On the surface it would appear the Mueller probe has reached its final stages. Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein was scheduled to exit the DOJ simultaneous to his partner, Robert Mueller, concluding his special counsel investigation.
[Via The White House] February 19, 2019 – President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Individual to a Key Administration Post.
Today, President Donald J. Trump announced his intent to nominate the following individual to a key position in his Administration:
Jeffrey A. Rosen of Virginia, to be the Deputy Attorney General at the Department of Justice.
Mr. Rosen currently serves as Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Previously, Mr. Rosen was a senior partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP. During his nearly 30 years at that firm, he held positions of Associate, Partner, Co-Head of the Washington, D.C., office, and member of Kirkland’s Global Executive Management Committee.
Mr. Rosen served as General Counsel and Senior Policy Advisor for the White House Office of Management and Budget and as General Counsel at the U.S. Department of Transportation. Additionally, he served as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center and Chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice.
Mr. Rosen earned his B.A. in economics with Highest Distinction from Northwestern University and his J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School. (WH Link)
Jeffrey Rosen is the hand-picked deputy of Attorney General William Barr:
Earlier today President Trump signed Space Force Policy Directive #4 and held a brief presser in the Oval Office. [Video and Transcript Below] During questions, President Trump answered a variety of questions on: McCabe, China, N-Korea and Bernie Sanders.
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[Transcript] 2:11 P.M. EST – THE PRESIDENT: Okay, thank you very much. I had a great conversation this morning with President Moon of South Korea. And we obviously discussed the upcoming trip next week, where we’re going Hanoi, in Vietnam. And I look forward to be with Chairman Kim, and I think a lot of things will come out of it.
We had a tremendous first summit. That was really breaking the ice, but a lot of things came from that, including good relationships. And we’re looking forward to having a very good meeting. And President Moon and I discussed, I think, probably every aspect of the meeting; it was a good conversation. I’ll be speaking tomorrow with Prime Minister Abe of Japan, and we’ll be having a similar conversation. So I think next week is going to be very exciting.
It’s going to be the second summit. I think a lot can come from it — at least, I hope so — the denuclearization, ultimately. I’m in no particular rush. The sanctions are on, the relationships are very strong, and a lot of good things have happened.
We’ve gotten our hostages back. The remains are coming back. Vice President Pence was in Hawaii when the first large number, actually, had come. And now, certain have been identified. Their families members have found out exactly what’s going on, and they’ve had ceremonies that are absolutely beautiful. That was an incredible event.
In fact, when we were campaigning, so many people would say — even though it was many years ago, they would say, “Is it possible to get the remains back from North Korea?” So we’ve done that. And as you know, there’s been no testing of rockets, missiles, or nuclear.
So we’re in no rush. A lot of the media would like to say, “Oh, what’s going on? Speed, speed, speed.” No rush whatsoever. We are going to have our meeting; we’ll see what happens. And I think, ultimately, we’re going to be very, very successful.
When I became President, the relationship with North Korea was a very dangerous one for the world, and I think now it’s far less dangerous. And there’s a lot of sanity, a lot of really sane thinking.
So he looks forward to it; I look forward to it. And the talk with President Moon, and tomorrow with Prime Minister Abe, I think will be very helpful.
Today, I’m thrilled to sign a new order taking the next step to create the United States Space Force. So important, when you look at defense, when you look at all of the other aspects of where the world will be someday. I mean, this is the beginning. This is a very important process.
First, I want to recognize our wonderful Vice President, Mike Pence, who serves as the Chairman of the National Space Council. Thank you, Mike. Great job. I know you feel the same way I do.
I also want to thank Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, who is with us; Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson; Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Paul Selva; and the Executive Secretary of the Space Council, Dr. Scott Pace for being here today.
They’ve all worked very hard on the Space Force. They all believe in it very strongly, as I do. It’s the future. It’s where we’re going. I suspect, whether we like it or not, that’s where we’re going. It’s space. That’s the next step, and we have to be prepared.
Our adversaries and — whether we get along with them or not, they’re up in space. And they’re doing it, and we’re doing it. And that’s going to be a very big part of where the defense of our nation — and you could say “offense” — but let’s just be nice about it and let’s say the defense of our nation is going to be.
America must be fully equipped to defend our vital interests. Our adversaries are training forces and developing technology to undermine our security in space, and they’re working very hard at that.
That’s why my administration has recognized space as a warfighting domain and made the creation of the Space Force a national security priority. I think we’ll have great support from Congress, because they do support something when we’re talking about such importance. And a lot of the generals, a lot of the people involved have been speaking to Congress. And we have some very interesting dialogue going on.
We’re investing in new space capabilities to project military power and safeguard our nation’s interests, especially when it comes to safety and defense.
This directive calls on the Secretary of Defense to develop a legislative proposal that will establish the structure and authority of the Space Force as the sixth branch of the United States Armed Forces. That would mean a high-ranking — the highest-ranking person there would go on to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. So it’s a very, very important deal.
