The Canadian psychologist and author talks to BBC 5 live’s Sarah Brett and Nihal Arthanayake about his latest book “12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos”. If you like this, subscribe to the Headliners podcast to hear the best of 5 live’s interviews each and every week: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02nr…
Lots of things going on in/around the two legal cases involving Michael Flynn today. The origination of the DOJ shift in position involves the indirect case (EDVA) where Flynn is/was a witness in the FARA (Foreign Agent Registration Act) case against Bijan Rafiekian and the Flynn Intel Group.
Hat Tip to Techno-Fog for a litany of legal filings assembled today [132 pages here]. This is somewhat complex to explain.
The direct case against Flynn (Judge Sullivan court – Washington DC), where Flynn copped a guilty plea for lying to FBI investigators, has a sentencing predicated on Flynn’s ongoing cooperation in the Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA) case against Bijan Rafiekian and FIG (Flynn Intel Group). However, in a stunning move today the DOJ prosecuting Rafiekian now says it will not call Flynn as a witness; and further the DOJ state they now consider Flynn an “unindicted co-conspirator”.
From court filings (on behalf of Flynn) we find the reason. Michael Flynn refused a demand by the DOJ to testify that the Flynn Group FARA filing was completed with knowingly false information and contained “false statements”.
Michael Flynn refused to testify to this DOJ construct because the claim was not true.
Michael Flynn and his lawyers say there was no intentional filing of false information in the Flynn Group FARA submissions; and the FARA forms were submitted based on legal advice provided for their completion. If there were mistakes in the FARA filing, they were not falsehoods and/or mistakes made purposefully or with purposeful intent.
When Flynn agreed to the plea for lying, he was agreeing with hindsight and accepting the government position that some of the material in the FARA submission was false. However, Flynn did not admit that anything was intentionally false, but rather an outcome of mistakes made within a process that relied on legal advice.
It is worth noting here that Flynn lawyers call out former DOJ-NSD Official David Laufman for pressuring Flynn to sign the FARA submission; a FARA submission the DOJ would later claim contained false information.
The DOJ prosecutors wanted Flynn to say that he, the group and Bijan Rafiekian, knew the information on the FARA submissions was false. Flynn refused; and would not testify to that falsehood in the case. As a result the DOJ retaliated against Flynn by changing his position to a “co-conspirator” and cancelling his testimony.
The DOJ prosecutors don’t want Flynn to testify (no longer want his cooperation) because his testimony would undercut the foundation of their case against Bijan Rafiekian.
So with Flynn’s cooperation now at issue in the secondary EDVA case, in the primary case against Flynn himself, Judge Sullivan (Washington, DC) wants some answers:
BACK TO EDVA – The lawyers for Bijan Rafiekian, also filed motions to dismiss the DOJ indictment based on the prosecutors inability to prove the Flynn Intel Group knowingly acted on behalf of the Turkish government.
Essentially Rafiekian is arguing the Flynn group were hired and advocating for private interests and they had no reason to belief the Turkish government was behind the contract. This is the essential underpin for the FARA registration. If the Flynn Group didn’t know they were contracted by a foreign government, they wouldn’t know how to fill out the FARA forms.
Here’s where it gets interesting and a picture starts to emerge. It is possible, very possible, the DOJ-NSD using their legally authorized database and surveillance access, knew the background principals behind the Flynn Group contract were members of the Turkish Government. [DOJ-NSD head David Laufman knew] However, Flynn, Rafiekian and their lawyers did not know; and therefore signed a FARA submission that was later shown to be false.
Yes, Laufman -representing the DOJ- knowingly pressured Flynn to sign a FARA submission while withholding evidence the DOJ would later use to prove the FARA submission contained materially false information. That’s how it looks.
The same David Laufman who sat in on the Clinton email interview. The same David Laufman who was FBI official Monica McLean’s lawyer when things got sketchy about her work with “beach friend” Christine Blasey-Ford…
♦ In a late breaking development, Judge Anthony Trenga (EDVA) ruled the DOJ has not presented evidence sufficient to establish “evidence of a conspiracy” for the purposes of admitting the hearsay statements of alleged co-conspirator (Flynn).
