May 1, 2019
President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump participate in a White House dinner on the eve of the National Day of Prayer.
Tag Archives: #DrainTheSwamp
Solomon: Nellie Ohr Has Been Referred to DOJ for Criminal Prosecution….
May 1, 2019
Earlier today John Solomon wrote an article noting how congressional investigators were reviewing Nellie Ohr testimony against last month’s release of FOIA documents. There are significant differences between Mrs. Ohr’s testimony about her communication and contacts with DOJ and FBI officials, and the scale of contact within the FOIA release.
According to an interview with Representative Jim Jordan, Rep Mark Meadows was considering a criminal referral. This evening, John Solomon is following up and affirming Nellie Ohr has now been referred to the DOJ for criminal prosecution (pdf below).
This doesn’t come as a surprise following the release of transcripts and the ability to contrast testimony from 2018 with recent discoveries and evidence. As a point of fact, Ms. Ohr also lied in her testimony about the timing of her Ham Radio license and use.
Not coincidentally, Fusion-GPS owner Glenn Simpson is also being reviewed for lying to investigators about his contacts and activity in connection to the dossier. Nellie Ohr worked for Fusion-GPS and it would appear Fusion was at the center of the effort to construct evidence to support the 2016 election operation against Donald Trump.
John Solomon@jsolomonReportsBreaking: Criminal referral filed against Nellie Ohr concerning congressional testimony after emails surface showing election-year contacts with DOJ https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/441580-nellie-ohrs-hi-honey-emails-to-doj-about-russia-collusion-should-alarm-us#.XMo3POquQ5U.twitter …Nellie Ohr’s ‘Hi Honey’ emails to DOJ about Russia collusion should
Emails that Nellie Ohr sent to DOJ during the 2016 election, their timing and subject matters, have raised questions in Congress.
thehill.com
Our research indicates a strong likelihood Fusion-GPS was contracted by the Obama intelligence apparatus through the Clinton Campaign, DNC and Perkins Coie specifically to help fabricate evidence that could be used to cover-up prior surveillance operations.
Prior to March 9th, 2016, the political surveillance and spy operations of the Obama administration were using the FBI and NSA database to track/monitor their opposition. However, once the NSA compliance officer began initiating an internal review of who was accessing the system, the CIA and FBI moved to create ex post facto justification for their endeavors. [Full Backstory]
After the NSA alerts, in/around March 9th, 2016, and particularly after the April 18th shutdown of contractor access, the Obama intelligence community needed Fusion GPS to create a legal albeit ex post facto justification for the pre-existing surveillance and spy operations. Fusion GPS gave them that justification in the Steele Dossier.
Since 2017 CTH research has outlined that Christopher Steele was never the factual source of all the material inside the Clinton financed dossier. Instead all indications of the granular details point toward Christopher Steele as the laundry process; where Nellie Ohr and Glenn Simpson’s collaborative work was formatted into an intelligence product known as the “Steele Dossier”.
Our research of central dossier claims, suppositions, accuracy and inaccuracy, points toward a process where Nellie Ohr provided Chris Steele with her research material and then Chris Steele was tasked with verifying, finding second sourcing, and formatting the final product into a series of intelligence documents that could be passed back to the FBI.
In essence, Nellie has always been the material dossier author.
Fusion-GPS’s Glenn Simpson hired (contracted) Nellie Ohr in December of 2015. It is highly likely this arrangement was due to Nellie’s research access to the FBI/NSA database. Mrs. Ohr was almost certainly doing unauthorized wide-ranging FISA(702) searches using “about queries” (option 17) and “To/From queries” (option 16).
At the conclusion of her effort (providing material she knew the FBI was exploiting for the Trump-Russia ‘spygate’ scheme), the memory stick Nellie provided to Bruce was the totality of all her raw research files. Those files included stuff Chris Steele had already compiled; raw stuff that neither was able to verify (Cohen-Prague); and search results that never made their way into the dossier.
Turning over all of the raw research would allow the FBI to explore and/or re-explore the information to see if they could extract more value. My suspicion is the memory stick from Nellie Ohr to her husband Bruce Ohr provided the unlawfully extracted seed material for what the Mueller investigation ultimately used against Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn. [The Papadopoulos and Page stuff was not as valuable]
With this hand-off, the FBI research and investigative unit assisting Robert Mueller’s 2017 assembled team of prosecutors etc. was essentially the same FBI small group who constructed the 2016 insurance policy.
Nellie’s files gave Team Mueller a head-start. They didn’t need to look for too much evidence as Nellie had already explored and extracted the material they could use. It’s really not a hard pattern of dot connection once you follow the timeline and process.
