Earlier this afternoon President Donald Trump met with Austria’s Chancellor Sebastian Kurz [Video and Transcript below] Additionally, the president answered questions from the White House media on current events and issues including the section 232 auto-tariffs, the upcoming visit to the DPRK, AG Bill Barr and Andrew McCabe.
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[Transcript] – Oval Office 1:52 P.M. EST – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Hello, everyone. Thank you very much. And it’s great to be with the Chancellor of Austria. We have a tremendous relationship, long term, with Austria. And we’re going to be discussing numerous things — immigration — today. But we’re also discussing trade. We have a very big trade presence and a very good relationship on trade. We do a lot of business with each other.
And, Chancellor, it’s very nice to have you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Please.
CHANCELLOR KURZ: Thank you, Mr. President, for receiving us here in the U.S., in the White House. It’s a pleasure for my delegation and for me to be here.
Austria, as you probably know, is — compared to the U.S. — a very small country, but we are a beautiful country.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: That’s true.
CHANCELLOR KURZ: We are a, economically, quite strong country. You would probably say a “great country.” We are in the heart of the European Union, an active member state of the European Union. It’s a small country. We need international cooperation, and therefore I hope that we can discuss now our bilateral relations, but also the relations between the European Union and the United States of America. Of course, trade and how we can gain economic growth for the U.S., but also for Europe. And probably international issues like Middle East, Korea —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Right.
CHANCELLOR KURZ: — and probably also Russia. Thank you for receiving us.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
Q Mr. President, are you going to impose auto tariffs on the Europeans?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, it’s something we certainly think about. We’re trying to make a deal. They’re very tough to make a deal with — the EU. They’ve been very difficult over a period of time — over many, many years. And so it’s something we think about, and we’re negotiating with them. If we don’t make the deal, we’ll do the tariffs.
Q The new report hasn’t changed your mind about it at all? There’s a new report from the Commerce Department.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: The new report is not that kind of a report. It’s just really a study that’s underway. We’ve studied it very carefully. We’ve seen the results. But the bottom-line result is whether or not we can make a deal with the EU that’s fair. We lose about $151 billion trading with the EU. That’s a lot of money. And this has been going on for many years. They wouldn’t meet with the Obama administration, and they’re meeting with us. So we’ll see what happens. We’ll see what happens.
Q Mr. President, should the Mueller report be released when you’re abroad next week?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: That’ll be totally up to the new Attorney General. He’s a tremendous man, a tremendous person, who really respects this country and respects the Justice Department. So that’ll be totally up to him, the new Attorney — the new Attorney General, yes.
Q Should it be public? Should the report become public, do you think?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I guess, from what I understand, that will be totally up to the Attorney General. Okay?
Q Mr. President, on your push to decriminalize homosexuality, are you doing that? And why?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Say it?
Q Your push to decriminalize homosexuality around the world.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I don’t know which report you’re talking about. We have many reports.
Anybody else?
Q What do you expect the Austrian Chancellor to do in European policy?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, we’re just going to have a great meeting. We have a great relationship and our countries have a great relationship.
And he’s a very young leader, I have to tell you. You are a young guy. That’s pretty good.
CHANCELLOR KURZ: But the problem with the age is getting better from day to day.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: That’s right. Someday you won’t be saying it.
But we have a very good relationship and we have a great trade relationship, and that’s pretty much what we’re going to be talking about today.
Q Are you considering replacing Dan Coats as your Director of National Intelligence?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I haven’t even thought about it.
Q Mr. President, you spoke to the Prime Minister of Japan today.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I did.
Q How hard is it going to be to get North Korea to completely, verifiably denuclearize, which I think you —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I spoke with — this morning, with Prime Minister Abe. I had a long conversation with him. We talked about the trip next week to Vietnam, which will be, I think, very successful. I think the first trip to Singapore was extremely successful.
