George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley discusses Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s decision not to appoint a second special council; and the stunningly powerful move to have a federal prosecutor (Huber) working together with Inspector General Horowitz. WATCH:
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In response to a litany of congressional requests demanding a second ‘special counsel’, Attorney General Jeff Sessions previously told media (largely ignored) he appointed a prosecutor from “outside DC” to look at all the issues surrounding the corrupt FBI and DOJ:
MARCH 8th, 2018 – “Well, I have great respect for Mr. Gowdy and Chairman Goodlatte, and we are going to consider seriously their recommendations. I have appointed a person outside of Washington, many years in the Department of Justice to look at all the allegations that the House Judiciary Committee members sent to us; and we’re conducting that investigation.
Also I am well aware we have a responsibility to insure the integrity of the FISA process, we’re not afraid to look at that. The inspector general, some think that our inspector general is not very strong; but he has almost 500, employees, most of which are lawyers and prosecutors; and they are looking at the FISA process. We must make sure that it’s done properly, and we’re going to do that. And I’ll consider their request.” (link w/video)
Despite AG Sessions repeated assurances that he had already assigned a DOJ prosecutor to work with IG Michael Horowitz, on the myriad of issues surrounding corruption within the FBI and DOJ – to include the FISA court abuses, congressional voices kept demanding a second special counsel.
Continuing the drumbeat, last night HPSCI Chairman Devin Nunes restated the political demand for another Special Counsel. Today AG Jeff Sessions reveals the name of the prosecutor assigned to the task, John Huber from Utah, included in a letter to congress.
Washington (CNN) Attorney General Jeff Sessions revealed Thursday that Utah’s top federal prosecutor, John Huber, has been examining a cluster of Republican-driven accusations against the FBI and has decided that no second special counsel is needed — at least for now.
Huber has been looking into allegations that the FBI abused its powers in surveilling a former Trump campaign adviser, and more should have been done to investigate Hillary Clinton’s ties to a Russian nuclear energy agency, but his identity had remained a secret.
[…] It also comes one day after the Justice Department’s internal watchdog office confirmed it would review how the FBI obtained a warrant to monitor Trump foreign policy aide Carter Page, as well as the bureau’s relationship with Christopher Steele, the author of the Trump dossier.
Huber, who currently serves as the US attorney in Utah, may now find himself thrust into the middle of a fierce partisan struggle — with Republicans arguing anything short of a special counsel is insufficient because the Justice Department cannot investigate its own people, and Democrats maintaining that any allegations of bias are an unfounded ploy to distract from Mueller’s investigation into possible coordination between Trump campaign associates and Russian officials.
Originally appointed by President Barack Obama in 2015, Huber, along with many other US attorneys, resigned after President Donald Trump took office early last year, but was reappointed by Trump shortly thereafter. (read more)
Here’s the full letter to congress:
It is not accidental this announcement from AG Jeff Sessions happens on the same day that fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe began a legal defense fund.
Combine these developments together with the OIG news release from yesterday and you can see things are about to break loose.
Horowitz has assembled all of the information for his report but the scope of the report is so exhaustive it will most likely be released in segments according to the subject material and the myriad of issues involved.
The first section of the IG report, encompassing the DOJ/FBI political activity -specifically surrounding leaks to the media and fired Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe- will likely come out first in April.
The McCabe release should be followed by a release of the IG findings on the topic of FBI and DOJ conduct, and the politicization therein, within the Hillary Clinton email investigation.
The issues with the DOJ/FBI representations to the FISA Court, the October 21st DOJ/FBI application therein and other issues, will flow thereafter; there may be sub-chapter reports released supplemental to the FISA investigation surrounding Christopher Steele, Fusion-GPS and/or the private contractors and abuse of FBI and DOJ databases. (more)
Horowitz is releasing an investigative report on his review of “phase #1” very soon. This is the Clinton email investigation, the pre-planned exoneration, the media leaks, and the political corruption to attain the objectives therein. Again refer to the original January 2017 (pre-inauguration) public information release:
It is in the course of this original investigation, and the surrounding interviews, where the evidence of Phase-2 (spy on Trump) and Phase-3 (Russia Collusion) was discovered. Hence the outcome of the IG report will predictably follow the same sequence.
Here’s the important part to remember – The evidence already exists. The documentation, interviews and gathering of evidence of what happened in Phase-2 and Phase-3 already exists. However, the IG has never announced the opening of that investigation avenue. (Because 2, and 3, were an outcropping of original intent)
Horowitz is not announcing this investigative avenue from a position of only now starting to gather evidence; he already has the evidence. He is now announcing the context for him to drop a report summarizing findings of content from the investigation; a report that has nothing to do with the original launch of the OIG investigation.
