Secretary of State Marco Rubio Discusses Immigration Vetting, Venezuela Situation and Ukraine-Russia Conflict


Posted originally on CTH on December 3, 2025 | Sundance

Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Marco Rubio appears on Fox News for an extensive interview about current events. Within the interview Secretary Rubio discusses the current status of immigration vetting and the pause therein.

Additionally, Rubio outlines the current state of the U.S. operation in/around Venezuela and the ongoing negotiations with Ukraine and Russia to end the conflict in Eastern Europe. WATCH:

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Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard Recaps IC Reform and Accountability Measures


Posted originally on CTH on December 2, 2025 | Sundance 

During the cabinet meeting, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard recapped the reform efforts still underway to identify deep state actors within the federal intelligence bureaucracy and hold them accountable. WATCH:

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Pretending Not to Know Things, Continues


Posted originally on CTH on December 1, 2025 | Sundance

Washington DC continues pretending they do not know things.  It is insufferable and frustrating.  However, they are blind to the reality that a large segment of the American population is aware of the issues and understand the position of Republicans is not part of some mistake or flaw; it is a feature of their intent.

Elise Stefanik notes: “Republicans have the House, Senate, and the White House, yet the deep state is alive and well with the Speaker getting rolled by House Dems attempting to block my provision to require Congressional disclosure when the FBI opens counterintelligence investigations into presidential and federal candidates seeking office.

In a March 2017 open hearing, my questions to former FBI Director James Comey began the unraveling of the Russia Hoax when Comey admitted to not following proper notification procedures with his illegal opening of Crossfire Hurricane. A criminal act that can never happen again.

My provision will strengthen this accountability and transparency to deter this illegal weaponization and it passed out of the House Intelligence Committee in this Congress and previous ones. Yet House Republicans continue to get rolled by the deep state due to opposition by Jamie Raskin.

If Republicans can’t deliver accountability and legislative fixes to arguably the biggest illegal corruption and government weaponization issue of all time, then what are we even doing.

This language is even more essential in light of the continued weaponization of the federal government evidenced by the sweeping Arctic Frost wiretapping scandal and the recent illegal leaks of Steve Witkoff’s conversations with foreign counterparts.

Unless this provision is added back into the bill to prevent illegal political weaponization of the intelligence community in our elections, I am a HARD NO. I have always voted in support of the defense and intelligence authorization bills, but no more.

It is a scandalous disgrace that Republicans are allowing themselves to be rolled by the Dems and deep state on this.”  (more)

Republicans are not getting “rolled”, and Mrs. Stefanik knows this.

It’s all so performative, and ‘we the people‘ can see the strings.

This is factually a very dangerous situation, because the abused are now numb to the patterns and consequences of the abusers.  The abuser has not yet noticed.

Once the abuser catches on to the audience rolling their eyes and laughing at them, that creates a sense of humiliation directly in the psyche of the abuser…. Things get really ugly.

Rubio, Witkoff and Kushner Meet Ukraine Officials in Florida for Discussion of Terms Before Witkoff Returns to Moscow Tuesday


Posted originally on CTH on December 1, 2025 | Sundance

On Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump emissaries Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met with the Ukraine negotiating team in Florida to further discuss acceptable terms for a broader ceasefire and end to the war.

Still trying to recover from corruption charges against his senior presidential team, Volodymyr Zelenskyy was not at the talks. Instead, the Ukraine delegation was led by State Security Council Secretary Rustem Umerov, while Zelenskyy went to Paris for an emotional support session with Emmanuel Macron.

Secretary Rubio and Secretary Umerov spoke before and after their 5-hour negotiation session.  Secretary Rubio emphasized the main topic as securing the long-term future of Ukraine both from a security position and from an economic prosperity position.

This state security aspect comes as the Ukraine delegation is facing pressure to accept, they will lose most -if not all- of the Donbas region to Russia. “The end goal is obviously not just the end of the war. Obviously, that’s central and fundamental,” Rubio said. “It’s also about securing an end to the war that leaves Ukraine sovereign and independent and with an opportunity at real prosperity.”

In better-than-expected news, the EU is now saying they will not comply with any removal of sanctions against Russia.  If the U.S-Russia and Ukraine work out a negotiated settlement that permits legal or economic relief for Vladimir Putin, the European Union will not agree and will instead make up their own decision on the issues.

Europe is holding this position as a threat, because President Trump is not fully consulting with them on all the granular details.  However, this is the type of threat that is exactly beneficial to what appears to be the long-term strategy of Trump.

If Europe refuses to remove sanctions or legal threats against Russia, but the U.S. negotiates the removal of U.S treasury and financial sanctions against Russia, then the Europeans have chosen to stay behind the locked door of economic benefit. More than two-thirds of the world does not participate in the sanctions at all.

If Europe and Canada continue blacklisting Russia, the U.S-Russia energy development program gains exclusive benefits to Trump, Putin and other allies like Mohammed bin Salmon (Saudi Arabia), ASEAN nations and even Japan.

In very practical terms, someone like Viktor Orban (Hungary) would like nothing more than to violate ongoing Brussels sanctions against Russia, and as a consequence create a fracture point for European Union exit.

In practical terms, what would this look like?  Well, the entire world would have lower energy prices, lower oil and natural gas prices, and lower gasoline prices by big margins.  Meanwhile, Europe would have a massive disparity in their much higher energy costs – likely double the rest of the world.   Think about the ramifications.  Hungary, Georgia, Montenegro, and Serbia with 50% lower prices on gasoline and electricity than the EU.  lolol  It would be funny.

Unfortunately, with this in mind I find the EU threats hollow.  As soon as the U.S-Russia-Ukraine work out a peace and security agreement, Europe will comply with whatever terms are negotiated for Russia.  Failure to do so only isolates the Europeans and will create a problem amid their collective mindsets.

