Posted originally on CTH on December 1, 2025 | Sundance
On Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump emissaries Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met with the Ukraine negotiating team in Florida to further discuss acceptable terms for a broader ceasefire and end to the war.
Still trying to recover from corruption charges against his senior presidential team, Volodymyr Zelenskyy was not at the talks. Instead, the Ukraine delegation was led by State Security Council Secretary Rustem Umerov, while Zelenskyy went to Paris for an emotional support session with Emmanuel Macron.
Secretary Rubio and Secretary Umerov spoke before and after their 5-hour negotiation session. Secretary Rubio emphasized the main topic as securing the long-term future of Ukraine both from a security position and from an economic prosperity position.
This state security aspect comes as the Ukraine delegation is facing pressure to accept, they will lose most -if not all- of the Donbas region to Russia. “The end goal is obviously not just the end of the war. Obviously, that’s central and fundamental,” Rubio said. “It’s also about securing an end to the war that leaves Ukraine sovereign and independent and with an opportunity at real prosperity.”
In better-than-expected news, the EU is now saying they will not comply with any removal of sanctions against Russia. If the U.S-Russia and Ukraine work out a negotiated settlement that permits legal or economic relief for Vladimir Putin, the European Union will not agree and will instead make up their own decision on the issues.
Europe is holding this position as a threat, because President Trump is not fully consulting with them on all the granular details. However, this is the type of threat that is exactly beneficial to what appears to be the long-term strategy of Trump.
If Europe refuses to remove sanctions or legal threats against Russia, but the U.S. negotiates the removal of U.S treasury and financial sanctions against Russia, then the Europeans have chosen to stay behind the locked door of economic benefit. More than two-thirds of the world does not participate in the sanctions at all.
If Europe and Canada continue blacklisting Russia, the U.S-Russia energy development program gains exclusive benefits to Trump, Putin and other allies like Mohammed bin Salmon (Saudi Arabia), ASEAN nations and even Japan.
In very practical terms, someone like Viktor Orban (Hungary) would like nothing more than to violate ongoing Brussels sanctions against Russia, and as a consequence create a fracture point for European Union exit.
In practical terms, what would this look like? Well, the entire world would have lower energy prices, lower oil and natural gas prices, and lower gasoline prices by big margins. Meanwhile, Europe would have a massive disparity in their much higher energy costs – likely double the rest of the world. Think about the ramifications. Hungary, Georgia, Montenegro, and Serbia with 50% lower prices on gasoline and electricity than the EU. lolol It would be funny.
Unfortunately, with this in mind I find the EU threats hollow. As soon as the U.S-Russia-Ukraine work out a peace and security agreement, Europe will comply with whatever terms are negotiated for Russia. Failure to do so only isolates the Europeans and will create a problem amid their collective mindsets.
(Via Axios) Negotiations between the U.S. and Ukraine on Sunday focused on where the de facto border with Russia would be drawn under a peace deal, two Ukrainian officials tell Axios. They described the five-hour meeting as “difficult” and “intense,” but productive.
Why it matters: Russian President Vladimir Putin — who’s expected to meet with President Trump’s envoy on Tuesday — insists Russia won’t stop until it controls the entire Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.
After an hour in a wider format, the meeting narrowed to three officials from each side — with the line of territorial control virtually the only issue discussed, according to the two Ukrainian officials.
On the U.S. side were Witkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner. The Ukrainian side was represented by national security adviser Rustem Umerov, military chief of staff Gen. Andrii Hnatov and deputy head of military intelligence Vadym Skibitskyi.
After the talks with their teams ended, Umerov held another one-on-one meeting with Witkoff. Umerov then called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to brief him on the talks.
“It was intense but not negative. We really appreciate serious U.S. engagement. Our position is that we have to make everything to help U.S. succeed without losing our country and preventing another aggression from happening,” one of the Ukrainian officials wrote to Axios after the meeting.
Between the lines: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had wanted to discuss territory directly with Trump, but Trump said he’d only meet Zelensky or Putin again once a deal is close.
Umerov is expected to meet Zelensky in Paris on Monday and give him a more detailed report about the negotiations, Ukrainian officials say.
Witkoff plans to depart for Moscow on Monday and meet Putin on Tuesday.
“The main question is where the Russians stand and if their intentions are real. Let’s see what Witkoff brings from Moscow,” a Ukrainian official said. (more)
Posted originally on CTH on November 24, 2025 | Sundance
During the Biden administration I often thought about a Mike Vanderboegh quote when it seemed like we were under unrelenting opposition and victory was a distant hope:
“This is no small thing, to restore a republic after it has fallen into corruption. I have studied history for years and I cannot recall it ever happening. It may be that our task is impossible. Yet, if we do not try then how will we know it could not be done? And if we do not try, it most certainly will not be done. The Founders’ Republic, and the larger war for western civilization, will be lost.”
I found great strength in those words, the simple words, “if we do not try then how will we know it could not be done? and if we do not try, it most certainly will not be done.” The plain spoken, no-pretending reality of our situation, as true today as then.
With that spirit and a bucket overflowing with prayer, I assembled thick binders, receipts, direct and incontrovertible evidence, to put directly into the hands of those voices who could help make a difference. I know exactly what those binders look like and I know exactly what they contain. Ms. Herridge is holding one in her hands. The DC proletariat hate the information within the briefs, but it’s good to see they are still out there being used as reference material….
What the collective institutions of all three branches of government have done to our nation sickens me. But the mission to keep pushing sunlight inch-by-inch continues.
In 2020 Catherine Herridge was one of a group of DC institutional defenders who just couldn’t/wouldn’t fathom or believe the background story of corruption as told by me in documented evidence with citations and full context.
Remember, the story behind these citations only becomes visible when you walk through two parallel timelines; both must be done at the same time in order to cut through the obfuscation always present in the silo defenses:
1. The timeline of the actual corrupt activity, as the events took place. And…
2. The timeline of when the evidence of the corrupt activity surfaced.
The former timeline shows the corruption; the latter timeline shows how they tried to hide the corruption. The second timeline is what DC investigators focus on in order to understand how the evidence was/is discovered.