The Space Force will organize, equip, and train the next generation of warriors to deter aggression and defend the nation, our allies, and American interests against hostile actions in the form of space and taking place in space.
So we have a lot of things on the books. We have a lot of new defensive weapons and offensive weapons designed specifically for this, and now we’re going to start taking advantage of. This is something they could have done sooner but they decided to wait. And here I am, and we’re going to do it. And I’m very proud that, during my administration, we’re doing so much in space. We need it.
We’ve already taken historic action to create the United States Space Command, as you know, within the Department of Defense to oversee the nation’s military space operations.
Now, in the face of these threats all around the world, American leadership in space is more important than it ever has been. Before, it used to be something that we’d aspire to, we’d talk about, but we wouldn’t do anything. Now we have to do something because that’s where it’s at.
With today’s action, we will ensure that our people are secure, our interests are protected, and our power continues to be unmatched. There will be nobody that can come close to matching us. It won’t be close.
What we have on the books are things that you wouldn’t even believe. You wouldn’t even believe. It’s going to mean the safety of our nation for many, many decades and many, many generations, and that’s what I’m here for. I guess when you get right down to it, more importantly than anything else, that’s why I’m here.
So I just want to thank everybody. The Space Force is a very important part of my administration and it’s a very important part of this nation. And it’s an honor to be with you all. And I’ll sign and we will then maybe take a few questions and ask a few. You may want to say something. In fact, Mike, why don’t you start off? You’ve been — you and I have been working on this very hard. Why don’t you say a few words? Please.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: We have. Thank you, Mr. President. From the first days of this administration, President Trump has made national security a priority. We’ve secured historic investments in our national defense.
But from very early on, the President also said that America needed to be as dominant in space as we are on the Earth. And now, with this fourth Space Policy Directive, America is leading in space once again.
But in this respect, the President is calling on the Department of Defense to fashion what we have literally been working on for months, consulting with members of Congress and military experts. It will be a legislative proposal that will establish the United States Space Force as the sixth branch of our armed forces.
It will build on the President’s leadership of a United States Space Command, a joint combatant command that we’ve already organized at the President’s direction. But this is now the foundation of ensuring that even as we are dominant in space today, now we’ll begin to bring all of our resources together under U.S. Space Command, which will operate under the Department of the Air Force. And in so doing, we’ll ensure that we bring the best resources and the best minds together to protect the American people and advance our interests.
And, Mr. President, all the members of the National Space Council and the agencies that are a part of it are gathered behind you today —
THE PRESIDENT: That’s right.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: — and we thank you for your leadership and your support in this effort.
THE PRESIDENT: Some great talent, I will say that. Would you like to say something? You’ve helped us so much. Please, Paul.
GENERAL SELVA: Sir, you’ve been incredibly supportive in bringing space to the fore as not only a domain of potential warfare, but also recognizing it as a place where a large amount of our economic power comes from. And so our job to protect our national security includes protecting our economy as well. And so, as your Vice Chairman, the Joint Chiefs endorse all this effort to make sure that we get the right emphasis on defending our interests and our assets in space.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Paul. Patrick? How about you?
ACTING SECRETARY SHANAHAN: Yes, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Secretary.
ACTING SECRETARY SHANAHAN: This is a historic moment. The dawn of a new service. I’d like to thank you for your leadership and, most importantly, the resources so that we can do our job.
Mr. Vice President, thank you for pushing us. We’ve come quite a distance in a very short period of time.
And then to my counterparts here, thank you for all the remarkable teamwork. We will deliver the capability better, sooner, faster so we can sustain our margin of dominance.
Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much.
Maybe John Bolton — you’ve been very much involved and I know how you feel about it.
AMBASSADOR BOLTON: Well, this is a visionary project, Mr. President — your leadership, the Vice President, and really everybody on the Space Council. This is not something for the next year or two, or even the next six years. This is on into the century. A place where, as President Kennedy once said, “I believe space is a new ocean and the United States must sail upon it.” And you’re taking the steps to make sure that, from the national security perspective, the United States will be dominant on that new ocean.
THE PRESIDENT: And we will be. Okay, thank you.
Anybody have anything to say? Huh? Would anybody like to say? Fine? No? Good. We’re all (inaudible). (Laughter.) Right? We’ve said enough. Let’s sign. Let’s sign. It’s very exciting.
(The directive is signed.)
So how about we give this one to Paul? Mike, do you want to do that? Okay. Come on, Paul. That’s a big deal. (Applause.)
It’s very important. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.
Q Mr. President, there’s another round of trade talks starting this week here in Washington.
THE PRESIDENT: That’s right.
Q How confident are you that it will be finished by March 1? Or are you considering extending that deadline?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, they are very complex talks. They’re going very well. We’re asking for everything that anybody has ever even suggested. These are not just, you know, “let’s sell corn or let’s do this.” It’s going to be selling corn but a lot of it — a lot more than anyone thought possible. And I think the talks are going very well — with China, you’re referring to?