In essence he’s announcing the need to write a report based on investigative material he has already gathered. Horowitz already has the material.
Curious timing. One day after the Department of Justice announced felony charges against FBI Agent Terry J. Albury for leaking confidential information to the media, fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe launches a legal defense fund.
Andrew McCabe was fired by Attorney General Jeff Sessions and DAG Rod Rosenstein on the recommendation from the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility. The recommendation followed an Inspector General referral which outlined how deputy McCabe had constructed leaks to the media, and instructed his team (Mike Kortan, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page etc.) to contact media outlets, feeding them information in an effort to shape the stories of financial connections between McCabe’s family and Hillary Clinton.
When confronted by the IG about his involvement leaking stories to the media, Andrew McCabe lied. His initial denial, in the face of overwhelming evidence provided by the cohorts he instructed, prompted the IG referral to the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility. The OPR recommended McCabe’s termination to DAG Rod Rosenstein.
Today President Trump is traveling to Richfield, Ohio, to visit a union technical training facility for welding and heavy equipment. While there the President will deliver a speech about rebuilding infrastructure in America. Anticipated start time 2:00pm EST.
UPDATE: Video Added
WH Livestream Link – RSBN Livestream Link – CNBC Livestream Link
House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) Chairman Devin Nunes appears on Fox News to discuss the ongoing investigations into the FBI and DOJ along with the numerous tentacles that have surfaced in the last several months.
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Remember, less than 10% of the American public have any idea the scale and scope of the Obama administration using the intelligence community to conduct surveillance of the Trump campaign… including the FISA(702) abuse and the manipulations within the FISA Title-1 surveillance application(s).
Additionally, to add a little context to the latest IG announcement of an investigation into FISA Court abuse by the DOJ and FBI, remember it was only a few short months ago when the institutional media were labeling any discussion therein as “conspiracy theory.”
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“WHY” – The first video highlights the historic backdrop of DOJ/FBI FISA court abuses:
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“HOW” – The second video highlights the specific example of how the DOJ and FBI used false information to the FISA Court to secure a fraudulent ‘Title-1’ surveillance warrant:
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“WHO” – The third video highlights who the primary players were within the scheme:
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United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer releases the final report into Chinese trade practices including intellectual theft:
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Ambassador Lighthizer also appeared on CNBC for a discussion of content:
The final quantification of the Bureau of Economic Analysis fourth quarter GDP growth rate was released today, reflecting an anticipated increase from the prior two estimations. The last revised estimation of GDP growth (February) was +2.5%, the final revised estimate is +2.9% growth.
A massive increase in consumer spending (+4%) around the October through December 31st time-frame (Q4) was offset by those dollars purchasing a large portion of imported products. The GDP growth deduction from import purchases was 1.99%. [See table #2, line 50 pdf here]
In short, American consumers spent significantly more than usual in the holiday season; however, many of those purchases were foreign goods.
From the BEA Report – Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017 (table 1), according to the “third” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the third quarter, real GDP increased 3.2 percent.
The GDP estimate released today is based on more complete source data than were available for the “second” estimate issued last month. In the second estimate, the increase in real GDP was 2.5 percent. With this third estimate for the fourth quarter, the general picture of economic growth remains thesame; personal consumption expenditures (PCE) and private inventory investment were revised up. (more)
We anticipated this adjusted increase back when the first BEA result was posted, for two reasons: #1) The original estimations were contingent upon almost no domestic inventory remaining at the end of Q4 (highly unlikely); #2) The import deduction was the largest deduction in the past decade (possible, but again too early to quantify). The resulting adjustments announced today reflected exactly these two items.
(Via CNBC) While robust consumer spending curbed the accumulation of inventories, the slowdown in inventory investment was not as steep as previously reported.
Inventory investment rose at a rate of $15.6 billion in the fourth quarter instead of the previously reported $8.0 billion pace. (link)
Look closely at the last part from CNBC above. The BEA underestimated inventory investment by 50%? Think about that…. you don’t miss figures by that amount unintentionally. It’s called ‘sandbagging’. I digress.
The bottom line – in Q4 we exported more than the past 4 years (+.83%), but we imported more than any time in the past ten years (-1.99%). The net impact was a deduction from GDP growth by -1.16%.
[*note* a reasonable correction in the trade imbalance of 25% (through smart trade deals) means the Q4 GDP could have been actually 3.5% instead of 2.9%]
The cumulative net result was an end of year (measured from the fourth quarter of 2016 to the fourth quarter of 2017), real GDP increase of 2.6 percent, compared with an increase of 1.8 percent during 2016.