The information within the second timeline, how the evidence surfaced, is what DC tries to use in order to control the underlying information; it’s the ‘how do you know this‘ part.
Chapters:
02:00 FBI ‘Burn Bags’ evidence revealed in Comey criminal prosecution 03:50 Former FBI agent suggests a potential whistleblower wanted to records preserved and discovered 05:10 CIA intelligence about 2016 presidential election found in storage closet near Director’s office 06:15 Connecting the dots: In 2016, CIA intelligence alleged potential ‘Clinton Plan’ to damage candidate Trump 08:00 FBI leak investigation alleges ‘investigator-level briefing” for reporters on Clinton email case 09:40 Surveillance warrant application cited media reports for national security court. Not standard. 12:10 DNI Clapper email: we all need to be on the same page. NSA Director pushes back, “took a lot of courage.” 13:30 National Security Adviser Susan Rice 2017 email: claims investigations ‘by the book.’ 14:40 FBI ARCTIC FROST investigation: GOP phone toll records collected. Retired FBI agent said toll records are intrusive. 16:30 Alleged coordination FBI, DOJ and intelligence community
During the 2016 effort to weaponize the institutions of government against the outside candidacy of Donald Trump, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) was headed by Richard Burr and Dianne Feinstein. After the 2016 election Senator Feinstein abdicated her vice-chair position to Senator Mark Warner in January 2017.
While the SSCI was engaged in their part of the 2016 effort Vice-Chair Feinstein’s lead staffer was a man named Daniel Jones. Dan Jones was the contact point between the SSCI and Fusion-GPS.
After the election, and after Feinstein abdicated, Dan Jones left the committee to continue paying Fusion-GPS (Glenn Simpson) for ongoing efforts toward the impeachment insurance policy angle.
Feinstein appears to have left because she didn’t want to deal with the consequences of a President Trump, IF he discovered the SSCI involvement.
Dan Jones left because with a Trump presidency the SSCI, now co-chaired by Senator Mark Warner, needed arms-length plausible deniability amid their 2017 operations to continue the removal effort (soft coup).
The trail for this plausible deniability process and ongoing soft-coup effort first surfaces with Dan Jones appearing in the early 2017 text messages between Senator Warner and the liaison for Christopher Steele, lawyer and lobbyist Adam Waldman:
In those March 2017 text messages you can see Senator Warner attempting to set up covert “no paper trail” communication with dossier author Christopher Steele. Adam Waldman represented Chris Steele and Steele’s employer, Oleg Deripaska.
Less than a month later you can see within the text messages that Christopher Steele is in direct contact with Dan Jones. “[Chris] said Dan Jones is coming to see you” etc.
(Text Messages Between Feinstein’s replacement, Mark Warner, and Chris Steele’s lawyer/lobbyist, Adam Waldman, noting the importance of Dan Jones)
Former Feinstein staffer Dan Jones talking to Christopher Steele in April 2017 is critical to understanding what was going on after Trump won the election.
Jones raised $50 million from those who were behind the 2016 stop Trump effort, and the purpose was now the 2017 impeachment effort [SEE LINK]. Jones having left the SSCI (now outside govt.) then paid Christopher Steele and Fusion GPS to keep up their efforts. As you can see from the texts, Jones was now talking in person (“coming to see you”) to SSCI Vice-Chair Mark Warner in April 2017.
[Side-Bar: The role of Fusion-GPS in 2017 shifted, and was now weighted toward feeding a specific media narrative that would aid impeachment (through the FBI, Weissmann and Mueller obstruction angle). Fusion-GPS was now the conduit for arms-length media leaks from the usurping small group still inside the DOJ and FBI. Dan Jones was paying Fusion on behalf of those with larger interests. Fusion was feeding the media.]
So, you can clearly see the SSCI was heavily involved in the impeachment effort after the election.
Secondary documentation of the connection between the DOJ, FBI, Fusion, and Dan Jones shows up in the FBI investigative 302 notes of Bruce Ohr, released by Judicial Watch. [Pay attention to the May 8th, 2017, interview – pg 18, 19 of pdf]
The highlighted bottom portion of page 18 (May 8, 2017, interview) shows a heavily redacted text, but holds enough material to overlay with other research.
This is where Bruce Ohr is talking about Dan Jones efforts as they were currently aligned with Fusion GPS: “and had been on the staff of the [Senate Intelligence Committee]”…. “At the time of the interview [Jones] was working with the [Vice Chairman of the Committee Mark Warner]”… etc.
This part is heavily redacted because the corrupt agents within the current DOJ and FBI once again don’t want people to piece together what was happening.
This is not sources and methods being redacted. This is not national security being redacted. This is the trail of the connective tissue in/around the small group plotting that is being hidden.
At the top of page 19, the investigative notes of Ohr’s discussion continues.
Bruce Ohr is telling the FBI investigator, likely Agent Joe Pientka, about Glenn Simpson and Dan Jones visiting Christopher Steele sometime after May 8, 2017, and they were in the process of “lawyering up”.
Now before going deeper in the SSCI weeds, let me pause and explain the important specifics behind why the FBI was interviewing Bruce Ohr about Chris Steele; by overlaying what was going on in/around early 2017.
Chris Steele wasn’t alone in creating the “dossier”. Heck, the purpose of Fusion-GPS contracting Steele; and the purpose of the FBI engaging with Steele; was the laundry value of having a known intelligence officer validate political opposition research which the FBI could use against Donald Trump. The reality is: most of the raw material and research inside the dossier was from Glenn Simpson and Nellie Ohr at Fusion GPS.
The ‘small group’ inside the DOJ and FBI always knew the provenance of the material; the plan and intent was to utilize Fusion-GPS for their political purposes.