Q Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: And the talks are going very well.
Our group just came back and now they’re coming here. I can’t tell you exactly about timing, but the date is not a magical date. A lot of things can happen.
The real question will be: Will we raise the tariffs? Because they automatically kick in to 25 percent as of — on $200 billion worth of goods that they send. So I know that China would like not for that to happen. So I think they’re trying to move fast so that doesn’t happen. But it’s — we’ll see what happens.
I can only say that the talks with China on trade have gone very, very well. In the meantime, our economy is very strong. We’re doing well.
I don’t know if you noticed, but deficits seem to be coming down. And last month it was reported, and everybody was surprised, but I wasn’t surprised. We’re taking in a lot of money coming into our Treasury from tariffs and various things, including the steel dumping. And our steel companies are doing really well. Aluminum companies also. So we’re very happy about that.
I think that it’s — they’ll be coming very shortly. They’re going to have very detailed discussions on subjects that have never really been even discussed by people that sat in this chair and they should have been. Very important subjects. And I think we’re doing very well. Okay?
Q (Inaudible) terrorists from Pakistan have been — struck, inside India, 40 security persons last week. How do you see this issue? What’s the message to Pakistan?
THE PRESIDENT: I’ve seen it. I’ve watched. I’ve gotten a lot of reports on it. We’ll have a comment at the appropriate time. It would be wonderful if they got along. It seems like that was a horrible situation. But we’re getting reports. We’ll have a statement to put out. Okay? Thank you very much.
Q Mr. President, did you ask Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker to change the leadership of the investigation into your former personal attorney, Michael Cohen?
THE PRESIDENT: No. Not at all. I don’t know who gave you that. Just more fake news. A lot of — there’s a lot of fake —
Q (Inaudible) story in the New York Times.
THE PRESIDENT: — there’s a lot of fake news out there. No, I didn’t.
Q What is the current status of your relationship with Mr. Whitaker?
THE PRESIDENT: Very good. I have a lot of respect for Mr. Whitaker. I think he’s done a great job. He’s a very, very straight shooter. I watched him during the hearing — some of it. I thought he was exceptional. He’s a very fine man and he should be given a lot of thanks by our nation.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Q Mr. President, what’s your reaction to the lawsuits yesterday filed by the states against your executive order?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think I called it exactly, right? Including the fact that they would put them in through the Ninth Circuit. That’s where they put them in. And I think we’ll do very well.
We have absolute right to do that. I have an absolute right to call a national security. We need strong borders. We have to stop drugs and crime and criminals and human trafficking. And we have to stop all of those things that a strong wall will stop. I could call it a barrier, but I think I don’t have to do that so much anymore. We’ll call it whatever we want.
But the point is that we have to have a stoppage. Billions and billions of dollars of illicit things are pouring through our border. And, you know, we talk about points of entry, and one of the things that we do have is a lot of money now from points of entry, because everything was given. The money was given — so much that you almost don’t know what to do with it — by Congress. But when it came to the wall, they wanted to hold back because it was politics. That’s all it is.
In fact, I hear the Democrats want to take down all walls along the southern border. And if they do that, you’re going to have a very different country. But they’re not going to do that. They wouldn’t. First of all, they won’t do it because they know it’s wrong. They know walls are necessary, maybe more than we do. But they’re playing a political game. And their new game is, “Let’s take down all walls.” I saw where Beto wanted to take down walls. I said — they asked me, “What do you think?” I said, “Well, I think that’s probably the end of his political career.”
We’re doing very well on the wall. We’re building a lot of wall right now. You know that. In the valley, we’re doing tremendous work in a very important area. We have a lot more under negotiation right now. We’re working with the Army Corps of Engineers. They’re fantastic. And a lot of great things are happening.
I think, in the end, we’re going to be very successful with the lawsuit. So it was filed — it was filed in the Ninth Circuit. And I actually think we might do very well, even in the Ninth Circuit, because it’s an open and closed case.
I was put here for security — whether it’s Space Force, which we’re doing today, or whether it’s borders. Because if our nation doesn’t have borders, we don’t have too much of a nation, especially when drugs and all of the things that — you know better than anybody what’s happening at the border. It’s a bad situation. So I think we’re going to do very well with the lawsuit.
Okay?
Q Just one more on Vietnam. You said — you referred earlier to your meetings in Vietnam. What do you want to achieve during that summit?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I’d just like to see, ultimately, denuclearization of North Korea. I think we will see that ultimately. I have no pressing time schedule. And I think a lot of people would like to see it go very quickly from the other side.
I really believe that North Korea can be a tremendous economic power when this is solved. Their location between Russia, China, and South Korea is unbelievable. I think that North Korea and Chairman Kim have some very positive things in mind, and we’ll soon find out. But I’m in no rush. There’s no testing. As long as there’s not testing, I’m in no rush. If there’s testing, that’s another deal. But there has been no testing.