TECHNO: “Notably absent” from the DOJ’s proffer is “any evidence… that Flynn… has admitted that he made certain false statements in the FARA filing” that was part of the alleged conspiracy.
TECHNO: “the FARA statement and related filings do not reflect the existence of the alleged conspiracy to act as undisclosed Turkish agents”
TECHNO: Turkey funding – the US didn’t have the evidence. “the US may not argue or state to the jury that Turkey … funded the work by Flynn Intel Group under the contractual agreement”
Here’s what I THINK is going on…. Keep in mind we saw this in 2016, and we warned about something weird going on in the background, but we did not know what it was.
Now we have hindsight to overlay with our CTH warnings in late 2016 (Oct/Nov).
I suspect the DOJ-NSD knew Flynn was lobbying for clients closely related to the Turkish government. I suspect Flynn was already under Title-3 surveillance (confirmed by Mueller report) and this lobbying issue likely became the legal predicate for a Flynn Title-1 FISA warrant. [Go Deep To See] That 2016 FISA warrant, likely approved by FISA Judge Rudy Contreras, allowed the DOJ-NSD -via FBI (Strzok)- to launch a counterintelligence investigation into the people who hired Flynn as a lobbyist.
If my suspicion is correct, in addition to the larger surveillance issues upon Flynn, the DOJ-NSD knew the people who contracted Flynn and Rafiekian were a ‘front‘ for senior Turkish officials (not withstanding possible WH coordination).
So when Flynn was confronted by DOJ-NSD head David Laufman, he was being *interviewed* by a DOJ official who knew more about the contract initiator than Flynn did. The DOJ-NSD and David Laufman was involved because manipulating FARA violations was the method to conduct surveillance (SEE HERE).
David Laufman then pressured Flynn in January 2017 to sign the FARA submission, knowing it contained material that was false, but unbeknownst to Flynn. This later became the predicate for the FARA case against Flynn and Rafiekian.
The DOJ (Laufman first) knew the background of the FARA filing was false because they had conducted a FISA Title-1 investigation prior to the Flynn FARA submission; and the DOJ (Mueller team now in 2017) knew the Turkish government was behind the lobbying contract…..
….But the DOJ cannot tell the court how they knew the lobbying contract was from the Turkish government, because they didn’t want to reveal the FISA surveillance; AND the DOJ may have an additional interest in hiding their knowledge of their origination of the lobbying contract by the Turkish government,… because it might have been somewhat coordinated by the Obama White House (pro-brotherhood, and pro-Erdogan).
Comey FBI apologist, Fusion GPS co-conspirator and Lawfare Alliance media narrative engineer, Natasha Bertrand, has an outline published today on the background interview of dossier author Christopher Steele.
From within the article, beyond the sympathetic propaganda, some overarching details are interesting:
♦(1) As expected Mr. Steele would only talk to OIG investigators from Horowitz’s office; Steele would not speak to speak to U.S. Attorney John Durham.
♦(2) The interview took place at the same time President Trump traveled to the U.K (June 3rd-5th) for a state visit. Likely coordinated so FBI officials could travel innocuously without media scrutiny (lots of security officials traveled on behalf of U.S. interests at the time); likely the preferred timing of Steele himself.
♦(3) The interview(s) took place over two days for a total of sixteen hours of conversation. The recent reports of IG delay and follow-up interviews are almost certainly related to the outcome of the investigative findings (ie. Kathleen Kavalec cooperation etc.).
♦(4) Current officials within the DOJ/FBI; with obvious interests related to the corrupt activity surrounding the FBI and DOJ use of Steele (ie. McCabe and Comey apologists); are leaking the content of the investigative interviews to their notorious Lawfare Alliance media cohorts, ie. Natasha Bertrand.
WASHINGTON DC – Christopher Steele, the former British spy behind the infamous “dossier” on President Donald Trump’s ties to Russia, was interviewed for 16 hours in June by the Justice Department’s internal watchdog, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The interview is part of an ongoing investigation that the Justice Department’s inspector general, Michael Horowitz, has been conducting for the past year. Specifically, Horowitz has been examining the FBI’s efforts to surveil a one-time Trump campaign adviser based in part on information from Steele, an ex-British MI6 agent who had worked with the bureau as a confidential source since 2010.