(Via Axios) Negotiations between the U.S. and Ukraine on Sunday focused on where the de facto border with Russia would be drawn under a peace deal, two Ukrainian officials tell Axios. They described the five-hour meeting as “difficult” and “intense,” but productive.

Why it matters: Russian President Vladimir Putin — who’s expected to meet with President Trump’s envoy on Tuesday — insists Russia won’t stop until it controls the entire Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.

After an hour in a wider format, the meeting narrowed to three officials from each side — with the line of territorial control virtually the only issue discussed, according to the two Ukrainian officials.

On the U.S. side were Witkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner. The Ukrainian side was represented by national security adviser Rustem Umerov, military chief of staff Gen. Andrii Hnatov and deputy head of military intelligence Vadym Skibitskyi.

After the talks with their teams ended, Umerov held another one-on-one meeting with Witkoff. Umerov then called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to brief him on the talks.

“It was intense but not negative. We really appreciate serious U.S. engagement. Our position is that we have to make everything to help U.S. succeed without losing our country and preventing another aggression from happening,” one of the Ukrainian officials wrote to Axios after the meeting.

Between the lines: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had wanted to discuss territory directly with Trump, but Trump said he’d only meet Zelensky or Putin again once a deal is close.

Umerov is expected to meet Zelensky in Paris on Monday and give him a more detailed report about the negotiations, Ukrainian officials say.

Witkoff plans to depart for Moscow on Monday and meet Putin on Tuesday.

“The main question is where the Russians stand and if their intentions are real. Let’s see what Witkoff brings from Moscow,” a Ukrainian official said. (more)

Catherine Herridge Reviews FBI Activity with Retired FBI Agent Andy Lim


Posted originally on CTH on November 24, 2025 | Sundance

During the Biden administration I often thought about a Mike Vanderboegh quote when it seemed like we were under unrelenting opposition and victory was a distant hope:

“This is no small thing, to restore a republic after it has fallen into corruption. I have studied history for years and I cannot recall it ever happening. It may be that our task is impossible. Yet, if we do not try then how will we know it could not be done? And if we do not try, it most certainly will not be done. The Founders’ Republic, and the larger war for western civilization, will be lost.”

I found great strength in those words, the simple words, “if we do not try then how will we know it could not be done? and if we do not try, it most certainly will not be done.”  The plain spoken, no-pretending reality of our situation, as true today as then.

With that spirit and a bucket overflowing with prayer, I assembled thick binders, receipts, direct and incontrovertible evidence, to put directly into the hands of those voices who could help make a difference. I know exactly what those binders look like and I know exactly what they contain.  Ms. Herridge is holding one in her hands.  The DC proletariat hate the information within the briefs, but it’s good to see they are still out there being used as reference material….

What the collective institutions of all three branches of government have done to our nation sickens me.  But the mission to keep pushing sunlight inch-by-inch continues.

In 2020 Catherine Herridge was one of a group of DC institutional defenders who just couldn’t/wouldn’t fathom or believe the background story of corruption as told by me in documented evidence with citations and full context.

Remember, the story behind these citations only becomes visible when you walk through two parallel timelines; both must be done at the same time in order to cut through the obfuscation always present in the silo defenses:

  • 1. The timeline of the actual corrupt activity, as the events took place.  And…
  • 2. The timeline of when the evidence of the corrupt activity surfaced.

The former timeline shows the corruption; the latter timeline shows how they tried to hide the corruption.  The second timeline is what DC investigators focus on in order to understand how the evidence was/is discovered.

The information within the second timeline, how the evidence surfaced, is what DC tries to use in order to control the underlying information; it’s the ‘how do you know this‘ part.

Chapters:

02:00 FBI ‘Burn Bags’ evidence revealed in Comey criminal prosecution
03:50 Former FBI agent suggests a potential whistleblower wanted to records preserved and discovered
05:10 CIA intelligence about 2016 presidential election found in storage closet near Director’s office
06:15 Connecting the dots: In 2016, CIA intelligence alleged potential ‘Clinton Plan’ to damage candidate Trump
08:00 FBI leak investigation alleges ‘investigator-level briefing” for reporters on Clinton email case
09:40 Surveillance warrant application cited media reports for national security court. Not standard.
12:10 DNI Clapper email: we all need to be on the same page. NSA Director pushes back, “took a lot of courage.”
13:30 National Security Adviser Susan Rice 2017 email: claims investigations ‘by the book.’
14:40 FBI ARCTIC FROST investigation: GOP phone toll records collected. Retired FBI agent said toll records are intrusive.
16:30 Alleged coordination FBI, DOJ and intelligence community

During the 2016 effort to weaponize the institutions of government against the outside candidacy of Donald Trump, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) was headed by Richard Burr and Dianne Feinstein.  After the 2016 election Senator Feinstein abdicated her vice-chair position to Senator Mark Warner in January 2017.

While the SSCI was engaged in their part of the 2016 effort Vice-Chair Feinstein’s lead staffer was a man named Daniel Jones. Dan Jones was the contact point between the SSCI and Fusion-GPS.

After the election, and after Feinstein abdicated, Dan Jones left the committee to continue paying Fusion-GPS (Glenn Simpson) for ongoing efforts toward the impeachment insurance policy angle.

Feinstein appears to have left because she didn’t want to deal with the consequences of a President Trump, IF he discovered the SSCI involvement.

Dan Jones left because with a Trump presidency the SSCI, now co-chaired by Senator Mark Warner, needed arms-length plausible deniability amid their 2017 operations to continue the removal effort (soft coup).

The trail for this plausible deniability process and ongoing soft-coup effort first surfaces with Dan Jones appearing in the early 2017 text messages between Senator Warner and the liaison for Christopher Steele, lawyer and lobbyist Adam Waldman:


In those March 2017 text messages you can see Senator Warner attempting to set up covert “no paper trail” communication with dossier author Christopher Steele. Adam Waldman represented Chris Steele and Steele’s employer, Oleg Deripaska.

