Posted originally on CTH on February 13, 2026 | Sundance
Former White House legal counsel/fixer to Barack Obama, and former personal lawyer/fixer of Susan Rice, Kathryn Ruemmler was Chief Legal Counsel for Goldman Sachs for the past six years.
Throughout those jobs and networked professional relationships, Kathryn Ruemmler was also a personal friend and advisor to Jeffrey Epstein.
Yesterday it was reported that Kathryn Ruemmler has resigned from Goldman Sachs.
NEW YORK – Goldman Sachs’s top lawyer, Kathryn Ruemmler, resigned on Thursday in the wake of the Justice Department’s release of emails and other material that revealed her extensive relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier.
Ms. Ruemmler and representatives for Goldman said for years that she had a strictly professional relationship with Mr. Epstein, a convicted sex offender. But emails, text messages and photographs released late last month upended that narrative, leading to Ms. Ruemmler’s sudden resignation, which surprised many inside the firm.
Before joining Goldman in 2020, Ms. Ruemmler was a counselor, confidante and friend to Mr. Epstein, the documents showed. She advised him on how to respond to tough questions about his sex crimes, discussed her dating life, advised him on how to avoid unflattering media scrutiny and addressed him as “sweetie” and “Uncle Jeffrey.”
Mr. Epstein, in turn, provided career advice on her move to Goldman, introduced her to well-known businesspeople and showered her with gifts of spa treatments, high-end travel and Hermes luxury items. In total, Ms. Ruemmler was mentioned in more than 10,000 of the documents released by the Justice Department.
Ms. Ruemmler, in addition to being Goldman’s general counsel since 2021, was a partner and vice chair of its reputational risk committee. She earlier served as White House counsel under President Obama and was a white-collar defense lawyer at Latham & Watkins. (read more)
Newly released email exchanges add fresh details to the relationship between Kathy Ruemmler and Jeffrey Epstein. Ruemmler is a former Obama White House counsel and now one of the highest-paid lawyers in the country as the chief legal officer at Goldman Sachs. CNN's Andrew… pic.twitter.com/niXjxlDWvd
Posted originally on CTH on February 10, 2026 | Sundance
The Dept of Justice has unsealed the FBI affidavit that outlines the probable cause for the search and seizure of Fulton County, GA, 2020 election records [pfd Affidavit Here].
The affidavit, filed by FBI Special Agent Hugh Evans, outlines witness abnormalities in the records of the 2020 presidential election conducted in Fulton County, Georgia. Including a Georgia State Election Board member observed ballot images from 2020 that were modified in January 2024.
The FBI raid targeted the county’s election warehouse, resulting in the seizure of paper ballots, voter data, election records, and other materials from the 2020 general election.
“If these deficiencies were the result of intentional action, it would be a violation of federal law regardless of whether the failure to retain records or the deprivation of a fair tabulation of a vote was outcome determinative for any particular election or race,” Evans wrote.
Agent Evans did not outline precisely when the FBI’s investigation began, nor did he describe any steps agents took in the probe before seeking to seize the Fulton ballots and other materials. He pointed to two federal statutes that were likely violated: one making it a felony to engage in voting fraud in connection with a federal election and another making it a misdemeanor to fail to preserve records related to a federal election for at least 22 months after Election Day.
Posted originally on CTH on February 10, 2026 | Sundance
Representative Ilhan Omar is one of the most sanctimonious corrupt Democrats in congress, and she’s loud and proud about it because she understands how to engage in financial fraud safely. Just do what everyone else is doing but do it bigger, that way there’s no way her peers can approach it.
Someone in DC gave House Oversight Chairman James Comer the familiar tap on the shoulder and told him they don’t investigate their own Uniparty tribe. So, Comer drops his planned review of Omar’s corruption and shifts it to the ethics team.
BREAKING: James Comer says the House Ethics Committee will take over the investigation into Rep. Ilhan Omar after a massive spike in her net worth was flagged in financial disclosures:
“We’ve been informed in the last few hours that the Ethics Committee is probably going to have… pic.twitter.com/YIO1DkOr91
A game of pretending is needed in order to retain the illusion of the Potemkin Village of DC. A construct manufactured by the power structure that exists behind the puppet show, with the full intention to distract us. Pretending is what gives rise to a Florida governor on a 2022 ‘book tour’ run for a 2024 campaign that everyone denied was going to happen. Pretending is also what kicks the can of accountability away until it can be buried.