The extensive, two-day interview took place in London while Trump was in Britain for a state visit, the sources said, and delved into Steele’s extensive work on Russian interference efforts globally, his intelligence-collection methods and his findings about Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, who the FBI ultimately surveilled. The FBI’s decision to seek a surveillance warrant against Page — a warrant they applied for and obtained after Page had already left the campaign — is the chief focus of the probe by Horowitz.
The interview was contentious at first, the sources added, but investigators ultimately found Steele’s testimony credible and even surprising. The takeaway has irked some U.S. officials interviewed as part of the probe — they argue that it shouldn’t have taken a foreign national to convince the inspector general that the FBI acted properly in 2016. Steele’s American lawyer was present for the conversation. (read more)
Steele’s American lawyer is likely Adam Waldman (far left), the same U.S. lawyer/lobbyist who was working to put Steele in touch with SSCI Vice-Chairman Mark Warner in 2017.
Attorney Waldman has interests in alignment with the Lawfare network and direct connection to Daniel Jones, Dianne Feinstein’s former chief-of-staff who also took millions from resistance operatives (more Lawfare and Fusion-GPS allies) to continue funding Steele’s work afer the Trump inauguration.
Attorney Adam Waldman was also the lawyer representing Oleg Deripaska (pictured above on right); who we now know was paying Christopher Steele for research in 2016 while Steele was writing the dossier.
It’s one big convoluted network of allied interests, mixed with current and former DOJ and FBI officials who have a self-interest in hiding their illicit behavior. Almost all of the people within this network have ideological allies in the media, and depending on the subject issue at hand they are described in relative terms:
“Beach friends” (Christine Blasey Ford); “Lawfare Alliance” (Benjamin Wittes et al); FBI Washington Field Office and Main Justice officials are all part of this group and were also the officials within the Mueller probe. This network is all the same people, running in the same circles, meeting at the same parties, vacationing in the same areas and leaking to the same primary media contacts to project their narrative and defend their interests.
The article in Politico by Natasha Bertrand is a singular example. Quite simply this entire network is confident in their outlook that all of their behavior operates above the law.
Unfortunately, if the tone of the article is generally their position, it would appear they feel remarkably confident the investigation by IG Horowitz is nothing to fear. This overall outlook is bolstered by the historic track record of the OIG with regard to the two most recent investigative summaries: (1) Andrew McCabe leaking to media, and (2) DOJ and FBI conduct in the Hillary Clinton investigation.
In October 2016, Main Justic and the FBI needed the Steele dossier to get the FISA warrant. They needed the 2016 FISA warrant to cover-up for all of the unauthorized and illegal surveillance activity that was already underway throughout 2016.
The Russian election interference narrative; the use of Joseph Mifsud, Stefan Halper, the London and Australian embassy personnel; Erika Thompson, Alexander Downer, U.S. DIA officials; everything around Crossfire Hurricane; and everything after to include the construct of the Steele Dossier; all of it was needed for the creation of an ‘after-the-fact‘ plausible justification to cover-up what Mike Rogers discovered in early 2016, AND the downstream unmasked records that existed in the Obama White House SCIF.
Fusion GPS was not hired in April 2016 to research Donald Trump. The intelligence community was already doing surveillance and spy operations. They already knew everything about the Trump campaign.
The Obama intelligence community needed Fusion GPS to give them a justification for pre-existing surveillance operations. Fusion fulfilled that objective by contracting for the Steele Dossier.
That’s why the FBI, and later the Mueller team, were/are so strongly committed to, and defending, the formation of the Steele Dossier and its dubious content. Once they had the dossier in hand the FBI proceeded forward for an ex post facto FISA warrant.
The goal was surveillance authority.
The FBI used the Carter Page FISA application. The FBI already knew Carter Page; essentially Carter Page was irrelevant, what they needed was the dossier in the system, and the FISA authority as justification to execute the “insurance policy”.
President Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani appears on Fox News with Laura Ingraham to discuss the 2020 democrat candidates; the upcoming appearance by Robert Mueller; the recent arrest of Jeffrey Epstein and the race-baiting of Nancy Pelosi:
Jeffrey Epstein’s girlfriend and fixer, Ghislaine Maxwell, likely has many of the answers DOJ wants….
In the U.S. DOJ detention memo (full pdf below) federal prosecutors argue that Jeffrey Epstein should be denied bail. Within the 10-page memo some of the victim evidence seized by federal authorities from a locked safe belonging to Epstein is documented.
Epstein is accused of sex trafficking, and apparently he kept records which included CD ROM’s of young women with other potential suspects and/or participants:
[Page 9 pdf] “Finally, despite having been previously convicted of a sex offense involving an underage victim, the defendant has continued to maintain a vast trove of lewd photographs of young-looking women or girls in his Manhattan mansion. In a search of the New York Residence on the night of his arrest, on July 6-7, 2019, pursuant to judicially-authorized warrants, law enforcement officers discovered not only specific evidence consistent with victim recollections of the inside of the mansion, further strengthening the evidence of the conduct charged in the Indictment, but also at least hundreds—and perhaps thousands—of sexually suggestive photographs of fully- or partially nude females.
While these items were only seized this weekend and are still being reviewed, some of the nude or partially-nude photographs appear to be of underage girls, including at least one girl who, according to her counsel, was underage at the time the relevant photographs were taken. Additionally, some of the photographs referenced herein were discovered in a locked safe, in which law enforcement officers also found compact discs with hand-written labels including the following:
The defendant, a registered sex offender, is not reformed, he is not chastened, he is not repentant;6 rather, he is a continuing danger to the community and an individual who faces devastating evidence supporting deeply serious charges.” (cloud – pdf link)
Federal prosecutors from the Southern District of New York released an indictment today (full pdf below) against billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein. The charges include sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors, and outline how he used his fortune to “create a vast network of underage victims for him to sexually exploit.”
This case is being handled by the SDNY Public Corruption Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alex Rossmiller, Alison Moe, and *Maurene Comey are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from the Office’s Human Trafficking Co-Coordinator, Abigail Kurland. [*Maurene Comey is the daughter of corrupt former FBI Director James Comey.]
Prosecutors also revealed at a news conference how the FBI found nude photos of girls in a weekend raid of Epstein’s Manhattan mansion. WATCH [Prompted Just Hit Play]:
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Indictment below:
SDNY RELEASE – Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, William F. Sweeney Jr., the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), and James P. O’Neill, Commissioner of the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”), announced that JEFFREY EPSTEIN was arrested Saturday and charged with sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors.
The indictment unsealed today alleges that, between 2002 through 2005, EPSTEIN sexually exploited and abused dozens of underage girls by enticing them to engage in sex acts with him in exchange for money. Epstein allegedly worked with several employees and associates to ensure that he had a steady supply of minor victims to abuse, and paid several of those victims themselves to recruit other underage girls to engage in similar sex acts for money. He committed these offenses in locations including New York, New York, and Palm Beach, Florida. EPSTEIN is expected to be presented in Manhattan federal court this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry B. Pitman. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman.
U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said: “As alleged, Jeffrey Epstein abused underage girls for years, operating a scheme in which girls he victimized would recruit others for Epstein to exploit and abuse. Epstein exploited girls who were vulnerable to abuse, enticed them with cash payments, and escalated his conduct to include sex acts, often occurring at his residence on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. While the charged conduct is from a number of years ago, the victims – then children and now young women – are no less entitled to their day in court. My Office is proud to stand up for these victims by bringing this indictment.”
From at least 2002 through at least 2005, JEFFREY EPSTEIN enticed and recruited, and caused to be enticed and recruited, dozens of minor girls to visit his mansion in New York, New York (the “New York Residence”), and his estate in Palm Beach, Florida (the “Palm Beach Residence”), to engage in sex acts with him, after which he would give the victims hundreds of dollars in cash. In order to maintain and increase his supply of victims, EPSTEIN also paid certain victims to recruit additional underage girls whom he could similarly abuse. In this way, EPSTEIN created a vast network of underage victims for him to sexually exploit, often on a daily basis, in locations including New York and Palm Beach.