If you look at the end of the Obama administration, it was a disaster what was going on. You don’t have that right now; it’s a much different feeling. I think people have — there’s always danger, but I think people have a much different feeling.
So I hope that very positive things are going to happen. I think that it will be a very exciting couple of days.
Thank you all very much.
Q Your reaction to Bernie Sanders running for President?
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, Bernie Sanders is running. Yeah, that’s right. Personally, I think he missed his time. But I like Bernie because he’s — he is one person that, you know, on trade, he sort of would agree on trade. I’m being very tough on trade. He was tough on trade. The problem is he doesn’t know what to do about it. We’re doing something very spectacular on trade.
But I wish Bernie well. It will be interesting to see how he does. I think what happened to Bernie maybe was not so nice. I think he was taken advantage of. He ran great four years ago, and he was not treated with respect by Clinton. And that was too bad. I thought what happened to Bernie Sanders four years ago was quite sad as it pertains to our country. So we’ll see how he does.
You’ve got a lot of people running, but only one person is going to win. I hope you know who that person is.
January 5th, 2017, an Oval Office meeting with President Obama, VP Joe Biden, James Comey (FBI), Michael Rogers (NSA), John Brennan (CIA), James Clapper (ODNI), Sally Yates (DOJ) and Susan Rice. At the conclusion of the briefing, President Obama asks Sally Yates and James Comey to remain. Together with Susan Rice, this is where the “by the book” comment comes into play. As recounted by Rice:
“President Obama said he wants to be sure that, as we engage with the incoming team, we are mindful to ascertain if there is any reason that we cannot share information fully as it relates to Russia.”
Former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe is now highlighting how the FBI conducted a criminal and counterintelligence operation under the auspices that President Trump was possibly an agent of a foreign government. Let’s look at the big picture…
FBI Director James Comey told congress (March 20th, 2017) the reason the intelligence community did not disclose their counterintelligence operation against candidate, president-elect and President Trump was “because of the sensitivity of the matter.” As such the required congressional oversight notifications were bypassed.
We learn in hindsight the Trump Transition team was under electronic surveillance. This surveillance also included the capture of all of their transition email accounts, the content was later given -without prior approval- to Robert Mueller by the GAO. This is not disputed.
Remember, as an outcome of the concern and in combination with the counterintelligence operation, the incoming National Security Advisor, General Michael Flynn, was designated as a national security risk by the intelligence apparatus that he would be part of. Flynn was under electronic surveillance as part of the Obama authorized operation.
On January 27th, 2017, FBI Director James Comey attended a Green Room dinnerwith President Trump just about a week after the inauguration. This is the meeting where, according to Comey, President Trump asked for “loyalty”. [This is also the date when Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates confronted White House counsel Don McGahn about Flynn’s interview with the FBI a few days earlier on Jan 24th.]
It would only be a few weeks later [Follow Link] when President Trump remodeled the “Green Room” (presidential dining room) adding a flat screen TV and a chandelier he paid for personally. During the remodel the dining room was “taken down to the studs”, and according to a quote later delivered by Time Magazine:
TIME – […] But few rooms have changed so much so fast as his dining room, where he often eats his lunch amid stacks of newspapers and briefing sheets. A few weeks back, the President ordered a gutting of the room. “We found gold behind the walls, which I always knew. Renovations are grand,” he says, boasting that contractors from the General Services Administration resurfaced the walls and redid the moldings in two days. “Remember how hard they worked? They wanted to make me happy.”
On February 14th, 2017 President Trump and James Comey were again alone was in the Oval Office. February 14th was also the day when the head of the Secret Service, Joseph Clancy, announced his resignation. Clancy’s resignation was effective March 4th, 2017.
After he was fired James Comey testified to congress on June 8th, 2017, saying he delivered his memos of the meetings with President Trump to his friend at Columbia University, Professor Daniel Richman, on/after May 15th. He said the intent was to initiate a “special prosecutor”:
“I woke up in the middle of the night on Monday night, ‘cause it didn’t dawn on me originally that there might be corroboration for our conversation; there might be a tape.” [Referring to Monday May 15] “And my judgment was I needed to get that out in the public square so I asked a friend of mine to share the content of the memo with a reporter. I Didn’t do it myself for a variety of reasons but I asked him to because I thought that might prompt the appointment of a special counsel. So I asked a close friend of mine to do it.”
Quite simply James Comey lied to congress about when and why he initiated leaking the memos to his friends in the media. Comey claimed a tweet from President Trump spurred him to share his memo.
The tweet from President Trump (May 12th) was in response to the New York Times article (May 11th) which was quoting from the Comey memo. So Comey was lying when he said he gave the memo to the New York Times (Via Daniel Richman) on Monday May 15th.
This false motive, claimed by Comey, was highlighted by President Trump’s attorney at the time:
I bring up this example because of the Trump tweet that surrounds it.
President Trump tweeted about a “recording” after reading the New York Times article that was written from the memo account of James Comey; however, the tweet was also made after the Green Room was “taken down to the studs” and remodeled.
