Earlier today President Trump met with Jim Brown and Kanye West in the Oval Office for a discussion about multiple issues involving social policy, mental health, endorsement deals, stop-and-frisk policies and support among African Americans for the president.

[Transcript] Oval Office – 12:32 P.M. EDT – THE PRESIDENT: Jon, you know Jim Brown? The greatest of all time.

Q It’s an honor, sir.

THE PRESIDENT: And what people don’t know, Kanye — everybody knows, right? Every — does the world know Kanye? Kanye, what people don’t know about Jim — they say — first of all, he’s the best football player. But they say he was an even better lacrosse player. Do you think so?

MR. BROWN: Never thought about it.

THE PRESIDENT: Huh?

MR. BROWN: Never thought about it.

THE PRESIDENT: I heard he was even — at Syracuse.

MR. BROWN: I love the game. Yes, I loved it. I loved all the sports.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, it’s great to have you, Jim. Great to have you.

MR. BROWN: It’s good to be here, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: Kanye, it’s great to be with you.

MR. WEST: Great to be here.

THE PRESIDENT: And these are two friends of mine. And Kanye has been a friend of mine for a long time. And Jim is — Jim came out of nowhere, and he said, “I like what the President is doing.” A long time ago we met. Right? And I just appreciated it very much.

And, you know, if you look at the employment numbers, if you look at the median income, if you look at every single indicator, we’re keeping our promise, Jim. Thank you. And I want to thank you.

MR. BROWN: And I like North Korea.

THE PRESIDENT: I like North Korea too.

MR. BROWN: (Inaudible.)

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. Yeah. Well, he’s — turned out to be good. Dialogue. We had a little dialogue. And Secretary of State just came back — Mike. He just came back from North Korea. We had very good meetings, and we’ll meet again. But we’re doing good. No more nuclear testing. No more missiles going up. No more nothing. And it’s — that was headed to war. That was headed to war.

MR. BROWN: Yeah. I mean, it was — to me, it seemed like that.

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. It was so close. We spoke — I spoke to President Obama. I will tell you, that was headed to war. And now it’s going to be — I believe it’s going to work out very well.

MR. WEST: You stopped the war —

THE PRESIDENT: We really stopped the war. Saved millions of lives. You know, Seoul has 30 million people. You don’t realize how big. Thirty million people who are right near the border; 30 miles off the border. Millions of people would have been killed. And I will say, Chairman Kim has been really good. Really good. And we’ve made a lot of progress.

That’s nice that you say that, because that’s a big — that’s a big thing. These folks were covering — they were covering North Korea not — I think not very promisingly. And there were a lot of problems. President Obama said that was his biggest problem. And I don’t say anything is solved —

MR. WEST: You, day one, solved one of the biggest problems.

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.

MR. WEST: We solved one of the biggest problems.

THE PRESIDENT: It was a big solving. And not solved yet, but I think we’re along — I think we’re on the way.

MR. BROWN: (Inaudible.)

THE PRESIDENT: No, no. It’s — we’re well on our way.

MR. BROWN: (Inaudible.)

THE PRESIDENT: In a short period of time, Jim. Very short period of time. You know, I left Singapore three months ago. And we’ve made a lot of progress. So it’s very good. Hey, look, that’s one of many things. But I appreciate everything with you.

I’ll tell you what — Kim was in. Mrs. Johnson, we got her out. She was very unfairly treated. And there are many other people like that, that —

MR. WEST: Yeah, we have Larry Hoover’s lawyer with us today. And it’s a prisoner that was focused on — he has six life sentences, and they have him next to the Unabomber doing 23 and 1. That means —

THE PRESIDENT: What did he do? Larry? What happened?

MR. MOORE: Why was he in?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, tell me. Tell us.

MR. MOORE: Allegedly, it’s for conspiracy from prison — from state prison. You know, it’s alleged. But we do believe even if he did commit those crimes, the sentence was overly broad and too strict.

THE PRESIDENT: What was the sentence?

MR. MOORE: Six consecutive life sentences in the most secure prison in the world, also known as “a clean version of hell,” for basically an economic crime.

MR. WEST: What prison is that? Name the prison.

MR. MOORE: ADX supermax, in Florence, Colorado. They house the Unabomber, al Qaeda operatives, mass killers, Oklahoma City bomber, things of that nature.

THE PRESIDENT: How old is he? How old?

MR. MOORE: Sixty-eight.