Pretending is needed in order to convince the audience Republicans will make a difference, or the black eye doesn’t hurt and look he bought me flowers. Perhaps some reminders and clarifications of the real game inside DC politics are needed. After all, while all these chaff and countermeasures are replaying their familiar tunes, CTH is actually trying to accomplish something by destroying some IC silos.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, hereafter called the House Oversight Committee or HOC, has a very specific function in DC circles that too few understand. Once again, let us be clear while trying to explain decades of false information founded upon arcane legislative outlooks.
Understanding the DC game of Chaff and Countermeasures…. A “Countermeasure” is a measure or action taken to counter or offset a preceding one.
Politically speaking, the deployment of countermeasures is a well-used tactic by professional politicians in Washington DC to counter incoming public inquiry and protect themselves from anger expressed by the electorate. The Republican leadership are very skilled in the management of “chaff” (outrage), and “countermeasures” (the distraction).
Within Washington DC, the HOC has a very specific and unique function. What Fox News is to corporate conservative punditry, so too is the HOC to the same DC system of pretending. The House Oversight Committee is the “Chaff and Countermeasures” committee.
The HOC operates for both parties with the same mission.
The House Oversight Committee was/is created by the House legislative leadership to make money for the party in control of the Chair. When the House Speaker is notified of a DC corruption issue, inside his/her office they will often be heard saying, “give it to oversight.” The intent of that instruction is to give the issue to the HOC, so they can hold hearings, create soundbites and fundraise from the issue.
Making money for the party in control of the Chair is the primary function of the House Oversight Committee. The HOC does not exist to create accountability or oversight; the HOC exists to exploit the issue for fundraising and satiate the base voters of the party in control of the Chair.
The HOC presents the illusion of accountability by constructing soundbites and member performances which are then broadcast on television for appearances to the voting audience. It is essentially theater.
The HOC is a “general oversight’ committee, not a committee of “specific jurisdiction.” Thus, the HOC is the vehicle where Democrats and Republicans publicly display their political initiatives, frame their narratives and then broadcast them on MSNBC, CNN (Democrats) or FOX NEWS (Republicans).
Depending on the issues at hand, the HOC committee members are generally those performance actors best known to the audience of both parties. This is not accidental; this is by design. Again, for emphasis, I am only talking about the HOC, a “generalized oversight” committee. Only this specific committee has this specific mission.
A hot button topic enters the committee ecosphere. Specifically trained staffers and performance artists, uniquely qualified to put on theatrical productions (both parties), are then deployed to assist the representatives in creating the soundbites that hopefully will go viral and assist them with fundraising and opportunities to say, “here’s what we are doing.” Outlining this construct is not an exhibition in cynicism; this is the reality of what the HOC is designed and created to do.
When you see the HOC performing at their best, you will see lots of soundbites created.
The Chair of the HOC is always part of the House Speaker’s close inner circle. From that association you will discover by training, by habit, and by consequence, the HOC framework is developed to sustain the process itself as an end result. The questioning is the sum total of all accountabilities. The performance is the interview; the conversation is the point; the smoke is the fire.
Oversight, in the HOC framework of narrative creation, has evolved into reveling in the endless process (a fundraising proposition) and, as a consequence, it completely ignores the end point, misses the bottom line, doesn’t actually SEE the subject matter, and never actually applies accountability toward what might be discovered. This is why you end up with high blood pressure, frustrated with the questions not asked, and throwing bricks at the screen or monitors when viewing.
The point of HOC hearings is to create what are now described as “viral moments” that can be used to generate money.
The second, and lesser objective, is to give the illusion of accountability while not actually ever holding anyone or anything accountable. See prior HOC reference points like Fast and Furious, IRS targeting, Benghazi, the Twitter File review or the Joe/Hunter Biden crime syndicate investigation.
If you watch the HOC through the prism of expecting some form of accountability for the violations of law, you will be frustrated and disappointed. However, if you watch the HOC through the prism of how well the members will do at raising money from their performances, then you can evaluate the effectiveness – the proverbial winning and losing.
The HOC is designed by House leadership to perform the same basic function for both Democrats and Republicans. The HOC committee assignments are selected based on the theatrical skills of each representative. This is not to say the motives of the members are sullied or impure, it is simply to point out the motive of the committee itself is to generate fundraising from the skillsets of the members on the committee.
Once you fully grasp what the intent of the House Oversight Committee is about, and once you drop the expectation that any accountability in oversight is the intent, then you can watch the performances through the entertainment prism of partisan politics and genuinely enjoy them – or hate them.
The HOC is called the “Chaff and Countermeasures” Committee, because that’s essentially what the committee does. It gives the appearance of targeting, steering the target to a controlled destination, and then distracting the audience from the outcome of accountability.