Everyone assumed President Trump was talking about a recording that he might have made of the Comey conversation; however, in hindsight given the nature of what is described above – wouldn’t it be more likely the recording was external to the White House; as a part of the surveillance.
“By the book”.
If they truly believed a foreign adversary was in control of the Trump administration; a claim they already made to the FISA court; why wouldn’t the Obama intelligence apparatus be wiretapping the White House? Remember: “by the book.”
In hindsight we already know the Trump campaign, Trump transition team and Trump administration were under surveillance.
♦On May 8th, 2017, President Trump invited three journalists to tour the White House and discuss his first few months in office. [Link] This is where he initially showed part of the redecoration that included the dining room where he and James Comey had discussions.
♦On May 9th, 2017, President Trump fired James Comey. That evening Andrew McCabe became Acting FBI Director and visited President Trump at the Oval Office.
♦On May 10th, 2017, President Trump invited Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Kislyak into the oval office. [We now know that simultaneous to this meeting back at the FBI McCabe had launched a criminal and counterintelligence investigation against President Trump.] Later that same day, May 10th, after the Lavrov and Kislyak meeting, Trump invited McCabe to come back to the White House.
♦On May 11th, 2017, the New York Times using Comey’s leaked information wrote about the “loyalty meeting”. This same day McCabe is testifying to congress and informing them President Trump’s firing of Comey: “there has been no effort to impede our investigation to date.” {Go Deep}
Stand back and think about the sequence above carefully.
I’ll bet you a donut President Trump was aware of the White House being bugged. That’s why he invited Lavrov and Kislyak to the Oval Office, and then later called McCabe. President Trump was proving to the listening ears there was no Trump-Russia collusion.
The FBI bugs were known, and allowed to remain in place all the way up to August 2nd, 2017.
(Via Politico) […] building-wide renovation blitz scheduled for the next two weeks, while President Donald Trump heads to his golf club in Bedminster, N.J
The air-conditioning project is bigger project that will shutter the West Wing during Trump’s absence.
“The maintenance people work hard, but when you’ve got a place that runs 24-7, it’s hard to keep it all in decent shape,” said a White House official.
The main situation room was recently closed for two weeks so that the iconic main table could be refurbished, according to a former official.
[…] “It’s the only ‘leaks’ they can fix,” quipped the former official. (link)
While the renovations may have been planned for months, the timing is extremely interesting, especially when you consider that General Kelly was recently named the new chief of staff. One has to wonder whether or not the renovations are a cover for what would be a massive undertaking to essentially debug the entire White House which may have surveillance equipment held over from the previous administration. (link)
Here’s what CTH wants to know. How long will it be, if ever, before we officially hear that the FBI had planted listening devices inside the White House?
In hindsight, the Kislyak and Lavrov invitation on May 10th is the big “tell”:
WHITE HOUSE – President Donald J. Trump met today with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of Russia, following on the visit of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to Moscow last month.
President Trump emphasized the need to work together to end the conflict in Syria, in particular, underscoring the need for Russia to rein in the Assad regime, Iran, and Iranian proxies.
The President raised Ukraine, and expressed his Administration’s commitment to remain engaged in resolving the conflict and stressed Russia’s responsibility to fully implement the Minsk agreements. He also raised the possibility of broader cooperation on resolving conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere.
The President further emphasized his desire to build a better relationship between the United States and Russia. (WH link)
Plowing the field. The Bern crowd has no idea how the DNC machine is setting them up. Senator Bernie Sanders announces his decision to run again for the presidency in 2020.
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Two points: First, Bernie’s primary value is his voter list; he has leveraged this multiple times for indulgences from within the party apparatus. Second, Bernie is the perfect plough (a delegate splitter) to carve up and re-assemble constituent parts.
The unofficial ‘chosen one’, the intended party donor candidate, will not surface until April or May 2019. The DNC is predictable. It’s still too early for the anointed candidate to surface. Bernie holds an identical 2020 responsibility to Marco Rubio in 2016. The apparatus has undeployed dirt on Bernie; they didn’t need to use it in 2016 because the outcome was predetermined. Bernie was not previously vetted.
Knowing it’s likely the ♦UniParty DNC is following a similar ♦UniParty RNC strategy, we can start to put the personal characteristics and political traits together and contrast them against 2016. Here’s the way it looks so far:
Senator Ted Cruz was to 2016…. as Senator Elizabeth Warren is to 2020
♦Governor Jeb Bush was to 2016 as….
Senator Marco Rubio was to 2016… as Senator Bernie Sanders is to 2020
Governor John Kasich was to 2016… as Senator Cory Booker is to 2020
Senator Lindsey Graham was to 2016 as….
Governor Mike Huckabee was to 2016 as….
Senator Rand Paul was to 2016…. as Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard is to 2020
Dr. Ben Carson was to 2016 as…
Governor Chris Christie was to 2016 as…
Governor Scott Walker was to 2016 as…
Senator Rick Santorum was to 2016…. as Senator Sherrod Brown is to 2020
Governor George Pataki was to 2016 as….