Everyone carrying out this operation, all of the corrupt entities within it, knew the material from Chris Steele was essentially political opposition research. Many of those same people later weaponized the research into the FISA application to give it higher import and value.
That set’s up early 2017 – where the FBI was evaluating the extent to which Chris Steele was willing to remain on public record to support a false framework about the dossier itself. This is the same timeframe where Fusion is being paid by Dan Jones to facilitate the calls for a special counsel. Fusion drives that narrative with structured leaks to media.
Steele’s support was a key issue because the corrupt DOJ and FBI officials were about to hand-off the dossier to Special Counsel Robert Mueller (figurehead only) as the basis for the ‘small group’ and him to launch the special counsel aspect of an ongoing operation.
If Chris Steele suddenly walked away from the dossier, and/or admitted publicly the dossier was political opposition research primarily from Glenn Simpson and Nellie Ohr, the FBI would have a shit-storm on its hands…. and they needed to evaluate the position of Steele. Steele could be a risk if he was not supporting the team playbook. That’s the driving purpose behind all of this 2017 “re-engagement” with Steele through Bruce Ohr.
The small group in the DOJ and FBI planned to continue, pass-off and modify the Trump investigation by shifting it to a special counsel. The centerpiece of that investigation would be using the dossier as justification for a need to investigate Trump as a Russian risk. The DOJ/FBI small group needed Glenn Simpson and Chris Steele to stand by the false narrative all of the players had assembled over the prior year.
The wildcard to retain the false story was Chris Steele… Steele was an outside participant, albeit aligned with the ideology and the purpose. Evaluating Steele’s willful participation in keeping the narrative as assembled was the reason for their urgent talks; however, the “small group” couldn’t run the risk of direct talks in the same way that Mark Warner couldn’t risk of a paper trail.
Additionally, in support of the 2017 use of Chris Steele to frame the Russia narrative, the CIA, FBI, ODNI and aggregate intelligence community simultaneously pushed the December 2016 Joint Analysis Report (JAR) and the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA), as evidence to support their Russia narrative.
Now, the Joint Analysis Report (JAR) and the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) construct.
If the ICA is a false political document, then guess what? Yep, the entire narrative from the JAR and ICA is part of a big fraud (it is). Then the construct of the special counsel probe was false (it was).
In early 2017 Adam Waldman and Dan Jones were facilitating a plausibly deniable information pipeline from Chris Steele to the SSCI and Senator Mark Warner. At the same time, and for the same purposes, DOJ official Bruce Ohr was facilitating a plausibly deniable information pipeline from Chris Steele to the FBI/DOJ small group. The purposes were the same, everyone needed assurances Steele wasn’t going to back-out.
That corrupt planning activity is what some unknown DOJ and FBI officials were hiding behind the Bruce Ohr 302 redactions. Now, where does the DOJ and FBI small group start to place their defensive positions?
This is where it all starts coming back together:
[…] The Senate intelligence committee examined the allegations about Downer, Mifsud and Halper, as part of its bipartisan investigation into the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia was responsible for attacking the 2016 election, and found nothing to substantiate any wrongdoing, a committee aide said. (read full article)
Again, notice how the FBI small group is utilizing the SSCI, and it is a committee aide within the SSCI that is leaking to NBC. The small group are pulling the Senate Intelligence Committee back into the picture. That brings Dianne Feinstein, Mark Warner, Richard Burr, Daniel Jones, Adam Waldman and James Wolfe back in.
Why go there?
Why was the FBI small group pulling the SSCI back into the picture?
Because they have to.
In 2018 the DOJ and FBI covered up the corruption evident during the 2017 pre-Mueller effort.
In 2019 the position of the small group was to force the DOJ and FBI to do it again.
Throughout the 2016 and 2017 effort, a part of one branch of the United States government, the U.S. Senate through the SSCI, was assisting the efforts of the DOJ and FBI against a candidate, president-elect and later United States President, Donald Trump.
As a result of a FOIA release in Mid December 2018, Judicial Watch revealed how the State Department was feeding “classified information” to multiple U.S. Senators on the Senate Intelligence Committee by the Obama administration immediately prior to President Donald Trump’s inauguration:
The documents reveal that among those receiving the classified documents were Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), and Sen. Robert Corker (R-TN).
Judicial Watch obtained the documents through a June 2018 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed against the State Department after it failed to respond to a February 2018 request seeking records of the Obama State Department’s last-minute efforts to share classified information about Russia election interference issues with Democratic Senator Ben Cardin (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:18-cv-01381)).
The documents reveal the Obama State Department urgently gathering classified Russia investigation information and disseminating it to members of Congress within hours of Donald Trump taking office. (read more)
The impeachment program was a plan, an insurance policy of sorts; a coordinated effort between corrupt politicians in the Senate and hold-over allies in the executive; however, because she didn’t want to participate in this – Senator Dianne Feinstein abdicated her vice-chair position to Senator Mark Warner. [Background Here]
This is the pre-cursor to utilizing Robert Mueller. A plan that was developed soon after the 2016 election. The appointment of a special counsel was always the way they were going to hand-off and continue the investigation into Trump; but they needed a reason for it.
The continued exploitation of the Steele Dossier was critical; thus, they needed Chris Steele to be solid. And the continued manipulation of the media was also critical; thus, they needed Fusion-GPS to continue. [Dan Jones paid both]
While Mark Warner was communicating with Adam Waldman and Dan Jones as a conduit to Chris Steele, the FBI/DOJ team was communicating through Bruce Ohr to Chris Steele (and by extension to Nellie Ohr and Fusion GPS).
Part of Warner’s role was to weaponize the Legislative branch to advance the ‘Muh Russia conspiracy’, a fundamental necessity if a special counsel was going to have justification.
The SSCI, and the security protocols within it, were structurally part of the plan; hence the rapid information from Obama’s State Dept. to the SSCI and Senate participants in the last moments prior to departing.
♦ On March 17th, 2017, the Senate Intelligence Committee took custody of the FISA application used against Carter Page. We know the FISA court delivered the read and return Top-Secret Classified application due to the clerk stamp of March 17, 2017.
