The new Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Lindsey Graham, met with U.S. Attorney General nominee William Barr earlier today.  After the meeting Graham answers media questions about their conversation as well as Graham’s reaction to Trump’s prime-time address Tuesday and the news of Rod Rosenstein’s expected departure.

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Senator Graham outlined that AG Nominee William Barr and Robert Mueller are close personal friends for decades. “They’ve been personal friends for over 20 years,” Graham said, noting they worked together previously at the Department of Justice. “His opinion of Mr. Mueller is very, very high in terms of ethics and character and professionalism.”

Graham said Barr’s and Mueller’s wives attend Bible study together and Mueller has attended the weddings of two of Barr’s daughters. “I didn’t know that they were that close personally,” Graham said.

Reports from inside the DOJ to allied resistance media announce that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will leave the DOJ once special counsel Robert Mueller (the team, not the person) submits their investigative report on Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Generally speaking, media reporting can be taken with a grain of proverbial salt; however, with these events it’s likely allied resistance media have embeds within the special counsel and DOJ coordinating leaks on their behalf.  Additionally, this latest report aligns almost identically with the CTH prediction for legislative action.  In short, it just makes sense.

WASHINGTON — Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who had been overseeing the special counsel investigation, plans to step down after Robert Mueller submits his report, according to administration officials familiar with his thinking.

A source close to Rosenstein said he intends to stay on until Mueller submits a report to the Justice Department on the Russian meddling investigation. The source said that would mean Rosenstein would remain until early March.

Several legal sources have said they expect the Mueller team to submit its report by mid-to-late February, although they said that timeline could change based on unforeseen investigative developments. (read more)

This report aligns with the predictable sequencing of events we previously outlined from reviewing Democrat plans and Pelosi’s legislative rules requests and schedules.

A mid-to-late February report drop would put the Mueller team activity right in the bulls-eye for predictable hearings and legislative usefulness by Chairman of the Oversight Committee, Elijah Cummings.

Remember, Speaker Pelosi has modified Cummings committee responsibility to only look at White House targeted oversight.

Notice Speaker Pelosi requested the schedule for oversight hearings to be announced by April 15th, 2019.  Additionally, by prior DOJ agreement, Michael Cohen was deferred from prison until March 6th, 2019.   So it looks like the timeline is solidifying:

February/March: (event 1) Michael Cohen deposition (then straight to prison); Feb/March (event 2) the Mueller report; then in April Cummings announces oversight hearings using 1 & 2.  [The sequencing for event 1 and 2 remains malleable]  One aspect is very certain: all of this has been worked out well in advance.

As noted in December:  The baseline is that Democrat leadership are cunning political strategists; and have likely already drawn out the big picture road-map with details to be filled in as they proceed.

• The first event is the congressional use of Michael Cohen for a series of public committee hearings. [Oversight (Elijah Cummings) and possibly -though less likely- Judiciary (Nadler) and HPSCI (Schiff)] This likely has to happen before March 6th, 2019, when Cohen is scheduled to enter federal prison. It’s almost certain Cohen’s incarceration deferment contains the unwritten agreement to appear. [Democrat leadership almost certainly coordinated this plan with team Mueller and the SDNY some time ago.]
• The second event is the release of the Team Mueller political report which, despite its inability to find criminal wrongdoing, will most certainly be written with highly charged innuendo as damaging to President Trump as possible. The release of this report will absolutely fuel several public committee hearings [Oversight/Reform (Cummings), HPSCI (Schiff) and Judiciary (Nadler)] without any doubt.
• The third event is the release of the OIG Horowitz report on possible FISA abuse. Due to the nature of Mueller’s proprietary investigative blackout (Horowitz not allowed to  see investigative material or witnesses with Mueller probe ongoing), the Horowitz report will  likely come out *after* Mueller.

That’s the three key events the Democrats and media will be most likely to exploit for maximum political benefit in the first quarter of 2019.   The sequence between Mueller and Horowitz might reverse (though unlikely). Other investigative resistance paths will spur from these three primary Q1 events.

Again, there is very little doubt the approach has already been mapped out in post-election meetings between: Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, the Democrat committee heads, allies in the lawfare community, political allies inside the executive branch (IC, DOJ, FBI etc.), along with feedback from political networks, DNC (Perez) and major resistance donors.

The real trick to discovering the plan (as early as possible) is to spot the signals that will tell us where they are going before they shift in their planned direction. Example: We already know Michael Cohen is a key starting point (aforementioned reasons).  We then add the Pelosi rules and instructions, and now begin overlaying the reports of Rosenstein and Mueller.

So if we take the first quarter resistance events/narratives (¹Cohen appearance, ²Mueller Report and ³Horowitz report); and we overlay what has already surfaced; we can then begin to get a picture of how things will reasonably be expected to play out.

SC Robert Mueller (the team, not the person) and DAG Rod Rosenstein have already explained to POTUS Trump that if he attempts any declassification of documents currently part of Mueller’s investigative purview (that’s literally everything and or anything they lay claim to), the Special Counsel investigative unit will consider that interference with their investigation of him (President Trump); and subsequent “obstruction” claims will immediately follow.  That threat, and the advice of White House lawyers (prior counsel no longer present), led to Trump backing down in September, 2018:

[Obviously “speed” is a relative term, it’ has been 4 months]

So it stands to reason if they (Rosenstein, Mueller, etc.) are telling the president he can’t take any action,…. common sense says the same general ‘hands-off‘ principle has applied to DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz; who is ultimately under much more of the institutional DOJ control system than President Trump.