Governor Rick Perry was to 2016…. as Senator Kamala Harris is to 2020
Governor Bobby Jindal was to 2016…. as Julian Castro is to 2020
Carly Fiorina was to 2016 as…. Senator Amy Klobuchar is to 2020
Governor Jim Gilmore was to 2016… as Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is to 2020
Reminder, anyone who is announcing their presidential bid ahead of Pelosi delivering the impeachment narrative is not part of the DNC plan. The “Chosen One” will surface during the April/May to June/July period when the legislative crew, the DNC crew and the media crew execute the impeachment plan.
Once we get a few more names on the DNC side, we can start to have fun with the celebrity squares graphics.
Fox News is reporting that Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein is anticipated to resign mid-March and be replaced by a hand-picked deputy by AG William Barr. Initial reporting is that Jeffrey Rosen will be the replacement.
FOX – Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is expected to leave his role at the Justice Department by mid-March, a senior DOJ official told Fox News on Monday. (read more)
This timeframe would align with prior reporting that Rosenstein would exit mid-March simultaneous to the completion of the Robert Mueller investigation.
NBC REPORT WASHINGTON — Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who had been overseeing the special counsel investigation, plans to step down after Robert Mueller submits his report, according to administration officials familiar with his thinking.
A source close to Rosenstein said he intends to stay on until Mueller submits a report to the Justice Department on the Russian meddling investigation. The source said that would mean Rosenstein would remain until early March. (link)
Jake Gibson
✔@JakeBGibson
DAG Rod Rosenstein is expected to leave by mid-March, according to a Senior DOJ Official. Rosenstein’s replacement announcement could come as early as this week. A Trump Administration Official says Attorney General Bill Barr has picked Jeffrey Rosen as his DAG.
If accurate, Jeffrey Rosen, Barr’s choice as deputy to replace Rod Rosenstein, was an attorney at Kirkland & Ellis, Barr’s former law firm, and is currently deputy transportation secretary. Interestingly that is a connection to Mitch McConnell via Mitch’s wife Elaine Chao who is the current Transporation Secretary.
Previously Mr. Rosen served General Counsel and Senior Policy Advisor for the White House Office of Management and Budget during the George W. Bush administration. Before that, he was also with the Department of Transportation, serving as General Counsel.
Rosen has a B.A. in economics and a J.D. from Harvard.
The content of the investigative finding is unknown. The Commerce Department has privately delivered the 232 report directly to the White House. However, with the possibility of the report empowering President Trump to implement 20 to 25% import auto tariffs industry executives are proactively going bananas.
An important aspect here is that the USMCA (U.S., Mexico and Canada) agreement exempts the trilateral North American pact from any auto tariff fear. If the vehicle consists of 75% North American (USMCA) content, there’s no tariff.
At the 30,000 ft level, the USMCA deal positioned the U.S. and Mexico to retain their current multinational investments; and through a series of sector-by-sector standards on origination the deal simultaneously closed the fatal NAFTA loophole.
The USMCA agreement makes an economic manufacturing partnership between the U.S, Mexico and Canada; and for assembly products third parties will have to produce parts and origination material within the U.S. and Mexico.
U.S.T.R. Lighthizer put some details forward: ♦The NAFTA Loophole closure is explained in Summary Form HERE; with emphasis on the Auto-Sector. The key is a 75% part origination level for auto-assembly; and a 40-45% level for parts with a minimum $16/hr wage rate. The source-origination rate (75%) is even higher than all previously forecast USMCA negotiation predictions.
Example of downstream consequences/benefits: German auto-maker BMW recently built a $2 billion assembly plant in Mexico (almost complete). Most of their core parts were coming from the EU (steel/aluminum casting components) and/or Asia (electronics). Now the assembly plant will have to source 75% of the auto-parts from the U.S. and Mexico, with 45% of those parts from facilities paying $16/hr.
As a direct result of the USMCA agreement BMW made an announcement in November they were exploring additional parts manufacturing facilities within the U.S. for their engines and transmissions. BMW needs to modify their supply chain and build auto parts in the U.S. and Mexico:
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – BMW (BMWG.DE) is considering a second U.S. manufacturing plant that could produce engines and transmissions, Chief Executive Harald Krueger said on Tuesday, shortly after a report that U.S. President Donald Trump would impose tariffs on imported cars from next week
Additionally, with the KORUS (Korean-U.S.) bilateral trade deal now cemented there would be no impact to South Korean auto imports (Kia etc) from a 232 decision. However, any EU, China or Japanese automaker who is not currently inside U.S.M.C.A operations could be subject to an application of a countervailing duty.
Specifically because of the scale of the industry, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is the most at risk from a lack of an overall U.S-EU trade deal. This potential 232 auto tariff is a big stick to get the EU to the bargaining table.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Commerce Department sent a report on Sunday to U.S. President Donald Trump that could unleash steep tariffs on imported cars and auto parts, provoking a sharp backlash from the industry even before it is unveiled, the agency confirmed.