The FISA application (original and first renewal) was delivered to Senate Security Director James Wolfe. Senator Mark Warner entered the basement SCIF shortly after 4:00pm on March 17, 2017, the day it was delivered (texts between Warner and Waldman): Now, when SSCI Security Officer James Wolfe was indicted (unsealed June ’18), we could see the importance of the March 17th date again:
We can tell from the description within the indictment the FBI investigators are describing the FISA application.
Additionally, Wolfe exchanged 82 text messages with reporter Ali Watkins. The FISA application is 83 pages with one blank page.
The logical conclusion was that Wolfe text Ali Watkins 82 pictures of the application.
FBI Investigators applied for and received a search warrant for the phone records of journalist Ali Watkins. Ms. Watkins was notified in February 2018, three months after Wolfe was questioned by FBI investigators in December 2017.
However, despite the overwhelming (public) circumstantial evidence that Wolfe leaked the FISA application, he was never charged with leaking classified information. Wolfe was only charged with lying three times to federal authorities, and he pled down to one count of lying to the FBI.
CTH made the case in mid 2018 that someone at the DOJ had influenced a decision not to charge Wolfe with the leaking of the FISA application; despite the FBI and DOJ having direct evidence of Wolfe leaking classified information.
The logical reason for the Rosenstein DOJ not to charge Wolfe with the FISA leak was because that charge would ensnare powerful Senators on the powerful committee. Worse still, in hindsight we now see how that committee was working to aide the purposes and intents of the corrupt DOJ and FBI officials as they built their impeachment agenda.
Remember, the SSCI has intelligence oversight of the DOJ, DOJ-NSD, FBI and all associated counterintelligence operations. Additionally, when the FBI was investigating Wolfe for leaking classified documents, according to their court filings they had to inform the committee of the risk Wolfe represented. Who did they have to inform?.. Chairman Richard Burr and Vice-Chair Mark Warner.
Think about it. Both gang-of-eight members (Warner/Burr), who happened -as a consequence of the jaw dropping implications- to be two SSCI members who were warned by the FBI that Wolfe was compromised…. and they, along with Feinstein in 2016, were the co-conspirators who used James Wolfe. The ramifications cannot be overstated.
Any criminal charges for leaking classified intelligence information against James Wolfe would likely result in a major scandal where the SSCI itself was outlined as participants in the weaponization of government for political intents. Thus, the perfect alignment of interests for a dropped charge and DC cover-up. REMEMBER:
If it already wasn’t transparently sketchy as hell, in an act of serendipity and self-preservation, the accused Security Director James Wolfe evidenced the schemes when he threatened to subpoena members of the SSCI as part of his defense. [See Here]
[…] Attorneys for James A. Wolfe sent letters to all 15 senators on the committee, notifying them that their testimony may be sought as part of Mr. Wolfe’s defense, according to two people familiar with the matter.
[…] Mr. Wolfe’s defense lawyers are considering calling the senators as part of the proceedings for a variety of reasons, including as potential character witnesses and to rebut some of the allegations made by the government in the criminal complaint, these people say. (link)
Immediately after threatening to subpoena the SSCI (July 27, 2018), the DOJ (Rosenstein authorizing) cut a deal with Wolfe and dropped the charges down to a single charge of lying to investigators. However, someone in the FBI who was doing the investigative legwork wasn’t happy with that decision.
The overwhelming circumstantial evidence that Wolfe leaked the FISA application went from a strong suspicion, to damn certain (after the plea deal) when the DOJ included a sentencing motion in mid-December 2018.
On December 15th, 2018 the DOJ filed a response to the Wolfe defense teams’ own sentencing memo (full pdf), and within the DOJ response they included an exhibit (#13) written by the FBI [redacted] special agent in charge, which specifically says: “because of the knowndisclosure of classified information, the FISA application”… Thereby admitting, albeit post-plea agreement, that Wolfe did indeed leak the damn FISA:
Right there, in that FBI Special Agent description is the bombshell admission that James Wolfe leaked the Carter Page FISA application to journalist Ali Watkins at Buzzfeed.
We know the special agent who wrote exhibit #13 in the December filing was Special Agent Brian Dugan, Asst. Special Agent in Charge, Washington Field Office. The same investigator who originally signed the affidavit in the original indictment against Wolfe.
So, with hindsight there was absolutely no doubt that James Wolfe leaked the 83-page Carter Page FISA application on March 17, 2017. Period. It’s all documented with circumstantial and direct evidence; including the admissions from the FBI agent in charge.
So, why was SSCI Security Director James Wolfe allowed to plea to a single count of lying to investigators?
Because all three branches of our government were participating in the corruption and targeting of Donald Trump. Their fates are all tied together. Take down one participant like James Comey and all the other participants are at risk.
Posted originally on CTH on November 21, 2025 | Sundance
Senator Elissa Slotkin (Mich), a former CIA analyst who worked in the State Department and Pentagon during the Obama administration, organized a viral video with Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, Reps. Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, Rep. Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire, and Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado.
The six congressional representatives directed their coordinated communication to members of the military and intelligence community. “Right now, the threats to our Constitution aren’t just coming from abroad, but from right here at home. Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders … you must refuse illegal orders,” they asserted.
However, when questioned about what “illegal orders” President Trump has created, the six members are suddenly very quiet. White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Stephen Miller responds:
.
Ultimately, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi could easily assign an FBI agent and U.S attorney to question the six members about the “illegal orders” they are telling the military and intelligence community to defy.
If Slotkin, Kelly and the rest cannot present evidence of an illegal order they are referring to, that would be a qualification that should presumably invoke a First Amendment defense claim, then charge them with simple sedition as defined in statute.
Posted originally on CTH on November 21, 2025 | Sundance |
The majority of New York City residents elected Zohran Mamdani as their mayor. New Yorkers elected him, and New Yorkers are going to have to deal with the consequences of their choice.