If sunlight is achieved, meaning the Mainstream Media cannot ignore the issue as presented and questioned, and if the general public become more familiar with the controversial subject matter or topic at hand, and if the party of the Chair can fundraise from the issue, then the committee has succeeded. However, if you are looking for something to change as an outcome of any HOC investigation or hearing, you will be perpetually disappointed.
There seems to be a willful blindness on the part of the American people, a chosen refusal to acknowledge the implications of the unAmerican and unConstititional behaviors, actions and outcomes we are being served on a daily basis. It can no longer be presumed to be a matter of “I can’t see what’s happening”, because a whole lot of normal Americans really are clean and articulate.
“I can’t see it” just doesn’t cut it.
NONSENSE! Most people can see it. Most are just choosing to reconcile the irreconcilable because it is more comforting to ignore the truth of it. Just be honest, for many people avoidance has become a survival mechanism.
It’s more along the lines of “I see what’s happening, but it’s scary and complicated and confusing, and if I admit that I see it, I will become responsible in a way that I am not if I keep pretending I can’t see it or hear it or maybe I don’t understand it.”
Cue the audio visual. Do you remember the Awan Brothers scandal?
The political system in Washington DC has become so massive it is now capable of protecting itself. Any attempt to reduce the influence, scope or size of the system is considered a risk. The system is, in essence, protecting itself. Deep State is self-aware. NOTE 07:43 (just hit play)
Whether it’s John Boehner, Paul Ryan, Kevin McCarthy or Mike Johnson, leadership’s Lucy has unlimited footballs.
Whether it’s the Awan Brothers, the Huma Abedin laptop, the Clinton’s private servers, the Hunter Biden laptop, the Mark Warner/James Wolfe leak of classified information, the activity of CIA analyst Eric Ciaramella in the impeachment, the many aspects to Mary McCord, or the leaking of the Dobbs decision by Sheldon Snook, all of these things are very public, very visible and very well known. Yet did you see a single satellite truck in front of their house or a microphone in their face asking questions?
Nope. DC runs this game of pretending and all the media play the game.
The fourth estate (media) has long ago collapsed.
Now, the choices are ours.
Personally, I will not pretend, and I know most of you also refuse.
If we keep assembling enough people to stop pretending, then what happens?
Allison Gill is an ally of the Lawfare network and recently sat down for an interview with NSA whistleblower attorney Andrew Bakaj; the same attorney used by former CIA whistleblower Eric Ciaramella.
This interview appears to be taking place after Bakaj revised his statements to The Guardian forcing them to rewrite the central claim of the leak he provided. The Guardian rewrote their article removing the key claim within the intelligence intercept that a foreign intelligence person was in contact with a person close to President Donald Trump.
The revision now states:
[…] “The Guardian reported earlier on Saturday that the phone conversation was between a person associated with foreign intelligence and a person close to Trump, based on Bakaj’s recollection of the complaint, which he confirmed over multiple calls. However, after publication, Bakaj said he misspoke.
He clarified his understanding of the complaint in a statement: “The NSA picked up a phone call between two members of foreign intelligence involving someone close to the Trump White House,” he said. “The NSA does not monitor individuals without a reason.” {citation}
This is not a small “revision,” it is essentially a rewrite of the central component to the whistleblower complaint. As it is now clarified two foreign people were intercepted talking about a person who knows Donald Trump. This could be any two foreign people gossiping or talking about anyone who is in the orbit of Donald Trump. That explains why intelligence analysts reviewed the NSA intercept, disregarded it and said it is hearsay likely just ‘gossip” according to New York Times reporting.
However, that said, Andrew Bakaj then appears on a podcast with Allison Gill during their effort to put traction to the claims, and Bakaj repeats the false statement. See video at 7:45:
…”So, in the spring of last year there was intelligence that was gathered by an agency that captured, um, activity that was being conducted by someone close to the President.”…
This is the same lie the whistleblower’s attorney Andrew Bakaj told The Guardian; that someone close to the president was a participant in the “activity.” This is demonstrably false through all other reporting.
The complaint alleges two foreign individuals were intercepted talking to each other about a person who Bakaj defines as close to the president, on the subject of Iran.
It could simply be two Germans or Israelis talking about Iran and wondering what Devin Nunes thinks about it.
The entire predicate claim is silly. Foreign officials and foreign intelligence officials talk to each other all the time about Trump and or his people.
This complaint is a fabrication, and the fact that the NSA Whistleblower included the TSSCI material in the complaint, literally outlining who was intercepted talking, is the reason why the complaint could not be shared or circulated without careful guidance by the DNI.
The whistleblower did this on purpose. If the whistleblower wanted to share his complaint with more people, he could have just avoided including the TSSCI aspect.