We’ll be meeting with Chairman Kim for two days, and I think we’ll accomplish a lot. We started off with a very good meeting, and I think we’ll continue that along. I don’t think this will be the last meeting by any chance, but I do think that the relationship is very strong.
When we started, as you know, there were a lot of problems. There was the missiles going all over. There were hostages that were being held. There were remains that we wanted to get back. There were many, many things. Now there’s no nuclear testing, no missiles going up. And we have a good relationship — a very good relationship, I’d say.
So I spoke with Prime Minister Abe of Japan about that, and we compared notes. And I think we are very much on the same wave length. It was a good meeting. A good conversation.
Q They seem very reluctant — the North Koreans — to denuclearize. Do you think you’ll be able to make any —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: No, I don’t think they’re reluctant. I think they want to do something. But I — you know, you’ve been talking about this for 80 years. They’ve been talking about this for many, many years, and no administration has done anything. They’ve gotten taken to the cleaners. And I think we have a really meaningful relationship. We’ll see what happens.
The sanctions are on in full. As you know, I haven’t taken sanctions off. I’d love to be able to, but in order to do that, we have to do something that’s meaningful on the other side.
But Chairman Kim and I have a very good relationship. I wouldn’t be surprised to see something work out. I really believe that, as an economic power, because of its location in between. I mean, if you look on a map and you see Russia, China, and right in the middle of everything is South Korea, but North Korea right smack in the middle. So you have Russia, China, and then South Korea. And this is right in the middle. Tremendous potential for economic wellbeing, long term. And I think he understands that very well. I think he might understand that better than anybody.
So they have a great, great potential as a country, and I think that’s what they’re looking to do. We’ll see. But we’ve made a lot of progress. We’ve made a tremendous amount. That doesn’t mean this is going to be the last meeting, because I don’t believe it will. But we have subjects to discuss which will be very fruitful, I believe.
Q Do you have a comment on Andrew McCabe briefing McConnell and Paul Ryan and Devin Nunes, telling them about the investigation into you?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I think Andrew McCabe has made a fool out of himself over the last couple of days, and he really looks to me like sort of a poor man’s J. Edgar Hoover. He’s a — I think he’s a disaster. And what he was trying to do was terrible and he was caught. I’m very proud to say we caught him.
So we’ll see what happens. But he is a disgraced man. He was terminated, not by me; he was terminated by others. The IG report was a disaster — a disaster, from his standpoint. Anybody reading the IG report would say, “How could a man like this be involved with the FBI?” And the FBI has some of the greatest people — some of the finest people you’ll ever meet. But this man is a complete disaster.
Thank you all very much.
Q Are you going to Japan, Mr. President? Are you going to Japan in May?
A John Solomon article today points out the circumstances of Fusion-GPS contractor Nellie Ohr delivering a memory stick to her DOJ husband Bruce Ohr, who then turned around and gave it to the FBI team. The memory stick contained Nellie’s Trump-Russia research files.
As Solomon writes: “The way Ohr described it, his wife’s research was like an additional dossier assembled from Fusion GPS research to augment what Steele was separately providing the FBI.” However, Solomon stops short of explaining the full story.
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, and research raw stuff that neither was able to verify – and search results that ever 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 that memory stick 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]
Within 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 were doing the 2016 ‘Spygate’ granular research.
Nellie’s files gave Team Mueller a head-start and they didn’t need to file for as many search warrants because Nellie had already explored the database and extracted the material they would later use. It’s really not a hard pattern of dot connection once you follow the timeline and process.
According to the prior leaked transcript Bruce Ohr gave testimony he accepted a thumb drive from Glenn Simpson (Nellie’s employer – Fusion GPS), and another from his wife Nellie Ohr, and he passed them along to FBI Special Agent Joe Pientka.
The interesting aspect to a Daily Caller report of Nellie Ohr’s testimony is her apparent focus on research into the Trump family travel:
“How about Donald Trump Jr.? Did you do more in-depth research on Donald Trump Jr. than some of the others?” she was asked.
“I’m afraid it was relatively superficial. It was,” adding that, “I looked into some of his travels and you know not sure how much detail I remember, at this point.”
“Ivanka Trump?”
“I looked into some of her travels,” said Ohr.
The goal was “to see whether they were involved in dealings and transactions with people who had had suspicious pasts.” (read more)
This becomes more of a central issue when we go back to the mistake about Michael Cohen within the Steele Dossier; that was also a mistake about travel. [Cohen in Prague] Our suspicion has always been that Nellie Ohr was exploiting her CIA authorized access to the FBI/NSA database doing research (ie. FISA abuse).
Additionally, it has always appeared to be evident that Nellie actually sent her research material to Christopher Steele (another Fusion GPS contractor), who was tasked to verify, find supplemental sourcing, launder the research and present it as a more official looking intelligence product…. The Steele Dossier.
It would just make sense the place where Nellie Ohr would be researching travel would be the FISA database (FBI/NSA). Where else could she access that information?
Understanding “ FISA-702(16)(17) ” and the elements that help make sense of this story.
FISA – Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
702 – An American caught up in the process of Foreign Surveillance
(16) – A search query based on “TO” and/or “FROM”
(17) – A search query based on “ABOUT”
Again, to repeat, there are differing FISA rules for use of the NSA or FBI database depending on the originating intelligence compartment.
If a search is conducted from an intelligence compartment within the U.S. government whose objective is to ensure “National Security” there are different FISA rules than a search from an intelligence compartment not engaged in “National Security”.
The DOJ has a “National Security Division”. Their compartment rules on FISA searches and reviews are different from the DOJ “Civil Rights Division”. There are 30 DOJ divisions.
The FBI (a department within the DOJ) has a Counterintelligence Division that focuses on terrorism threats etc. A FISA search from within the Counterintelligence Division has different rules than a FISA search from the Science and Technology Division.
So, We Begin: FISA searches can be conducted on any foreign person without issue. All non-U.S. citizens on the entire planet can be searched 24/7/365 no issues. FISA searches on foreign people have no restrictions at all.
However, when the FISA search returns data identifying a U.S. citizen, everything changes. Those changes are under the identifying term “702”. A “702” is an American person.
All U.S. citizens are protected by the fourth amendment against unlawful search and seizure. All searches of U.S. people must have a valid reason. Title III says any search for a potential criminal investigation must have a judicial warrant. Additionally, any criminal search of the FISA database must also have a warrant (technically, ‘approval’).
Any FISA searches of foreign subjects, might need FISA Court approval if the returned data includes a U.S. subject (“702”).
However, When a FISA-702 search is conducted based on the need for “national security” no approval from the FISA court is needed. Search away. If the FISA search is because of a “vital national security interest” the resulting search data can be opened, and all ‘upstream’ connections explored, without seeking permission from the FISA court.
♦A “FISA-702(16)” Search Result – would be a search result of the FBI (counter terrorism) database or NSA database that returns an American person as a result of a “To” or “From” (16) type data search.
EXAMPLE: Querying phone data (phone number) TO: Operator BadGuy or FROM: Operator BadGuy – might return a list of phone numbers that also contains an American persons’ phone number. That American person is protected by the fourth amendment. To look at the “upstream” connections of the American Person to other people, likely more Americans, the search operator would need to ask permission of the FISA Court to review the upstream results.
[NOTE: *Exception* – the search was vital to national security. If so, the upstream phone numbers could be reviewed without asking FISA permission.]
♦A “FISA-702(17)” Search Result – would be a search result of the FBI (counter terrorism) database or NSA database that returns an American person (702) as a result of an “ABOUT” (17) type data search.
EXAMPLE: Querying everything in email ABOUT: Mohammed BadGuy – might return communication of an American who wrote a letter about Mohammed BadGuy or maybe he told a friend in a text to check out a media story about Mohammed BadGuy. To look at the email or text of the American, the search operator would need to ask permission of the FISA Court to see the email/text content.