True to form, President Trump invited mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani to the White House and gave the representative of the New York voters the spotlight their choice represents. President Trump then holds a media availability with Mayor-elect Mamdani to answer questions. Sunlight is the best disinfectant. WATCH:
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What will the outcome be for New York City? They will soon find out.
Posted originally on CTH on November 20, 2025 | Sundance
The govt shutdown made a mess of the economic data surveying and statistical analysis generally needed for accurate snapshots of the economy. However, the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) was able to release the September jobs report data {SEE BLS REPORT HERE}.
The geopolitical trade reset continues delivering domestic economic fluctuations, as each sector and specific international dependency reacts to President Trump’s shifts and turns in targeted economic policy. The September jobs report caught the economic pundits off-guard, as it showed a much bigger gain in jobs than they expected.
As noted by MSM, “The US added 119,000 jobs in September, far more than the 53,000 economists expected, and unemployment unexpectedly increased to 4.4% from 4.3%.” President Trump’s immigration enforcement continues to capture and remove illegal alien workers from the U.S. economy. This is also driving up domestic wages.
Posted originally on CTH on November 20, 2025 | Sundance
As noted last week, the Senate included a provision in the government reopening bill to allow Republican Senators to sue the DOJ and data providers who comply with subpoenas for senator’s telephone and email records.
Nine senators who previously were targeted by Jack Smith and Arctic Frost subpoenas likely stand to make millions from lawsuits under the legislation.
In the latest round of DC pretending, the House voted 426-0 to repeal that specific law and terminate the Senate payday. Is the Senate going to take up the bill, of course not. However, the House now has another useless talking point (strong in the pearl clutching is this one) to campaign and fundraise with.
House members are great actors, very upset – very, and their level of pretense is excellent on this repeal bill. The unanimous vote really gives both wings of the uniparty, that reach across the aisle, a selling feature for the next election.
WASHINGTON DC – The House unanimously voted 426-0 Wednesday night to claw back language in last week’s government funding bill that could award some GOP senators hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages for having their phone records unknowingly obtained by former special counsel Jack Smith.
The language, which was quietly slipped into the shutdown-ending package last week by Senate Majority Leader John Thune, drove bipartisan outrage in the House. Even outspoken critics of Smith — including House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who is leading an investigation into the Biden-era probe — supported the effort to repeal a politically toxic measure that was quickly branded as a taxpayer-funded windfall for a select few.
“That policy, in my opinion — in the opinion I think of all the members of this institution — is unacceptable,” said House Administration Committee chair Bryan Steil (R-Wis.), during floor debate. “No one should be able to enrich themselves because the federal government wronged them, no elected official should be able to.”
The provision would allow senators to sue the federal government for $500,000 or more if their electronic data was subpoenaed without proper notification. But there are concerns over the language’s retroactivity — which would extend protections to at least eight Republican senators whose records were obtained as part of Smith’s investigation into Donald Trump’s attempts to subvert the 2020 election results.
There are no guarantees the bill to repeal the language will get a vote in the Senate. (read more)
Posted originally on CTH on November 19, 2025 | Sundance
The House version of the Thomas Massie ‘pay attention to me bill’ telling the DOJ to release the information about Jeffrey Epstein, unless it contains material related to national security of investigations, has now passed the Senate by unanimous consent and will now head to President Trump’s desk for his signature.
Trump will sign it, the Epstein ‘shiny thing’ law will go into effect, and the politicians will continue arguing about it and trying to attack the White House because they put the perpetual argument component into THE BILL:
The bill is only six pages. I suggest you read it.
As you can see from the highlighted qualifiers above, those of you who enjoy the bread and circus distractions provided by the DC UniParty apparatus, will have at least another year to follow this story. Have fun with it.
Meanwhile, Congress cannot find time to codify any executive orders that might save taxpayer money, secure the border, protect elections, tighten up immigration laws or expel criminal aliens….
…. But thanks to Ron DeSantis’s biggest supporter, Thomas Massie, you’ll always have Epstein.
Posted originally on CTH on November 17, 2025 | Sundance
At this point, anyone who is left thinking James Comey will stand trial in DC is just pretending for their own agenda. Unfortunately, the dismissal of the case against him is a foregone conclusion.
The DOJ Lawfare embeds purposefully dragged their heels toward the statute of limitations, AG Pam Bondi didn’t respond fast enough to the institutional stonewalling, and that set up Lindsey Halligan for an almost impossible task.
Former FBI Director James Comey was leaking information to the media through his friend and FBI Special Government Employee Daniel Richman. When Comey was fired in May 2017, he knew what his risks were. Comey hired Daniel Richman as his personal lawyer and legal counsel. Comey knew this would make targeting him for leaking to media more difficult.
Last month U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff, the Biden appointee overseeing the criminal case against Comey, assigned magistrate judge William Fitzpatrick to review the issues surrounding potential violations of attorney-client privilege within the indictment.
Today Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick sides with the Comey defense and blasts the prosecution for violating attorney-client privilege. [SEE RULING HERE] In addition, Judge Fitzpatrick instructs the prosecution, Lindsey Halligan, to give the defense team all of the evidence used in the grand jury indictment.
Fitzpatrick is setting the stage to dismiss the charges. There’s zero doubt about it when you read the 24-page order.
It’s enough to make you blow a blood pressure cuff when you see a judge upholding the Fourth Amendment argument on James Comey’s behalf, considering the blatant Fourth Amendment violations that Comey conspired to violate within his fraudulent investigations of Carter Page and President Trump.
Seriously though, don’t waste any hopium on this case, and expect the judge to require the government to pay all of Comey’s legal fees.
We read enough of this stuff to see a Lawfare set up when it is visible. The Lawfare crew has this case easily won. Judge Fitzpatrick gives the defense eleven points of process with which to file a motion to dismiss.
[COURT ORDER] – First, the facts establish a reasonable basis for the defense to challenge whether the Richman Warrants were executed in a manner consistent with the Fourth Amendment and the orders of the issuing court.