EPSTEIN’s victims were as young as 14 at the time he abused them, and were, for various reasons, often particularly vulnerable to exploitation. Moreover, EPSTEIN knew that many of his victims were under 18, including because, in some instances, victims expressly told him they were underage.
In creating and maintaining this network of minor victims in multiple states to abuse and exploit sexually, EPSTEIN worked with others, including employees and associates who facilitated his conduct by, among other things, contacting victims and scheduling their sexual encounters with EPSTEIN at the New York Residence and at the Palm Beach Residence.
In both New York and Florida, EPSTEIN perpetuated this abuse in similar ways. Victims were initially recruited to provide “massages” to EPSTEIN, which became increasingly sexual in nature and would typically include one or more sex acts. EPSTEIN paid his victims hundreds of dollars in cash for each encounter.
In particular, during encounters at the New York Residence, victims would be taken to a room where they would perform a massage on EPSTEIN, during which EPSTEIN would frequently escalate the nature and scope of physical contact with his victims to include, among other things, sex acts such as groping and direct and indirect contact with the victims’ genitals. In connection with the encounters, EPSTEIN, or one of his employees or associates, typically paid each victim hundreds of dollars in cash. Once minor victims were recruited, EPSTEIN or his employees or associates would contact victims to schedule appointments for “massages.” As a result, many victims were abused by EPSTEIN on multiple subsequent occasions.
To further enable him to abuse underage girls, EPSTEIN asked and enticed certain of his victims to recruit additional minor girls to perform “massages” and similarly engage in sex acts with EPSTEIN. When a victim would recruit another underage girl for EPSTEIN, he paid both the victim-recruiter and the new victim hundreds of dollars in cash. Through these victim-recruiters, EPSTEIN maintained a steady supply of new victims to exploit, and gained access to dozens of additional underage girls to abuse.
JEFFREY EPSTEIN, 66, is charged with one count of sex trafficking of minors, which carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison, and one count of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of minors, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. (read more)
Newly-leaked dispatches from British Ambassador to the U.S., Sir Kim Darroch, to his colleagues in the UK Foreign Office portray the Trump White House as chaotic, riven by internal divisions, and ignorant of how to conduct foreign relations. Essentially, they paint the same picture of the president — a bumbling braggart — and the administration that several authors have…authors Trump dismissed as purveyors of ‘fake news’. Sir Kim coaches leaders in his government dealing with President Trump to keep it simple and short, and to employ generous helpings of flattery. This is the 200th episode of Bill Whittle Now, with Scott Ott. People like you produce 48 new episodes of conservative content like this each month, and also run their own dynamic private blog. We offer a 30-day, money-back guarantee if you want to check us out. Just sign up now at https://BillWhittle.com/register/ and if you don’t feel what we’re doing is worth more than your investment, write us for a cheerful refund.
Joe Biden has been distancing himself from AOC and the extreme left. Biden has made it clear that the majority of Democrats are “center left” not “way left,” and looking at the midterm elections, the majority of people elected were center not way left. Biden is the traditional Democrat who knows where the majority of the support lies. If he moved extreme left, the Democrats would find their funding vanish rapidly. I believe that the Democratic Party will swing the ticket one way or another to make Biden their candidate
Chopper pressers are the best pressers. Sunday evening as President Trump is departing New Jersey en route back to the White House he delivers remarks to the press pool and answers questions: [Video and Transcript]
[Transcript] – Morristown, New Jersey – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. We’ve had great economic numbers that came out. You saw that over the weekend; you saw it on Friday. We have just spectacular economic numbers. We’re doing better than any nation on the planet. And we’re very honored by that.
In addition to which, we’re paying interest rates, which the previous administration essentially didn’t pay. So we’ve had tremendous numbers coming out and that’s a big thing. Our economy is doing incredibly.
I want to congratulate the women’s soccer team on winning the World Cup. That’s an incredible achievement. It was a very exciting game. I got to see a little bit of it. And they’re great players, and it’s a great honor to have them capture it for the United States — fourth time — and that’s a tremendous thing. So congratulations to the team on the World Cup.