Less than a month later you can see within the text messages that Christopher Steele is in direct contact with Dan Jones. “[Chris] said Dan Jones is coming to see you” etc.

(Text Messages Between Feinstein’s replacement, Mark Warner, and Chris Steele’s lawyer/lobbyist, Adam Waldman, noting the importance of Dan Jones)

Former Feinstein staffer Dan Jones talking to Christopher Steele in April 2017 is critical to understanding what was going on after Trump won the election.

Jones raised $50 million from those who were behind the 2016 stop Trump effort, and the purpose was now the 2017 impeachment effort [SEE LINK]. Jones having left the SSCI (now outside govt.) then paid Christopher Steele and Fusion GPS to keep up their efforts. As you can see from the texts, Jones was now talking in person (“coming to see you”) to SSCI Vice-Chair Mark Warner in April 2017.

[Side-Bar: The role of Fusion-GPS in 2017 shifted, and was now weighted toward feeding a specific media narrative that would aid impeachment (through the FBI, Weissmann and Mueller obstruction angle). Fusion-GPS was now the conduit for arms-length media leaks from the usurping small group still inside the DOJ and FBI. Dan Jones was paying Fusion on behalf of those with larger interests. Fusion was feeding the media.]

So, you can clearly see the SSCI was heavily involved in the impeachment effort after the election.

Secondary documentation of the connection between the DOJ, FBI, Fusion, and Dan Jones shows up in the FBI investigative 302 notes of Bruce Ohr, released by Judicial Watch. [Pay attention to the May 8th, 2017, interview – pg 18, 19 of pdf]

The highlighted bottom portion of page 18 (May 8, 2017, interview) shows a heavily redacted text, but holds enough material to overlay with other research.

This is where Bruce Ohr is talking about Dan Jones efforts as they were currently aligned with Fusion GPS: “and had been on the staff of the [Senate Intelligence Committee]”…. “At the time of the interview [Jones] was working with the [Vice Chairman of the Committee Mark Warner]”… etc.

This part is heavily redacted because the corrupt agents within the current DOJ and FBI once again don’t want people to piece together what was happening.

This is not sources and methods being redacted. This is not national security being redacted. This is the trail of the connective tissue in/around the small group plotting that is being hidden.

At the top of page 19, the investigative notes of Ohr’s discussion continues.


Bruce Ohr is telling the FBI investigator, likely Agent Joe Pientka, about Glenn Simpson and Dan Jones visiting Christopher Steele sometime after May 8, 2017, and they were in the process of “lawyering up”.

Now before going deeper in the SSCI weeds, let me pause and explain the important specifics behind why the FBI was interviewing Bruce Ohr about Chris Steele; by overlaying what was going on in/around early 2017.

Chris Steele wasn’t alone in creating the “dossier”.  Heck, the purpose of Fusion-GPS contracting Steele; and the purpose of the FBI engaging with Steele; was the laundry value of having a known intelligence officer validate political opposition research which the FBI could use against Donald Trump.  The reality is: most of the raw material and research inside the dossier was from Glenn Simpson and Nellie Ohr at Fusion GPS.

The ‘small group’ inside the DOJ and FBI always knew the provenance of the material; the plan and intent was to utilize Fusion-GPS for their political purposes.

Everyone carrying out this operation, all of the corrupt entities within it, knew the material from Chris Steele was essentially political opposition research. Many of those same people later weaponized the research into the FISA application to give it higher import and value.

That set’s up early 2017 – where the FBI was evaluating the extent to which Chris Steele was willing to remain on public record to support a false framework about the dossier itself.  This is the same timeframe where Fusion is being paid by Dan Jones to facilitate the calls for a special counsel.  Fusion drives that narrative with structured leaks to media.

Steele’s support was a key issue because the corrupt DOJ and FBI officials were about to hand-off the dossier to Special Counsel Robert Mueller (figurehead only) as the basis for the ‘small group’ and him to launch the special counsel aspect of an ongoing operation.

If Chris Steele suddenly walked away from the dossier, and/or admitted publicly the dossier was political opposition research primarily from Glenn Simpson and Nellie Ohr, the FBI would have a shit-storm on its hands…. and they needed to evaluate the position of Steele.  Steele could be a risk if he was not supporting the team playbook. That’s the driving purpose behind all of this 2017 “re-engagement” with Steele through Bruce Ohr.

The small group in the DOJ and FBI planned to continue, pass-off and modify the Trump investigation by shifting it to a special counsel. The centerpiece of that investigation would be using the dossier as justification for a need to investigate Trump as a Russian risk. The DOJ/FBI small group needed Glenn Simpson and Chris Steele to stand by the false narrative all of the players had assembled over the prior year.

The wildcard to retain the false story was Chris Steele… Steele was an outside participant, albeit aligned with the ideology and the purpose. Evaluating Steele’s willful participation in keeping the narrative as assembled was the reason for their urgent talks; however, the “small group” couldn’t run the risk of direct talks in the same way that Mark Warner couldn’t risk of a paper trail.

Additionally, in support of the 2017 use of Chris Steele to frame the Russia narrative, the CIA, FBI, ODNI and aggregate intelligence community simultaneously pushed the December 2016 Joint Analysis Report (JAR) and the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA), as evidence to support their Russia narrative.

Now, the Joint Analysis Report (JAR) and the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) construct.

If the ICA is a false political document, then guess what?  Yep, the entire narrative from the JAR and ICA is part of a big fraud (it is).  Then the construct of the special counsel probe was false (it was).

In early 2017 Adam Waldman and Dan Jones were facilitating a plausibly deniable information pipeline from Chris Steele to the SSCI and Senator Mark Warner.  At the same time, and for the same purposes, DOJ official Bruce Ohr was facilitating a plausibly deniable information pipeline from Chris Steele to the FBI/DOJ small group. The purposes were the same, everyone needed assurances Steele wasn’t going to back-out.

