White House Director of Trade and Manufacturing policy Peter Navarro discusses the revamp of the KORUS trade deal with South Korea. In addition Navarro discusses the ongoing Trump administration’s tariffs on steel and aluminum, as well as plans to impose tariffs on Chinese products surrounding violations of intellectual-property rights.
[NOTE: Final USTR 301 Report on China was released last night]
It was only six months ago when the international media and U.S. left-wing pundits were proclaiming how we were on the cusp of thermonuclear war with North Korea. As outlined HERE there was almost no-one paying attention to the approach taken by President Donald Trump to creating the “Magnanimous Panda” outcome.
Well, today those same media are reporting on North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and committing to a denuclearized Korean peninsular:
SEOUL, March 28 (Yonhap) — North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has visited China at the invitation of President Xi Jinping and reaffirmed his commitment to denuclearization during their first summit, the two countries’ media said Wednesday.
The North’s leader made an “unofficial” visit to China from Sunday to Wednesday, accompanied by his wife Ri Sol-ju and key officials, including de facto No. 2 figure Choe Ryong-hae, according to the North’s state-run radio.
It was Kim’s first foreign trip since he took office in late 2011. The summit came as Kim plans to meet the leaders of South Korea and the United States in the coming months. (read more)
Well, well, well,…. doesn’t this look like the “Magnanimous Panda” outcome previously discussed?
August 2017 […] The end result will be Kim Jong-un giving up his nuclear ambitions for good; a group of nations promising economic assistance (size TBD), and some official enterprise of ASEAN partners enters as an agency to oversee nuclear compliance under carefully negotiated terms. Big Panda (Xi Jinping) promises the world to be the magnanimous insurance policy therein. Everything between now and that outcome is optically chaff and countermeasures. SEE HERE and HERE
Funny how that works?...
“complicated business folks,…. complicated business”..
…. And likely no-one in media will ever recognize exactly how it all came together.
China’s objective is conquest. China’s tool for conquest is economics. President Trump’s entire geopolitical strategy, using economics in a similar way, is an existential threat to China’s endeavor. Communist Beijing calls the proverbial DPRK shots.
President Trump is putting on a MASSIVE economic squeeze.
♦Squeeze #1. Trump and Mnuchin just sanctioned Venezuela and cut off their access to expanded state owned oil revenue. Venezuela now needs more money. China and Russia are already leveraged to the gills in Venezuela and hold 49% of Citgo as collateral for loans outstanding. Now China and Russia will need to loan more, directly.
♦Squeeze #2. China’s geopolitical ally, Russia, is already squeezed with losses in energy revenue because of President Trump’s approach toward oil, LNG and coal. Trump, through allies including Saudi Arabia, EU, France (North Africa energy), and domestic production has driven down energy prices. Meanwhile Russia is bleeding out financially in Syria. Iran is the financial reserve, but they too are energy price dependent.
♦Squeeze #3. Trump and Tillerson just put Pakistan on notice they need to get involved in bringing their enabled tribal “extremists” (Taliban) to the table in Afghanistan. Pakistan’s primary investor and economic partner is China. If U.S. pulls or reduces financial support to pressure Pakistan toward a political solution in Afghanistan, China has to fill void.
♦Squeeze #4. China’s primary economic threat (competition) is next door in India. President Trump has just embraced India as leverage over China in trade and pledged ongoing favorable trade deals. The play is MFN (Most Favored Nation) trade status might flip from China to India. That’s a big play.
♦Squeeze #5. President Trump has launched a USTR Section 301 Trade Investigation into China’s theft of intellectual property. This encompasses every U.S. entity that does manufacturing business with China, particularly aeronautics and technology, and also reaches into the financial services sector.
♦Squeeze #6. President Trump, Secretary Ross, Secretary Mnuchin and USTR Robert Lighthizer are renegotiating NAFTA. One of the primary objectives of team U.S.A. is to close the 3rd party loopholes, including dumping and origination, that China uses to gain backdoor access to the U.S. market and avoid trade/tariff restrictions. [China sends parts to Mexico and Canada for assembly and then back-door entry into the U.S. via NAFTA.]