Late on Sunday, a department spokeswoman said it would not disclose any details of the “Section 232” national security report submitted to Trump by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. The disclosure of the submission came less than two hours before the end of a 270-day deadline.
Trump has 90 days to decide whether to act upon the recommendations, which auto industry officials expect to include at least some tariffs on fully assembled vehicles or on technologies and components related to electric, automated, connected and shared vehicles. (read more)
Don’t forget there’s already an existing 25% tariff on imported trucks and SUV’s, that’s why most foreign automakers opened truck and SUV auto-plants in the U.S. over the past two decades. BMW builds their SUV’s in South Carolina. Volkswagen builds SUV’s in Tennessee. Mercedes now builds their SUV’s in Alabama, and Toyota builds in Princeton Indiana as well as Canada. Volvo has also moved all their SUV building to South Carolina.
It is doubtful President Trump will actually pull-the-trigger on tariffs for cars; however, as said, his ability to do it is a massive stick to get both the EU and Japan to commit to a renegotiated bilateral trade agreement.
President Donald Trump tweets a reaction to the 60 minutes interview by former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe; where McCabe outlined a concerted effort by the Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to participate in a seditious ‘soft coup’ scheme against the president:
One of the points of disagreement amid those who research the deep weeds on ‘spygate’ has always been the oval office meeting between President Trump, DAG Rosenstein and Robert Mueller on the day before Rosenstein appointed Mueller as special counsel.
For over a year the TTP group has highlighted this meeting as Rosetta-Stone evidence that Mueller, Rosenstein and Trump were working together to deconstruct deep state usurpers. However, that perspective always seemed to be a rather absurd stretch.
Given the latest series of points highlighted by the public admission of the soft-coup plotters, a more Occam’s razor likelihood is that DAG Rosenstein didn’t actually wear an electronic wire to record the president, but rather chose instead to carry a human recorder to accomplish the same objective. Robert Mueller was likely that human recording device.
AG Bill Barr has a mess on his hands.
Remember, back when this entire nonsense began, President Trump strongly said he had nothing to do with any coordination with Russia; nothing to do with collusion with Russia; and also stated he was okay with the investigation as it looked into the propriety of people within the 2016 campaign. However, these statements were also with the assumption, held by himself as a result of -perhaps false- confirmations from James Comey, that he himself was not a target.
A few weeks ago HPSCI member Devin Nunes was speculating that President Trump was the actual target all along. The latest admissions by former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe specifically outlined how he opened two additional investigations of President Trump as a result of the Comey firing. One investigation was criminal (obstruction of justice), and a second was counterintelligence (was the obstruction due to Trump being a Russian asset.
If the reporting (based on leaks) that has surfaced in the two-plus years of the investigation is accurate; and if Andrew McCabe did open two additional FBI investigations of President Trump on May 10th, 2017; then it is likely the clarification memo that Mueller requested from Rosenstein was about that issue.
If the mandate given to Robert Mueller was to specifically investigate the sitting president of the United States as an active participant, and subsequent target, for a counterintelligence operation, then DAG Rod Rosenstein -and Mueller- would have to hide that mandate from everyone and anyone. Thus Mueller and Rosenstein would keep the August 2017 Scope Memo hidden from review…. which is exactly what they did.
President Trump would be the target and none of the principles would be able to discuss the key elements specifically because of this extra-constitutional issue.
All of President Trump’s prior commentary would be based on a (2017/2018) assumption that he was not the target of the FBI probe that was eventually turned over to Mueller by Rosenstein. If the origination instruction from Rosenstein to Mueller includes the specific charge to investigate the President; then all prior assumptions -including those held by President Trump- are invalid.
Examples:
Rosenstein (or any DOJ/FBI official) would always be engaging with POTUS as a target. All conversation would be clouded by that aspect. As a result, Rosenstein could never be fully honest with President Trump; or answer any question therein.
Any action taken by President Trump (emphasis on “any”) would therefore potentially be direct influence by the President toward an investigation that held him as a target. He could never be permitted to approach the investigation…. yet he would never find anyone with an honest answer as to why he cannot approach the investigation.
We previously pondered this aspect when we outlined “the declassification conundrum“. However, at the time we did not evaluate the classifications issue from a targetperspective; we were evaluating the issue as if President Trump was the victim of the illegal targeting.
If you flip the paradigm and now look at what actions President Trump could take, while reconsidering that he is the principle target, well, two years of contradictory things start to make more sense.
The conversation, and inability of Rosenstein to be honest with POTUS, changes the dynamic of this tweet:
POTUS writing: “may have a perceived negative impact on the Russia probe” takes on a whole new meaning when you consider a conversation where Rosenstein cannot be honest with the target of the “Russia probe”…. and the target has essentially no idea.