[NOTE: *Exception* – the search was vital to national security?. If So, the email and text could be looked at without asking permission]
November 2015 through April 2016 FISA-702(17) “About Queries”, returns from searches, were identified by NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers, being conducted by the intelligence community (FBI), by “contractors” and “individuals” for reasons that: •were unauthorized; •were directly related to U.S. persons; •and had nothing to do with National Security; •and were conducted by people who did not request FISA Court Approval.
Director Mike Rogers discovered FBI contractors doing FISA-702 “About Searches” that resulted in returns providing information on Americans. Those results were passed on to people outside government.
Pg 83. “FBI gave raw Section 702–acquired information to a private entity that was not a federal agency and whose personnel were not sufficiently supervised by a federal agency for compliance minimization procedures.”
Someone inside the FBI was giving FISA-702 search results on U.S. individuals to a private entity that had nothing to do with government. Those 702 (American Citizen) results were not “minimized” and exposed the private data of the American citizen(s).
In addition, NSA Director Mike Rogers, who is also in charge of Cyber Command, discovered people within the intelligence community were doing “searches” of the NSA and FBI database that were returning information that had nothing to do with “Foreign Individuals”.
Director Rogers requested a full FISA-702 Compliance Review.
As an outcome of that review, the DOJ/FBI compliance officer noted FISA violations. Again, the FISA Court (page 87):
We do not know exactly how many FISA-702 violations took place prior to NSA Mike Rogers initiating the full FISA-702 review in April 2016. Nor do we know who the insider individuals were; or what results were passed on; or what was done with the results.
However, given the nature of what was taking place at the time (December 2015 through March, April, 2016) it appears likely this was part of the DOJ/FBI/Fusion-GPS collision to gather information on political candidates including the candidacy of Donald Trump.
These ‘passed-along’ FISA-702 raw search results appear to be the seeds which were fertilized by Glenn Simpson, Nellie Ohr; and enhanced/laundered by Christopher Steele – to end with a “Steele Dossier”; which was returned to the FBI via Counterintelligence Agent Peter Strzok, DOJ Deputy Bruce Ohr, and generated reports “unmasked” by Obama administration officials.
The DOJ and FBI then took the Ohr/Steele dossier, full circle, back to the FISA Court to gain all encompassing FISA “Title 1” surveillance authority upon the Trump Campaign (October 2016), and President-Elect (after November 8th, 2016). The process was rushed because the FBI team needed the FISA court search warrant approval to cover for surveillance they had been doing since 2015. FISA warrant approvals apply retroactively.
In October 2016, immediately after the DOJ lawyers formatted the FBI information (Steele Dossier etc.) for a valid FISC application, the head of the DOJ National Security Division, Asst. Attorney General John P Carlin, left his job. Carlin’s exit came as the DOJ-NSD and Admiral Rogers informed the FISC that frequent unauthorized FISA-702 searches had been conducted. Read Here.
All research indicates the intelligence information the DOJ and FBI collected via FISA-702 queries, combined with the intelligence Fusion GPS created in their earlier use of contractor access to FISA-702(17) “about queries”, was the intelligence data manipulated by Nellie Ohr, and laundered by Christopher Steele for use in creating “The Russian Dossier”.
Mrs. Nellie Ohr was not only a Fusion GPS contracted employee, but she was also part of the CIA’s Open Source Works, in Washington DC (link) Both Mr. and Mrs Ohr worked on a collaborative group project surrounding International Organized Crime. (pdf here) Page #30 Screen Shot Below:
Sidney Powell is one of a very few people who tenaciously keep reminding media pundits about the origin of the political surveillance efforts in the 2016 election: the FBI and NSA FISA-702(16)(17) abuse scandal.
In this report broadcast by Sharyl Attkisson and Full Measure News, Ms. Powell reminds everyone of the 2017 published FISA court review by Judge Rosemary Collyer that lies at the origin of the political surveillance deployed by hidden FBI contractors.
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The suspicion has always been that Fusion-GPS was one of the FBI contractors with access to the FBI/NSA database; and was using their access to conduct political opposition research. According to the Collyer report 85 percent of all database searches were unlawfully carried out by FBI contractors. There were thousands of searches in 2015 and 2016 during the presidential election campaign season until NSA Director Mike Rogers ordered an audit and eventually halted contractor access.
The issues may seem complex, and the downstream consequences might seem too wonky to absorb. However, since CTH initially uploaded and presented the FISC Collyer report, in the shareable pdf format above, the 99-page report has been reviewed and read over 1.1 million times at the CTH SCRIBD account alone.
If the Rosemary Collyer FISC report was a book it would be a NYT bestseller.
So yeah, We The People are interested in justice. Never sell the American people short.
When DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz finishes his current FISA abuse investigation there will be many people with a solid understanding of a complex issue who will review his findings.
This is one of those rare interviews where granular substance surfaces. On a particular issue Trey Gowdy is a valuable SME. Gowdy has seen all of the classified documentary evidence that surrounds the July 31, 2016, FBI counterintelligence operation against the Trump campaign to include Crossfire Hurricane FISA documents, and issues related to “spygate”. Gowdy was one of the few who reviewed all source documents.
In this interview Gowdy draws a distinction between 2016 CH (spygate) and what Andrew McCabe is discussing; highlighting how the investigative issues McCabe continues to talk about are the two additional FBI investigations, one counterintelligence and one criminal, McCabe started on May 10th, 2017. WATCH:
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For sake of brevity there are essentially three investigations: ♦One counterintelligence investigation known as Crossfire Hurricane, began on July 31, 2016, into the Trump campaign and possible Russia involvement. ♦One counterintelligence investigation that McCabe started on May 10th, 2017, (Trump as the target w/Russia); and ♦one criminal investigation (Trump obstruction) that also began on May 10th, 2017.
In the first investigation (Crossfire Hurricane), presumably the defensive -albeit obtuse- position of the FBI is that Trump wasn’t a specific target. [It would be too toxic for the Obama DOJ and FBI to directly admit they were investigating an opponent’s political campaign] However, in the second set of McCabe personal investigations, Trump was definitely the target.
If we take what Gowdy is saying; and overlay Robert Mueller absorbing McCabe’s investigations; and then overlay Devin Nunes recent statements about the August 2nd, 2017 Rosenstein origination memo; a picture emerges.
Likely the first task Mueller took on was the immediate two McCabe investigations, from May 10th, 2017, where Trump was the direct target. However, as that phase of the Mueller probe found nothing of substance (likely with the August 2nd clarification memo), Mueller evolves into investigating the original premise behind 2016 Crossfire Hurricane (the trump campaign) which contained specific targets (Flynn, Manafort, Page, Papadopoulos) and specific evidence (Ohr/Steele Dossier).
Targets of 2016 “spygate”, aka Crossfire Hurricane:
Accepting the absurd McCabe premise that President Trump was an asset of a foreign government, it would stand to reason a certain level of urgency would dictate the investigative process of Robert Mueller.
Mueller likely first investigated and concluded the two McCabe claims.
This would reconcile with John Dowd recently telling ABC that Mueller informed President Trump’s counsel that the President was no longer a direct “target” of the investigation, yet the investigation would continue with President Trump as a “witness/subject”.
PHILLIPS: Do you respect what Mueller is doing? I know you know Mueller well.
DOWD: Well, I respected it in the beginning. And I started out. And I– it’s my s– my style is I always trust the other side, until I didn’t. In my opinion, on March 5th [2018], we were done. He had everything. He said he had everything. He told me that no one had lied. He told me they had every document we asked for. He told me that it was nothing more. He told me that the president was not a target. That is, he did not have any exposure, that he was a witness subject, which is perfectly normal for someone’s conduct you’re looking at, but they don’t have exposure. (link)
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.
