want to have good relationships with every country.
Q Mr. President, should Mueller testify? Would you like to see him testify before Congress?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I don’t know. That’s up to our Attorney General, who I think has done a fantastic job.
Q And why shouldn’t the Congress have the same right to hear from the Attorney General —
Q Mr. President —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yeah, go ahead. Yes, please.
Q Mr. President, (inaudible) visit in Slovakia? Because —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I’d like to. I know people from Slovakia, and they’re incredible people. I would love to. It’s a beautiful country and it’s doing very well. It’s doing very well.
Yeah. Yeah, please.
Q Do you want to introduce tariffs on the cars? Because the car industry is very important.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, the tariffs have been a necessary thing for me to do because in the case of the European Union, they have not treated us right. We’re losing $181 billion a year. We have been for many years. And the European Union has not treated us properly. But we’ll see what happens with regard to tariffs on cars with the European Union. We haven’t made a decision on that.
Q Mr. President, are you going to nominate a Defense Secretary? Shanahan. Are you going to make it official?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: It’ll be discussed next week.
Q Mr. President, it’s World Press Freedom Day. Can you say anything? We’ve heard a lot about your grievances to us, but can you say —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Say it again. Say it again.
Q It’s World Press Freedom Day. We’ve heard a lot about your grievances about us, but can you say something that you can improve to improve communication and relationship with the press?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I think I have a very good relationship with some of the press. And, unfortunately, some of the press doesn’t cover me accurately. In fact, they go out of their way to cover me inaccurately, so I don’t think that’s a free press. I think that’s a dishonest press. And I want to see a free press.
I mean, today I was happy to see on the front page of the New York Times — for the first time — where they were talking about spying and they were talking about spying on my campaign. That’s a big difference between the way they’ve been covering, but that’s a big story. That’s a story bigger than Watergate, as far as I’m concerned.
So, I want to see freedom of the press. And I get treated fairly by some press, but I get treated very unfairly by other press. And, frankly, I think that’s very dishonest. And I don’t consider that. When you have stories that are purposely written badly — in many cases, very much on purpose — I mean, you look at it — that’s not free press, that’s the opposite of free press.
Q Mr. President, have you decided whether you’ll invoke executive privilege as it relates to Don McGahn?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: That’ll all be determined over the next week or so.
Q But you said it was done, so are you going block him?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: But, you know, I will say this: There has been no President in history that has given what I’ve given in terms of looking at just a total witch hunt. I call it the “Russian hoax.” It turned out to be no collusion, no obstruction. It was a total hoax.
And, yet, I was transparent. We gave 1.4 million documents. We gave hundreds of people. I let him interview the lawyer — the White House lawyer — for 30 hours. Think of that: thirty hours. I let him interview other people. I didn’t have to let him interview anybody. I didn’t have to give any documents. I was totally transparent because I knew I did nothing wrong.
It turned out I did nothing wrong. No collusion with Russia. Think of it: Thirty-five million dollars they spent, they wasted, over a period of two years. No collusion, no obstruction.
Thank you all very much. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you.
Q Are you going to run on the economy?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yeah. Yeah. I’ll be running on the economy. Sure.
Joint Statement – […] Our countries also affirm that energy security is fundamental to national security. We reiterate our opposition to the use of energy projects as geopolitical weapons, including Nord Stream 2. We commit to deepening our cooperation in cybersecurity and to working to develop and implement telecommunications security principles. (more)
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This is a library of News Events not reported by the Main Stream Media documenting & connecting the dots on How the Obama Marxist Liberal agenda is destroying America
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