Remember, throughout 2017 and 2018, the basic assumption -due to visible and public declarations by the DOJ- was that Mueller was conducting an investigation into Russian interference with the election; and/or other matters that may surface as an outcome of that investigation. However, we never knew (still don’t) the actual content of the August 2017 clarification mandate that Rosenstein gave to Mueller (see below):
If accurate, we can imagine a conversation where Mueller approaches Rosenstein in July and August 2017:
Mueller: “Rod, if you want me to consider President Trump a specific target of the investigation, you’re going to have to give some specific expansion of the investigation, in writing, to look into all the stuff inside this dossier.”
Rosenstein: “OK Bob, I’ll put it in writing, but we’ve got to keep this part away from view or the targets will know we’re using an unvetted dossier, which could be portrayed as political opposition research funded by Clinton, as evidence against them…. fair enough?”
Accepting Devin Nunes prior speculation as accurate (after much more thought, it likely is); and accepting Andrew McCabe is accurate in his admission of opening two investigations of Trump after the Comey firing; the redacted portion of the published mandate would be the part where President Trump is outlined as a target.
A direct target, or an indirect target, matters not. What matters is that President Trump is A TARGET. That would explain why Mueller requested that Rosenstein write down a much more expanded explanation for the mandate that no-one, [NO-ONE other than Judge Ellis (Manafort case)], has ever seen.
Knowing he would be entering into this foray where President Trump is the target, you can easily see why Mueller would want to meet with President Trump ahead of accepting the job. The entire enterprise would be fraught with tenuous extra-constitutional issues. Mueller’s target is the most powerful person in the world; and the ramifications are rather stunning.
Any action taken by President Trump to declassify documents, that would show the dubious structure of the originating FBI investigation, would now be considered as: the target of the investigation undermining the investigation into himself.
Under this principle, congress requesting President Trump to declassify documents showing the unlawful nature of the investigative origination is an exercise in futility.
Congress is asking the target of the unlawful investigation to declassify evidence that was assembled against him. The target then turns to the people who are investigating him and says please declassify….. however, the receiver (DOJ) is getting a request from their target.
Getting a declassification request from Congress is one thing; but getting a declassification request from the target of their investigation is a request they can neither fulfill nor explain their lack of fulfillment.
From the position of the DOJ:
As a counterintelligence target President Trump cannot declassify evidence, nor can he direct anyone to declassifying any evidence on his behalf.
FUBAR
Ultimately the only person who can correct this issue appears to be the same person who started this entire mess, Rod Rosenstein. Which likely explains why he said he will leave the DOJ when Mueller is finished.
WASHINGTON — Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who had been overseeing the special counsel investigation, plans to step down after Robert Mueller submits his report, according to administration officials familiar with his thinking.
A source close to Rosenstein said he intends to stay on until Mueller submits a report to the Justice Department on the Russian meddling investigation. The source said that would mean Rosenstein would remain until early March. (link)
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein initiated the continued investigation into President Trump by authorizing, and later clarifying, that Mueller is to proceed with the special counsel mandate that includes President Trump as a target.
….And knowing that dynamic completely changes the background review about how corrupt Andrew McCabe’s allies in the FBI and media started leveraging against Rod Rosenstein for their own benefit.
Today President Trump is delivering a speech in Florida to Miami’s Venezuelan community. The speech is being delivered at Florida International University in Miami and the anticipated start time is approximately 4:25pm EST.
Representative John Ratcliffe appears with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the DOJ and FBI ‘soft coup’ attempt headed by Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe.
Ratcliffe also discusses the outlook with newly confirmed Attorney General William Barr and what actions he hopes AG Barr will take in the wake of mounting evidence that Andrew McCabe, James Baker, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page and former Acting AG Sally Yates were coordinating an effort to remove President Donald Trump.
As Andrew McCabe makes current media statements to confirm how he opened a counterintelligence investigation (July 31, 2016) against candidate Donald Trump, and a criminal investigation against President Donald Trump (May 10th, 2017), it is worth reminding ourselves that McCabe also launched a simultaneous criminal investigation against Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
It is also worth noting in both current and prior reporting that it was/is CBS announcing the revelations from Andrew McCabe and his Lawfare team:
FLASHBACK CBS Reports (March 2018) – […] The investigation was opened before special counsel Robert Mueller was appointed, Reid reports. A Justice Department official says Sessions was not aware of this investigation until he found out about it from reports.
ABC News first reported that McCabe had been in charge of the investigation into Sessions. Sessions’ testimony raised alarm bells, but this is the first time it has been reported that there was actually a criminal probe of Sessions’ actions. (read more)
In hindsight it would appear the criminal probe against AG Jeff Sessions was intended to create a firewall that would isolate the Attorney General and keep prying eyes away from the ‘soft coup’ efforts of the seditious small group.
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This is a library of News Events not reported by the Main Stream Media documenting & connecting the dots on How the Obama Marxist Liberal agenda is destroying America
Today, President Donald J. Trump announced his intent to nominate the following individual to a key position in his Administration:
