President Trump Holds Bilateral Meeting With Prime Minister Netanyahu at Davos…


For the first time since announcing the intent to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, President Trump and his friend Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meet on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The global dynamic of those who align with genuine freedom, led by President Trump, and those who stand against freedom is very visible in these summits.  There’s a stunning amount of geopolitical leverage carried by those who have a true-North compass heading.

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President Trump doesn’t hold back in speaking directly, genuinely and with a brutal honesty all parties can appreciate. Even those who are adverse to the U.S. interests respect hearing straight talk.  President Trump tells the Palestinian Authority directly any U.S. financial assistance will stop if they refuse to enter peace talks.

WHITE HOUSE: President Donald J. Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel met today in Davos, Switzerland to reaffirm the unbreakable bond between the United States and Israel.

The President underscored the unwavering commitment of the United States to Israel, including its security and the continuing growth of its economy. The two leaders reviewed their ongoing cooperation across a range of issues and stressed their goal of countering Iran’s malign influence and threatening behavior in the region. They also discussed prospects for achieving an enduring Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. (LINK)

President Trump Hosts Bilateral Meeting with U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May…


U.S. President Trump and U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May hold a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Against the backdrop of increasing discoveries surrounding the U.K. involvement in undermining the candidacy of Donald Trump; and against the left-wing U.K. political forces consistently highlighting criticism of President Trump; the reality is the U.K. is now in a position of economic vulnerability and needs favorable financial outcomes from President Trump.

As such, Prime Minister May is in a tenuous position and hoping the U.S. President will be magnanimous in his forgiveness of the past two years of scheming, ankle-biting and very public criticism. The scale of President Trump’s leverage over Prime Minister May is very visible in their dialogue and body language.

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Right now the U.K. needs American economic help and POTUS Trump. Almost nothing has worked in their economic benefit since they made the conscious decision to take a position of adversarialism. If the U.K. doesn’t knock off the nonsense President Trump will stand aside and watch them suffer. Theresa May knows this is her reality.

T-Rex is enjoying the art of the deal, having flashbacks to corporate life, remembering the power of holding all the leverage while witnessing an apex predator circling his prey. Cohn and McMaster well understand the play…

WHITE HOUSE: President Donald J. Trump met today with Prime Minister Theresa May of the United Kingdom. The President and Prime Minister discussed joint efforts to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS and other jihadist terrorist organizations in Syria and Iraq.

They discussed the importance of confronting Iran’s destructive behavior across the Middle East and fundamental flaws in the Iran nuclear deal. The leaders committed to expanded trade between the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as how the two countries can work together to ensure all nations engage in fair and reciprocal trade practices.

The two leaders also discussed plans for a working visit to London in the coming months and affirmed the “special relationship” between the two countries is stronger than ever. (Link)

Secretary Ross and Secretary Mnuchin Discuss World Trade During Davos World Economic Forum…


U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is attending Round Six of the NAFTA talks in Canada while President Trump, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, and Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin attend the Davos World Economic Forum and sit down for an interview with Maria Bartiromo. (Three Video Segments).

Representative Matt Gaetz Discusses #ReleaseTheMemo


Amid the latest Democrat dismissive statements surrounding evidence of FBI and DOJ having a ‘secret society’ of anti-Trumpers, and bias in Mueller’s FBI probe, Representative Matt Gaetz discusses events with Tucker Carlson:

Report: DOJ Has Found and Is Recovering Missing FBI Text Messages…


According to a Fox News exclusive report the Department of Justice has found the missing text messages between Agent Peter Strzok and FBI Attorney Lisa Page, and is in the process of recovering them.

(FOX NEWS) Fox News’ Sean Hannity said Wednesday night on “Hannity” that the Justice Department has started recovering some of the missing texts between FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, citing DOJ sources.

Federal law enforcement officials had notified congressional committees that a technical glitch affected thousands of FBI cellphones between Dec. 14, 2016 and May 17, 2017. This meant that 5 months’ worth of texts would be missing from Strzok and Page, both of whom are under scrutiny after it was revealed that the former members of special counsel Robert Mueller’s team exchanged anti-Trump texts during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Hannity said sources at the DOJ told him they have begun to recover some of the texts from that time period. Specific content from those texts has not been released.

The missing messages have caused problems for the Justice Department inspector general’s office.

Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, have sent a letter to Inspector General Michael Horowitz noting that the IG’s office said on Dec. 13 that it had all the messages between Strzok and Page between Nov. 30, 2016, and July 28, 2017.

Lawmakers later learned of the five-month gap.

The lawmakers said they wanted the IG’s office to “reconcile” those two points.