Saagar Enjeti✔@esaagar
1/ NEW: Nellie Ohr exchanged 339 pages of emails with DOJ ofcls incl Bruce Ohr and met with DOJ prosecutors, including while working at Fusion GPS. This appears to contradict her previous testimony before Congress. https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/441580-nellie-ohrs-hi-honey-emails-to-doj-about-russia-collusion-should-alarm-us#.XMoCeaNTrcY.twitter …
Saagar Enjeti✔@esaagar
2/ @Jim_Jordan tells me today that based on this information he believes @MarkMeadows “is working to finalize” a criminal referral of Nellie Ohr. “We’ll see if that happens.” https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/441580-nellie-ohrs-hi-honey-emails-to-doj-about-russia-collusion-should-alarm-us#.XMoCeaNTrcY.twitter … pic.twitter.com/gDKCnh0bkw
481 people are talking about this
Former CIA Officer Pleads Guilty to Conspiring With Chinese Agents…
May 1, 2019
This is disturbing: “This is the third case in less than a year in which a former US intelligence officer has pled or been found guilty of conspiring with Chinese intelligence services to pass them national defense information.”
VIA DOJ – A former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) case officer pleaded guilty today to conspiring to communicate, deliver and transmit national defense information to the People’s Republic of China. Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers, U.S. Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger for the Eastern District of Virginia, Assistant Director for Counterintelligence John Brown of the FBI and Assistant Director in Charge Nancy McNamara of the FBI’s Washington Field Office made the announcement after Senior U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III accepted the plea.
According to court documents, Jerry Chun Shing Lee, 54, left the CIA in 2007 and began residing in Hong Kong. In April 2010, two Chinese intelligence officers (IOs) approached Lee and offered to pay him for national defense information he had acquired as a CIA case officer. The IOs also told Lee they had prepared for him a gift of $100,000 cash, and they offered to take care of him “for life” in exchange for his cooperation.
Beginning sometime in May 2010 and continuing into at least 2011, Lee received requests for information, or taskings, from the Chinese IOs. The majority of the taskings asked Lee to reveal sensitive information about the CIA, including national defense information. On May 14, 2010, Lee made or caused to be made a cash deposit of $138,000 HKD (approximately $17,468 in USD) into his personal bank account in Hong Kong. This would be the first of hundreds of thousands of dollars (USD equivalent) in cash deposits Lee made or caused to be made into his personal HSBC account from May 2010 through December 2013. (read more)
Unrelated. I’m wondering if “Assistant Director for Counterintelligence John Brownof the FBI” is the “John” in this text exchange:
“Andy” is Andrew McCabe (Former FBI Deputy Director)
“Bill” is Bill Priestap (Former FBI Director of Counterintelligence)
“Jen” is Jennifer Boone (FBI Counterproliferation unit)
“John” might very well be John Brown. Asst. Director for Counterintelligence
REPORT: AG William Barr Cancels Appearance for House Committee Hearing Tomorrow…
May 1, 2019
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler has created a circus atmosphere ahead of a scheduled appearance by Attorney General William Barr tomorrow.
After today’s hearing devolved into a hot mess; and after Nadler changed processes to block committee representatives from questioning the AG; it appears Attorney General William Barr has cancelled his scheduled appearance.
WASHINGTON DC – U.S. Attorney General William Barr will not testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, a committee aide tells NBC News. The hearing is set to proceed as scheduled, starting at 9 a.m. EST. (link)
Here’s a brief example of the hot mess earlier today:
Rep. Doug Collins
✔@RepDougCollinsLatest from the sideshow: Democrats attempt to squash debate and ram an unprecedented motion through House Judiciary Committee.
1,106 people are talking about this
Rep. Doug Collins✔@RepDougCollins
It’s a shame Members of the House Judiciary Committee won’t get the opportunity to hear from Attorney General Barr this Thursday, because the chairman chose to torpedo our hearing. Full statement:
1,775 people are talking about this
Rep. Matt Gaetz✔@RepMattGaetz
BREAKING: Democrats use procedural gamesmanship to block Mueller testimony before House Judiciary Committee tomorrow.
1,544 people are talking about this
Senator Grassley Questions AG Barr on Predicate of Steele Dossier and Mueller Team Leaks…
May 1, 2019
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, follows up on his letter to AG William Barr questioning whether the special counsel’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election should have looked into whether Fusion-GPS and the Ohr/Steele dossier was part of a Russian disinformation campaign.
Additionally, Grassley asked about the “culture of DOJ and FBI leaking to media” as outlined in the previous inspector general report (June 2018); in answering that question AG William Barr says “we have multiple criminal leak investigations underway”.