♦Squeeze #7. President Trump has been open, visible and vocal about his intention to shift to bilateral trade renegotiation with China and Southeast Asia immediately after Team U.S.A. conclude with NAFTA renegotiation.
♦Squeeze #8. President Trump has positioned ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) as trade benefactors for assistance with North Korea. The relationship between ASEAN nations and the Trump administration is very strong, and getting stronger. Which leads to…
♦Squeeze #9. President Trump has formed an economic and national security alliance with Shinzo Abe of Japan. It is not accidental that North Korea’s Kim Jong-un fired his missile over the Northern part of Japan. Quite simply, Beijing told him to.
Add all of this up and you can see the cumulative impact of President Trump’s geopolitical economic strategy toward China. The best part of all of it – is the likelihood China never saw it, meaning the sum totality of “all of it”, coming.
Six Months Later – This week: •India announces $500 billion investment in U.S. steelworks. •USTR finalizes section 301 report on Chinese trade practices. •The U.S. and South Korea sign historic renegotiated “KORUS” trade deal. •President Trump handing out Steel and Aluminum tariff exemption cards….. And, oh yeah, North Korea tells China it agrees to a full reversal of nuclear ambitions.
Funny that.
The actual announcement of KORUS (“KOR”+”U.S.”), the renegotiated U.S. and South Korea trade deal, has yet to be made by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and U.S. President Donald Trump. However, more details are surfacing inside KORUS media leaks. Fantastic job by Lighthizer!
TOP LINES:
(Via AP) The new deal doubles — to 50,000 — the cars each U.S. automaker can export annually to South Korea, reduces bureaucratic barriers to American products and extends a 25 percent U.S. tariff on South Korean pickup trucks by 20 years, through 2041.
South Korea escapes America’s new 25 percent tariff on imported steel — but must accept quotas on steel exports equal to 70 percent of its average annual shipments to the United States between 2015 and 2017.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss the policy ahead of an official announcement.
The United States this month began imposing the steel tariffs, saying imports jeopardized U.S. national security. But it has been suspending the duties on allies like the European Union, Canada and Mexico.
The U.S. Treasury Department is also in talks on a deal to prevent Seoul from deliberately pushing its currency lower to give South Korean exporters a competitive advantage. A formal agreement on currency would be unprecedented — but it wouldn’t have teeth, because it would include no enforcement mechanism.
The U.S. trade deficit in goods with South Korea — nearly $23 billion last year — widened after the original pact took effect in 2012, one reason Trump has denounced it. Trade in autos has been especially lopsided: South Korea last year exported to the United States 929,000 passenger vehicles worth $15.7 billion. By contrast, the U.S. shipped to South Korea fewer than 53,000 autos, worth just $1.5 billion, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.
The United States says South Korea has used non-tariff barriers, such as rigorous customs inspections, to block U.S. products.
Trump’s complaints about South Korean trade practices have caused friction between the two allies at a crucial time, as he prepares for a meeting with North Korea’s reclusive leader, Kim Jong Un.
Unions at South Korea’s two-largest automakers, Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp., have already blasted the new agreement for blocking access to the fast-growing U.S. pickup truck market. “It is a humiliating deal that accepts Trump’s strategy to preemptively block South Korean pickup trucks,” Hyundai Motor Company’s labor union said in a statement. (read more)
A lot of under-the-radar action happening today surrounding the upcoming DOJ Office of Inspector General Michael Horowitz report.
House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte called Inspector General Michael Horowitz earlier today to discuss the content of the subpoena he recently sent to the DOJ demanding investigative records related to the ongoing IG internal review and report.
Simultaneous to this oversight discussion, and related to the content therein, FBI Director Christopher Wray released a public statement announcing additional FBI staff resources committed to fulfillment of Chairman Goodlatte’s request.
FBI – As the Director of the FBI, I am committed to ensuring that the Bureau is being transparent and responsive to legitimate congressional requests.
Up until today, we have dedicated 27 FBI staff to review the records that are potentially responsive to Chairman Goodlatte’s requests. The actual number of documents responsive to this request is likely in the thousands. Regardless, I agree that the current pace of production is too slow.
Accordingly, I am doubling the number of assigned FBI staff, for a total of 54, to cover two shifts per day from 8 a.m. to midnight to expedite completion of this project. (link)
DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz has ‘at least’ 1.2 million documents gathered as part of his fourteen month investigation into the politicization of the FBI and DOJ.
Included within the exhaustive evidence is the total transcript of text messages between FBI Agent Peter Strzok and FBI Attorney Lisa Page extending almost two years. Some of those text messages were previously released to congressional oversight committees and have structured much of the media storyline and investigative pathways for three congressional committees. However, only a small portion of those texts were actually release so far.
According to an interview between Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte and radio personality Sean Hannity earlier today, Horowitz has assembled all of the information for his report but the scope of the report is so exhaustive it will most likely be released in segments according to the subject material and the myriad of issues involved:
The first section of the IG report, encompassing the DOJ/FBI political activity -specifically surrounding leaks to the media and fired Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe- will likely come out first in April.
The McCabe release should be followed by a release of the IG findings on the topic of FBI and DOJ conduct, and the politicization therein, within the Hillary Clinton email investigation.
The issues with the DOJ/FBI representations to the FISA Court, the October 21st DOJ/FBI application therein and other issues, will flow thereafter; there may be sub-chapter reports released supplemental to the FISA investigation surrounding Christopher Steele, Fusion-GPS and/or the private contractors and abuse of FBI and DOJ databases.
However, following protocol the IG report will first be released and reviewed to the three principles in charge of the internal departments being investigated. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray will review each section prior to further release.
Additionally, it is almost certain the IG report will contain highly classified information. While congress will see the totality of the report (after Sessions, Wray and Rosenstein review), each segment will be vetted in a similar matter to the April 2017 FISA Court opinion; which is to say – the public version will have redactions. [At least initially].
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross appears on Fox Business News for an extensive interview with Maria Bartiromo. The interview covers a wide spectrum of important topics attached to the U.S. economy and ongoing trade deals. Two great video segments for the interview will get you up to speed on ongoing initiatives:
♦Segment #1 outlines the upcoming announcement of KORUS, the South Korea and U.S. trade deal. Additionally, Secretary Ross discusses the steel and aluminum tariffs and how they enmesh in the larger objective of the ongoing trade negotiations with China:
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♦Segment #2 outlines more on the aluminum and steel tariffs; ongoing trade talks with Europe; efforts to renegotiate NAFTA, and the possibility of a deal being reached; Saudi Arabian investment in the U.S. and the Commerce Department plans to bring back a citizenship question in the 2020 Census.
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Worth noting the reaction to Maria Bartiromo at 02:45 of the video centered around the question of the “lefty winning in Mexico“, etc. It would appear, based on hidden grinning, the trade team is anticipating a socialist victory in the Mexican election which would likely end up with Mexico wanting to cancel NAFTA due to loggerheads with the U.S.
It is additionally likely Canada’s Chrystina Freeland would lose her NAFTA cohort Mexican Foreign Minister Ildefonso Guajardo. Through seven rounds of NAFTA talks Freeland and Guarjardo have tag-teamed against Ambassador Robert Lighthizer (U.S.).
National Trade Council Director Peter Navarro appeared on CNBC, prior to today’s massive U.S. stock market increase, to discuss ongoing trade initiatives.
U.S.T.R. Robert Lighthizer is currently conducting simultaneous bilateral trade negotiations with South Korea, Philippines, Vietnam, Australia, China (way-points), Japan, Mexico/Canada (NAFTA) and the European Union.