The suspicion of how the corrupt system was going to control any damaging information was verified when FBI Deputy Director David Bowditch told congress recently they were not allowed to release any of the transcripts from all of the 2018 witness testimony.

FBI Deputy Director David Bowditch (example above), the ODNI (Coats), AG (Whitaker/Barr), DAG (Rosenstein), FBI Director (Wray) and Deputy FBI Director (Bowditch), along with Robert Mueller and/or any leadership member of his team (Weissmann), can block or deny any declassification request -or visibility of any evidence-  that would be adverse to their interests.  As we can see above, that is exactly what they are doing.

This ongoing process of control permits the House Democrats to begin framing the investigative narrative that will allow them to eliminate the DC threat created by President Donald Trump.

Again, overlay the CTH December prediction with today’s announcement from inside the DOJ about Rosenstein’s likely timing for departure:

…If we extend the sequencing with all the above in mind it looks like the House Oversight Committee (Cummings) and House Judiciary Committee (Nadler) will likely kick the resistance operation into action (after Superbowl) with Michael Cohen’s scheduled appearances broadcast on television for the better part of two weeks use.

That first phase event will likely be followed by a late Feb/early March dropping of the Mueller report. There will be a grand lead-in, roll-out and press spectacle designed for maximum exposure. The tail end of that phase will lead to more hearings throughout March perhaps into early April with subpoenas based on the report framework. (more)

Today the allied resistance media report:

(VIA NBC) […] A source close to Rosenstein said he intends to stay on until Mueller submits a report to the Justice Department on the Russian meddling investigation. The source said that would mean Rosenstein would remain until early March.

Several legal sources have said they expect the Mueller team to submit its report by mid-to-late February, although they said that timeline could change based on unforeseen investigative developments. (more)

If we simply accept things as they are; and we accept the level of corruption, if exposed,  within the institutions represents a real threat to current and former officials and politicians; and we accept that Washington DC (writ large), the DOJ/FBI and the Mueller team is currently in alignment with the urgent needs of those corrupt officials; well, then the sequence of events -and the behavior of the officials- becomes entirely predictable.

Reference Information:

• Sequencing the Resistance Approach.
• Speaker Nancy Pelosi New Rules.
• Outline of how Horowitz is handicapped.
• FBI refuses to allow Witness Trascript Releases.
• Mueller Grand Jury term extended.
• Jordan, Collins and Meadows try to expose the scheme.

*NOTE* Each of these prediction outlines can also be located in the “Tripwire” category drop-down box (right margin of page) for later reference.

Surrounded by key Decepticon leadership, Barrasso, Graham, Thune and McConnell, together with Vice-President Mike Pence –  President Donald Trump tells reporters at the U.S. Capitol that Senate Republicans are “unified” as he seeks border security funding before ending the government shutdown.

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Vice-President Mike Pence is the President of the U.S. Senate. Senator Lindsey Graham (SC) is President Pro Tempore. Senator Mitch McConnell (KY) is Senate Majority Leader. Senator John Thune (SD) is Senate Majority Whip. Senator John Barrasso (WY) is Chairman of the Republican Conference.

Note: Watch Barrasso’s eyes.

President Donald Trump signs the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (S. 1862) which tightens criteria for whether countries are meeting standards for eliminating trafficking.

After discussing the issues surrounding the horrific human trafficking network, President Trump connected the human trafficking crisis to urgent need for border security.  The President also answered questions from the media about ongoing issues within government.

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President Trump has signed four bills in recent weeks that demonstrate the bipartisan commitment to end human trafficking.

• Today, the President is signing the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (S. 1862) which tightens criteria for whether countries are meeting standards for eliminating trafficking.
• The President signed the Abolish Human Trafficking Act in December, which strengthens programs supporting survivors and resources for combating modern slavery.
• President Trump signed the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act, authorizing $430 million to fight sex and labor trafficking.
• The President signed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (S. 1312), establishing new prevention, prosecution, and collaboration initiative to bring human traffickers to justice.
• In addition to these efforts, Congress needs to pass legislation that strengthens border security and prevents human trafficking in all forms.

• The President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons is working across the United States Government to prosecute traffickers, protect victims, and prevent these crimes before they take place.
• In one of his first acts in office, President Trump signed an executive order to combat transnational criminal organizations that engage in international trafficking and exploit people.
• The Administration is fully enforcing our laws to ensure human traffickers receive the full measure of justice they deserve.
• In FY 2018, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) made 1588 Human Trafficking arrests while identifying and assisting 308 victims of the same heinous crime. ICE-HSI also made over 4,000 criminal arrests for human smuggling violations.
  • 1543 of the 1588 arrests HSI made in FY 2018 for human trafficking were for sex trafficking violations.
• The new United States Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) negotiated by President Trump includes tough forced-labor provisions.
• The Department of Labor has led efforts to combat child labor, forced labor, and human trafficking by cataloging goods made with forced labor and child labor and developing tools for companies and other stakeholders to address these abuses in their global supply chains.
• Reaffirming this Administration’s commitment to abolish modern slavery, President Trump proclaimed January 2019 as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month.

• There are nearly 25 million victims of human trafficking worldwide.
• In the United States, more than 8,500 human trafficking cases were reported to the National Human Trafficking Hotline last year alone.