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Keep in mind… Recently Buzzfeed opened a can-of-worms, which is currently being ignored by MSM, when Buzzfeed openly published accounts of the Mueller team giving their reporters copies of FBI notes during the investigation. [Details Here]
This Buzzfeed admission was/is stunning…. I don’t even think Buzzfeed realized what they were admitting to. It’s in these paragraphs (emphasis mine):
(Buzzfeed) […] I’d also like to share an accounting of how we came to our characterization, to give our audience and people who reasonably raised questions about our reporting as much information as possible about how the story came to be.
Our story was based on detailed information from senior law enforcement sources. That reporting included documents — specifically, pages of notes that were taken during an interview of [Michael] Cohen by the FBI.
In those notes, one law enforcement source wrote that “DJT personally asked Cohen to say negotiations ended in January and White House counsel office knew Cohen would give false testimony to Congress. Sanctioned by DJT. Joint lawyer team reviewed letter Cohen sent to SSCI about his testimony about Trump Tower moscow, et al, knowing it contained lies.”
The law enforcement source also wrote: “Cohen told OSC” — the Office of Special Counsel — “he was asked to lie by DJT/DJT Jr., lawyers.”
At the time, the sources asked reporters to keep the information confidential, but with the publication of Mueller’s report they have permitted its release. (read more)
Do you realize what Buzzfeed is saying right there?
The Mueller investigative team gave copies of FBI notes (investigative notes) to Buzzfeed news !!
Notice the use of the plural “reporters“; specifically the way “reporters” is used in the paragraph, infers that multiple media outlets were given the same FBI leaked documents.
All fakers are equal, but some are more equal than others.
by Andrei Nekrasov / April 27, 2019
The case of Claas Relotius, an award winning Spiegel writer, who was caught writing fiction and selling it as true stories, seemed to be a game changer in the world of journalism. Yet it soon became just yesterday’s news. And, as Thomas Beschorner of the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, wrote, it was surprising in the first place that people found the lying in the media so surprising. “Scientists manipulate results of research, managers lie. We know all that happens. Everywhere, but not in journalism?”
Somewhat paradoxically, given his suggestion that lying was routine and common, the same Prof. Beschorner continued: “Whether this is an isolated case, or the problem is systemic and therefore widespread, we don’t know yet.”
Then a similar case was discovered. An award winning contributor to Sueddeutsche Zeitung Magazine, Dirk Gieselmann, had invented a main protagonist in a story he wrote. The SZ stated the forgery had taken place, but revealed few details, while suggesting the case was not as severe as that of Relotius.
One way or another, do two known recent cases of fictitious journalism in Germany make the problem systemic?
But what about the infamous fake news? And alternative facts? Those have been around for a while. Is that something totally different from making up plots and characters as in the above mentioned cases?
Even though it was Donald Trump who was credited with creating the fake-news brand, it was largely applied to his own statements, as well as various stories, posts and tweets coming out of Russia, on its behalf, in favour of its perceived friends, and against its perceived enemies.
Yet, has the fake news era really started with Trump and his collusion with Russia, that never actually was? While some call the Trump era “post-truth”, how should we refer to the times when, for example, a Labour prime minister was lying blatantly to justify a war that was to kill tens of thousands of innocent civilians? Or what was the director of National Intelligence in the administration of a progressive predecessor of President Trump doing as he denied NSA were spying on Americans? He was lying, as it became obvious from Edward Snowden’s revelations a little later, but it was a lie before the post-truth era kicked off “officially”.
I had to do my fair share of pondering on the fake news issue while dealing with the story of Sergei Magnitsky and William Browder. I started investigating the story well before the Trump era, but the consequences of my findings revealed in a film played out fully in the context of the new ideological war between Russia and the West.
In the course of the preparations for a new film I am to shoot this year, I wrote to Frederik Obermaier, a Munich based journalist known for the investigation of the famous Panama Papers leak. Obermaier won a Pulitzer Prize for his work on the Panama Papers, as part of an ICIJ (International Consortium of Investigative Journalists) team. Mr Obermaier was one of the authors of the article “The Cellist and the dead Lawyer” (in the English version: “The Magnitsky Case“) published by Suedeutsche on 27 April 2016.
My new film deals, inter alia, with the ways money is laundered, and I wanted to interview Mr Obermeier, who, along with his ICIJ colleagues, has become an authority on the subject. The article Mr Obermeier co-wrote was of a particular interest to me as it appeared to have traced the money stolen in the fraud associated with the name of Sergei Magnitsky. ICIJ has recently reminded its subscribers of the great investigative article by the German colleagues, published exactly three years ago.
The article seems to have established a connection between the Magnitsky Affair (which my previous film was about) and a friend of Vladimir Putin, Sergei Roldugin. My forthcoming film is in many ways a sequel to the film about the fraud at the centre of the Magnitsky Case.