The five-month stretch of missing messages covers a period of time that includes President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the firings of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and FBI Director James Comey and the standing-up of former FBI Director Mueller as special counsel to investigate alleged Trump campaign collusion with Russian officials during the 2016 election.  (link)

Mueller to Interrogate Trump Under Oath – Comey Never Did That to Hillary


Robert Mueller’s investigation has climbed all the way up to Donald Trump himself. He is now demanding to interrogate Trump under oath in hopes of getting him on a perjury charge as he desperately tries to take him down on an obstruction of justice charge chalking one up for the Bureaucrats he has been protecting.

When Hillary was questioned by Comey, he didn’t even take notes. That is NEVER done and it was intentional to ensure she would NEVER be charged with anything. Mueller is clearly taking the direct opposite approach. He is obviously positioning himself to try to take Trump down on obstruction of justice since he cannot show he conspired with Putin. This is all about trying to Impeach Trump, and it is in accordance with the totally arbitrary rules for Impeachment that demonstrate there is no real rule of law in such matters.

This is how corruption is played out in the JUST-US Department. It is never about ethics or the rule of law. It is about how to win at all costs on anything even when they are dead wrong. The probe that was supposed to be about Russia interfering with the US elections turns into charging people with tax evasion and everything other than the purpose of the probe.

There is just no rule of law anymore. Comey and Mueller are former Department of Justice colleagues, and they have a work-related friendship. That is not considered to be a conflict of interest. Both are just bureaucrats and like the police, they need not be best friends to have each other’s back. There should have been ZERO contact. Working together is still a conflict of interest. Typically, even a CEO spends more time with his personal assistant than his wife even if there is no affair on the side. We all spend more time with the people we work with than typically anyone else. But of course, they do not consider Mueller working with Comey a conflict. Had he NOT known him at all, he would have charged Comey with leaking documents to the press with is also a felony.

This has been a war of Bureaucrats against Trump – make no mistake about that. He is not one of “THEM” and they only want career politicians in Washington. All others please get out. Mueller is out to overthrow the White House if he can.

Meanwhile, Senator Ron Johnson confirms that informant’s text messages infer there are bias issues in the FBI against Trump. He confirmed also that others are saying they have additional information about a secret society within the FBI trying to sabotage Trump to take him down as an outsider. There is clearly a war going on inside the bureaucracy and it is all about keeping control in Washington.

The DEEP STATE


COMMENT:  Hi Martin:

Thanks for the great conference in November–I really enjoyed it.

I thought you might want to use this quote some time, which would well relate to the present FBI scandal. It comes from Wm. Penn, whose “Some Fruits of Solitude” is included in Book 1 of the Harvard Classics Five Foot Shelf of Books. (The three authors in book 1 are Ben Franklin, John Woolman, and Wm. Penn)

Each sentence or idea in the “Solitude” is numbered. The one that I wanted send to you is no. 354.

354: The Prince cannot be preserv’d, but where the Minister is punishable: For People, as well as Princes, will not endure “Imperium in Imperio” (meaning An Empire within an Empire).

 JTB
REPLY: Yes, we have a very DEEP STATE and it is trying to defend itself by taking down Trump. They are completely destroying our future. They only see their own power and to hell with democracy, ethics, or God. It is all about them.

Brilliant Strategery – DOJ and FBI Demand Access To Nunes Memo While Making Wrong Assumptions….


Stunning development.

But Things Are Not What They Seem !

You’ve likely begun to hear about this letter from DOJ to Devin Nunes.  Please read it and evaluate.  Important Tip:  Notice the DOJ/FBI are referencing the Nunes Memo from a perspective of they know what the underlying documents are:

Notice all the inherent assumptions within the letter?

As a reminder, always question the assumptions.

♦Assumption #1 – The DOJ is presenting this letter to Devin Nunes from the position that the Nunes Memo is underpinned by documentary evidence they have provided. The DOJ provided FISA documents and FBI investigative documents, and they are assuming that’s the underlying material.

♦Assumption #2 – The DOJ is presenting this letter, and it is being interpreted by almost everyone, including Adam Schiff and media, to center around the Nunes Memo being written about, or including, FISA documents.

There is nothing to indicate either of those assumptions are correct.  In fact, there is ample evidence to indicate that nothing about those assumptions are correct.

Secondly, how can ranking member Adam Schiff write a rebuttal memo to the Nunes memo, without any knowledge of the underlying evidence behind Nunes claims?

Again, more assumptions are needed.  ie. Schiff has to guess at the underlying evidence based on what he can read from the Nunes memo.  If he does that, he’s going to screw himself.

Here’s what is going on:

Think about the Nunes memo for a moment.

What exactly is “The Nunes Memo”?  From all indications it is an outline written by senior intelligence committee staff, with major input from Devin Nunes describing evidence, people and events who conspired back in 2016 and 2017.  In essence it is a summary of facts, that Chairman Nunes knows to exist.