That corrupt planning activity is what some unknown DOJ and FBI officials were hiding behind the Bruce Ohr 302 redactions.  Now, where does the DOJ and FBI small group start to place their defensive positions?

This is where it all starts coming back together:

[…] The Senate intelligence committee examined the allegations about Downer, Mifsud and Halper, as part of its bipartisan investigation into the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia was responsible for attacking the 2016 election, and found nothing to substantiate any wrongdoing, a committee aide said. (read full article)

Again, notice how the FBI small group is utilizing the SSCI, and it is a committee aide within the SSCI that is leaking to NBC.  The small group are pulling the Senate Intelligence Committee back into the picture.  That brings Dianne Feinstein, Mark Warner, Richard Burr, Daniel Jones, Adam Waldman and James Wolfe back in.

Why go there?

Why was the FBI small group pulling the SSCI back into the picture?

Because they have to.

In 2018 the DOJ and FBI covered up the corruption evident during the 2017 pre-Mueller effort.

In 2019 the position of the small group was to force the DOJ and FBI to do it again.

Throughout the 2016 and 2017 effort, a part of one branch of the United States government, the U.S. Senate through the SSCI, was assisting the efforts of the DOJ and FBI against a candidate, president-elect and later United States President, Donald Trump.

As a result of a FOIA release in Mid December 2018, Judicial Watch revealed how the State Department was feeding “classified information” to multiple U.S. Senators on the Senate Intelligence Committee by the Obama administration immediately prior to President Donald Trump’s inauguration:

The documents reveal that among those receiving the classified documents were Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), and Sen. Robert Corker (R-TN).

Judicial Watch obtained the documents through a June 2018 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed against the State Department after it failed to respond to a February 2018 request seeking records of the Obama State Department’s last-minute efforts to share classified information about Russia election interference issues with Democratic Senator Ben Cardin (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:18-cv-01381)).

The documents reveal the Obama State Department urgently gathering classified Russia investigation information and disseminating it to members of Congress within hours of Donald Trump taking office.  (read more)

The impeachment program was a plan, an insurance policy of sorts; a coordinated effort between corrupt politicians in the Senate and hold-over allies in the executive; however, because she didn’t want to participate in this – Senator Dianne Feinstein abdicated her vice-chair position to Senator Mark Warner.  [Background Here]

This is the pre-cursor to utilizing Robert Mueller.  A plan that was developed soon after the 2016 election.  The appointment of a special counsel was always the way they were going to hand-off and continue the investigation into Trump; but they needed a reason for it.

The continued exploitation of the Steele Dossier was critical; thus, they needed Chris Steele to be solid.  And the continued manipulation of the media was also critical; thus, they needed Fusion-GPS to continue.  [Dan Jones paid both]

While Mark Warner was communicating with Adam Waldman and Dan Jones as a conduit to Chris Steele, the FBI/DOJ team was communicating through Bruce Ohr to Chris Steele (and by extension to Nellie Ohr and Fusion GPS).

Part of Warner’s role was to weaponize the Legislative branch to advance the ‘Muh Russia conspiracy’, a fundamental necessity if a special counsel was going to have justification.

The SSCI, and the security protocols within it, were structurally part of the plan; hence the rapid information from Obama’s State Dept. to the SSCI and Senate participants in the last moments prior to departing.

♦ On March 17th, 2017, the Senate Intelligence Committee took custody of the FISA application used against Carter Page.   We know the FISA court delivered the read and return Top-Secret Classified application due to the clerk stamp of March 17, 2017.

(Page FISA Application, Link)

The FISA application (original and first renewal) was delivered to Senate Security Director James Wolfe.  Senator Mark Warner entered the basement SCIF shortly after 4:00pm on March 17, 2017, the day it was delivered (texts between Warner and Waldman):
Now, when SSCI Security Officer James Wolfe was indicted (unsealed June ’18), we could see the importance of the March 17th date again:

(Wolfe Indictment Link)

We can tell from the description within the indictment the FBI investigators are describing the FISA application.

Additionally, Wolfe exchanged 82 text messages with reporter Ali Watkins.  The FISA application is 83 pages with one blank page.

The logical conclusion was that Wolfe text Ali Watkins 82 pictures of the application.

FBI Investigators applied for and received a search warrant for the phone records of journalist Ali Watkins.  Ms. Watkins was notified in February 2018, three months after Wolfe was questioned by FBI investigators in December 2017.

However, despite the overwhelming (public) circumstantial evidence that Wolfe leaked the FISA application, he was never charged with leaking classified information.  Wolfe was only charged with lying three times to federal authorities, and he pled down to one count of lying to the FBI.

CTH made the case in mid 2018 that someone at the DOJ had influenced a decision not to charge Wolfe with the leaking of the FISA application; despite the FBI and DOJ having direct evidence of Wolfe leaking classified information.

The logical reason for the Rosenstein DOJ not to charge Wolfe with the FISA leak was because that charge would ensnare powerful Senators on the powerful committee.  Worse still, in hindsight we now see how that committee was working to aide the purposes and intents of the corrupt DOJ and FBI officials as they built their impeachment agenda.

Remember, the SSCI has intelligence oversight of the DOJ, DOJ-NSD, FBI and all associated counterintelligence operations. Additionally, when the FBI was investigating Wolfe for leaking classified documents, according to their court filings they had to inform the committee of the risk Wolfe represented.  Who did they have to inform?.. Chairman Richard Burr and Vice-Chair Mark Warner.

Think about it.  Both gang-of-eight members (Warner/Burr), who happened -as a consequence of the jaw dropping implications- to be two SSCI members who were warned by the FBI that Wolfe was compromised…. and they, along with Feinstein in 2016, were the co-conspirators who used James Wolfe.  The ramifications cannot be overstated.