Second, the facts establish a reasonable basis for the defense to challenge whether the government exceeded the scope of the Richman Warrants in 2019 and 2020 by seizing and preserving information that was beyond the scope of the warrants, that is, information that did not constitute evidence of violations of either 18 U.S.C. § 641 or § 793.
Third, the facts establish a reasonable basis for the defense to challenge whether the government had the lawful authority to search the Richman materials anew in 2025.
Fourth, the facts establish a reasonable basis for the defense to challenge whether the government’s 2025 seizure of the Richman materials included information beyond the scope of the original warrants.
Fifth, the nature and circumstances surrounding the government’s potential violations of the Fourth Amendment and court orders establish a reasonable basis to question whether the government’s conduct was willful or in reckless disregard of the law.
Sixth, the facts provide a reasonable basis for the defense to show that they were prejudiced by the government’s use of the Richman materials in the grand jury, particularly if the government’s conduct was willful or reckless, given the centrality of these materials to the government’s presentation.
Seventh, the facts establish a reasonable basis for the defense to challenge whether the government took sufficient steps to avoid the collection and review of privileged materials, including the reasons why Mr. Comey was never afforded the opportunity to assert a privilege over his communications until after the indictment was obtained.
Eighth, the facts establish a reasonable basis for the defense to challenge whether privileged information was used, directly or indirectly, by the government to prepare and present its grand jury presentation. This is particularly troublesome because the government’s sole witness before the grand jury was exposed to a “limited overview” of privileged material shortly before he testified.
Ninth, the nature and circumstances surrounding the disclosure of potentially privileged information establish a reasonable basis to question whether the government’s conduct was willful or in reckless disregard of the law. This is particularly significant because Agent-3, after having been exposed to potentially privileged information, chose to testify before the grand jury rather than separate himself from the investigation to contain any further exposure to privileged information and limit any prejudice to Mr. Comey.
Tenth, as discussed in Section IV above the prosecutor made statements to the grand jurors that could reasonably form the basis for the defense to challenge whether the grand jury proceedings were infected with constitutional error.
Eleventh, the grand jury transcript and recording likely do not reflect the full proceedings because, although it is clear that a second indictment was prepared and presented to the grand jury (ECF 3), the transcript and audio recording of the proceedings do not reflect any further communications after the grand jury began deliberating on the first indictment.
Collectively, the facts set forth herein and the particularized findings of the Court establish that “ground[s] may exist to dismiss the indictment because of a matter that occurred before the grand jury[.]” Rule 6(e)(3)(E)(ii). [more]
There are two tiers of justice. The legal system is as rigged as the intelligence system.
Posted originally on CTH on November 15, 2025 | Sundance
BUMPED: Today is a travel day; however, I see the efforts to divide the MAGA base are in full swing. So, I remind everyone to be prudent in your discernment of who is antagonizing, what topics and processes they are using and ultimately who benefits from it. Don’t take the bait – Remember, “there are trillions at stake!”
On March 3rd through March 6th 2016, the Republican presidential primary was at the precipice of a key inflection point (Super Tuesday) when a large group of political leadership, tech titans, bankers and political influence agents assembled at the AEI summit in Sea Island, Georgia.
In the decade that passed, you have seen me reference this Sea Island group frequently, because the origin of where we are today can only be understood if you followed the outcome of that 2016 Sea Island meeting and the decade of activity therein.
In 2016 the agenda of the group, though they gently denied it at the time, was to figure out a way to remove the disruption Donald Trump represented from the business model of DC politics. The Sea Island confab discussed how to stop him, or at the very least manage the potential damage he could deliver to the system – specifically, to the Republican wing of the UniParty apparatus.
Here in 2025, we are currently witnessing an outcome of activity from essentially the same group. For this phase, the intention is to fracture the baseline of support that underpins President Trump’s movement; what is reasonably called MAGA and the America-First movement.
What follows below is a review that might help people understand what exactly is behind the various pressure narratives we see being introduced into this narrative operation. The attacks against Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, various iterations of Qatar vs Israel as espoused by voices like Mark Levin, the claims of antisemitism shouted against any voice that doesn’t put the interests of the Israeli government at the forefront, and the various alignments therein.
In the biggest picture, this is not a battle against individual voices, but rather the positioning of interests to maintain the same objective that was discussed in the aforementioned Sea Island confab.
A few points are needed for context as this discussion enlarges. First, I am only 80% finished with the year-long tracking of the participants; however, due to the severity of the issue and the urgency therein, this is one of the few times I will outline something that is not yet fully developed.
Second, this is not the first rodeo for this activity. After the Tea Party rose in 2010, we saw this same institutional response from almost identical participants to control the threat of a leaderless organic grassroots movement. President Obama, the DNC/RNC and the Republican power apparatus all opposed the Tea Party, as they do MAGA for exactly the same reason.
The need for control is a reaction to fear.
You might remember supporters of the various patriot or Tea Party grassroots organizations being targeted by the Obama DOJ and IRS. Simultaneously John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell labeled Tea Party supporters as political jihadists, extremists and hobbits. The targeting operations to isolate, ridicule and marginalize the movement was both a DNC and an RNC operation.
Republicans and Democrats worked together to eliminate the Tea Party, and Republicans were more than willing to lose elections to stop Tea Party supported candidates from winning. This is important to remember, because that type of activity both evidences the UniParty apparatus and the opposition to the modern iteration of the Tea Party in the larger MAGA voting base. In short, the DC professional political apparatus hates all versions of the same uncontrollable electorate regardless of label.
When they departed Sea Island, eventually the professional Republicans (GOPe) ended up settling on supporting Hillary Clinton, because Donald Trump could not be defeated within the confines of the party apparatus and became the presumptive nominee. The tech group from Sea Island was already part of the Hillary Clinton alignment, and the “political influence agents” also saw Hillary as the comfortable, predictable and non-disruptive candidate. The key underpinning all of them was “anyone but Trump.”