This is intelligence community Lawfare in action.
Dear Chairman @SenTomCotton , please call @AndrewBakaj to appear before the Gang of Eight, preferably with his client, play this video, ask him if what he says at the prompt is true? When he says, "no" refer him to the DOJ for prosecution and dismiss the complaint. 👇
Posted originally on CTH on February 8, 2026 | Sundance
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Vice-Chairman, Mark Warner, a man of exceptionally dubious intelligence, appears on Face the Nation for a pre-scripted interview with CBS’s Margaret Brennan. The video and transcript are below.
From his position on the SSCI, Senator Warner was one of the key players in the deployment of the Intelligence Community against President Trump’s first term in office, including his background conversations with Chris Steele and his leaking of the Carter Page FISA warrant to promote the Trump-Russia conspiracy claim and stimulate the appointment of a DOJ special counsel.
Within President Trump’s second term in office, Warner’s primary concern is having a Director of National Intelligence (DNI) who doesn’t conform to the goals and objectives of the Fourth Branch of government, the intelligence apparatus. In reality, DNI Tulsi Gabbard appears to be methodically taking apart the intelligence community weaponization system. This, when combined with Gabbard’s review of election integrity issues, has triggered the deep concern of Warner, one of the IC’s primary enablers. WATCH:
[Transcript] – MARGARET BRENNAN: Good morning and welcome to ‘Face the Nation.’ We begin this morning with the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Virginia’s Mark Warner. Good to have you here.
SEN. MARK WARNER: Thank you, Margaret.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to talk about elections and security. Back on January 28, the FBI went to Fulton County, Georgia and seized ballots and 2020 voting records linked to the presidential election. The Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, then was spotted outside the elections office, and she argued that her presence there had been personally requested by the president of the United States, and she had broad statutory authority to coordinate, integrate and analyze intelligence related to election security. What would justify her involvement? Is there any foreign nexus that you have been informed of?
SEN. WARNER: We have not been informed of any foreign nexus. The job of the director of national intelligence is to be outward facing about foreigners, not about Americans, and remember, many of the reforms that were put in place actually took place after the Watergate scandal under President Nixon, where a president was directly involved in certain domestic criminal activities and appeared with the Watergate break-in. And my fear in this case is it almost seems Nixonian. If the president asked Gabbard to show up down in Georgia on a domestic political investigation- first of all, how would he know about the search warrant even being issued? That’s not his job. And then to have the irector of national intelligence down there, which is totally against her rules, unless there is a foreign nexus, and she has not indicated any foreign nexus to us to date.
MARGARET BRENNAN: There’s been no communication with the committee whatsoever on this issue?
SEN. WARNER: We have asked. We then subsequently found that this was not the first time she was involved in domestic activities. She went down and seized some voting machines in Puerto Rico earlier in the year. Again, we had no knowledge of that. And then the question of what she was doing in Georgia. There’s been three or four different stories since it broke. First, she said the president asked, then the president said he didn’t ask her. Then he said it was Pam Bondi, the attorney general. So we don’t have the slightest idea other than the fact that the whole thing stinks to high heaven, and the fact is, Donald Trump cannot get over the fact that he lost Georgia in 2020 that he lost the election in 2020. My fear is now he sees the political winds turning against him, and he’s going to try to interfere in the 2026 election, something a year ago I didn’t think would be possible.
MARGARET BRENNAN: That’s a tremendous statement. But just to clarify here, it was Reuters that first reported that Gabbard went to Puerto Rico back in the spring to seize voting machines. Was Congress informed at all? Did you learn about it in the press?
SEN. WARNER: I believe the first we ever heard about this was from the press itself.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Wow. So the- you’ve laid out that the intelligence agencies usually focus overseas, but the White House is arguing that the director was there for good reason, and that federal law, they argue, assigns a DNI statutory responsibility to lead counter intelligence matters related to election security, election voting system risk, software, voter registration databases. You’re concerned, but are your fellow Republicans on the committee concerned?
SEN. WARNER: Here’s the ironic thing, Margaret, many of the protections for our election system were put in place during the first Trump administration. We set up CISA, the cybersecurity agency, to help work with state and local elections. There was an FBI center set up for foreign malign influence, foreign influence. And then we put into law something called the Foreign Malign Influence Center at the Director of National Intelligence office. All of those entities have been basically disbanded. CISA cut by a third. The FBI center cut back. The ODNI center cut back, which we think is, frankly, counter to the law. But it all- in terms the ODNI has to be involved, of foreign involvement, there has been no evidence of that to date.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Where is Chair Cotton on this, though?
SEN. WARNER: We have jointly been making sure that we get updates on election security, and I think we see more of that to come, because this is critical. And my concern is that when we see artificial intelligence tools and others- it was almost child’s play. What happened in 2016 China, Russia, Iran others could be interfering. We’ve not seen evidence to date. Gabbard, if she’s got any evidence, should have provided it to the Congress. I think this was an effort where Donald Trump can’t get over the fact that he lost Georgia so obsessed. And it begs the question is, what was Gabbard doing there? And it frankly, begs the question is- question is, why was the president even aware of this investigation before the search warrant was issued?
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, we would, we would love to put those questions to the director, and have asked to do so. But now that you are here, can you just button this up for me? Because we’re talking about 2020, and that’s what Fulton County. The focus was about but you also said, you think in 2026 there’s an effort to interfere. What evidence do you have of that?
SEN. WARNER: This was what I’m seeing from the president’s own comments about nationalizing elections and putting Republicans in charge, counter to the constitution. We’ve seen these activities in Georgia, where could there be some effort that suddenly gives him an excuse to try to take some of these federalization efforts we’ve seen ICE. We focused a lot of this activity on ICE in terms of they’re going rogue in Minneapolis. But there is a very real threat, without reforms at ICE, that you could have ICE patrols around polling stations, and people would say, “well, why would that matter?” If they’re all American citizens–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –Noncitizens cannot vote.
SEN. WARNER: –Because we’ve seen ice discriminate against Latinos families. We’ve seen as well mixed families where someone may be legal and others not. And candidly, you don’t need to do a lot to discourage people from voting, and we’ve more recently seen ICE starting to use technology where they can get information about Americans. Recently, there was an individual in Minnesota that got denied a global entry card to get through TSA quicker because he or she appeared at a protest rally. Do we really want ICE having that information?–
MARGARET BRENNAN: Is that what DHS said?
SEN. WARNER: Hypothetically- that was what happened in Minnesota. Hypothetically, if ICE is getting information, and you’ve got an unpaid parking ticket, would you go vote if you’ve got an unpaid parking ticket, thinking that an ICE patrol might be at a polling station, this is uncharted territory, and yet you’ve got the president’s own words, in many ways, raising concerns, because he says, well, gosh, we Republicans ought to take over elections in 15 states.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We’re going to talk about some of that and the operations at the local level with David Becker, our elections expert ahead in the show, and the immigration reform. But I want to ask you about what’s going on with Director Gabbard, because there was a whistleblower who filed a complaint against her personally and offered to come to Congress to share the information. According to the attorney for this whistleblower, this is about a complaint that two inspectors general, one of them Biden-era, concluded had a non-credible nature. You’ve viewed a redacted version of the complaint as I understand it. Do you accept their conclusions?
SEN. WARNER: Well, first of all, the previous Inspector General, who’d been a long term professional, viewed it as credible. The new–
MARGARET BRENNAN: — Which of the two complaints?
SEN. WARNER: The original- I can’t talk about the contents of the complaint. I’m old fashioned. It’s classified, and the complaint is so redacted, it’s hard to get to the bottom up, I got additional questions. My concern- what the director did, is that this information was not relayed to Congress. There is a process, and we didn’t even- we, and I mean, we the Gang of Eight, didn’t even hear about the complaint until November. We only saw it in February, and we’ve got this complete contradiction where the then lawyer for Director Gabbard said she shared the responsibility she had to share this with Congress in June, the legal responsibility. She later stated that she was not aware of her responsibility. Ignorance of the law is not an excuse if you’re the Director of National Intelligence.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, as I understand it, because when it’s deemed non-credible, it is not necessarily an urgent concern that would —
SEN. WARNER : — There was a ruling of urgency by the first inspector general. That was contradicted by the Trump Inspector General, but the process was still ongoing. The fact that this sat out there for 6,7,8 months now, and we are only seeing it now, raises huge concerns in and of itself.
MARGARET BRENNAN
Well, I know you said you will not share what the intercept and the intelligence was about, or the complaint itself, but CBS has been told by a senior intelligence official the whistleblower complaint included reference to an intelligence intercept between two foreign nationals in which they mentioned someone close to President Donald Trump. US intelligence did not verify whether the conversation itself was more than just gossip. Will you be able to speak to the whistleblower? Will you be able to see this underlying intelligence?
SEN. WARNER: My understanding is the whistleblower has been waiting for guidance, legal guidance, on how to approach the committee.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Does the whistleblower still work for the US government?
SEN. WARNER: I don’t have any idea.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Will you be able to view the intelligence, the intercept itself that she’s accused of not sharing?
SEN. WARNER: My question is- we are trying to get both the redactions and the underlying intelligence, and that’s- that is in process. I’m not going to talk to the content itself, but this whole question, remember, this whistleblower came forward in May. It’s now February of the following year, and we’re still asking questions.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Tom Cotton, the chair, says he’s- he’s comfortable with- with the process to date, but on the–
SEN. WARNER: — I’m- I’m not comfortable with the process, the timing, and I can’t make a judgment about the credibility or the veracity, because it’s been so heavily redacted.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, the director is frustrated with you personally and issued this really long blistering statement saying you’ve repeatedly lied to the American people, that the media also lies, and that that she never had the whistleblower complaint in her possession and saw it for the first time two weeks ago. I guess, the actual hard copy. So, do you care to respond to this accusation that you were lying?
SEN. WARNER: I would respond that I do not believe that Director Gabbard is competent for her position. I don’t believe that she is making America safer by not following the rules and procedures on getting whistleblower complaints to the Congress in a timely fashion. I believe she has been totally inappropriate showing up on a domestic criminal investigation in Georgia around voting machines. I think she has not been appropriate or competent in terms of, frankly, cutting back on investigations into foreign malign influence, literally dismembering the foreign line influence center that’s at the Director of National Intelligence, and we are going to agree to disagree about who’s telling the truth, and I believe her own general counsel, who’s now her deputy general counsel, testified this week that he shared with Director Gabbard, in June her legal obligations.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, the NSA has released a statement saying that they are abiding by the law. We do invite Director Gabbard on this program. Before I let you go, I have to ask you about Iran. There have been a number of think tanks who have published photos of what they believe is evidence of Iran reconstituting and rebuilding its nuclear program that the US bombed eight months ago. Are they rebuilding?
SEN. WARNER: When we struck Iranians nuclear capabilities, our military did a great job. It was not totally obliterated. So, that standard that the President himself set and Iran has been indicated in public documents, is trying to reconstitute. What I fear is that we don’t have the ability to bring the full power of pressure against Iran. A few weeks back, when the Iranian people bravely were in the streets, and there might have been a moment, we couldn’t strike, because the aircraft carrier that was usually in the Mediterranean was off the coast of Venezuela, doing the blockade there. On top of that- on top of that as well, we were unable to bring the full force of pressure of our allies in Europe against Iran, because at that very same moment, President Trump was disrupting NATO with his Greenland play. We are stronger when we use our allies, when we have our full military capabilities in region, and that military is getting stretched, as good as we are, as the President gets engaged in activities all over the world.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You support the diplomacy underway now?
SEN. WARNER: I support the diplomacy. Absolutely.
MARGARET BRENNAN: All right. Senator. Mark Warner, thank you for your time today, Face the Nation will be back in one minute. Stay with us.
Posted originally on CTH on February 5, 2026 | Sundance
Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent appeared on Capitol Hill today to give testimony to the Senate Banking Committee. The leftists were well prepared with narrative scripts to advance their opposition agenda. Bessent was unfazed.
In this highlight, Senator Elizabeth ‘Liawatha” Warren complains to Secretary Bessent about the price of things she tripled and quadrupled. Bessent responded by pointing out the Trump administration is reversing the catastrophic damage from the Biden-Warren economy. “I’m-a-git-me-a-beer” was not pleased at the retort. WATCH:
No senator, half of something you quadrupled is not less.
Thankfully, the grocery prices that Biden-Warren exploded, are finally starting to come down thanks to the economic policies of President Trump. Warren’s “affordability” narrative collapses each month the real wages of the American worker rise faster than the trailing inflationary impact of prior policy.
As noted by several economic indicators, inflation on the stuff that matters is in retreat. We are now entering the phase of lower gasoline prices, lower transportation costs, lower overall energy costs and stable domestic market prices. Additionally, exfiltrating illegal alien workers, both underground and above ground, is starting to put upward pressure on American wages and lower overall housing costs.
Posted originally on CTH on February 5, 2026 | Sundance
Office of Management and Budgets Director Russ Vought has been targeted by media repeatedly for his approach at reducing the size and scope of the Federal Government. As the architect of “Schedule F” — a regulatory plan that essentially reclassified thousands of federal workers, making it easier to remove them. Director Russ Vought was targeted, isolated, ridiculed and marginalized by the far-left and their media outlets.
News reports are now revealing that a Maryland man named Colin Demarco, 26, (pictured below fold) was arrested on Jan. 22nd, after he visited the home of Director Vought wearing gloves and a facemask with the intention to murder Vought. Arlington County police intercepted the assassin and conducted an investigation.
The details of the assassin’s plan are beginning to surface.
WASHINGTON (CBS) – […] Colin Demarco, 26, was arrested on Jan. 22 by Arlington County Police on several criminal charges, court records show. He is due to appear in court on Feb. 23.
During the course of the investigation, agents with the U.S. Marshals Service also discovered that Demarco had previously claimed to be writing a manifesto and that he had also drafted a series of notes detailing everything from a weapons stash to a “Body Disposal Guide.”
The court records show that Demarco is accused of plotting to murder a victim with the initials “R.V.” who, according to the criminal complaint, “has served as a presidential appointee.”
The complaint adds that the alleged victim was involved in the creation of Project 2025 — a project funded by the conservative Heritage Foundation- to produce a policy agenda for the next GOP administration. It called for a radical reshaping of the government in ways that consolidate power in the executive branch.
Sources familiar with the case separately confirmed to CBS News that Demarco’s alleged target was Vought.
A spokesperson for OMB said in a statement, “We are grateful for the work of law enforcement in keeping Director Vought and his family safe.”
[…] According to the criminal complaint, which was drafted by an Arlington County police officer, Demarco was captured on a Ring doorbell camera at the front door of Vought’s Arlington home on Aug. 10 wearing gloves, a backpack, sunglasses and a surgical mask.
He was also seen looking through Vought’s mailbox, and he approached a neighbor to ask if anyone was home. The neighbor told investigators that Demarco appeared to have a gun tucked under his shirt.
[…] Demarco also spoke of his admiration for Luigi Mangione — the man who is charged with murdering former United Health CEO Brian Thompson.
When Marshals Service investigators obtained a search warrant for Demarco’s iCloud account, they found a series of notes discussing a stash of weapons, and another titled “Body Disposal Guide” that called for taking steps such as “always wear rubber gloves” and “make an airtight alibi.” (read more)
Posted originally on CTH on February 4, 2026 | Sundance
For the past week+, semi opaque stories have been circulating about Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche removing Trump’s appointed U.S. Attorney Ed Martin from official responsibility as it pertains to the ongoing DOJ Govt. Weaponization working group.
There has been a great deal of speculation regarding the rumors and inside DOJ motives therein. Why would Blanche remove Martin and what does it mean? Lots of back and forth, lots of speculation and lots of angst has followed. CTH took a wait and see approach.
Today a report surfaces from CNN that likely explains the context. Now, with CNN as the outlet, sure there’s tons of room to dismiss the story and simply label it fake news; however, as with most things in DC, while CNN would certainly put the worst possible spin on the story, there is also likely some truth within the explanation.
With the Dept of Justice being in a hypersensitive mode and need to be exceptionally careful, lest they face attacks from the quadrillion powered spotlight upon their activity by the leftist opposition, the story of Ed Martin potentially sharing grand jury information about Adam Schiff and Letitia James mortgage fraud cases does reconcile the background context of Deputy AG Todd Blanche’s move to distance Martin.
WASHINGTON DC – A Justice Department review found that Ed Martin improperly handled grand jury materials that were part of an investigation targeting Donald Trump’s political enemies, at least two sources familiar with the review told CNN. It was at least part of the reason Martin was pushed out of DOJ headquarters early this year.
The review, which was overseen by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s office, focused on whether grand jury material gathered in the department’s mortgage fraud inquiries into Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James had been illegally shared with people not authorized to possess that information, multiple people briefed on the matter told CNN.
The department found that Martin had shared the secret grand jury material in the Schiff case, one of the sources said. The person said Martin initially denied sharing the material with unauthorized people when asked by department leaders, but emails soon surfaced showing that Martin had in fact shared the grand jury material.
A second person told CNN a finding of misconduct gave the deputy attorney general a reason to further ostracize Martin. Martin was removed as the head of the so-called Weaponization Working Group on the first day of 2026 and he was relocated out of department headquarters to a building across town that houses the pardon attorney — Martin’s one remaining role.
[…] Martin is expected to leave the department in coming weeks. […] In a statement to CNN, Blanche said, “there are no misconduct investigations into Ed Martin. Ed is doing a great job as Pardon Attorney.” (more)
I hate to say it, but the story tracks accurate.
There are two standards in DC that apply to rules. One standard that applies to the corrupt, and one standard that applies to those who would expose the corruption. The corrupt are protected, defended, justified and excused; the investigators of the corruption are under constant and unending scrutiny. The investigators cannot deviate one scintilla from absolute rule-following.
It sucks, but that is the reality of the situation. One small mistake can and will be exploited, emphasized and used to cast the entire operation into a cloud of noise to hide the fraud and corruption that permeates the U.S. body politic.
Take the loss, learn the lesson, move on.
When the handle breaks, replace it. Keep swinging the axe.
Posted originally on CTH on January 29, 2026 | Sundance
President Trump’s Border Czar, Tom Homan, arrived in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Monday. Today he gives a press conference following meetings with the Minnesota governor and Minneapolis mayor.
Mr Homan said he is now supervising the capture and removal of all criminal aliens from the Minneapolis region. ICE agents together with Customs and Border Patrol officials will continue operations throughout the region and the governor and mayor have given their assurances they will no longer attempt to interfere with capture, detainment and removal efforts.
Virginia Senator and SSCI Vice Chairman, Mark Warner, is Very Concerned About Tulsi Gabbard
Posted originally on CTH on January 29, 2026 | Sundance
Senator Mark Warner is the vice-chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI). In his position he is also a member of the intelligence community oversight group known as the “Gang of Eight.” Senator Mark Warner replaced Senator Dianne Feinstein in 2017 for his SSCI position. Dianne Feinstein’s former chief-of-staff Dan Jones was a central participant in the 2016 Trump-Russia targeting effort.
Senator Warner moved into position in 2017 to sit at the center of the legislative branch effort to support the targeting and removal of President Trump. Warner ran cover for the actions in 2016 and worked to construct the fraudulent narrative after President Trump took office. On March 17, 2017, shortly after 4:00pm, Senator Mark Warner entered the senate SCIF with SSCI Security Director James Wolfe to review the Title-1 search warrant used against U.S. citizen Carter Page. The ‘read and return’ documents were delivered by FBI special agent Brian Dugan. James Wolfe took 82 pictures of the FISA application (one picture per page) and then sent them to Buzzfeed journalist Ali Watkins. ¹{Background}
Mid-March 2017 Senator Mark Warner was trying to support the appointment of a special counsel to target President Trump, his directed leak was to support that objective. Three days later, March 20, 2017, FBI Director James Comey appeared before congress and admitted the FBI was investigating Donald Trump. Senator Warner then used his position as SSCI vice-chair to advance the DC legislative efforts against President Trump.
Senator Mark Warner is very concerned about Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, being in Fulton County, Georgia, yesterday when the search warrant for election records was carried out. Senator Mark Warner is very concerned.
Why did Tulsi Gabbard take part in a raid on an elections office? We need to step up to protect our elections from this administration’s meddling. pic.twitter.com/6mHOgd4jKf
There are only two explanations for why the Director of National Intelligence would show up at a federal raid tied to Donald Trump’s obsession with losing the 2020 election.
[¹ My position has never changed. I fully support former SSCI Security Director James Wolfe being given immunity from prosecution in exchange for his cooperation and testimony as to the involvement of Vice Chairman Mark Warner. The other person who knows the granular details of how the leak took place is FBI Special Agent Brian Dugan, who investigated the Wolfe leak.]
♦ Within the Wolfe indictment you’ll notice the “Top Secret” document picked-up by SSCI Director James Wolfe took place on March 17th, 2017:
♦ Within the Mark Warner text messages you’ll note the SSCI Vice-Chairman went into the SSCI Secured Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) on March 17th, 2017, shortly after 4:00pm: ♦ Within the declassified and released FISA application you’ll notice the copy date from the FISA clerk for the FISA application was March 17th, 2017:
The information within the three events (Warner Text release, Wolfe Indictment release, and Carter Page FISA release) shows the connection of the events. James Wolfe took custody of the Carter Page FISA, delivered it to the SCIF, it was reviewed by SSCI Vice-Chair Mark Warner, and then leaked by James Wolfe.
“82 Text Messages” The FISA application was 83 pages with one blank page. It was the Carter Page FISA application that James Wolfe leaked to Ali Watkins as outlined within the unsealed June 2018 indictment.
Sidebar, a fourth albeit buried public release came on December 14th 2018 confirmed everything.
I only share the sidebar (out of chronological sequence) to emphasize there is no doubt it was the FISA application that James Wolfe leaked.
During his initial summer and fall negotiations with the DOJ, lawyers representing James Wolfe threatened to subpoena the SSCI in his defense. The implication was that Wolfe was directed to leak the FISA by members of the committee.
The Wolfe defense team delayed pre-trial discussions with the DOJ, stalling for time throughout the fall of 2018 until the November midterms. Democrats won the 2018 midterm races and took control over the House.
In the lame-duck congressional period following the election, very specific senators on the SSCI asked the DOJ to go easy on Wolfe: Richard Burr, Dianne Feinstein and Mark Warner.
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