No-one actually knows what the underlying supportive material is, because no-one, other than Devin Nunes, has actually seen the full material.  Therefore people are ‘jumping to conclusions’ based on their own inherent reference points.

People are *assuming* the memo is heavily written around FISA-702 issues and documents (FISA application, Steele Dossier, wiretaps, surveillance, intercepts etc.), but no-one actually knows what is behind the memo, other than Devin Nunes.

Now, as I go forward with this you’ll be lost unless you have a full understanding of the March 2017 outline about “The Nunes Paradox” – SEE HERERemember, the issue on March 22nd, 2017 was:

[…]  Our research indicates that Chairman Devin Nunes, a gang of eight member, reviewed intelligence reports (most likely PDB’s) that were assembled exclusively for the office of the President (Obama). That is why he went to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EEOB) Information Facility to review.

The intelligence product would be delivered to that SCIF system for his review, most likely by the ODNI.  It would be removed from that SCIF system after his review. No systems are connected.

Nunes stated the intelligence product he reviewed was “not related to Russia, or the FBI Russian counter-intelligence investigation”. So the product itself was likely a product for the President, that was not part of the ongoing FBI counter-intel product.

Again, this is why it seems likely it was part of a PDB – unless it was a separate product, apart from the PDB, which was created for the Office of the President. [I view the latter as highly doubtful because it would be too risky for the President to be asking for specific ‘stand alone’ intel on something Trump.]

♦ Now, HERE IS WHERE YOU NEED TO PUT ON A “Politics only” FILTER.

Couldn’t Adam Schiff (another gang of eight member) go look at the same intelligence as Nunes did?

Yes. However, purely from the standpoint of politics: why would he?

If Representative Schiff saw the same intelligence that substantiates Nunes he couldn’t keep up the fake outrage and false narrative. Right now Schiff can say anything about it he wants because he hasn’t seen it.  If Schiff actually sees the intelligence Nunes saw he loses that ability. He would also lose the ability to criticize, ridicule and/or marginalize Devin Nunes. (read more – Critical to understand)

Back in March and April 2017, it was more valuable, politically, for ranking member Adam Schiff never to go look at the same information compiled by ODNI Dan Coats for Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes to see.

Absent of knowledge of the underlying evidence, Adam Schiff could say anything he wanted about Nunes and work to isolate him.  Simultaneously, because the information was highly classified, Nunes could never explain it or defend himself.  Thus Nunes was stuck in the compartmented intelligence box; that’s The Nunes Paradox.

Sneaky Schiff used this boxed-in position, knowing Nunes could not defend himself, to demand Nunes step aside from the House Intelligence “Russia investigation”.  It worked.

However, all the way through to today no-one except Devin Nunes (and maybe DNI Dan Coats) has any idea what Nunes actually witnessed in March 2017.  However, we have an idea from his statements.

It is important to note here that President Trump nominated Senator Dan Coats as ODNI on January 5th, 2017 – however, Democrats held up that nomination until March 16th, 2017.  It is not coincidental that immediately following DNI Dan Coat’s ability to provide that information, Chairman Devin Nunes first reported his concerns.

After Devin Nunes review the information March 22nd 2017, Nunes stated the intelligence product he reviewed was: “not related to Russia, or the FBI Russian counter-intelligence investigation”.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman, Devin Nunes, then held a brief press conference and stated he has been provided intelligence reports brought to him by unnamed sources that include ‘significant information’ about President-Elect Trump and his transition team.

WATCH:

1.) …”On numerous occasions the [Obama] intelligence community incidentally collected information about U.S. citizens involved in the Trump transition.”

2.) “Details about U.S. persons associated with the incoming administration; details with little or no apparent foreign intelligence value were widely disseminated in intelligence community reporting.”

3.) “Third, I have confirmed that additional names of Trump transition members were unmasked.”

4.) “Fourth and finally, I want to be clear; none of this surveillance was related to Russia, or the investigation of Russian activities.

“The House Intelligence Committee will thoroughly investigate surveillance and its subsequent dissemination, to determine a few things here that I want to read off:”

•“Who was aware of it?”

•“Why it was not disclosed to congress?”

•“Who requested and authorized the additional unmasking?”

•“Whether anyone directed the intelligence community to focus on Trump associates?”

•“And whether any laws, regulations or procedures were violated?”

“I have asked the Directors of the FBI, NSA and CIA to expeditiously comply with my March 15th (2017) letter -that you all received a couple of weeks ago- and to provide a full account of these surveillance activities.”

Again, this is why the intelligence reports seem likely to have been political opposition research -that was part of Obama’s PDB– unless it was a separate intelligence product, apart from the PDB, which was created for the Office of the President. [I view the latter as highly doubtful because it would be too risky for the President to be asking for specific ‘stand alone’ intelligence against political adversaries, ie candidate Donald Trump.]

Additionally, there is further evidence that surfaced a week after Nunes expressed his March 22nd, 2017 concerns.  April 4th, 2017 Susan Rice appears:

With a general set of narrative ‘talking points’ in hand President Obama’s Former National Security Adviser, Susan Rice, appeared April 4th, 2017, on MSNBC for an interview with Andrea Mitchell.  This is the ‘We-Have-To-Respond-phase‘,  to the push-back that was an outcome of Evelyn Farkas earlier statements on the same network.

Andrea Mitchell is considered a trustworthy ally of the Clinton/Obama political networks; as such, it is not a surprise to see Mitchell selected as the interviewer.  Mitchell’s use of wording carefully guides Susan Rice through the narrow path of self-incrimination by providing plausible deniability for verbal missteps.

You already know the routine.  MSNBC is the favorable proprietary venue. Mitchell plays the role of media-legal-adviser, her client is Susan Rice.  Live interviews are always the greatest risk (see: Evelyn Farkas)  The full interview is below:

However, that said, there are some interesting aspects to the interview:

Susan Rice @00:51 – …”Let me explain how this works.  I was a National Security Adviser, my job is to protect the American people and the security of our country.  That’s the same as the Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense and CIA Director.; and every morning, to enable us to do that, we receive – from the intelligence community – a compilation of intelligence reports that the IC, the intelligence community, has selected for us –on a daily basis– to give us the best information as to what’s going on around the world.”

[Note, Susan Rice is describing the PDB]

“I received those reports, as did other officials, and there were occasions when I would receive a report in which, uh, a ‘U.S Person’ was referred to.  Name, uh, not provided, just ‘U.S. Person’.

And sometimes in that context, in order to understand the importance in the report – and assess it’s significance, it was necessary to find out or request, who that U.S. official was.”

OK, so right there, in the very beginning of the forward narrative, Susan Rice is confirming the “unmasking” request(s) which can be pinned upon her, are directly related to her need to understand -on behalf of President Obama- intelligence for the President’s Daily Briefing (the PDB).  This was a previous question now answered.

This is EXPLOSIVE, and here’s why.

Remember, the President’s Daily Brief under President Obama went to almost everyone at top levels in his administration.  Regarding the Obama PDB:

[…]  But while through most of its history the document has been marked “For the President’s Eyes Only,” the PDB has never gone to the president alone. The most restricted dissemination was in the early 1970s, when the book went only to President Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, who was dual-hatted as national security adviser and secretary of state.

In other administrations, the circle of readers has also included the vice president, the secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, along with additional White House staffers.

By 2013, Obama’s PDB was making its way to more than 30 recipients, including the president’s top strategic communications aide and speechwriter, and deputy secretaries of national security departments. (link)

Pay attention to that last part.  According to the Washington Post outline Obama’s PDB’s were going to: “top strategic communications aide”, Ben Rhodes, and “Deputy Secretaries of national security departments”.

In the interview, Susan Rice defined the Obama national security departments to include: “State” – “Defense” (Pentagon includes NSA) and “CIA”, “NSA” ‘ODNI’ etc….

So under Obama’s watch the list of recipients was massive and included Asst. Secretaries of national security departments like the DOJ-National Security Division (John P Carlin) and FBI Counterintelligence Division (Bill Priestap).  Massive numbers of administration officials including the DOJ and FBI had access to the PDB.

See where this is going?

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See how that works?

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Susan Rice is admitting to “unmasking” names within intelligence reports to give her context for how they pertain to the overall briefing material.   That briefing material is the PDB. That PDB goes to dozens of political people and political entities, including the DOJ and FBI units investigating candidate Donald Trump.

This is the widespread distribution of intelligence information that former Asst. Deputy of Defense, Evelyn Farkas was discussing.  Now, go back to Farkas’s March 2nd, 2017  MSNBC statement for additional context:

“I was urging my former colleagues, and, and frankly speaking the people on the Hill [Democrat politicians], it was more actually aimed at telling the Hill people, get as much information as you can – get as much intelligence as you can – before President Obama leaves the administration.”

Because I had a fear that somehow that information would disappear with the senior [Obama] people who left; so it would be hidden away in the bureaucracy, um, that the Trump folks – if they found out HOW we knew what we knew about their, the Trump staff, dealing with Russians – that they would try to compromise those sources and methods; meaning we no longer have access to that intelligence.

So I became very worried because not enough was coming out into the open and I knew that there was more.  We have very good intelligence on Russia; so then I had talked to some of my former colleagues and I knew that they were also trying to help get information to the Hill.  … That’s why you had the leaking”.

[Link to Farkas MSNBC Interview and Transcript]

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That right there is the story.  With dozens of people with access to President Obama’s PDB, Rice’s unmasking of the intelligence report names gave dozens of people direct access to unmasked intelligence – including Obama officials who could, perhaps did, use the PDB for specific and intentional political purposes, as outlined by Evelyn Farkas who was ultimately one of the recipients of the unmasked intelligence.

Additionally, that same material went directly to the people in the DOJ-NSD and FBI Counterintelligence who were conducting the “Trump Operation”.

The DOJ and FBI officials could comply with FISA-702 “minimization rules” (hiding of U.S. person’s names etc.) knowing full well that the unmasking could be done by the recipient of the FISA-702 source material, which would then be relayed back to the DOJ and FBI officials; the “small group”.

If you know how concentric circle political safety is constructed, you will notice that Susan Rice was then hugging the security of the Presidency. To take Rice down amid all of this unmasking, means to take down President Obama – back in March 2017 this was a safe play on her part.

Reverse the safety.   No-one in ideological media or allies in congress were going to allow President Obama to be taken down; ergo, everyone will protect Susan Rice and by extension President Obama.  They had no choice.

Back to the interview and note how when shifting from rehearsed talking point (script) to cognitive explanation of Rices’ point , the noun shifts from “U.S. Person” to “U.S. Official”:

“I received those reports, as did other officials, and there were occasions when I would receive a report in which, uh, a ‘U.S Person’ was referred to.  Name, uh, not provided, just ‘U.S. Person’.

And sometimes in that context, in order to understand the importance in the report – and assess its significance, it was necessary to find out or request, who that U.S. official was.”

It’s subtle (like a Freudian slip), but Rice accidentally outlines her filter, her psychological trigger, for when to request the unmasking.  She’s looking for the politics behind the intelligence.  She’s looking for “U.S. Officials” in masked intelligence reports.

Mrs. Rice then follows up with a “hypothetical example” that is ridiculous as she describes.  The example provided (a sketchy dude in mom’s basement) would NEVER reach the level of PDB; it would be pre-filtered, researched and reviewed for value.  The PDB NEVER contains such banal information as Rice describes.

The interview goes much further.  There is a lot of news in this interview.  There is also a tremendous amount of double-speak and self-contradiction; in some cases between sentences that follow each other.

Notice how Susan Rice contradicts herself about what the intelligence community puts into the PDB.  Remember, Rice considers the PDB intel community, those assembling the information, to be very specific:  James Clapper (DNI), James Comey (FBI), John Brennan (CIA) and Defense Department (which would be the Pentagon and NSA Mike Rogers), and she states they would never send the President innocuous things unworthy of review:

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Summary:  In addition to the FISA702 material, and the material given by the current DOJ and FBI to Devin Nunes, this PDB material is part of the underlying information which backstops the Nunes Memo.

Devin Nunes, Admiral Mike Rogers and ODNI Dan Coats know exactly what Nunes has seen and where all of the underlying evidence is located.  No-one else does, including Adam Schiff.

Now do you see how Nunes brilliantly reversed the Paradox?

With help from a few friends:

Hi Adam,

 

President Trump Delivers Remarks To Group of Mayors…


Prior to President Trump delivering remarks to a group of mayors from around the country, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the possible subpoenas for officials amid Sanctuary Cities. In response, several Mayors boycotted the White House meeting.

The jurisdictions that received DOJ notification letters on Wednesday included: Chicago; Cook County, Ill; New York City; the state of California; Albany, N.Y.; Berkeley, Calif.; Bernalillo County, N.M.; Burlington, Vt.; the city and county of Denver, Colo.; Fremont, Calif.; Jackson, Miss.; King County, Wash.; Lawrence, Mass.; City of Los Angeles, Calif.; Louisville, Ky.; Monterey County, Calif.; Sacramento County, Calif.; the city and county of San Francisco; Sonoma County, Calif.; Watsonville, Calif.; West Palm Beach, Fla.; the state of Illinois and the state of Oregon.

All 23 of these jurisdictions were previously contacted by the Justice Department, which raised concerns about its laws, policies and practices.

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[Transcript] 3:37 P.M. EST – THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. What a group. Some great friends, great mayors. Please sit down.

We have really hardworking, brilliant people in this room. I know so much about being a mayor.

We have a very good friend of mine, Dane Maxwell. Where’s Dane? Dane. Stand up, Dane. We’ve been together a long time, Dane, a long time. And thank you very much for being here. It’s a great place — that Mississippi is special. We had a good time on November 8th in Mississippi, right?

And Betsy Price. Betsy? Thank you, Betsy. Thank you for being here, very much. Really, two fantastic friends of mine for a long time.

Toni Harp. Where’s Toni? Toni? Toni? Uh oh, can’t be a sanctuary city person, I know. (Laughter.) That’s not possible, is it?

Well, I want to just say — I mean, we’ll start by saying that, as you know, the Department of Justice, today, has announced a critical legal step to hold accountable sanctuary cities that violate federal law and free criminal aliens back into our communities.

We can’t have that. Can’t have it. It would be very easy to go the other way, but we can’t have it. We want a safe country, and it’s getting safer all the time.

Sanctuary cities are the best friend of gangs and cartels, like MS-13. You know that. The result in the death rate around sanctuary cities — in and around — for innocent Americans is unacceptable. Take a look at what happened in San Francisco and Kate Steinle, and countless others.

My administration is committed to protecting innocent Americans and the mayors who choose to boycott this event have put the needs of criminal illegal immigrants over law-abiding Americans. But let me tell you, the vast majority of people showed up. Okay? The vast majority. Because the vast majority believe in safety for your city. (Applause.)

I want to thank all of you for being here. I’m thrilled to welcome dozens of mayors from across the country to the White House. And I’ve worked with so many of you, some in the private sector. Who knew I was going to be here? (Laughter.)

But it happened. Right, Kellyanne? My star, Kellyanne. Stand up, Kellyanne. She’s more famous than I am. (Applause.) Good. Thanks, Kellyanne. Great.

You bring safety, prosperity, and hope to our citizens. My administration will always support local government and listen to leaders who know their communities best. And you know your community best.

We believe in local government. We believe in empowering each and every one of you. Together, we are achieving absolutely incredible results.

We have created nearly 2.4 million jobs since the election. Nobody thought that was going to be happening, right? (Applause.)

The unemployment rate is at, now, an 18-year low. African American unemployment — I’m very proud of this. Remember, I used to say, “What do you have to lose?” And people said, “I don’t know if that’s a nice thing to say.” I said, “Of course it is. For 100 years, the Democratic mayors have done a terrible — I mean, they’ve done some bad work.” I said, “What did you have to lose?” African American unemployment is at its lowest rate ever recorded. (Applause.) That’s not bad.

Unemployment for women is at its lowest rate in 17 years, and that’s going to be a very new standard very soon. (Applause.)

And Hispanic American unemployment, like African American unemployment, is at the lowest rate ever recorded. That’s a long time. (Applause.)

And here’s the good news: it’s getting better. It’s going to get better. We’ve cut more regulations than any administration in history, by far. And we’ve been really doing the cutting for about 10 months, even though we’ve been here now for 12. We started a little bit late. Although, the first day we did some pretty big cutting, I will say.

And as you know, just before Christmas, we passed massive tax cuts and reform so that more businesses will come back to your cities and towns, and working families will finally get the pay raises that they’ve been waiting for many, many years, in some cases. (Applause.)

Our tax plan also creates opportunities — and some of you are taking advantage of that — to encourage investment in distressed communities, create more jobs, and bring Main Street booming back to life.

More than two million American workers have already received tax cut bonuses from their employers all because of our incredible tax cut bill. And I must tell you, this has worked far greater — because nobody thought in terms of the companies coming out and paying $1,000; and $2,000; and $2,500 per employee. They have hundreds of thousands of employees in some cases.

And the ones that aren’t getting it are getting it because they’re going, “What about us?” Now they’re at a point, they’re saying, “What about us?” We know that feeling. So it’s really turned out — nobody thought that.

As much as we thought — and as much as we had a lot of brilliant minds around that tax bill, nobody really thought in terms of would a company step up. And it started — AT&T started it. And then a couple of others picked it up very quickly — Comcast and some others, they picked it up. And then it became an avalanche.

And Kellyanne, we never used to talk about that because it wasn’t really in the realm of thinking. And it’s turned out to be, really, an avalanche. And it’s been a beautiful thing to watch. People are walking away with $1,000 and $2,000, and much more.

We’re also working to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure by stimulating a $1 trillion investment, and that will actually, probably, end up being about $1.7 trillion. (Applause.)

Oh, you like that? I can tell we have mayors in the room. That’s good. That’s good. Only mayors could be that excited. Only the mayors and the workers — it’s about jobs, right — could be that excited.

No, and we’ll probably be putting that in a week or two, right after the State of the Union Address. We’ll be talking about it a little bit in the State of the Union; we’ll put that in.

One of the other things, I have to say — Apple — a $350 billion investment. And I spoke to Tim Cook. And you probably you heard me on the trail — I’ll say, “I will not consider this job complete and great, in terms of economics and the economy, unless Apple someday starts building some plants in our country.” And what happened is they said, $350 billion.

And when I first heard it — Tim Cook and I spoke. But when I first heard it, I said, “I guess they mean $350 million” — because that’s a big plant. You know, $350 million, you can build a lot of plant. But they said, “No, sir, $350 billion.” And much of that comes from overseas. They’re going to bring it back because of the tax bill because we made it possible for them to bring it back. (Applause.)

And they’re investing a lot of money over and above that. So it’s $350 billion and thousands and thousands of new jobs. They’re going to build an incredible campus. It’s going to be something special.

But we worked with Congress to cut down the approval and permitting process so that it takes no longer than 2 years, instead of, on average, 10 to 12 to 17 years to build a simple road. (Applause.)

A road in a certain location — I won’t mention the state, although I happen to like the state very much — it’s been under approval 17 years. They’ve been planning it for 17 years, and it was a straight — nothing — road. Now it’s got lots of curves because we have to miss the nests and everything else. And curves aren’t good on roads. You know, roads are, like, straight. And it was, 17 years ago, going to cost virtually nothing, and it ends up being hundreds of millions of dollars. And it was recently completed, and everyone goes, “You have to be kidding.”

So we’re going to bring that 10-year process — that’s an average. I think it’s actually much higher than that. We’re going to bring that down to, we say, less than two years, but I’d like to be able to average about one year.

And you’ll let them know. If we don’t want a highway, if we don’t want something built, you’re going to let them know quickly. But at least they won’t be waiting 17 — because a lot of times, you’ll wait 17 years and you’ll get rejected. That’s even worse. If you’re the builder, that’s not good. You devoted a good part of your life to doing something and get rejected. That’s really unfair.

So you may get rejected, but you’re going to get rejected quickly, okay? That’s not bad. (Laughter.)

But mostly, you’re going to get — you saw what we did with the pipelines — 48,000 jobs, immediately. As soon as I came to the office, we approved it — 48,000 jobs.

We’re partnering with the state and local governments, like yours, to find the most innovative ways to rebuild our roads, bridges, waterways, and airports. Very important words: on time and under budget. Have you heard those words before? (Applause.) You don’t hear them too much in government, right?

And a lot of that is the bidding process, and you’ll take care of your bidding processes. But the bidding process is a very big factor in that. Some of the way they bid in cities and states — and, I can tell you, in our military — I mean, the process — it’s not even bidding, really. You give somebody a contract to steal, and we don’t want to do that.

We’re supporting our local police beyond what we’ve ever done. (Applause.) Great. And fire departments. We’re also getting you a lot of our excess military equipment; you know all about that. Previous administrations — but in particular, “-on” — the previous administration, “-on” — they didn’t like to do that, and someday they’ll explain why. But we had a lot of excess military equipment; we’re sending it to your police as they need it. And it’s made a tremendous difference.

We believe every child deserves to live in a safe home, attend a great school, and look forward to an amazing and very, very safe future. (Applause.) So you’re getting a lot of equipment.

And together — just in summing up — we are restoring pride in the American worker and faith in the American Dream. People are dreaming again. It’s been a tremendous thing. They’re especially dreaming when they open up their 401(k)s, and they see that they’re up 44 percent, okay? (Applause.) And they feel very brilliant about their investment strategy.

I told you the story, but I’ve said it numerous times — I like to tell it — about people, they come to me all the time and they say, “Thank you so much. I’m up 42 percent. I’m up 48 percent. I’m up 37 percent. And my wife or my husband thinks I’m totally genius as an investor.” (Laughter.) I said, “Don’t worry about it, just keep it.”

And I will say this, if the wrong person came into this office, you wouldn’t only be even and you wouldn’t be up — I think it’s now 42.5 percent, and the markets up again, but 42.5 percent since election — you would be down 30 to 40 percent.

And that’s what was happening. You take a look at your GDP then and take a look at what’s happened now. We’ll have three quarters in a row over 3[percent]. We had 3.2, and a lot of people thought it would take two or three years to get there. And we’re going to be hitting 4 soon, and then we’re going to be hitting 5’s. And you’re going to see a big difference. (Applause.)

And each point, remember this — so you go up, people say, “Oh, what’s the big deal between 2.5 and 3.5?” Well, I’ll tell you. You were below 2 — you had the slowest recovery in history. Slowest recovery in history. And if you take a look at the average, I think it was 1.7 or 1.8 for eight years. The one point means $2.5 trillion. Think of that. One point — $2.5 trillion — and it means 10 million jobs. Other than that, it’s not a big deal, okay? (Laughter.)