Hillary then walked toward November with party Democrats, party Republicans, tech, Silicon Valley and the never-Trump conservatives. However, Hillary encountered a major minus in the electorate when the Bernie Sanders group discovered the origin of the DNC control operation. Hillary Clinton gained the party Republicans, but Hillary Clinton lost a lot of Bernie voters; many of them went to Trump.
[NOTE: It’s a little funny, but the five-year-long RNC -vs- TP/MAGA fight is essentially what we are now watching within the other wing of the UniParty, the DNC wing. The grassroots left against the DNC professionals. The “progressives” or “socialist democrats” are taking Democrat scalps the same way the grassroots right took down Republicans. The old guard Democrats are quitting.]
All of this is said to frame the context for 2025, and the objectives of the political influence agents to break up the MAGA movement into smaller digestible pieces. The wedge issue is not accidentally Israel.
Israel has been selected as a wedge issue to divide MAGA, because Israel-First influencers viewed themselves in a vulnerable position. This too needs context.
♦ QATAR. All year long I have been watching the Qatar vs Israel battle surface on social media. At first it was a very odd dynamic to watch, because it did not make sense. Then a few things became more visible that made it evident why the U.S-Israel groups were concerned.
In the decade that preceded 2025, you cannot find too many examples of Qatar ever having a positive headline outside the praise from Barack Obama and Joe Biden. While Obama had always embraced Qatar (ex. bank for the Muslim Brotherhood), it was Joe Biden who labeled Qatar a major non-NATO ally. The Obama/Biden administration liked Qatar, the first Trump administration not so much.
Prior to 2025, Qatar had a history of bad influence operations, where “bad” is defined as them doing really bad things; like funding radical Islamic extremists (creating the Arab Spring), giving safe haven to the exiled Islamist Egyptian leadership, financing Al-Jazeera, shipping covert CIA/State Dept weapons to the al-Qaeda operatives in Libya and Syria, being the bankers for Iranian money, supporting Hamas leadership, etc.
In the first Trump term, President Trump confronted Qatar and told the Gulf Cooperation Council (Egypt, Bahrain, UAE and Saudi Arabia) to maintain pressure on Qatar. So, it was quite a reversal to see the second Trump term reverse course entirely and begin praising Qatar. However, if you think about the issue of the Israeli war in Gaza, and how that changed the landscape, things begin to take on a new context.
This new 2025 positive-Qatar vibe created anxiety for the pro-Israel elements inside the USA. It wasn’t a matter of direct policy that seemed to unnerve them, but rather a change in influence priority. Influence is a tenuous game of position.
In early 2025, Israel-first voices started to seem visibly worried their White House influence operation may be diminished by a positive Trump message toward Qatar. In my opinion, that influence fear was actually substantive, and yet part of an intentional Trump foreign policy agenda; akin to a soft brushback pitch against the U.S-Israel influence shop who had become very comfortable taking their Trump influence for granted.
Friendly messaging toward Qatar’s influence shop was viewed by U.S-Israeli voices as a betrayal. However, given the nature of the Trump transition team having former lobbyists for Qatar, the friendly messaging was understandable; however, x2, that set of facts didn’t make it palatable for the Israeli coalition. Ergo, an influence battle began very early in the Trump administration, and the internecine Qatar vs Israel issue was visible to those of us who watch things closely.
Keep in mind, historically within the GOPe apparatus, this was a lucrative financial tug-of-influence game. The neocon/intelligence wing (Bolton/McCain) had one foot in pro-Qatar and one foot in pro-Israel, with ¹both sides funding for influence and delivering affluence. So much so that their interests from a USA viewpoint were virtually indistinguishable, see Libya. Additionally, behind this financial set of motives, this confab of influence beneficiaries was/is the core of that Sea Island meeting.
[¹President Obama played this dynamic brilliantly to the benefit of his Muslim Brotherhood allies.]
♦ THE RACE – At this point in the analysis, it is worthwhile dropping the traditional viewpoint of U.S. politicians as “candidates” and start thinking about them in the more accurate term as “horses.” The horses race in the Kentucky Derby, but it is the owners who win the prize money.
When you view U.S. politicians as horses in the various races, we start to think more clearly about who their owners are. This is the key to understanding U.S political candidates.
You might be able to remember the name of the horse who won the Triple Crown, you might even remember the jockey who rode the horse, but less likely you remember who owned it. In U.S. politics, it’s the owners within the political races who control the horses not the horses who control the owners.
Donald J. Trump represented a serious threat to this dynamic. Trump is a horse who is also his owner; this is a major disruption in political sport.
The owners assembled in Sea Island, March 2016, to discuss this disruption.
By the time we get to 2020, the ‘anyone but Trump’ theme was clearly at play. The Intelligence Community assisted, Big Tech assisted, corporate media assisted, our ever-predictable Republicans were once again purposefully and willfully blind, and with mail-in ballots all the rage, Trump was all alone against the entire apparatus with only voters trying to offset the American political control operation. In the aftermath of the ridiculous outcome, all of the participants circled the wagons, and Nancy Pelosi provided the literal fence.
In 2021, the Big Tech sub-segment of the Sea Island confab then went full combat against MAGA elements, banning, deplatforming, demonetizing and removing any countervailing voices. Meanwhile, anyone associated with Trump was targeted by the collaborating government mechanisms, DOJ/FBI and the media once again ran cover.
In the 2023 version of ‘anyone but Trump,’ 43 billionaires together with an assist from Sea Island attendee, Elon Musk, tried to launch Ron DeSantis as a MAGA alternative. However, the Tea Party-hardened MAGA voters looked at their scars, and when they saw the $100 bill on a fishing line being dragged through the MAGA community, they refused to chase it.
By then, the 2016 Cruz Crew had switched to 2024 Alligator emojis, but even the “Evangelicals” with unlimited funding couldn’t fuel the DeSantis starship.