The best thing for an examination of the 2016/2017 seditious effort is for former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe to keep talking.
In this NBC interview McCabe attempts to cleverly obfuscate the original July 31, 2016, FBI counterintelligence investigation (Crossfire Hurricane/”Spygate”) with the second investigation he launched on May 10th, 2017.
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Worth noting is McCabe talks about briefing the IC congressional oversight group known as the ‘Gang of Eight’ in May 2017. [Paul Ryan, Nancy Pelosi, Devin Nunes, Adam Schiff, Mitch McConnell, Chuck Schumer, Richard Burr and Mark Warner]
Here is where the actions of Paul Ryan and Adam Schiff to remove Devin Nunes from active engagement with the Russia probe in March 2017 comes into play.
Remember during the 2016 election Harry Reid was Senate Minority Leader and Gang of eight member. Also, Dianne Feinstein was vice-chair of the Senate Intel Committee and was part of the gang-of-eight; however after the 2016 election Feinstein abdicated her position and Harry Reid retired. In 2017 Harry Reid was replaced by Chuck Schumer and Dianne Feinstein was replaced by Mark Warner.
2016 Gang of Eight (During “Spygate”)
After the Trump inauguration Devin Nunes found out about the unmasking of Trump campaign officials (via Spygate operations) in/around March 2016. The unmasking requests were part of the Obama PDB (presidential daily briefing). After discovering the activity, and viewing the PDB material at the White House SCIF, Nunes made public statements highlighting his alarm over the unmasking issues and what was contained in the material he reviewed.
In response, and with the media/democrats having fits about Nunes statements, Speaker Paul Ryan subsequently removed Nunes from his responsibilities as Chair of the HPSCI as it pertained to specific matters involving the Russia Probe.
Therefore it is probable Nunes was carved out of the May 2017 McCabe briefing by intentional design of the overall political effort. Someone needs to ask Nunes about this for clarity.
UPDATE: Shortly after posting this article, we get an answer. McCabe and Rosenstein wanted Devin Nunes removed from briefings – they failed, and Nunes remained:
[…] “Nunes was suspected of having surreptitiously been given intelligence by presidential aides during a nighttime rendezvous at the House, information that was then publicized,” McCabe writes. “Look who’s here, I said to Rod. Rosenstein understood. He went to talk to Nunes, pulled him aside. Came back, told me, Nunes is staying, he says he’s not recused from this, he refuses to leave.”
And it worked.
“I look at Rod,” McCabe writes. “Rod said, At the end of the day it’s his recusal, it’s his choice, I can’t enforce it. We can’t kick him out of the room.” (read more)
2017 Gang of Eight: (McCabe Briefing)
The synergy of anti-Trump politicians in positions of power (both parties) and the corrupt efforts of the intelligence community to usurp the 2016 election has always been visible. The only question has been: to what extent?
To what extent did Republicans, specifically Senate Republicans, coordinate with John Brennan, James Clapper, James Comey and later Andrew McCabe? This has been a pondered sideline question without any substantive investigative review.
Throughout 2016 the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) was transparently the epicenter of the Decepticon effort to support any effort to stop candidate Trump. After the election it was the SSCI who was attempting covert contact with Christopher Steele and many of the players behind “Spygate”. It was from this corrupt committee where Security Director James Wolfe was identified as leaking information to the media.
As Andrew McCabe keeps talking perhaps people will start to turn their inquires toward those Senate co-conspirators….. though, given how far the DOJ and FBI went to cover-up the activity of Mr. Wolfe, I wouldn’t count on much reaching sunlight.
Kevin Brock, former FBI assistant director for intelligence, and Terry Turchie, former deputy assistant director of the counterterrorism division, discuss former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe’s admissions of intent to usurp the presidency.
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.
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.
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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
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