The passage of the defense spending portion of the Omnibus bill ultimately means there will be increased demand for U.S. steel and aluminum within new defense equipment. The contracts within the procurement process will predictably require the use of U.S. parts.
Add the increase in defense spending with the pending global tariffs on steel imports, and the environment is created for foreign investment in domestic steel and metal manufacturing…. Then add into the mix the geopolitical economic relationship developed between India’s Prime Minister Modi and President Trump… And you discover the backdrop for this announcement from India owned JSW Steel:
(Reuters) – India’s JSW Steel Ltd said on Monday it would spend $500 million to build out its U.S. operations in Texas, amid heightened global trade tensions following U.S President Donald Trump’s decision to pursue steep import tariffs.
The company has signed an agreement with the Texas governor’s office, under which the governor has approved a grant worth $3.4 million to the company’s unit, the steelmaker said in a statement here.
The unit, JSW USA, sells high-quality carbon plates to the energy, petrochemicals, defense and other heavy equipment industries.
The company will use $150 million of the funds to improve and modernize its plant in Baytown, Texas, while the rest will fund a new facility, it said. (read more)
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Remember, a key part of MAGAnomics is changing the investment dynamic where the ‘best play’ is to invest in the U.S.
The entire landscape of modern geopolitics is an assembly of various nations specifically focused on their economic interests. Fundamentally, the economics of a nation is the cornerstone for their ability to hold, advance, influence and present their ideology.
Without the underlying economic capability to provide sustainability and stability, the nation, any nation, cannot maintain itself regardless of the underlying political outlook. In short, as the old verse presents: “money makes the world go ’round“. Everything boiled down to it’s essential core – is about economics.
The shock to the system of modern multinational financial interests was created by an earthquake known as Trump; which created a seismic shift via the 2016 U.S. presidential election outcome.
The tectonic political and economic shift was so unsettling to the global elites -who created a decades-long system of global financial interests- they have been thrashing around desperate to regain footing ever since.
All modern political alliances are based on this economic reality, and every single action taken by every member within each grouping is based on their affiliated and interconnected self-interest in the underlying economic equation.
At first, every nation positioned themselves to push-back against a realignment in geopolitical power based on the nationalistic economic shifting created by U.S. President Donald J. Trump. However, as time progresses, and the clear strategy of President Trump begins to take shape, allies and adversaries have begun to accept that POTUS Trump is not going to retreat. Access to a $20 trillion U.S. market is the biggest economic leverage in the world.
It doesn’t matter which continent you point to. If you pull back to the larger view and overlay the economic maneuvering you will find the reason behind the strategic relationship always revolves around economics. War or peace, it’s all about the economics within the equation.
If you scale market economies on a linear continuum according to freedom (size of government in their economic market), and line up the individual nations as flags according to their political outlook on the same linear scale, you will quickly see how the groups cluster in both political ideology and similar economics. [Big government communist nations cluster together; big government socialist nations cluster together; and smaller government fair markets cluster together.] It has always been thus.
The scale of market freedom, in direct proportion to the wealth of the individual within each nation, is the one constant in an ever changing universe.
This is the essential issue with global trade agreements which seek to enjoin free/fair market nations within larger trade deals that also encompass more socialistic political forms of governance. It simply doesn’t work. Generally speaking the free/fair market nations get screwed because they are forced to acquiesce to the insufferable dictates -and rules- of the big government institutional nations. (TTIP and TPP examples)
President Trump has assembled economic SME’s (Subject Matter Experts)to deal with this geopolitical dynamic. Each person specifically skilled to navigate this complex network of internal interests. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Trade Rep. Robert Lighthizer, AG Secretary Sonny Perdue, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, and more recently Trade Adviser Peter Navarro.
Each cabinet member has a role within the larger dynamic that is a policy of economic patriotism benefiting the U.S.A.
New trade deals are being negotiated; NAFTA (Canada and Mexico), Vietnam, South Korea, Australia, ASEAN nations, and then China and the EU [with U.K. coming as soon as Brexit negotiations are complete].
All of the currently visible political alliances, like those witnessed within the G20, are based on their positioning for these upcoming trade deals. Every supportive or antagonistic expression by each of these nation states is directly tied to their positioning for trade leverage and negotiation with the U.S.
The MSM will sell visible and spoken differences of opinion, differences of political ideologies, and newly formed alliances around a narrative of nations being anti-Trump. The media like to focus on the cult of personality to create their discussion segments; but that’s nowhere near the full measure of what’s behind international alliances. The actual motives are the underlying economic determinations within each nation.
It has been so long since U.S. economic power was used to the benefit of the U.S., there’s an entire generation that has no concept of this underlying reasoning for national friendliness, or lack thereof, toward each other. We have given away so much national economic wealth many people have forgotten how to accumulate or compete for it.
The ‘We-Are-The-World‘ type leftist globalism (fair share economics) has been pushed for so long, that many people have completely forgotten what it looks like when nations look out for their own unique economic best interests, and actually strive to achieve them.
Heck, many younger Americans may never have seen the competition at all.
Economic competition, territorial economics, is what drives each nation to excel and innovate. The unexpected aspect, buried by almost all media, is how President Trump is empowering all nations to reevaluate their trade status by confronting a global trade system that was diminishing sovereignty.
And the WINNING is the best part of M.A.G.A !
“KORUS”Perhaps as early as this week we should anticipate hearing about completion a significant trade agreement with South Korea. The deal is known as “KORUS” (KOR+U.S.), and has been in negotiations for over a year.
Part of the recent agreement within the auto-sector of the deal, between Moon Jae-in and President Donald Trump, via Lighthizer and Ross, is an exemption of U.S. steel tariffs for South Korea in exchange for a doubling of U.S. auto exports; from 25,000 to 50,000 American made cars, per U.S. automaker, per year. (link)
The results within KORUS exhibit the intended outcome of the global tariff proposal from President Trump as leverage to enhance the administration policy of reciprocity. The world is taking notice, and China is now beginning to signal their understanding of President Trump leading the international discussion of reciprocal trade.
The unspoken background is that all nations, who have acquiesced to the overwhelming demands of China’s trade position, are now beginning to reassess the value of President Trump confronting the equation head-on. Ultimately it is beginning to sink-in that all nations can benefit from correcting a trade imbalance within their own position. In essence, U.S. President Trump is moving the entire global trade dynamic.
The timing for a U.S. leveraged KORUS deal could not be better. On the geopolitical stage President Trump, through his sheer will, has thrown open the doors to a denuclearized Korean peninsular and is about to engage in direct discussions with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
The ramifications for peace on the Korean peninsular, and the economic outcomes therein, are seismic for South East Asia. Thus we see today stunning reports of Kim Jong-un heading to Beijing for discussions of unknown substance.
There is no doubt both Kim Jong-un (DPRK) and Chinese President/Chairman Xi Jinping must engage in talks about the ramifications. China has long used the DPRK as a proxy province for their own geopolitical strategy against the U.S. and western interests.
POTUS Trump using economic leverage to break down the walls of totalitarian regimes is a stunning position for two nations (China and DPRK) who must have thought such an action would be unconscionable a mere eighteen months ago.
Incredible times of jaw-dropping consequence. Because, ‘His Excellency’ Trump.
PS. A U.S./South Korea trade deal enhances the backdrop, and leverage, of U.S. position toward NAFTA. Canada and Mexico have aligned with the TPP multilateral trade deal. POTUS Trump is negotiating bi-lateral deals with nations within TPP (Japan, Australia, Vietnam, South Korea all ongoing).
Senator Lindsey Graham appears on Fox News for an interview with Maria Bartiromo. 99.99% of the interview is country club Senator Graham repeating the same South Carolina white wine spritzer talking points he’s famous for. That is to say lots of words amounting to nothing. The gastric equivalence of cucumber and mayonnaise triangle sandwiches on crust-less Wonder bread with a side of celery.
However, there is a reminder at 09:50 of a key and important point that tries to surface yet continues to get whacked down by the annoying duplicity of swamp creatures and a media that completely ignores the obvious. Lindsey Graham claims Christopher Steele lied and told the FBI he never talked to media.
We do not know this to be true, and neither does he.
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It is far more likely the FBI:… #1) Ignored Chris Steele talking to media because they needed his Clinton-Steele dossier for a false FISA application; and #2) the FBI later told congress they didn’t know about Steele talking to media, but they really did; and #3) the FBI falsified FD-302 reports of their interview with Chris Steele to cover their tracks.
Here’s how we know:
Christopher Steele had no motive to lie to the FBI about his media contacts.
The FBI had tons of motive to lie about their knowing Steele talked to the media.
It’s just common sense.
Christopher Steele wasn’t meeting in secret with the media, it was well known. He was traveling around to meet them in August and September 2016. Why would he lie to the FBI about such transparently well known action in October? Answer: He wouldn’t.
Toward the end of December, the FBI provided the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chuck Grassley, with FBI investigative documents (likely FD-302’s) from their contacts with Christopher Steele. According to most reasonable timing we can discover Steele met with FBI officials sometime around October 1st, 2016.
From the U.K. lawsuit against Christopher Steele (pdf here), Steele admits to having shopped the Clinton-Steele dossier to U.S. media outlets “in person” in late September (New York Times, WaPo, New Yorker and CNN), and mid-October, 2016 (New York Times, WaPo, and Yahoo News), per instructions from Glenn Simpson (Fusion GPS):
Additionally, in late October, 2016, Christopher Steele briefed Mother Jones via Skype.
According to the HPSCI intelligence memo, the FBI sought a FISA application based on the Steele Dossier on October 21st, 2016. From the evidenced UK court records at least two briefings with reporters, containing five outlets, took place prior to the FBI using the Clinton-Steele dossier in their FISA application.
The “late September” briefings with the New York Times, Washington Post, Yahoo News, New Yorker and CNN took place prior to Christopher Steele meeting with FBI officials early October.
The implication therein is that the FBI had to know prior to their October 21st, 2016, court application that the information they were presenting to the FISA court was being heavily shopped to media outlets. This would be immediately disqualifying.
However, in the released HPSCI memo, it is noted that Christopher Steele lied to the FBI about those media engagements taking place. See:
The HPSCI memo notes the FBI relationship with Christopher Steele was terminated after the FISA application (Oct. 21st, 2016), as a result of the Mother Jones article from October 30th, 2016. Media contact by an FBI material witness is immediately disqualifying.
The HPSCI memo gives the FBI the benefit of doubt by presuming the FBI were unaware or “lied to“.
The FD-302’s (FBI investigative interview notes), which appear to have been turned over to Senate Chairman Chuck Grassley, could contain the evidence to support the FBI being duped; – OR – show the FBI knew, and proceeded in using the dossier despite disqualifying knowledge of media involvement; – OR – the FBI could have manipulated the FD-302’s.
These important questions loom over the FBI classified documents behind the Grassley criminal referral.
In an effort to get the answer to those questions into sunlight; and with the understanding that Chairman Grassley has the FBI documents; Grassley produced a memo for declassification that facilitates understanding how the FBI claims it used the Clinton-Steele dossier during their investigation.
On January 5th, 2018, The Grassley Memo approach surfaced. Grassley issues a statement on the reason for the criminal referral. He lets us know that he ALSO has a classified memo that he is trying to get released! Unlike Nunes he needs to go through DOJ:
January 24th, 2018, Grassley Speech: “Hiding From Tough Questions” – In his 17 minute speech Grassley reveals important details about his investigation into Steele and the FBI.
Thanks to the brilliant work of DaveNYviii we can walk through this carefully, and watch the outline in a logical sequence.
FIRST – The Criminal Referral:
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SECOND – The Discrepancies:
“If those [FBI] documents are not true, and there are serious discrepancies that are no fault of Mr. Steele, then we have another problem—an arguably more serious one.”
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The FBI, via Agent Peter Strzok, was already caught (text messages with his co-hort Lisa Page) admitting to falsifying FD-302 material during this exact time frame.
At first, the context behind the September 10th, 2016, message was elusive, however it is now clear.
On September 2nd, 2016, during the (pre-election) apex of the FBI providing the documents behind their investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of her personal email, and the subsequent decision by FBI Director James Comey not to pursue criminal charges therein, the FBI released their investigative files:
September 2nd, 2016 FBI Press Release:
“Today the FBI is releasing a summary of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s July 2, 2016 interview with the FBI concerning allegations that classified information was improperly stored or transmitted on a personal e-mail server she used during her tenure. We also are releasing a factual summary of the FBI’s investigation into this matter.
We are making these materials available to the public in the interest of transparency and in response to numerous Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Appropriate redactions have been made for classified information or other material exempt from disclosure under FOIA. Additional information related to this investigation that the FBI releases in the future will be placed on The Vault, the FBI’s electronic FOIA library.” (link)
The FBI was under pressure to release their investigative documents. On Sept 2nd, 2016 the release included the FBI investigative notes (FD-302’s) from the questions and answers during Hillary Clinton’s interview. This investigative release was big news at the time.
The 302’s are the specific FBI forms used to document interviews/interrogations. They detail questions asked and answers given as well as who was present during the interview.
Inside the September 2nd, 2016, FBI release were two files:
•One file was 47 pages (full pdf here) and includes a full summary of the Clinton email investigation.
•The second file is 11 pages (full pdf here) and is the actual FBI investigator notes during the Hillary Clinton interview.
This second file is the “FD-302” (embed at the bottom for reference). This is the 302 file FBI Agent Peter Strzok is referencing in the text message to Lisa Page. Remember, Peter Strzok was one of the FBI people who actually interviewed Hillary Clinton.
What FBI Agent Peter Strzok is admitting in the September 10th text message, is that there are details within the interview of Hillary Clinton that he (and others) intentionally withheld from the September 2nd, 2016, release.
Specifically, evidence withheld in the 302’s would be some of the FBI questions and some of the Hillary Clinton answers to those questions. In essence, the FBI held back actually releasing the full account of the interview.
According to the Strzok text message, the reason for withholding some of the details of the Hillary Clinton interview is because there are “very INFLAMMATORY things” within it; and once congress finds out what was withheld the details will “absolutely inflame” them.
Peter Strzok then goes on to say when/if the full FOIA is released, presumably post-election, Jim, Trisha, Dave and Mike are going to have to figure out how to deal with the discrepancy:
…”I’m sure Jim and Trisha and Dave and Mike are all considering how things like that will play out as they talk among themselves.”
•”Jim” is likely James Baker, the disgraced Chief Legal Counsel for FBI Director James Comey. He was busted out of a job right before congressional questioning.
•”Trish” is likely Trisha Beth Anderson, Office of Legal Counsel for the FBI. [Anderson was hired for the DOJ, by AG Eric Holder, from Eric Holder’s law firm.]
•”Dave” was likely David Laufman the Deputy Asst. Attorney General in charge of counterintelligence. Laufman sat in on the questioning of Hillary Clinton and resigned RIGHT AFTER these Strzok/Page text messages were released. [SEE HERE]
•And “Mike” was almost certainly Mike Kortan, the FBI Communications Director who also resigned right after the Nunes memo was released, when confronted by FBI Director Christopher Wray about an unauthorized FBI statement which attempted to undermine the HPSCI memo content. [See HERE and HERE]
So it would appear, James Baker and Trisha Anderson, the legal advisers at the top of the FBI leadership apparatus, in addition to Lisa Page the DOJ attorney assigned to the staff of Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, were all legally aware the September 2nd, 2016, FOIA release was manipulated by the FBI to conceal part of Hillary Clinton’s questions and answers.