And if you have any questions, go ahead.
Q Iran says it’s going to start enriching and breaking the Iran deal. What do you say to that?
THE PRESIDENT: Iran better be careful because you enrich for one reason — and I won’t tell you what that reason is, but it’s no good. They better be careful.
Q Mr. President, do you have a reaction to the British ambassador’s comments that were reported about today?
THE PRESIDENT: No, I haven’t seen it. But, you know, we’ve had our little ins and outs with — with a couple of countries. And I would say that the UK and the ambassador has not served the UK well, I can tell you that. We’re not — we’re not big fans of that man, and he has not served the UK well. So I can understand it. And I can say things about him, but I won’t bother.
Q On the census — any decision on the census and what you’ll do?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, we’re moving ahead with the census. They’re spending $15 billion or some ridiculous amount of money on a census. I don’t know why we can’t do that through the computers of the world because, frankly, that’s the way you can do a census today and probably a lot more accurately.
But they’re spending 15 to 20 billion dollars on a census. They’re asking everything, except “Are you a citizen of the United States?” How ridiculous is that? So we are moving forward; we have a couple of avenues. And our Attorney General is doing a fantastic job, in many ways, and I think he’s got it under control.
Q What about a presidential memorandum? What about a presidential memorandum on the border?
THE PRESIDENT: We can do a memorandum. We can do an executive order. We’re looking at different things, but there are other alternatives. And, again, I believe our Attorney General — he’s a fantastic man and I think he’s got it very well under control.
Q Mr. President, can I ask you, sir, about the border — in particular, the conditions there?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, I think the New York Times story is a hoax. I think anything the New York Times writes nowadays –they’re — they’re really — you know, they use the word “unhinged” — the New York Times. I call it the “failing New York Times” for a reason. Check out their unfunded liability and see what they’re worth. They’re a failing — they’re already a failed New York Times.
But when they write a story like that, I went to my people, and they said, “Sir, it’s not true.” We told them about a crisis. They said it was “manufactured.” They laughed and they scoffed for months, and then it turned out that it wasn’t manufactured. It’s a crisis. We were right about that.
We told them that the detention centers are really full, and they’ve got to change the loopholes and they have to change asylum; they have to change the immigration laws. We could do it quickly, but we have no votes to do it because the Democrats won’t vote. We need some of their votes.
But the New York Times story is a fabrication. Now, I look at things in the — I saw, visually — I had people there that told me the job that they are doing is incredible. And, in all cases, if you look — people that came from unbelievable poverty — that had no water, that had no anything where they came from — those are people that are very happy with what’s going on because, relatively speaking, they’re in much better shape right now.
The Border Patrol and all of the law enforcement that’s working on the border — it’s incredible what they’re doing. They’ve had to become nurses. They’ve had to become janitors. They’ve had to become things that they were never trained to do, all because the Democrats refuse to change the loopholes and the asylum laws, the immigration laws. So I think it’s a disgrace.
And the New York Times is basically a partner with the Democrats, the way I look at it. They should never be allowed to write stories like that. It’s a disgrace.
Q Did the numbers fall in June (inaudible)?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, the numbers are going down because Mexico is doing a lot. Mexico is building up to over 20,000 soldiers at the border, so the numbers are going down. Yes.
Q Do you believe female athletes should be paid as much as their male counterparts?
THE PRESIDENT: I would like to see that. And you also have to look at numbers because, when you look at World Cup soccer, that’s one thing, and you also have to look at soccer professionals out there. You have to see who’s taking in what.
So I don’t know what those numbers are. I would like to see that. But, again, you have to look at the great stars of the men’s soccer and the great stars of the women’s soccer, and you have to see, year round, how are they all drawing — what’s the attendance for women’s soccer outside of World Cup. But I would like to see it, yes.
Q Mr. President, do have any comment on Jeffrey Epstein, who was charged?
THE PRESIDENT: No, I don’t know about it. That I don’t know about.
Q Will you invite the women’s team to the White House?
THE PRESIDENT: What?
Q Will you invite the women’s team to the White House — the soccer team?
THE PRESIDENT: We haven’t really thought about it. We will look at that, certainly.
Yeah, Jeff.
Q When you said earlier that Iran should “be careful,” what are you thinking about, in terms of a response?
THE PRESIDENT: Iran is doing a lot of bad things. And remember this: The Obama agreement, which was the most foolish agreement that you’ll ever find — it expires in a very short period of time. So whether you have this conversation now or in a number of years from now — a few number of years — it’s a very important conversation, except, the way they want it, they would have automatic right to have nuclear weapons. Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.
Thank you very much.
Q (Inaudible) this week on China — Ambassador Lighthizer and Secretary Mnuchin, I guess, would they meet with the Chinese this week?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’re doing very well with China. That’s right; they’re meeting. But we’re — most importantly, we’re doing very well with the tariffs. We’re taking in billions and billions of dollars from China. We’ve never taken in ten cents from China. China has ripped us off during Obama and Biden; during, in all fairness, Bush and other Presidents; and Clinton, obviously.
And right now China is not very happy because thousands of companies are leaving China and they’re going to other places, including the United States, because they don’t want to pay tariffs. And the other thing is, China is paying the tariff. They’re devaluing their currency and they’re pumping money in. That’s paying for the tariff. Our people have not been paying for the tariff.
Thank you.
Q Do you have any problem with the Fed then, with regard to what they should do?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, if the Fed knew what it was doing, they would lower rates and they would stop quantitative tightening.
If you look at Europe, what they’re doing is they’re pumping money in and they’re having rates lowered so they can compete with us. Just remember, the European Union was set up in order to compete with the United States. Okay? And when they have a man — Draghi — if you look at what he’s done, I mean, he’s made them somewhat competitive. Now, despite everything, they’re not doing well and we’re doing great. Europe is not doing well at all. They’re doing great.
But we’re put in an unfair playing field when they cut interest rates and when they pump in a lot of money. And we’re doing just the opposite; we’re taking money out and interest rates have gone up.
If the Fed didn’t do what it did or if it did even half, we would have a Dow that would be — as good as it is; we’re doing so good — but we would have a Dow that would be anywhere from 5- to 10,000 points higher.
Q Is Jerome Powell’s job safe, sir?
Q Mr. President, will you visit the migrant detention center in Clint, Texas — the one in the New York Times story?
THE PRESIDENT: What we’re going to do is I’m going to start showing some of the detention centers because — to the press. I want the press to go in and see them. And I just spoke to Mark Morgan. And I just spoke with, as you know, Kevin.
So we’re going send people in. We’re going to have some of the press go in and see them, because they’re crowded and we’re the ones who were complaining about they’re crowded. They’re crowded because people come up. But, now, thanks to Mexico, it’s slowing down greatly, and I think you’ll start seeing some very good numbers. But it is crowded. But we want to have the press go in and see because, you know, the New York Times — it really is fake news.
Gordon Chang appears on Fox News with Charles Payne (filling in for Bartiromo) to discuss the downstream consequences from the G20 meeting between President Trump and Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping.
While he generally frames the picture accurately, lately Chang has been hit or miss. He accurately outlines how a win/win trade deal is not possible from the perspective of Beijing and their zero-sum outlook; however, he misses on the issues around Huawei; misses the entire hostage dynamic with Kim Jong Un; and then hits again on Hong Kong.
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♦ On China President Trump appears to be working on a complete and total decoupling from the U.S. However, there are steps required in the interim that are in flux (EU and USMCA). Once those matters are resolved we will likely see the decoupling.
♦ On North Korea, just because DPRK state media spouts something doesn’t mean Kim Jong-Un has any control over it. Beijing has majority influence over DPRK officials.
♦ On Hong Kong, after the Kim hostage rescue; and while the China decoupling is underway; we can expect Hong Kong to be a larger part of Trump’s Indo-Pacific initiative.
I have created this site to help people have fun in the kitchen. I write about enjoying life both in and out of my kitchen. Life is short! Make the most of it and enjoy!
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
Centinel2012 