While studying Frederik Obermaier’s article and its sources I realised that it was full of mistakes. I made a list of the most obvious ones and emailed it to Mr Obermaier on the 23 October 2018. Having not heard back I sent another email on 21 November attaching an updated list of mistakes complete with explanations and links to documents disproving the majority of the claims in the article. The first time round I asked Mr Obermaier for an interview, but then I suggested we discuss the matter off the record. Anyone can make mistakes, but the ability to admit them is as important as the talent for authoring good stories, in my humble opinion. I got no response from Frederik Obermaier whatsoever.
Illustration: Sueddeutsche Zeitung
His Sueddeutsche Zeitung article seems to have essentially re-transmitted the false story of Sergei Magntisky, told by Bill Browder, a hedge fund manager, for whom Magnitsky worked as an accountant.
Browder is wanted by Russia for tax evasion. He claims that the Russian criminal charges are politically motivated. Yet, the tax evasion (as well as a number of related crimes) Browder is being accused of happened in 2001, the criminal probe into it starting in 2004. It is well known, and easily evidenced, that Browder was an outspoken supporter of Putin and his government until at least 2005.
“
But investor William F. Browder sees it differently. Never mind the arguments about a creeping coup by Putin’s KGB colleagues, the war in Chechnya, the state takeover of television or even the jailing of Russia’s richest man. To Browder, Putin is a true reformer, “the one ally” of Western capitalists who have come to Russia to create a new market economy but have found themselves adrift “in a sea of corrupt bullies.”
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Instead of pushing the country back, Putin has implemented a reform program that is far more liberal than anything that could have been cooked up at the most radical think tank in Washington. (…)
Putin understood that the country would never succeed with seven oligarchs at the helm — particularly since their interests were so counter to those of the nation. He has set clear limits to the oligarchs’ power and their meddling in the affairs of state. While there may be some things about Putin that we disagree with, we should give him the benefit of the doubt in this area and fully support him in his task of taking back control of the country from the oligarchs.
In 2007, as a result of an elaborate tax rebate scam 230 million dollars were paid into the accounts of three Browder’s companies in Russia. No one (neither Browder nor the Russian authorities) deny the tax rebate fraud took place, except that Browder claims he had lost control of his companies before the money was paid out. I investigated Browder’s claims, and found that they were false.
To divert attention from the the proven 2001-2004 tax evasion case, as well as the suspicion that he may have been involved in the 230 million dollar tax rebate, Browder invented a figure of the crusading anti-corruption lawyer, whistleblower, Sergei Magnitsky. Magnitsky existed of course, but he was Browder’s accountant, not a lawyer, and he never blew whistle on anything.
Tragically, Magnitsky died while in pre-trial detention. Browder claims he was beaten to death by eight “riot guards”. Browder presents no evidence for that, apart from selective quotations from Russian documents. Studied in full those documents, as well as an American report commissioned by Browder himself, make no mention of a murder, let alone a murder by beating. The author of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe report on Magnitsky, Andreas Gross told me on camera that Magnitsky had not been murdered but died of the “lack of care”.
The investigative journalists at Sueddeutsche Zeitung claim to have traced money flows from the Magnitsky affair, but appear unwilling to recognise that they had uncritically embraced the affair’s interpretation by someone with a vested interest in it.
It is also highly ironic that the journalists, writing about Browder’s Russian business, chose to ignore that Browder himself used off-shore schemes extensively, with the help of his Russian staff that included Magnitsky. Companies controlled by Browder have also appeared in Panama papers, e.g Berkeley Advisors and Starcliff.
In the spring of 2016 my film was secretly, and possibly illegally, seen by U.S. government officials before its premiere at the European parliament was stopped on the 27th of April, and the ARTE transmission cancelled on the 3rd of May. One of those officials was Robert Otto, a top intelligence officer at the State Department who wrote in one of many e-mails that were later leaked online. “I am beginning to feel we are all just part of the Browder P.R. machine.” – Mr Otto wrote.
Another of those emails concerned Sueddeutsche Zeitung, my film and myself:
I recently managed to find out who the recipient of the email about me and my film was: Hubert Wetzel. The email was received at the time of the publication of the “The Cellist and the dead Lawyer“. Mr Wetzel had clearly passed the information to Browder’s acolyte Elena Servettaz, or to another “colleague from Suddeutsche Zeitung” (sic), who then swiftly passed it to Elena Servettaz.
I was not contacted by the SZ, either before the cancelled European Parliament screening or thereafter.
On 13 June 2018 Telepolis organised a screening of my film in Munich, with a following discussion. Frederik Obermaier and Tim Neshitov, who had written about the Magntisky case for the SZ were invited. No-one turned up, nor replied to the invitation.