The Ron launch was as wobbly as DeSantis’ head during speaking engagements; and Casey wearing Melania’s heels, Duck Dynasty skinny pants and Sarah Palin’s ‘Grizzly Mama’ T-shirt couldn’t compensate.
What a hot mess.
The MAGA alternative was as structurally inauthentic as Ron’s boots, even with the lifts.
Hey, be thankful. No one has ever accused the Republican consultant class of accurately assessing the political landscape around them.
Their inauthenticity is what helps us to know who they are. It’s a net positive.
I would make the argument that if Ron’s owners had somehow pulled it off, Biden would have been yanked fast and replaced with Newsom, and we’d be looking at the “future in hindsight” right now.
♦ 2025 – That Sea Island crew doesn’t quit. The “anyone but Trump” operation is back in full swing despite the 2024 victory message.
Step #1 in the control process is to lose the 2026 election and put the Republican wing of the uniparty bird back into the minority. Again, this isolates our people’s president.
However, they can’t just lose 2026 and call it a day. They still need to manage the problem that President Trump represents for another three years. There are Trump policies to undermine, Trump executive orders to let sit non-legislatively supported, and all of this inaction must take place while Trump supporters are distracted with maximum shiny things.
This is where the “political influencers” come into play as mercenaries and advanced operative messengers for a very useful dynamic to emphasize – the operation that began as Qatar vs Israel.
Tucker Carlson representing the face of JD Vance’s support network becomes a target for Mark Levin et al. Candace Owens is labeled as the female face of Nick Fuentes, who, for some odd reason, is being algorithmically boosted by the same tech platforms that banned his account as an identified racist, extremist and antisemitic content producer.
This Fuentes boosting, again not coincidentally by the same elements who attended that 2016 Sea Island confab including Google, began in July 2025, about a month prior to TPUSA head Charlie Kirk telling his pro-Israel friends (billionaire Bill Ackman) that the content messaging on behalf of the Netanyahu government was backfiring amid Gen-Z. To wit, Netanyahu said, ‘not to worry’ my good friends of Israel, Larry Ellison and David Ellison, have things under control with TikTok, Twitter and Paramount. CBS’s Bari Weiss announced shortly thereafter.
While the inside White House influence game continues, all of these various 2025 interests again find their origin in Sea Island, Georgia, at the March 2016 AEI conference. Remember, think “owners” not “horses.”
♦ HORSES:
• Vice President JD Vance – Heir apparent to the MAGA endorsement of President Donald Trump. Groomed from the stable of billionaire influence agent and one time (no more) friend of President Trump, Peter Thiel. A more libertarian co-founder of Palantir, a skyrocketing AI software platform creator with billions in new federal contracts and likely more to come. Palantir CEO Alex Karp, a key industrialist applying the very best of AI creator systems to the merging targeting and identity tracking technology of the future.
Without Peter Thiel, there is no Senator JD Vance in 2022. Without Senator JD Vance there is no VP nominee in 2024. Oh, and despite their stealth separating in 2017, Elon Musk and Peter Thiel remain BFF influencers in 2025. And without Larry Ellison in 2022, there is no liquidity Musk to capture the Twitter Platform, which not coincidentally became a launch vehicle for the Ron effort shortly after Ellison said he would not allow Musk to fail.
So, where does that put JD Vance’s collar? Who knows? We’ll keep watching as Mr Ellison, having successfully moved beyond the X operation, now moves to the TikTok/Paramount phase while simultaneously owning the Oracle system operation that X utilizes.
• Secretary of State Marco Rubio – For the first time in his political career, Marco is in a position where he is not directly accountable to voters. Having risen through the Florida legislature, state house and on to a federal Senate seat representing Florida, for the first time Rubio is applying himself without any election worries. His constituent base consists of President Trump.
Rubio is seemingly giving the appearance of having turned Maverick, having fun poking back at his previous owners, while running amuck in the free-range of Trump’s well-manicured landscape. Is Rubio required to return to a previously designated stable? Again, who knows. It’s super fun to watch this new less groomed, yet well maintained, stallion running in the wild. However, his pedigree is as trained as a Lipizzaner stallion. Will he tire of the free-range? We’ll keep watching.
• Governor Ron DeSantis – The one constant political hot mess in an ever-consistent GOPe playbook.
You might say that DeSantis could never stand a chance given his failure to launch in 2024. However, do not underestimate the stupidity of the professional consultant class who have a way of convincing owners that horse can run.
Ron’s only problem is he needs very narrow blinders and can’t turn corners. Other than that, he’s solid in the straights when all the obstacles are removed and the track is groomed specifically for his platformed shoes.
The issue for Sea Island, with DeSantis, is that despite his extremely managed exteriors, and despite the massive amount of money spent on the influence operations and appearances, only a specific type of Jockey can fit that little saddle.
[I mean someone had to tell Casey what to wear in Iowa the last time, and, well, think about it…. They both looked in the mirror that morning and thought, “Awesome – this will get em’.” How’d that work out?]
SUMMARY: Underneath all of what we are visibly seeing and witnessing, especially the outrage du-jour, is an underlying political background that consistently tries to control outcomes through various methods. This effort to split the MAGA base, using Israel or (insert_next_thing_here) as a wedge issue within the America First movement – only benefits one larger apparatus, the Sea Island billionaire control system.
This billionaire control system, a public-private partnership, previously deconstructed and co-opted the Tea Party returning the system to status quo.
The billionaires in finance and tech are set; their influence operation only varies slightly depending on the challenge, because they know they can purchase every horse in the race, and they are working earnestly through various iterations of the same owner playbook, with the end goal the same – control.
Posted originally on CTH on November 14, 2025 | Sundance
Megyn Kelly asked Trump Empire CEO Eric Trump if the non-answers to the lingering questions about Thomas Crooks concerns him. Eric Trump responds with a very pragmatic perspective, albeit clouded in frustration. WATCH:
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Tucker Carlson ran a 30-minute review of Thomas Crooks earlier this evening. Video Below:
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