Any criminal charges for leaking classified intelligence information against James Wolfe would likely result in a major scandal where the SSCI itself was outlined as participants in the weaponization of government for political intents.  Thus, the perfect alignment of interests for a dropped charge and DC cover-up.  REMEMBER:

(Source)

If it already wasn’t transparently sketchy as hell, in an act of serendipity and self-preservation, the accused Security Director James Wolfe evidenced the schemes when he threatened to subpoena members of the SSCI as part of his defense. [See Here]

[…] Attorneys for James A. Wolfe sent letters to all 15 senators on the committee, notifying them that their testimony may be sought as part of Mr. Wolfe’s defense, according to two people familiar with the matter.

[…] Mr. Wolfe’s defense lawyers are considering calling the senators as part of the proceedings for a variety of reasons, including as potential character witnesses and to rebut some of the allegations made by the government in the criminal complaint, these people say.  (link)

Immediately after threatening to subpoena the SSCI (July 27, 2018), the DOJ (Rosenstein authorizing) cut a deal with Wolfe and dropped the charges down to a single charge of lying to investigators.  However, someone in the FBI who was doing the investigative legwork wasn’t happy with that decision.

The overwhelming circumstantial evidence that Wolfe leaked the FISA application went from a strong suspicion, to damn certain (after the plea deal) when the DOJ included a sentencing motion in mid-December 2018.

On December 15th, 2018 the DOJ filed a response to the Wolfe defense teams’ own sentencing memo (full pdf), and within the DOJ response they included an exhibit (#13) written by the FBI [redacted] special agent in charge, which specifically says: “because of the known disclosure of classified information, the FISA application”… Thereby admitting, albeit post-plea agreement, that Wolfe did indeed leak the damn FISA:

(link to document)

Right there, in that FBI Special Agent description is the bombshell admission that James Wolfe leaked the Carter Page FISA application to journalist Ali Watkins at Buzzfeed.

We know the special agent who wrote exhibit #13 in the December filing was Special Agent Brian Dugan, Asst. Special Agent in Charge, Washington Field Office.  The same investigator who originally signed the affidavit in the original indictment against Wolfe.

So, with hindsight there was absolutely no doubt that James Wolfe leaked the 83-page Carter Page FISA application on March 17, 2017.  Period.  It’s all documented with circumstantial and direct evidence; including the admissions from the FBI agent in charge.

So, why was SSCI Security Director James Wolfe allowed to plea to a single count of lying to investigators?

Because all three branches of our government were participating in the corruption and targeting of Donald Trump.  Their fates are all tied together.  Take down one participant like James Comey and all the other participants are at risk.

There is no apple, only worms.

Sunday Talks: Secretary Scott Bessent -vs- Kirsten Welker


Posted originally on CTH on November 23, 2025 | Sundance 

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appears on Meet the Press to debate Kirsten Welker’s formatted corporate media talking points.  The source of most American division is found in the behavior of the media.

Video and Transcript Below:

[TRANSCRIPT] – KRISTEN WELKER: And joining me now is Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Secretary Bessent, welcome back to Meet the Press.

Good to see you this morning, Senator.

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE VICE CHAIR: Good morning, Martha.

RADDATZ: What is your reaction to this peace proposal that is on the table?

WARNER: My reaction is it’s awful. It would make Neville Chamberlain’s giving in to Hitler outside of World War II looks strong in comparison. The fact that this was almost a series of Russian talking points, would require Ukraine to give the — totality of the Donbas, parts they still control, cut back their military forces going forward, never be able to join NATO.

This would be a complete capitulation. And it’s why I think you’re hearing from Congress, both sides, people pushing back. And, obviously, the Europeans feel like they’ve been totally left high and dry.

MARTHA RADDATZ, ABC “THIS WEEK” CO-ANCHOR: You’ve heard the deadline from President Trump, but then him saying that’s not — there’s room for negotiation here, it seems like. So, what do you think happens after today (ph)?

WARNER: I think what happens — it feels like this was a plan that they took almost entirely from the Russians, did no consultation with Congress, no consultation with the Europeans, obviously didn’t read in Zelenskyy and the Ukrainians, and now they’re getting ferocious pushback. So, one more time, Trump is changing his deadline.

Of course, how he picked Thanksgiving to start with, I have no idea. But now it — even with this — some of this back and forth that it’s not really an American plan, or isn’t an American plan, this is the kind of chaos that, unfortunately, represents so much of the Trump foreign policy.

RADDATZ: So, what do you think President Zelenskyy should do? He’s been through this before. It’s kind of back and forth with this White House. They support you. They pull it back. Do you think all of this, this proposal, which seems to heavily favor Russia, is that just a starting point again?

WARNER: Well, I would hope — I would hope so. Again, the Ukrainians have performed magnificently in the field. And they are reinventing the nature of warfare in terms of use — use of drones. To have this proposal forced upon them, I think as Zelenskyy said, Ukrainian dignity versus giving up a partner, I would hope the president would not be so weak as to try to force this plan on the Ukrainian and our other allies. It would, I think, send not only a horrible signal for Europe, but the person who’s watching this probably the most closely is President Xi in China. And if the Americans are willing to throw in their towel so much like this on Ukraine, you can bet that Xi is thinking, this gives him a clearer path in terms of taking Taiwan.

RADDATZ: But what does Zelenskyy do here? If on Thursday the president says, I’m telling you right now, take what we’ve got on the table and — and there will probably be some changes, or we’re done. What — what does Zelenskyy do, just hope that Europe rises and helps him out?

WARNER: Well, let’s — let’s, again, you have overwhelming support still for Ukraine. The last Ukraine aid package had 80 percent of the Congress. I think the president is seeing this one-sided plan kind of blow up in his face with pushback from the Ukrainians, from the Europeans, from members of Congress of his own party. And my hope is, he’ll come back and be a bit more reasonable.

RADDATZ: I want to turn to Venezuela. We’re all watching that this week. What can you tell us about what you think happens now. We’ve got this massive buildup. We’ve got this massive show of force. We have airline who aren’t — that aren’t flying there because of all the activity and the military activity right now.