The “money tracing” SZ/Panama Papers used trying to connect the Magnitsky fraud to Sergei Roldugin, was in its main part presented in the U.S. case against Prevezon Holdings Ltd (2013-2017). After almost five years of trying to prove that Prevezon received and laundered money from the Magnitsky fraud, the American government decided to avoid the litigation and to settle the case with no guilt admitted by Prevezon.
Prevezon lawyers questioned Browder as a witness under oath. It was Browder (as he himself admitted) who had personally handed Preet Bharara, then the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, the version of the Magnitsky story that I disprove in my film. William Felix Browder was the source of the whole sprawling, costly case. And it’s his Magnitsky story that was essentially disproved in a court of law.
Yet the mainstream media, including the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, had no interest in taking another look at their articles which had faithfully re-transmitted Browder’s false story. And a stony, arrogant silence was all I got trying politely and tactfully to point out serious mistakes.
Panama papers became a brand name for the press standing up to corruption and wrongful secrecy of those in the position of power, whether financial or political. It would be paradoxical and particularly regrettable if a journalist, a colleague, would use a power he has acquired through a reputation for openness and association with mainstream German and international investigative networks, to obfuscate legitimate questions and documented objections.
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Q.: What steps did you take in finding Mr. Browder to be credible?
A.: Well, we reviewed his documentation, we reviewed some of his statements and verified some of his statements via the internet.
Q.: What did he tell you?
A.: Well, he told us the story of Sergei Magnitsky.
Q.: What public source documents did he refer you to?
A.: He referred me on his website, he referred me to a Russian language newspaper.
Q.: What else?
A.: And the documents that he provided.
Q.: What documents did he provide?
A.: Copies of the bank records, copies of wire transactions
Q.: Did you get in touch with the banks to see if they were accurate?
A.: No, I did not.
Q.: And you obtained flow charts; is that correct?
A.: That’s correct.
Q.: And those were also from Hermitage that you obtained them?
A.: Correct.
Q.: So every transfer here is based on copies that are not authenticated, of records that are incomplete, based on an accounting assumption. Is that right?
A.: That would be correct.
A.: Well, we reviewed his documentation, we reviewed some of his statements and verified some of his statements via the internet.
Q.: What did he tell you?
A.: Well, he told us the story of Sergei Magnitsky.
Q.: What public source documents did he refer you to?
A.: He referred me on his website, he referred me to a Russian language newspaper.
Q.: What else?
A.: And the documents that he provided.
Q.: What documents did he provide?
A.: Copies of the bank records, copies of wire transactions
Q.: Did you get in touch with the banks to see if they were accurate?
A.: No, I did not.
Q.: And you obtained flow charts; is that correct?
A.: That’s correct.
Q.: And those were also from Hermitage that you obtained them?
A.: Correct.
Q.: So every transfer here is based on copies that are not authenticated, of records that are incomplete, based on an accounting assumption. Is that right?
A.: That would be correct.
April 27 / 2019
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The Magnitsky Act & the Thirst for War
Armstrong Economics Blog/Russia
Re-Posted May 2, 2019 by Martin Armstrong
Andrei Nekrasov has put out an article on the fake news that was behind the Magnitsky Case. He documents how there was never any evidence behind Bill Browder’s claims. Nevertheless, we are left with a question. Was all of this created fraud by Bill Browder or was there those in power who could care less if the story was true, they have been able to use it to create isolation of Russia and paint Putin as an evil warlord.
Western powers immediate moved nukes into place and pushed up against the borders of Russia. The neocons hate Trump and for whatever reason, they simply want war without purpose other than they seem to want to dominate the world and they accuse others. Every president before Trump strived for world peace. Here they are desperate to tie Trump to Putin to maintain a cold war if not turn it hot.
The Magnitsky Case is a great film. It has been banned and that is why it is the real story. If it was fake, they would let it air. But they are desperate to ban the Magnitsky Case as they were with our movie the Forecaster. There is something sinister behind the curtain and you can bet it is more than the Democrats – it involved the neocons as well.
Categories: Russia
President Trump Welcomes NASCAR Champion Joey Logano and Team Penske…
April 30, 2019
Earlier today President Trump welcomed 2018 NASCAR champion Joey Logano to the White House. (Video and Transcript Below)
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[Transcript] South Lawn – 3:56 P.M. EDT – THE PRESIDENT: Very talented people. Great musicians. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. And good afternoon. Today it’s my pleasure to welcome the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series Champion, Joey Logano, and Team Penske to the White House. Joey, congratulations. Fantastic. (Applause.)
Team Penske raced across the finish line in the Ford Fusion. You liked the car?
MR. LOGANO: I loved it.
THE PRESIDENT: You better say that. (Laughter.) You better say that.
Parked right here on the White House South Drive. And that is one truly beautiful car. That is technologically something, Roger. I guess very special, right?
MR. PENSKE: Very special.