But it’s — literally, it’s $2.5 trillion to the country. We’ve gained in market value, in the stock market, $8 trillion since Election Day. I mean, that’s something that’s pretty amazing — $8 trillion. And set every record in doing it. Most days, where we had new records — you know, our stock market, I think, since election, it was 82 or 84 times where we set a new record for the stock market.

And it’s going to continue, folks, because we have a long way to go. We have, actually, a lot of regulation-cutting to do. And we want regulation. You know better than anybody we need regulation. But you don’t need 17 different approvals from 17 different agencies on the same subject. And we’re doing that, and it’s really been beautiful to watch.

But we actually have a long way to go, believe it or not, because we’ve gotten great credit for regulations. I think the regulations may be almost as important as the tax cuts. And I have some businesses that have called me and they say, “We love the tax cuts. We’re going to spend a lot of money. But, sir, we think the regulation-cutting that you’ve done might even be more important.” And I’m sure you’re seeing that too, or you’re seeing something like that.

So I want to thank you all for joining us in this great national effort. Thank you for your leadership — you truly are great leaders and important leaders — friendship and partnership. And together, we will usher in a very bold, new era of peace and prosperity.

We’re doing great. I’m going Davos right now to get people to invest in the United States. I’m going to say, “Come into the United States, you have plenty of money.” But I don’t think I have to go, because they’re coming — they’re coming at a very fast clip.

So it’s going to be an interesting time. But they’re coming back to this country. You saw that we have Chrysler leaving Mexico — we like Mexico — and coming into Michigan. We like that? Nobody has seen in a long time. (Applause.)

And we other major car companies. You saw Toyota and so many others; they’re coming back into the United States, and they’re building big plants. And that — all it means to me is money for our people, lower taxes. And what it really means is jobs.

So, people have not seen this in decades. And I think, in the end, they will never have seen anything like what’s happening with our country.

So, again, I would like to thank you all. You’re very, very important to the future of this country. You’ve done a fantastic job. So many friends and so many great people. And I know you very well. And thank you very much. And you guys have been fantastic, and I appreciate it very much.

Thank you. Thank you all. Have a good time. (Applause.)

END

Wilbur Ross Shreds Globalists at Davos: “We don’t intend to abrogate leadership, but leadership is different from being a sucker and being a patsy”…


Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross at the World Economic Forum in Davos (President Trump departs the U.S. tonight to attend). The attendance by Secretary Ross provides an opportunity to further enforce the position of the Trump administration regarding free, fair and reciprocal trade deals.

Believe me, the economic globalist attendees were/are entirely freaking out.  There’s a panel discussion video at the bottom which will highlight the tenuous position of the multinational corporations, banks and the economic interests of the globalists.  Prior to the panel Secretary Ross gave an interview to CNBC. WATCH:

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As mentioned Secretary Ross also outlined how the ‘America First’ economic policy and platform engages with the global community during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum.  Generally the attendees have been historic champions of multinational corporations and multinational financial interests, ie. fans of “economic globalization”.

Wilbur Ross conveys to the larger multinational interests an explanation of the high-level shift in U.S. trade policy, and reinforces the Trump Doctrine of economic nationalism.

Secretary Ross told the panel: “The Chinese for quite a little while have been superb at free-trade rhetoric and even more superb at highly protectionist behavior. Every time the U.S. does anything to deal with a problem, we are called protectionist.”

Ross brushed off some narrow-minded global criticism about the U.S. retreating from the world stage allowing China to increase its geopolitical footprint around trade leverage. After three decades of President Trump outlining his trade views, secretary Ross accurately said President Donald Trump has a forceful leadership style that some people don’t like.

… “We don’t intend to abrogate leadership, but leadership is different from being a sucker and being a patsy. We would like to be the leader in making the world trade system more fair and more equitable to all participants.” …

Secretary Ross also challenged the panelists, including World Trade Organization Director-General Roberto Azevedo and Cargill Inc. Chief Executive Officer David MacLennan, to name a nation that’s less protectionist than the U.S.

He got no responses.

Wolverine Ross then cited a study of more than 20 products that showed China had higher tariffs on all but two items on the list, and Europe all but four.

Before we get into sticks and stones about free trade we ought to first talk about, is there really free trade or is it a unicorn in the garden,” said Ross. {{{ZING}}} Again, no response from the panel. Despite the tariffs Trump imposed this week on solar panels and washing machines, China is hoping for a “bumper year” for new trade deals, according to China’s own Commerce Ministry.

All trade and economic wonks can join me in watching the full panel discussion in this next video.  If you have time, watch it all.  Wilburine was pulling no punches, and he deconstructed the ridiculous arguments brilliantly.  At 14:50 you can hear a pin drop in the room to Ross’s correcting the record.  Again, around 17:30 Ross bears his teeth:

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