Perhaps now we can better understand the importance of this specific text message as it was released by House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte.
This message by Strzok shows a team of FBI officials intentionally conspiring to withhold “inflammatory” Clinton investigation evidence, from congress. And the decision-making goes directly to the very top leadership within the FBI.
Peter Strzok justifies his knowledge of the intentionally withheld 302 interview material by claiming: “because they weren’t relevant to understanding the focus of the investigation”. However, to evaluate the filter this investigative team are applying we only need to look at the wording of their public release which accompanied the material:
Today the FBI is releasing a summary of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s July 2, 2016 interview with the FBI concerning allegations that classified information was improperly stored or transmitted on a personal e-mail server she used during her tenure. (link)
They felt obligated only to release information about “classified” or “improperly stored or transmitted” information. That’s a rather disingenuous investigation.
There’s no mention of any FBI intent to investigate action or conduct undertaken by Hillary Clinton or her team to hide the use of classified or improperly stored information; or any intent to look at a cover-up, scrubbing, or conduct that happened AFTER it was discovered that she unlawfully used a personal e-mail server during her tenure.
We can see from the wording of the FBI public release, and the overlay of the text message from interviewer Peter Strzok, a deliberate effort to inquire into only the surface issues of classified information transmission and storage. There was no investigative intent to go beyond that, and no information released, intentionally, that might disclose any larger issues.
If the FBI was legitimately conducting an investigation, and providing the subsequent evidence from within that investigation, the FOIA would include all material relevant to the investigation, which would include all 302 (essentially Q&A) pages. However, the set of questions and answers the FBI released on Sept. 2nd 2016 was not the full set of Questions and Answers. They withheld something, likely “inflammatory”, per FBI Agent Strzok.
FBI Agent Peter Strzok is outlining in this text message a deliberate intent to shape the Clinton interview, and then a deliberative process of filtering out only those aspects of the interview that would support their pre-determined outcome, delivered only days later.
Additionally, FBI Agent Strzok is admitting that a group of FBI officials including himself, James Baker, Trisha Anderson, Lisa Page, and likely others (McCabe, Comey) conspired together to intentionally withhold information -derived from this interview- from congress and the American people.
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Oh, here we go. Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch has a decades-earned nickname, “Mr. Wall Street”, Chris Wallace is the insufferable media mouthpiece for the financial interests of the guy who signs the front of his paycheck. This is Wall Street -vs- Main Street.
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When Main Street economic principles are applied Wall Street will initially lose. There’s no way for this not to happen. Most of Wall Street is built on the Multinational platform of economic globalism. Weaken the grip of the multinational corporations and financial interests on the U.S. economy and Wall Street will drop… this is not difficult to predict. This is also necessary.
U.S. stocks, centered around U.S. domestic companies, will go up. U.S. stocks, centered around multinational companies -invested heavily overseas, and dependent on exploitation of the U.S. trade deficit- will go down.
As Secretary Wilbur Ross, U.S.T.R. Robert Lighthizer and U.S. President Trump have previously affirmed, they are going to restore the U.S. manufacturing base or lose office trying.
Additionally, the U.S. GDP is measured by deducting the value of imports from the value of everything produced domestically. Therefore, initially as the economy expands, and as more Americans have more money to buy more stuff, lots of the things they buy will come from overseas. This increase in purchasing of imports drives down the GDP despite the overall economic activity expanding.
I hope everyone has been prepared with prior information on how the economic system works so we can understand this weird and predictable dynamic. Increased consumer spending can actually drive down the GDP if the stuff we are buying is imported.
I have created this site to help people have fun in the kitchen. I write about enjoying life both in and out of my kitchen. Life is short! Make the most of it and enjoy!
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