THE PRESIDENT: Went a little faster than the other ones. But it also had to do with your right foot, I think. (Laughter.)
MR. LOGANO: A little bit.
THE PRESIDENT: We’re delighted to be joined by some tremendous people who are doing a great job for our nation: Secretary Alex Acosta. Alex, thank you very much. Labor. Secretary Elaine Chao. Elaine, thank you. Transportation.
And many of the great members of Congress: Representative Jim Banks. Where is Jim? Hi, Jim. Tim Burchett. Tim. Where are you, Tim? Thank you very much. Very good. And I know you like this sport, don’t you, huh? (Laughter.) Thank you, Tim. Rodney Davis. Rodney, thank you. Mark Green. What a great job you do on television, Mark. Thank you. He’s always defending me. That’s very nice. Thank you. (Laughter.) Richard Hudson. Thank you very much, Richard. Thank you. And Dusty Johnson. Thank you very much.
And we have a lot more in there. Let’s see, I think we have Ralph Norman. Is Ralph here? My friend — central casting. I always call him “central casting.” (Laughter.) Bill Posey. Thank you, Bill. Phil Roe. The great Phil Roe, huh? Thanks, Phil. Mike Thompson. Thank you. Michael Waltz. Thank you. Thank you, Michael. Good job. Great job. And Steve Watkins. Thank you very much. Thanks, Steve.
And many of the state and local leaders. Too many politicians to announce. We won’t bother with the rest of you guys. Just — you can be angry at me for a week only. (Laughter.)
I also want to thank nice NASCAR Vice Chairman Mike Helton for being with us. Thank you, Mike. I’ve been with you for a long time. I sort of consider you a friend. I watch you on television. And you’re as famous as NASCAR, in its own way. Right? But you’ve done a great job, Mike — for being here.
As well as Team Penske’s Chairman and Founder, a friend of mine for a long time — I won’t say how long because it will tell us about our age and we don’t to discuss it — but we’ve been friends for a long time. I know a lot about Roger. Too much. I know too much about Roger. He’s a great man and a great guy.
And over the course — this is incredible to me because I looked at these stats before getting up — over the course of the 2018 season, the Number 22 team earned 26 top-10 finishes, led 934 laps — that’s a lot, right? Huh? Won three races and competed against three former champions in the playoffs, and came out ahead.
The battle for the championship was a nail-biter right to the end. In the final race of the season, at the Homestead-Miami Speedway — a nice one — Joey took the lead in a daring high-line pass with only 11 laps to go, clinching the title. So when you get out in front, it’s tough for the — you just don’t — you will not allow somebody to come back, right?
MR. LOGANO: Don’t look back. (Laughs.)
THE PRESIDENT: He’s a good frontrunner, fellas, I guess. Huh? If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t be standing up here, right?
It was a heart-pounding, high-octane NASCAR action finish. And it was a great race and a great season.
While Joey might be the star out there on the track, Team Penske could have never made it without all of the great crew that we have with us today.
So to Joey, Vice Chairman Walt Czarnecki — Walt? Walt? Hi, Walt. That’s what I thought, Walt. Say hello to your wife. He said his wife likes Trump. And I said, “And I like her, too.” Right? (Laughter.) Team President Tim Cindric — Tim? Great job. Fantastic Job. Crew Chief Todd Gordon — your times are good in there? Huh? Hit a little danger with that stuff, right? Not when you have him driving. It’s the other guys you have to watch out for. Great job. It’s a fantastic job.
And the Number 22 team, I just want to congratulate you. Todd Gordon, the whole crew — I hear it’s just incredible what you’ve done. You’ve set records of your own. Where’s Todd? Yeah. You’ve set the records of your own. And truly talented people. We appreciate it. I watch it all the time and I marvel at how you can do that. I marvel at how you do it. And so — it’s precise. It’s a great thing for the people of this country to watch, and plenty of them do. I want to congratulate you. Great team.
And I want to congratulate all of the speed records, the strength, the stamina — and that’s true; that’s really true — that carried you on to victory.
Team Penske proudly claims 517 major race champions and race victories, 34 national championships — here’s something incredible — and 17 Indy 500 wins over the course of its history. So you won 17 Indy 500s. And I know a lot of people that have tried to win the Indy 500. They weren’t so successful in winning one or coming in second, third, or tenth. And you won 17. So, Roger, that’s like an incredible — (applause) — it’s an incredible achievement. It’s called, “They’re winners,” right? They’re winners. The team is a winner. And NASCAR is a winner.
Fresh off the 2018 championship season, this year, Roger Penske was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Roger began his career as a driver in 1958 before he made a name for himself as a team owner. And, Roger, I have to say, I’ve watched you from business to racing to ownership of cars, and I just watched you have victory after victory. No matter what you do, it turns to gold. So keep doing it for a long time to come. It’s an amazing achievement what you’ve done. Thank you, Roger. (Applause.) Thank you. There are few people like that. Few. Very few.