Do you expect something more to happen?

WARNER: Well, historically, the United States’ intervention in Central America or South America has not always rolled out the way we’d hope. Maduro was a bad guy, frankly, under Biden. When the Venezuelan people voted in overwhelming numbers, Biden should have put more pressure on getting Maduro out then. It was a mistake.

But now, to have this much armed forces, we have not been briefed on any military action that would have been authorized. He keeps putting the word out that maybe he has authorized, maybe he’s not. We are trying to get the answer on that. But there is a real question. You know, to take this big a fleet, bring our largest aircraft carrier, put them there to further blow up boats that they claim have drugs on them, frankly they could have interdicted some of those boats and shown the world that there were drugs.

In terms of Venezuela, the legal opinion about the drug run — drug running doesn’t touch Venezuela at all. So, the president would have to come back and brief us.

RADDATZ: Trump says he’ll be speaking with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Do you think that is a good idea? And what can you say to him?

WARNER: Because I think the notion that Trump says he’ll talk to anyone, I think that is — I’m not going to critique him on that, if there’s a way to push Maduro out. Remember, our government and fifty other governments, almost all of Western Europe, don’t recognize the Maduro government as legitimate. But it does not feel like there is an organized plan. And coming down again, America only, without any of our other allies in South America or Central America again seems not the right approach to me.

RADDATZ: What could happen short of a show of force? When you have that massive a show of force, it’s almost like, you’re in a position where you have to do something or you might look weak. Short of Maduro saying, OK, I’ll leave, then what does he do?

WARNER: Well, again, that’s the million-dollar question. And as you know, when you’ve got this many forces down there, and you can’t keep the carrier positioned there forever, you also have the chance of an accident happening or a conflict between the Venezuelan air force or some of our planes that might —

RADDATZ: Do you think he wants to go to war with Venezuela? Do you think he wants (INAUDIBLE) —

WARNER: I don’t know. I don’t know. I think he is trying to put outside pressure on Maduro. But by doing it in this kind of America only approach, again without giving any sign to, I think, even his — the Republicans on The Hill what his plans are, I’m not sure is the right way to do foreign policy. You couple this Venezuela misadventure with this desertion of Ukraine and this is not making America safer, and it’s sure not putting America first.

RADDATZ: Thanks very much for joining us, Senator. Always appreciate it.

[End Transcript]

Sunday Talks – Senator Mark Warner Not Happy with Ukraine Peace Proposal – Video and Transcript


Posted originally on CTH on November 23, 2025 | Sundance 

Sometimes it pays to remind what Marco Rubio said back in February, “Ukraine is a proxy war between the U.S. and Russia.”  From that context the remarks from SSCI Vice-Chair, Senator Mark Warner, make sense.

Warner appears on ABC News ‘This Week’ to denounce the peace proposal now being negotiated in Geneva, Switzerland between Secretary Rubio and the Ukrainian delegation.  Senator Warner makes it clear he will not accept the end to conflict in Ukraine.  Video and Transcript Below:

[TRANSCRIPT] – Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chair Mark Warner joins me now.

Good to see you this morning, Senator.

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE VICE CHAIR: Good morning, Martha.

RADDATZ: What is your reaction to this peace proposal that is on the table?

WARNER: My reaction is it’s awful. It would make Neville Chamberlain’s giving in to Hitler outside of World War II looks strong in comparison. The fact that this was almost a series of Russian talking points, would require Ukraine to give the — totality of the Donbas, parts they still control, cut back their military forces going forward, never be able to join NATO.

This would be a complete capitulation. And it’s why I think you’re hearing from Congress, both sides, people pushing back. And, obviously, the Europeans feel like they’ve been totally left high and dry.

MARTHA RADDATZ, ABC “THIS WEEK” CO-ANCHOR: You’ve heard the deadline from President Trump, but then him saying that’s not — there’s room for negotiation here, it seems like. So, what do you think happens after today (ph)?

WARNER: I think what happens — it feels like this was a plan that they took almost entirely from the Russians, did no consultation with Congress, no consultation with the Europeans, obviously didn’t read in Zelenskyy and the Ukrainians, and now they’re getting ferocious pushback. So, one more time, Trump is changing his deadline.

Of course, how he picked Thanksgiving to start with, I have no idea. But now it — even with this — some of this back and forth that it’s not really an American plan, or isn’t an American plan, this is the kind of chaos that, unfortunately, represents so much of the Trump foreign policy.

RADDATZ: So, what do you think President Zelenskyy should do? He’s been through this before. It’s kind of back and forth with this White House. They support you. They pull it back. Do you think all of this, this proposal, which seems to heavily favor Russia, is that just a starting point again?

WARNER: Well, I would hope — I would hope so. Again, the Ukrainians have performed magnificently in the field. And they are reinventing the nature of warfare in terms of use — use of drones. To have this proposal forced upon them, I think as Zelenskyy said, Ukrainian dignity versus giving up a partner, I would hope the president would not be so weak as to try to force this plan on the Ukrainian and our other allies. It would, I think, send not only a horrible signal for Europe, but the person who’s watching this probably the most closely is President Xi in China. And if the Americans are willing to throw in their towel so much like this on Ukraine, you can bet that Xi is thinking, this gives him a clearer path in terms of taking Taiwan.

RADDATZ: But what does Zelenskyy do here? If on Thursday the president says, I’m telling you right now, take what we’ve got on the table and — and there will probably be some changes, or we’re done. What — what does Zelenskyy do, just hope that Europe rises and helps him out?

WARNER: Well, let’s — let’s, again, you have overwhelming support still for Ukraine. The last Ukraine aid package had 80 percent of the Congress. I think the president is seeing this one-sided plan kind of blow up in his face with pushback from the Ukrainians, from the Europeans, from members of Congress of his own party. And my hope is, he’ll come back and be a bit more reasonable.

RADDATZ: I want to turn to Venezuela. We’re all watching that this week. What can you tell us about what you think happens now. We’ve got this massive buildup. We’ve got this massive show of force. We have airline who aren’t — that aren’t flying there because of all the activity and the military activity right now.

Do you expect something more to happen?

WARNER: Well, historically, the United States’ intervention in Central America or South America has not always rolled out the way we’d hope. Maduro was a bad guy, frankly, under Biden. When the Venezuelan people voted in overwhelming numbers, Biden should have put more pressure on getting Maduro out then. It was a mistake.

But now, to have this much armed forces, we have not been briefed on any military action that would have been authorized. He keeps putting the word out that maybe he has authorized, maybe he’s not. We are trying to get the answer on that. But there is a real question. You know, to take this big a fleet, bring our largest aircraft carrier, put them there to further blow up boats that they claim have drugs on them, frankly they could have interdicted some of those boats and shown the world that there were drugs.

In terms of Venezuela, the legal opinion about the drug run — drug running doesn’t touch Venezuela at all. So, the president would have to come back and brief us.

RADDATZ: Trump says he’ll be speaking with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Do you think that is a good idea? And what can you say to him?

WARNER: Because I think the notion that Trump says he’ll talk to anyone, I think that is — I’m not going to critique him on that, if there’s a way to push Maduro out. Remember, our government and fifty other governments, almost all of Western Europe, don’t recognize the Maduro government as legitimate. But it does not feel like there is an organized plan. And coming down again, America only, without any of our other allies in South America or Central America again seems not the right approach to me.

RADDATZ: What could happen short of a show of force? When you have that massive a show of force, it’s almost like, you’re in a position where you have to do something or you might look weak. Short of Maduro saying, OK, I’ll leave, then what does he do?

WARNER: Well, again, that’s the million-dollar question. And as you know, when you’ve got this many forces down there, and you can’t keep the carrier positioned there forever, you also have the chance of an accident happening or a conflict between the Venezuelan air force or some of our planes that might —

RADDATZ: Do you think he wants to go to war with Venezuela? Do you think he wants (INAUDIBLE) —

WARNER: I don’t know. I don’t know. I think he is trying to put outside pressure on Maduro. But by doing it in this kind of America only approach, again without giving any sign to, I think, even his — the Republicans on The Hill what his plans are, I’m not sure is the right way to do foreign policy. You couple this Venezuela misadventure with this desertion of Ukraine and this is not making America safer, and it’s sure not putting America first.

RADDATZ: Thanks very much for joining us, Senator. Always appreciate it.

[End Transcript]

 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio Holds a Press Conference from Geneva Switzerland During Discussions with Ukraine Officials


Posted originally on CTH on November 23, 2025 | Sundance

Delegations from Ukraine and the USA have been holding talks in Geneva on a draft peace plan. No statement has been officially released, but Ukraine and Russia had received the draft 28-point plan aimed at ending the war. President Trump put the general deadline date of Thursday for review.

Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin has said the plan could form the basis of an agreement, but Ukraine and its European money laundering stakeholders have expressed concern. Giving a brief update during discussions, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US and Ukrainian teams had held “probably the best meeting” since Trump returned to office.

Negotiations continued all day with Secretary Rubio noting significant progress has been made and talks will continue into tomorrow. Rubio noted, “we just need more time.” WATCH:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been using his X Account all day to message with allies and “stakeholders” about the negotiations.  Zelenskyy is the performative face of opposition to the peace agreement and leveraging external pressure to maintain a fight that domestically has lost significant support.

President Trump has expressed frustration with Zelenskyy’s intransigence; however, if the reporting is accurate Zelenskyy has been informed this 26 or 28 point proposal is his last opportunity to negotiate in good faith before President Trump cuts off all assistance to Ukraine.   Secretary Rubio seems very optimistic.

Something Sketchy About Narrative Underway Against Deputy AG Todd Blanche


Posted originally on CTH on November 22, 2025 | Sundance 

Everyone knows I dislike Main Justice intensely. However, something just is not adding up about these hit pieces being promoted against Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and claiming investigations against Ed Martin and Bill Pulte.

Gateway Pundit has two stories HERE and HERE, essentially using the narrative engineering created by MSNBC’s “Fusion Ken” (Ken Dilanian) HERE.  This entire storyline is big time sketchy, including the central character, Christine Bish.

The claim is that a federal grand jury organized by DAG Todd Blanche is hearing testimony against Ed Martin and Bill Pulte, following accusations of grand jury leaks surrounding the Schiff mortgage fraud case by both Martin and Pulte.  As the story is told, a woman named Christine Bish is the person who tracked the issue and reported the mortgage fraud.

When an article includes the phrase, “Bish ended up covering her own costs to travel to Washington, DC, to share what she had uncovered involving Schiff’s alleged mortgage and/or election crimes,” you can be certain something sketchy is afoot.   Who exactly would Bish expect to pay for her travel costs?

MSNBC has this as written, “Christine Bish, a California realtor who was among the first to level allegations of mortgage fraud against Schiff, was subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury in Greenbelt, Maryland, she told MS NOW in a telephone interview.  In lieu of testifying, she opted to sit down with a prosecutor and other federal investigators for an interview, she said. Instead of focusing on the mortgage allegations, she said, the interview centered around her communications with Pulte, Martin and two other men who said they were investigating the issue.

MSNBC narrative engineer “Fusion Ken” is called “Fusion Ken” because he worked with Fusion GPS to manufacture stories – things that could look a certain way if shaped corrected but are entirely false.

This story, written as a hit against Ed Martin and Bill Pulte, could just as easily be understood as federal prosecutors questioning the source of information to vet prior political contacts.

As I have noted from my own experience with DC federal investigators, they spend a ridiculous amount of time, effort and resources investigating the background of who brings them information, how the information was found and why the information is being brought forward.

Investigators don’t care what the information is; DC officials focus on howwhy and who is behind it until they feel good about it; until they are certain they can defend themselves from accusations of political origins, and then they move forward to what the information is about.

If they identify a political origin or motive for the evidence or information, DC investigators and prosecutors will likely never act on the information regardless of how accurate or devastating it is.  The DC silos self-protect within this process.

I would caution to wait this one out before coming to the conclusion that Bill Pulte and Ed Martin are under grand jury investigation.  Something is very fishy about Christine Bish working so chummy with the notorious Fusion Ken.  It would be interesting to find out how Ken connected with Ms Bish.

Suspicious Cat remains, well, increasingly suspicious.

The Truth Has No Agenda – But, Perhaps It Started Out Like This…


Posted originally on CTH on November 21, 2025 | Sundance | 


You’ve seen me share this visible meme a few times; it always comes along when the predictable sunlight seems looming on the near horizon.  Something again to surface that will cause us to question our preconceptions.

Perhaps it started out like this…  This information, this description of events, situations, explanations of the background cannot be as described; yet, these Sundance citations make it difficult to refute, unnerving to dismiss; but it’s all just a little too disconcerting; but we’ll watch and see, making a mental note.

As time progresses, it is just like this; it is factually as presented. This journey toward the truth of the thing is messy, awkward, weird at times and quite strange to participate in.

Your friends and/or family end up in the same place you were.  As you share the information context, they too, just like you before, initially want to dismiss the truth of the thing – because to accept it breaks away from the comfortable places of prior context.  Like you, they too start to notice things.  They too pay attention.

The next time you converse, the prior dismissals are not as strong as before.  The awakening has enlarged as an outcome of rather unusual predictions, and the outcomes, uncomfortably, also seem to reconcile when the context you provide is considered.

The, “but it can’t be” response, is replaced with “how did you know?”  The awakening expands.

Perhaps for you, like me, like most of us, the seemingly uncomfortable place where information is absorbed with totally new contexts for understanding comes best in small digestible doses.  If so, that’s the healthy way.  I believe it is the best way to retain stability amid an increasingly unstable world.

At the end of most revelations of significant impact, there are people with motives and intentions that boil down to two priorities: influence and affluence.  Those who seek power value influence.  Those who seek personal financial gain value affluence.   These are the priorities we find at the heart of most control efforts.

The need for control is always a reaction to fear.

One of the most significant challenges when confronting corruption, is the need to initially ignore motives and stay focused on the demonstrable and proven citations that cannot be refuted.  Stable people are able to absorb consequential information and remain focused; the motives or understanding the ‘why’ factor is not as important as the reality of accepting the outcome.

Inside the institutions that make up Washington DC the psychology is fundamentally different from the rest of our nation.  The oft used phrases of “govt work”, when compared to the “private sector”, are more than just catch phrases.

Those who value equality in opportunity do not work long within the institutions of government.  Those who value equality in outcome make careers there.  When we send competent people to change the baseline for these institutions, the level of resistance is remarkable.

For career officials who operate within the institutions of DC government the introduction of competency, and/or the concept of accountability for corrupt activity, is against their interests.  This is not new for us to understand, but one facet of this dynamic must be emphasized. In almost every example, the mechanisms and standard operating procedure within the institution is corrupt; it’s not just a few people.

The fact of there being no apple only worms is problematic for a host of reasons.  However, when that DC reality applies to the justice system or the intelligence apparatus, the ramifications are exponentially worse.  It is those ramifications we are watching play out on almost every level daily.

I am often asked about “solutions” to these problems, and I often respond with an explanation that first the correct, factually accurate and proper context has to be accepted in order for any proposed solution to make sense.  The reason for this approach is that treatment for a symptom will not remedy the affliction if the root cause is not addressed.

In a real and contextual example, we ended up with Bill Barr as the Bondo and John Durham as the spray paint, but the rusted vehicle was never restored.  President Trump was lied to, manipulated into believing something akin to restoration was being done; but all of the conduct was purposefully negligent, willfully cunning and fraught with deception.

Attorney General Pam Bondi is Bill Barr all over again.

As Florida Attorney General, Pam Bondi conspired with racially motivated political activists to put a transparently innocent man into prison. A witness (specifically witness #8, Rachael Jeantel) was fabricated, quite literally fabricated.

Pam Bondi had specific and intentional awareness that witness #8 was fabricated, and she used the power of her office to influence pre-trial decisions, blocking the defense from questioning the two lawyers (Ben Crump and Daryl Parks) who manufactured the witness.

“Fearful of backlash from the Left, the state attorneys allowed the charade to proceed. For months, they did their best to hide Jeantel not only from the public but also from Zimmerman’s attorneys. Sensing something amiss, the defense attorneys asked to depose Crump. After a judge ruled against them, they appealed. In April 2013Bondi put her thumb on the scale of justice and left fingerprints. She wrote a 41-page document arguing against the defense team’s request. Their request was denied.”

It’s not just what she did that predictably highlighted what type of U.S. Attorney General she would be, it’s bigger than that.

What type of moral character intentionally tries to help a friend (Ben Crump) by railroading an innocent man and taking away his freedom, all for political benefit? What type of moral character even has a person like Benjamin Crump as a friend?

Eventually you have to ask, what evil is behind eyes that would purposefully put an innocent man in prison, just to elevate their profile?

I asked that series of questions a year ago.

Those questions are not going to go away.

Attorney General Pam Bondi is not failing President Trump because she is incompetent.

AG Pam Bondi is not failing because she was always unqualified for the position.

Attorney General Pam Bondi is failing to hold corruption accountable because she intends to fail.

♦ Predicting Bondi Failure – HERE.

♦ Jack Cashill Notices the Same – HERE

♦ Rod Rosenstein’s Deputy Becomes Bondi Handler – HERE

♦ Susie Wiles and Pam Bondi Have the Same Intents – HERE