MAGAnomics works. We just need to support Trump and keep on keeping-on.
Now think about this….
President Trump appointed Gary Cohn to keep Wall Street invested; and throughout 2017 the Trump administration kept their trade cards close to the chest – it worked. The Stock Market bought into the ploy that POTUS Trump would not disrupt the dynamics of Wall Street’s multinational global trade ideology.
However, they were not paying attention to the granular details under the radar, as evidenced by the action of Treasury Secretary Stephen Munchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. Throughout 2017 there was a ton of pre-positioning of assets taking place.
As soon as Team Trump gained massive increases in Wall Street (stock market) evaluations, we now enter year two where President Trump dispatches Gary Cohn and enlists Peter Navarro to carry out the MAGAnomic America-First agenda which includes rapid-fire renegotiated trade deals.
Brilliant strategery.
Bigly.
…in addition to MAGAnomic winning, you might just stop a nuclear war with North Korea.
Stay small, think BIGLY.
MAGAstrong
DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz has released a public statement stating the OIG intention to investigate the fraudulent FBI FISA Title-1 surveillance application submitted to the court against U.S. person Carter Page; and the surrounding issues of the FBI using Christopher Steele to underwrite their evidence therein:
There are likely to be voices wondering why this OIG investigative avenue is only just now being announced and/or explored. However, a careful review and reminder of the process explains what is happening.
Inspector General Horowitz initial investigation focused on the politicization of the FBI and DOJ surrounding the Clinton investigation. However, that original announcement also included the disclaimer that he would follow “other issues that may arise”. To say there were “other issues”, that indeed did “arise”, would be the understatement of the decade.
After looking at the myriad of issues and releases since MSM attention began noticing the IG investigation on December 2nd, 2017, there’s been a very specific pathway evident. Hence yesterday, in anticipation of the first part of the IG report being released next month, we shared the following:
Horowitz has assembled all of the information for his report but the scope of the report is so exhaustive it will most likely be released in segments according to the subject material and the myriad of issues involved.
The first section of the IG report, encompassing the DOJ/FBI political activity -specifically surrounding leaks to the media and fired Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe- will likely come out first in April.
The McCabe release should be followed by a release of the IG findings on the topic of FBI and DOJ conduct, and the politicization therein, within the Hillary Clinton email investigation.
The issues with the DOJ/FBI representations to the FISA Court, the October 21st DOJ/FBI application therein and other issues, will flow thereafter; there may be sub-chapter reports released supplemental to the FISA investigation surrounding Christopher Steele, Fusion-GPS and/or the private contractors and abuse of FBI and DOJ databases. (more)
Most of the critical principals attached to the FISA Title-1 application, and the downstream issues, are still within the DOJ. This is a key point to reference.
The same cannot be said for the principal members of the “small group” surrounding the FBI/DOJ politicization of the Clinton investigation. Look at the “small group” officials who quit the DOJ and FBI. Those officials are closely connected to the Clinton operation, but not necessarily the Trump-Spying-Operation: Sally Yates (DOJ), Mary McCord (DOJ), David Laufner (DOJ), along with James Comey (FBI), Andrew McCabe (FBI), Jim Rybicki (FBI), Michael Kortan (FBI). These are the principals involved in the Clinton operation.
Yes, there is some aggregate overlap amid the top tier (Lynch, Yates, Comey, McCabe) but that’s to be expected. Remember the BIG PICTURE of corruption was actually three phases:
The second phase of the FBI/DOJ small group plan was the “Trump Operation”, and the third phase was the “Insurance Policy”. For phase two and three there was increased specialty. Also, phase #3 involved the larger IC (CIA, ODNI, etc.)
FBI Agent Peter Strzok was involved in all three phases along with his co-hort Lisa Page. However, James Baker, Bruce Ohr and Bill Priestap were more involved in phase-2 (counterintelligence operation, surveillance etc.), and phase-3 (muh Russia Conspiracy) the insurance policy. Those officials are still employed within the FBI; and as we have shared, likely cooperating.
Horowitz is releasing an investigative report on his review of “phase #1” very soon. This is the Clinton email investigation, the pre-planned exoneration, the media leaks, and the political corruption to attain the objectives therein. Again refer to the original January 2017 (pre-inauguration) public information release:
It is in the course of this original investigation, and the surrounding interviews, where the evidence of Phase-2 (spy on Trump) and Phase-3 (Russia Collusion) was discovered. Hence the outcome of the IG report will predictably follow the same sequence.