I also want to recognize Joey’s wife, Brittany. Where’s Brittany? Come on up here, Brittany. Come on up here. Come on. Come on, Brittany. (Applause.) Great. Great. And Brittany and Joey have a one-year-old son, Hudson. Does he have that kind of talent?
MR. LOGANO: (Laughs.) Not sure yet.
THE PRESIDENT: You want him racing, someday? I don’t know. Keep him out of those cars. (Laughter.) I don’t think so.
At the end of his championship race, Joey celebrated by placing little Hudson inside of the very NASCAR Cup Series trophy — well, it can’t be that one. Yeah, that one. (Laughter.) It’s a very small baby. I’m saying, “Where’s the trophy?” And that was quite a scene. It was all over the place. It was quite a scene.
As Joey said that night, “Winning a championship is great, but it’s nothing compared to being a dad.” Boy, is that central casting, that statement. That’s a perfect statement. (Applause.) Here’s the great, also, Sarah Huckabee. You never heard of Sarah Huckabee, right? Sarah Sanders. Thank you, Sarah.
NASCAR is not only a thrilling display of skill and power, but a celebration of the American spirit. So true. No matter who wins the race, you never forget what matters most: God, family, and country. (Applause.) And nobody embodies that more than you folks, I’ll tell you.
And with champions like you, I am confident that NASCAR will continue to excite and inspire millions of devoted fans across our nation. I’m a fan. And I have friends that know every driver, every car, every number. I say, “What else do you do?” That’s what they do. They love it. And they have great respect for you and admiration for your courage and your skill.
So to every member of this championship team: Congratulations again on your amazing achievement.
And with that, I’m really honored to welcome to the podium the Chairman of Penske Corporation, and one of the truly great people of this world — not only our country; I really mean that — one of the truly great people of our world, Roger Penske. (Applause.)
MR. PENSKE: Thank you, Mr. President. Certainly an honor for me to be here today and to have you invite our team to be a part of this great celebration of the 2018 Championship.
To me, the opportunity for us to be at the nation’s capital today was amazing for our team. The chance to visit the White House is something you dream about, and we can tell our grandkids forever of this great opportunity.
But I would be remiss — me, personally, and the team want to thank you for the support of our men and women in the military and the first responders who keep this country safe and secure. (Applause.) Without that, we wouldn’t be here today.
And when I think about this sport and what’s taken, for me, a common thread through our businesses. And today, this group — team — over here of people represent Joey and the 22 Team. But we have 500 members, Mr. President, back in Mooresville and 60,000 Penske Corporation employees that thank you and the people here today to have us as part of this celebration. It’s just amazing.
I want to thank the France family and Mike Helton and the team at NASCAR to give us these stadiums around the country so we can compete.
Let me tell you a little about Joey Logano. Joey is a racer. His family — all of us family helps us get to where we are, but Joey’s dad and his mom have been a big part of his championship run. We were fortunate enough to get him on our team several years ago. But he delivers not only on the racetrack — and I want to say not only on the racetrack, but Brittany and Joey give so much back to the community.
And I’ll tell you a story. The night before the race, Mr. President, at Homestead, Joey and Brittany were at a Publix, giving out 100 turkeys to homeless people. That’s the man that’s the championship in 2018. (Applause.)
So, with that, I’d like to introduce Joey Logano. I know he has some comments to make. And thank you, Mr. President.
MR. LOGANO: Well, thank you. It’s such an honor to be speaking here. Actually, I kind of got to pinch myself to think what I’m doing here right now. But what an amazing day we’ve had, an amazing run we had last year, to be able to win the championship.
And like Roger and Mr. President said, it takes an amazing team to make that happen. And today we had quite the experience to see your team — the team that makes our amazing country be what it is. And this is a great reminder for myself, and I’m sure I’m speaking for my whole team, of what goes into our great country and our freedom and everyone that’s fought for that. So I need to thank, obviously, our military and our leaders that give us the opportunity to go out there and do what we love every day.
Whether it’s driving racecars or watching it, or playing golf — whatever it may be, whatever you’re into — we get to do that because we live in an amazing country.
So I just need to thank everyone for that. I still can’t get over my car sitting here in front of the White House. (Laughter.)
But I want to leave you guys with something before that. You know, to be a champion, you know, you don’t have to drive a racecar. You don’t have to have a ring or a trophy. Sometimes, being a champion, you can be doing the smallest things, and it’s just doing the right thing at the right moment, and helping those that need it the most.
So, you know, I just want to thank everybody for giving me the opportunity to drive a racecar and live my dream in an amazing country.