THE PRESIDENT: Sixty-eight years old?

MR. MOORE: Yes, 68 years old.

MR. WEST: And really, the reason why they imprisoned him is because he started doing positive for the community. He started showing that he actually had power, that he wasn’t just one of a monolithic voice, but he could wrap people around.

So there’s theories that there’s infinite amounts of universe and there’s alternate universe. So it’s very important for me to get Hoover out, because in an alternate universe, I am him. And I have to go and get him free because he was doing positive inside of Chicago, just like how I’m moving back to Chicago and it’s not just about, you know, getting on stage and being an entertainer and having a monolithic voice that’s forced to be a specific party.

You know, people expect that if you’re black you have to be Democrat. I have a — I’ve had conversations that basically said that welfare is the reason why a lot of black people end up being Democrat. They say — you know, first of all, it’s a limited amount of jobs. So the fathers lose the jobs, and they say, “We’ll give you more money for having more kids in your home.” And then, we got rid of the mental health institutes in the ‘80s and the ‘90s, and the prison rates just shot up.

And now you have “Chiraq,” what people call “Chiraq” — which is actually — our murder rate is going down by 20 percent every year. I just talked to the superintendent; met with Michael Sacks; that’s Rahm’s right-hand man. So I think it’s the bravery that helps you beat this game called life.

You know, they tried to scare me to not wear this hat — my own friends. But this hat, it gives me — it gives me power, in a way. You know, my dad and my mom separated, so I didn’t have a lot of male energy in my home. And also, I’m married to a family that — (laughs) — you know, not a lot of male energy going on. It’s beautiful, though. But there’s times where, you know, there’s something about — you know, I love Hillary. I love everyone, right? But the campaign “I’m with her” just didn’t make me feel, as a guy, that didn’t get to see my dad all the time — like a guy that could play catch with his son. It was something about when I put this hat on, it made me feel like Superman. You made a Superman. That was my — that’s my favorite superhero. And you made a Superman cape.

For me, also as a guy that looks up to you, looks up to Ralph Lauren, looks up to American industry guys — non-political, no bullshit — put the beep on it, however you want to do it, five seconds delay — and just goes in and gets it done.

Right now, you gave me the heart to go to Adidas. Because at Adidas, when I went in, in 2015, we were a $14-billion company losing $2 billion a year. Now we have a $38-billion market cap. It’s called the “Yeezy effect.”

And I went to Casper. We had a meeting in Chicago. And I said, “You have to bring manufacturing onshore.” And not even shore; into the core. It’s not about the border; it’s the core of Adidas. And Chicago is the core of Middle America. And we have to make Middle America strong.

So I had the balls — because I have enough balls to put on this hat. I mean, this Adidas thing made be a billionaire. And I could have lost $200 million walking away from that deal. But even with that, I knew it was more important for me to take the chance of walking away from that deal than to have no fathers in Chicago with no homes. And when we do have prison reformation, for no — because it’s habilitation, not rehabilitation, because they didn’t have the abilities in the first place. We never had anyone that taught us. They didn’t teach us. Exactly — we had no one that “taught” us. Right?

So it’s more important than any specific deal — anything — that we bring jobs into America, and that we provide a transition with mental health and the Amer-I-Can education curriculum that Jim has worked on. Larry Hoover also has a curriculum that he’s worked on. We have Montessori curriculums that we worked on. WeWork has a beautiful curriculum. The Waldorf establishment has a curriculum. We have meditation. There’s a lot of things affecting our mental health that makes us do crazy things that puts us back into that trap door called the 13th Amendment.

I did say “abolish” with the hat on. Because why would you keep something around that’s a trap door? If you’re building a floor — the Constitution is the base of our industry, right? Of our country, of our company. Would you build a trap door that if you mess up and you — accidentally something happens, you fall and you end up next to the Unabomber? You end up — you got to remove all that trap door out of the relationship.

The four gentlemen that wrote the 13th Amendment — and I think the way the universe works, it’s perfect. We don’t have 13 floors, do we? You know, so the four — the four gentlemen that wrote the 13th Amendment didn’t look like the people they were amending. Also at that point, it was illegal for blacks to read — or African Americans to read. And so that meant if you actually read the Amendment, you would get locked up and turned into a slave.

Again — so what I think is, we don’t need sentences; we need pardons. We need to talk to people. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I was connected with a neuropsychologist that works with the athletes in the NBA and the NFL. And he looked at my brain — it’s equal on three parts. I’m going to go ahead drop some bombs for you — 98 percentile IQ test. I had a 75 percentile of all human beings, but it was counting eight numbers backwards, (inaudible), so I’m going to work on that one. The other ones, 98 percent — Tesla, Freud.

So he said that I actually wasn’t bipolar; I had sleep deprivation, which could cause dementia 10 to 20 years from now, where I wouldn’t even remember my son’s name. So all this power that I got, and I’m taking my son to the Sox game and all that, I wouldn’t be able to remember his name from a misdiagnosage.

And what we need is, we can empower the pharmaceuticals and make more money. That’s one thing — I’ve never stepped into a situation where I didn’t make people more money. So we can empower pharmaceuticals, we can empower our industries, we can empower our factories. We can bring not only Adidas onshore, we can bring — Foxconn has set up a factory in, I think, Minnesota.

Oval Office

12:32 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Jon, you know Jim Brown? The greatest of all time.

Q It’s an honor, sir.

THE PRESIDENT: And what people don’t know, Kanye — everybody knows, right? Every — does the world know Kanye? Kanye, what people don’t know about Jim — they say — first of all, he’s the best football player. But they say he was an even better lacrosse player. Do you think so?

MR. BROWN: Never thought about it.

THE PRESIDENT: Huh?

MR. BROWN: Never thought about it.

THE PRESIDENT: I heard he was even — at Syracuse.

MR. BROWN: I love the game. Yes, I loved it. I loved all the sports.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, it’s great to have you, Jim. Great to have you.

MR. BROWN: It’s good to be here, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: Kanye, it’s great to be with you.

MR. WEST: Great to be here.

THE PRESIDENT: And these are two friends of mine. And Kanye has been a friend of mine for a long time. And Jim is — Jim came out of nowhere, and he said, “I like what the President is doing.” A long time ago we met. Right? And I just appreciated it very much.

And, you know, if you look at the employment numbers, if you look at the median income, if you look at every single indicator, we’re keeping our promise, Jim. Thank you. And I want to thank you.

MR. BROWN: And I like North Korea.

THE PRESIDENT: I like North Korea too.

MR. BROWN: (Inaudible.)

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. Yeah. Well, he’s — turned out to be good. Dialogue. We had a little dialogue. And Secretary of State just came back — Mike. He just came back from North Korea. We had very good meetings, and we’ll meet again. But we’re doing good. No more nuclear testing. No more missiles going up. No more nothing. And it’s — that was headed to war. That was headed to war.

MR. BROWN: Yeah. I mean, it was — to me, it seemed like that.

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. It was so close. We spoke — I spoke to President Obama. I will tell you, that was headed to war. And now it’s going to be — I believe it’s going to work out very well.

MR. WEST: You stopped the war —

THE PRESIDENT: We really stopped the war. Saved millions of lives. You know, Seoul has 30 million people. You don’t realize how big. Thirty million people who are right near the border; 30 miles off the border. Millions of people would have been killed. And I will say, Chairman Kim has been really good. Really good. And we’ve made a lot of progress.

That’s nice that you say that, because that’s a big — that’s a big thing. These folks were covering — they were covering North Korea not — I think not very promisingly. And there were a lot of problems. President Obama said that was his biggest problem. And I don’t say anything is solved —

MR. WEST: You, day one, solved one of the biggest problems.

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.

MR. WEST: We solved one of the biggest problems.

THE PRESIDENT: It was a big solving. And not solved yet, but I think we’re along — I think we’re on the way.

MR. BROWN: (Inaudible.)

THE PRESIDENT: No, no. It’s — we’re well on our way.

MR. BROWN: (Inaudible.)

THE PRESIDENT: In a short period of time, Jim. Very short period of time. You know, I left Singapore three months ago. And we’ve made a lot of progress. So it’s very good. Hey, look, that’s one of many things. But I appreciate everything with you.

I’ll tell you what — Kim was in. Mrs. Johnson, we got her out. She was very unfairly treated. And there are many other people like that, that —

MR. WEST: Yeah, we have Larry Hoover’s lawyer with us today. And it’s a prisoner that was focused on — he has six life sentences, and they have him next to the Unabomber doing 23 and 1. That means —

THE PRESIDENT: What did he do? Larry? What happened?

MR. MOORE: Why was he in?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, tell me. Tell us.

MR. MOORE: Allegedly, it’s for conspiracy from prison — from state prison. You know, it’s alleged. But we do believe even if he did commit those crimes, the sentence was overly broad and too strict.

THE PRESIDENT: What was the sentence?

MR. MOORE: Six consecutive life sentences in the most secure prison in the world, also known as “a clean version of hell,” for basically an economic crime.

MR. WEST: What prison is that? Name the prison.

MR. MOORE: ADX supermax, in Florence, Colorado. They house the Unabomber, al Qaeda operatives, mass killers, Oklahoma City bomber, things of that nature.

THE PRESIDENT: How old is he? How old?

MR. MOORE: Sixty-eight.

THE PRESIDENT: Sixty-eight years old?

MR. MOORE: Yes, 68 years old.

MR. WEST: And really, the reason why they imprisoned him is because he started doing positive for the community. He started showing that he actually had power, that he wasn’t just one of a monolithic voice, but he could wrap people around.

So there’s theories that there’s infinite amounts of universe and there’s alternate universe. So it’s very important for me to get Hoover out, because in an alternate universe, I am him. And I have to go and get him free because he was doing positive inside of Chicago, just like how I’m moving back to Chicago and it’s not just about, you know, getting on stage and being an entertainer and having a monolithic voice that’s forced to be a specific party.

You know, people expect that if you’re black you have to be Democrat. I have a — I’ve had conversations that basically said that welfare is the reason why a lot of black people end up being Democrat. They say — you know, first of all, it’s a limited amount of jobs. So the fathers lose the jobs, and they say, “We’ll give you more money for having more kids in your home.” And then, we got rid of the mental health institutes in the ‘80s and the ‘90s, and the prison rates just shot up.

And now you have “Chiraq,” what people call “Chiraq” — which is actually — our murder rate is going down by 20 percent every year. I just talked to the superintendent; met with Michael Sacks; that’s Rahm’s right-hand man. So I think it’s the bravery that helps you beat this game called life.

You know, they tried to scare me to not wear this hat — my own friends. But this hat, it gives me — it gives me power, in a way. You know, my dad and my mom separated, so I didn’t have a lot of male energy in my home. And also, I’m married to a family that — (laughs) — you know, not a lot of male energy going on. It’s beautiful, though. But there’s times where, you know, there’s something about — you know, I love Hillary. I love everyone, right? But the campaign “I’m with her” just didn’t make me feel, as a guy, that didn’t get to see my dad all the time — like a guy that could play catch with his son. It was something about when I put this hat on, it made me feel like Superman. You made a Superman. That was my — that’s my favorite superhero. And you made a Superman cape.

For me, also as a guy that looks up to you, looks up to Ralph Lauren, looks up to American industry guys — non-political, no bullshit — put the beep on it, however you want to do it, five seconds delay — and just goes in and gets it done.

Right now, you gave me the heart to go to Adidas. Because at Adidas, when I went in, in 2015, we were a $14-billion company losing $2 billion a year. Now we have a $38-billion market cap. It’s called the “Yeezy effect.”

And I went to Casper. We had a meeting in Chicago. And I said, “You have to bring manufacturing onshore.” And not even shore; into the core. It’s not about the border; it’s the core of Adidas. And Chicago is the core of Middle America. And we have to make Middle America strong.

So I had the balls — because I have enough balls to put on this hat. I mean, this Adidas thing made be a billionaire. And I could have lost $200 million walking away from that deal. But even with that, I knew it was more important for me to take the chance of walking away from that deal than to have no fathers in Chicago with no homes. And when we do have prison reformation, for no — because it’s habilitation, not rehabilitation, because they didn’t have the abilities in the first place. We never had anyone that taught us. They didn’t teach us. Exactly — we had no one that “taught” us. Right?

So it’s more important than any specific deal — anything — that we bring jobs into America, and that we provide a transition with mental health and the Amer-I-Can education curriculum that Jim has worked on. Larry Hoover also has a curriculum that he’s worked on. We have Montessori curriculums that we worked on. WeWork has a beautiful curriculum. The Waldorf establishment has a curriculum. We have meditation. There’s a lot of things affecting our mental health that makes us do crazy things that puts us back into that trap door called the 13th Amendment.

I did say “abolish” with the hat on. Because why would you keep something around that’s a trap door? If you’re building a floor — the Constitution is the base of our industry, right? Of our country, of our company. Would you build a trap door that if you mess up and you — accidentally something happens, you fall and you end up next to the Unabomber? You end up — you got to remove all that trap door out of the relationship.

The four gentlemen that wrote the 13th Amendment — and I think the way the universe works, it’s perfect. We don’t have 13 floors, do we? You know, so the four — the four gentlemen that wrote the 13th Amendment didn’t look like the people they were amending. Also at that point, it was illegal for blacks to read — or African Americans to read. And so that meant if you actually read the Amendment, you would get locked up and turned into a slave.

Again — so what I think is, we don’t need sentences; we need pardons. We need to talk to people. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I was connected with a neuropsychologist that works with the athletes in the NBA and the NFL. And he looked at my brain — it’s equal on three parts. I’m going to go ahead drop some bombs for you — 98 percentile IQ test. I had a 75 percentile of all human beings, but it was counting eight numbers backwards, (inaudible), so I’m going to work on that one. The other ones, 98 percent — Tesla, Freud.

So he said that I actually wasn’t bipolar; I had sleep deprivation, which could cause dementia 10 to 20 years from now, where I wouldn’t even remember my son’s name. So all this power that I got, and I’m taking my son to the Sox game and all that, I wouldn’t be able to remember his name from a misdiagnosage.

And what we need is, we can empower the pharmaceuticals and make more money. That’s one thing — I’ve never stepped into a situation where I didn’t make people more money. So we can empower pharmaceuticals, we can empower our industries, we can empower our factories. We can bring not only Adidas onshore, we can bring — Foxconn has set up a factory in, I think, Minnesota.

But you know what I don’t like about — it’s not that I don’t like — what I need Saturday Night Live to improve on, or what I need the liberals to improve on is, if he don’t look good, we don’t look good. This is our President.

THE PRESIDENT: It’s true.

MR. WEST: He has to be the freshest, the flyest, the flyest planes, the best factories. And we have to make our core be in power. We have to bring jobs into America because our best export is entertainment and ideas. But when we make everything in China and not in America, then we’re cheating on our country and we’re putting people in positions to have to do illegal things to end up in a cheapest factory ever: the prison system.

THE PRESIDENT: I’ll tell you what — that was pretty impressive, folks. (Laughter.) You know, I hate to say this — Jim, do you want to say something? (Laughter.) What do you after that?

PARTICIPANT: You don’t mind if I —

THE PRESIDENT: You are — please, Jim. Please.

MR. BROWN: If he doesn’t look good, we don’t look good.

THE PRESIDENT: Great, right? Isn’t that a great statement?

MR. BROWN: Yes, it is.

THE PRESIDENT: And it’s so true.

MR. BROWN: Makes a lot of sense.

THE PRESIDENT: As a country. It’s — very — I’ve never seen Jim Brown impressed before. (Laughter.) He was impressed. That’s true. That statement is amazing, huh?

MR. BROWN: Yeah, yeah. It makes a lot of sense.

THE PRESIDENT: I want to say it’s great to have you guys here. And we’re going to go and we’re going to have some lunch.

That was quite something. That was quite something.

MR. WEST: It was from the soul. I just channeled it.

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.

Q Can I just ask a quick question of Kanye?

THE PRESIDENT: Really very interesting.

Yes, yeah. Please.

Q So you had said, of President Bush, that he doesn’t care about black people. And you’ve heard some people say that about this President. What do you — how do you respond to that? What do you make of that?

MR. WEST: I think we need to care about all people. And I believe that when I went on to NBC, I was very emotional, and I was programmed to think from a victimized mentality. A welfare mentality.

I think that with blacks and African Americans, we really get caught up in the idea of racism over the idea of industry. We say if people don’t have land, they settle for brands. We want Polo-sporting Obama again. We want a brand more than we want land. Because we’ve haven’t known how it feels to actually have our own land and have ownership of our own blocks.

So when you don’t have ownership, then it’s all about how something looks. It’s about the patina; it’s not about the soul, it’s not about the core. So we focus more on, is somebody wearing something; is someone disrespecting so I got to shoot them. Or the idea of someone being racist.

You know, we talk about police murders, which we definitely have to discuss, and we have to bring nobility to the police officers and make — the police officers are just like us. But there’s this whole hate-building, right? And that’s a major thing about racial tension.

And we also, as black people, we have to take a responsibility for what we’re doing. We kill each other more than police officers. And that’s not saying that the police officer is not is not an issue, because they are in a place — a position of power. But sometimes they’re in a place of law enforcement. They need to be law-power. It’s force versus power. And when you — you shouldn’t have to force people to do that.

So a lot of times the police officer is sitting there, they’re being forced to do this and forced to do that block. And then they force somebody into something and force into something. We have to release the love throughout the entire country and give opportunities. A lot of times it’s just the overall lack of reparations that we, at any given point, we say, “Oh, this is racist. This is racist. This is racist. This is racist.”

So we don’t have reparations, but we have the 13th Amendment. We got to open up the whole conversation. So — and that’s a move. One of the moves that I love that liberals try to do — the liberal would try to control a black person through the concept of racism, because they know that we are very proud, emotional people. So when I said “I like Trump” to, like, someone that’s liberal, they’ll say, “Oh, but he’s racist.” You think racism could control me? Oh, that don’t stop me. That’s an invisible wall.

Q But you don’t think — you reject those who say he’s racist?

MR. WEST: On your question — and you had one question; we’re going to do it to another question.

Q (Laughs.) Okay.

MR. WEST: I answered your question. I don’t answer questions in simple soundbites. You are tasting a fine wine. It has multiple notes to it. (Laughter.) You better play 4D chess with me like it’s Minority Report. Because it ain’t that simple. It’s complex.

Q When would you like — I’m from the Chicago Sun Times, sir. I would like to know what you would like to ask President Trump to do for Chicago. You’re here to talk about crime in Chicago.

MR. WEST: The thing that the head of the police and Mike Sacks met with me last night at the Soho House about was we feel that “stop and frisk” does not help the relationships in the city. And everyone that knew I was coming here said, “Ask about stop and frisk.” That’s the number-one thing that we’re having this conversation about.

Another thing is opening up industries. And we’ve got to get some tax breaks too. Because we’re making — we got a Speedfactory in Atlanta, but the shoes are costing us $300, so it’s costing us too much to make things.

So we need some prototypes here so we can get people back working, so China can’t just beat us and Vietnam can’t beat us. You got Levi’s, the greatest jeans company in the world, making their jeans in Vietnam.

So we’re going to need to get a few breaks to be able to have some places in my hometown of Chicago, and 2.7 million to the 9 million surrounding suburbs where we can create some factories.

Now, I think it would be cool for them to be Trump factories, because he’s a master of industry. He’s a builder. And I think it would be cool to have Yeezy ideation centers, which would be a mix of education that empowers people and gives them modern information like — sometimes people say, “This kid has ADD. This kid has ADD.” He don’t have ADD. School is boring. It was boring. It’s not as exciting as this. We have to make it more exciting. We have to mix curriculums.

You play basketball while you’re doing math. You learn about music while you meditate in the morning. We have to instate mental health and art programs back into the city. So those are —

And also, Larry Hoover is an example of a man that was turning his life around, and as soon as he tried to turn his life around, they hit him with six life sentences. So I believe he’s — you say don’t tear down the statues? Larry Hoover is a living statue. He’s a beacon for us that needs to see his family; that needs to go out and represent. When you have a block leader on every single block, they can own the block as their own. That’s something I learned from Jim Brown, from “Amer-I-Can.”

We need to put curriculums for people who really came from the streets, not people who were just trying to set us up to go into a work system or prison system that applies to what people are really going through, which Jim Brown has created.

Q What about gun violence? With all the debate about the Second Amendment going on, how do you fix that?

MR. WEST: The problem is illegal guns. Illegal guns is the problem, not legal guns. We have the right to bear arms.

Q President Trump has said that he favors “stop and frisk.” Are guys going to be discussing that? Do you think you can change his mind?

MR. WEST: Yeah. We’re going to discuss that. I didn’t mean to put you on blast like that, bro, but —

THE PRESIDENT: No, no. It’s okay. (Laughter.)

MR. WEST: But this is definitely a —

THE PRESIDENT: Hey, I’m open-minded. I’m here. I am open-minded.

Q Mr. President, would you like him to speak at one of your rallies?

THE PRESIDENT: He can speak for me anytime he wants. He’s been a great guy. He’s a smart cookie. Smart. He gets it. These two guys — Jim Brown. He’s been doing this for a long time.

MR. BROWN: Yes, sir.

Q Is this a future presidential candidate?

THE PRESIDENT: Could very well be.

MR. WEST: Only after him. It’ll be 2024.

THE PRESIDENT: Could very well be. That’s good. I’m glad to hear that.