Here’s the important part to remember – The evidence already exists. The documentation, interviews and gathering of evidence of what happened in Phase-2 and Phase-3 already exists. However, the IG has never announced the opening of that investigation avenue. (Because 2, and 3, were an outcropping of original intent)
Horowitz is not announcing this investigative avenue from a position of only now starting to gather evidence; he already has the evidence. He is now announcing the context for him to drop a report summarizing findings of content from the investigation; a report that has nothing to do with the original launch of the OIG investigation.
In essence he’s announcing the need to write a report based on investigative material he has already gathered. Horowitz already has the material.
We can just as likely anticipate another DOJ OIG notice of review for an investigation into how the DOJ and FBI collaborated to manufacture the “vast Russian Conspiracy/Collusion” narrative. However, that phase-3 “insurance policy” also involves the CIA (Brennan), ODNI (Clapper), and additional elements of the U.S. Intelligence Apparatus. As a consequence Phase-3 accountability is better handled by congress.
JOINT STATEMENT – Today, Ambassador Lighthizer and Minister Kim are pleased to announce that the United States and the Republic of Korea have reached an agreement in principle on the general terms of amendments and modifications to the United States-Republic of Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA). The nations have also agreed on terms for a country exemption for the Republic of Korea from tariffs imposed on steel imports under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 pursuant to Presidential Proclamation 9705, as amended. The arrangement with respect to steel imports is expected to take effect on May 1, 2018. (link)
Ever since the original 2012 US-Korea free trade agreement (KORUS) went into effect, the U.S. trade deficit in goods with Korea increased by over 73 percent from $13.2 billion to $22.9 billion (2017), while the overall deficit increased by 70 percent from $6.3 billion to $10.7 billion (2017). President Trump committed his administration to changing this immediately and renegotiating a deal that benefited the United States.
“The improved KORUS agreement reflects the President’s leadership in delivering more reciprocal trade outcomes benefiting U.S. workers, exporters, and businesses. The United States and Korea have strengthened an important economic relationship by agreeing to substantial improvements to KORUS that will help rebalance our trade, reduce our trade deficit, and expand U.S. export opportunities.” ~ U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer
Here’s the historic details:
♦ 1. PROCESS FOR KORUS AMENDMENTS AND MODIFICATIONS
As directed by the President and with authority provided under the terms of KORUS, the U.S. Trade Representative has worked to resolve issues through the Joint Committee process under the Agreement.
In July 2017, Ambassador Lighthizer initiated trade discussions with Korea, leading to special sessions of the KORUS Joint Committee in 2017 and further negotiations for KORUS amendments and modifications in 2018.
Once completed, the amendments and modifications to KORUS will undergo the United States’ and Korea’s respective domestic review procedures. For the United States, modifications to the U.S. tariff schedule will undergo consultation and layover procedures provided under the implementing act for the KORUS Agreement, which include a 60-day consultation period with Congress.
♦ 2. KEY NEW KORUS FTA OUTCOMES
In these discussions, the United States achieved steps to improve the large trade deficit in industrial goods and to address KORUS implementation concerns that have hindered U.S. export growth.
◊ U.S. Truck Tariffs: Korea will extend the phase out of the 25% U.S. tariff on trucks until 2041, or a total of 30 years following the implementation of the KORUS FTA in 2012. (currently scheduled to phase out by 2021).
◊ Growing U.S. Auto Exports: Exports of U.S. motor vehicles to Korea will be improved through the following steps:
◊ Customs Improvement: Korea will address long-standing concerns with onerous and costly verification procedures through agreement on principles for conducting verification of origin of exports under KORUS and establish a working group to monitor and address future issues that arise.
◊ Pharmaceutical Reimbursements: Within 2018, Korea will amend its Premium Pricing Policy for Global Innovative Drugs to make it consistent with Korea’s commitments under KORUS to ensure non-discriminatory and fair treatment for U.S. pharmaceutical exports.
♦ 3. CURRENCY AGREEMENT
◊ The U.S. Department of the Treasury is leading discussions on currency with Korea’s Ministry of Strategy and Finance.
◊ An agreement is being finalized on robust provisions to prohibit competitive devaluation and exchange rate manipulation in order to promote a level playing field for trade and investment. Strong commitments on transparency and accountability are included in the provisions.
♦ 4. OUTCOMES FOR SECTION 232 EXEMPTION FOR KOREA
White House Director of Trade and Manufacturing policy Peter Navarro discusses the revamp of the KORUS trade deal with South Korea. In addition Navarro discusses the ongoing Trump administration’s tariffs on steel and aluminum, as well as plans to impose tariffs on Chinese products surrounding violations of intellectual-property rights.
[NOTE: Final USTR 301 Report on China was released last night]
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