So, with that, we want to give you a little gift as — thanking you for being our President and giving us this amazing day. So we have a helmet over here that we wore during the championship season — or I wore during the championship season. And hopefully it doesn’t smell that bad for you. (Laughter.) So we wanted to give you that, along with a trophy that looked just like the actual trophy.
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, that’s beautiful. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
Well, I really — I’ll have a great place in the Oval Office for that, actually.
MR. LOGANO: Awesome.
THE PRESIDENT: We have some wonderful champions — some Super Bowl champions and others. And that will be right at the top of the list. We appreciate it.
And I said to Joey, “Do you think that the crew would like to see…” — we rarely do this — “but would they like to see the Lincoln Bedroom?” Do you have any interest in seeing the Lincoln Bedroom? Have you seen the Lincoln Bedroom before? Not too many people have. It’s very special.
So I thought we’d take, maybe, the crew. And I don’t know if you congressmen and women want to come up? Let’s go, okay? We’ll go see the Lincoln Bedroom together, okay? I’ll give you a personal tour. It is special, and you are special, special champions.
So congratulations to all of you. And, Joey, fantastic job. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you.
END 4:11 P.M. EDT
Donald J. Trump✔@realDonaldTrump
CONGRATULATIONS to the 2018 @NASCAR Cup Series Champion, @JoeyLogano! https://www.pscp.tv/w/b5ilBTFvTlFsTFJub1dwUXd8MXluS09SbnpaWFh4UoNAgXVcq9g17uAJZCL6YWO2ZY956yqSlbtyPgYjxAF0?t=3s …The White House @WhiteHouse
LIVE: President Trump Hosts the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series Champion: Joey Logano
pscp.tv
President Trump Threatens “full and complete embargo” of Cuba Over their Support for Maduro Regime…
April 30, 2019
China, Russia and Cuba are financing and supporting the socialist regime of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela. Russian and Chinese military equipment was previously shipped into the country and military members from Cuba are fighting on the ground.
In response to the violence and presence of the Cuban military, President Trump is now threatening a full and complete embargo of Cuba by the U.S.
CNN Politics✔@CNNPolitics
“We will hold accountable those who turn to violence or inflict violence upon the Venezuelan people. There will be a day for accountability for all those who engage in this,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says of the uprising in Venezuela
Horsetrading – Pelosi and Schumer Meet POTUS for Infrastructure Deal…
Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on April 30, 2019
Well, it looks like the outcome of a horsetrading deal is starting to assemble. President Trump meeting with Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer et al, to discuss a $2 trillion infrastructure deal. Despite their schemes and plots this is worth watching:
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Democrats don’t want the baggage of a tax increase heading into 2020… so Schumer punts the financing of the $2 trillion to President Trump; forcing the White House to deal with the dirty part (likelihood a gas tax increase), while Schumer/Pelosi keep clean hands on the high-brow aspect of beautiful infrastructure. That part is politically predictable.
That said, CTH can see the outline a deal where Democrats exchange votes for President Trump’s trade deals (specifically USMCA); to offset the Wall Street Republicans that will vote against the trade agreements; in return for provisions of an infrastructure deal that will benefit Pelosi/Schumer.
The devil is going to be deep in the details because Democrats will attempt to use any massive spending bill to purchase (and repay) votes and activism from their political constituents, ie. Union Leadership.
(White House) Press Secretary’s Statement on President Trump’s meeting on Infrastructure:
“Today, President Donald J. Trump, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senator Richard Durbin, Senator Patty Murray, Senator Debbie Stabenow, Senator Ron Wyden, Senator Tom Carper, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Representative James Clyburn, Representative Ben Ray Lujàn, Representative Richard Neal, and Representative Peter DeFazio had an excellent and productive meeting on rebuilding our Nation’s crumbling infrastructure including roads, highways, bridges, tunnels and railroads, modernizing our air travel system, and expanding broadband access for our great farmers and rural America.
The United States has not come even close to properly investing in infrastructure for many years, foolishly prioritizing the interests of other countries over our own. We have to invest in this country’s future and bring our infrastructure to a level better than it has ever been before. We will have another meeting in three weeks to discuss specific proposals and financing methods.
The President and the Democrat leaders also agreed to a meeting in the near future to discuss prescription drug prices. We look forward to building on this Administration’s success in having lowered drug prices for the first time in 50 years. President Trump feels there is a long way to go – drug prices should be much lower than they are today.
The President looks forward to working together in a bipartisan way and getting things done for the American people.” (link)
Flashback – Three Days after inauguration, January 23, 2017:
FOX & friends
✔@foxandfriends
Union leaders say they’re looking forward to working with Pres Trump: “The respect [he] just showed us… was nothing short of incredible.”
6,177 people are talking about this
(January 23rd, 2017)
Centinel2012 