MR. WEST: We have a good — and the thing is, let’s stop worrying about the future. All we really have is today. We just have today. Over and over and over again, the eternal return. The hero’s journey. And Trump is on his hero’s journey right now. And he might not have expected to have a crazy motherfucker like Kanye West run up and support, but best believe we are going to make America great.

Now, the thing is my — another thing is black people have an issue with the word “again.” And I believe — my feeling from that is because I’m going to throw — I’m going to go all the way, (inaudible), because time is a myth. All we have is now. All we have is today.

So the word “again” — it doesn’t hurt us because the idea of racism and slavery, different things; it hurts us because we need to focus on who we are now, today, I believe.

So I actually brought some hats in that have a bit of a transition. I’m not trying to put you — (inaudible) in the spot a little bit. I made a hat that says “Make America Great.” Just that.

But I would love to see, at the Super Bowl, Trump wearing the “Make America Great” hat; Colin making — wearing the “Make America Great,” and showing that we can bend a bit on this side, we can bend a bit on this side, and we can learn how to be malleable in the infinite universe that we are and the loving beings that we are. That we don’t have to stick to our own traditions. And we aren’t a side. We are one unit. We are one country. We are one moment in history and time. We might have been here before, but right now we’re here together. And our greatest value that people have are other people. And we need to stop working on (inaudible). It’s like gang again.

THE PRESIDENT: Let me ask you this question. You’re in the Oval Office —

MR. WEST: Okay. (Laughs.)

THE PRESIDENT: How does it feel to be in the Oval Office?

MR. WEST: Oh, it is good energy in this.

THE PRESIDENT: Isn’t it good energy?

MR. WEST: It’s good energy.

THE PRESIDENT: It’s a great place. Jim, how do you feel?

MR. BROWN: I feel good. I truly feel good. And thank you, too.

THE PRESIDENT: You are so respected. And what Kanye is doing has been incredible. All over the world they’re talking about this. And I have to tell you, I had important meetings today with senators and with everything. Nobody cared. They wanted this meeting. This is the meeting. Is that right? I can say that to Jon.

Q We care about other stuff, too.

THE PRESIDENT: The others were good, right? But this is what they want.

MR. BROWN: (Inaudible) honor you would be here.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, it’s my honor, Jim. I want to tell you. I’ve been a fan of yours for a long time.

MR. BROWN: Well, thank you very much.

THE PRESIDENT: Long time. Nobody like you. Nobody like you. No athlete like you.

MR. BROWN: Well, you know why I’m here? I’m here to serve.

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. That’s really nice, Jim.

MR. BROWN: I’m not here to ask of anything. (Inaudible.)

THE PRESIDENT: And you know, that’s always been the way Jim has been — for a long time. And he just wanted to help. And it’s something special.

Jennifer, did you have a question?

Q I guess — just you — what do you feel about stop and frisk? Are you going to, you know —

THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’re going to look at it.

Q — back-track on your comment (inaudible)?

THE PRESIDENT: I’m open to everything. Hey, look, I think it’s a shame what’s happening in Chicago.

Q And what else can be done in Chicago?

THE PRESIDENT: I’m in Chicago a lot, too. I have nice things in Chicago. You know that, right? And I hate to see what’s happening. They’re having numbers — the numbers of people being shot and killed and it’s — it’s not for this country. So they have to do something. And I am totally open. If we can do it a different way, Kanye, I’m totally open. I mean, we all agree they have to do something, that’s for sure.

Q Mr. President, is it a law enforcement issue? A legislation — a legislative issue?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, maybe it’s a combination of both. Yeah, I guess it is. But I think it’s probably a combination of both. And it’s also a respect issue. They respect this guy. They respect this guy. That’s a big thing. Right now, they’re not respecting, let’s say, your mayor, or let’s say your leadership in Chicago. But certainly it shouldn’t be happening. What’s going on there should not be happening.

Steve? Go ahead.

Q Sir, what do you want this meeting to lead to in terms of prison reform?

THE PRESIDENT: Honestly, from our standpoint, this was just set up to be a lunch of two people that I like. And I guess they like me. And we’re going to have lunch. We’re going to talk.

MR. WEST: You said — you said, I guess, you know I love you.

THE PRESIDENT: I know.

MR. WEST: Did I —

THE PRESIDENT: But I don’t want to take — I don’t want to put you in that spot, but —

MR. WEST: No, I’m standing in that spot. I love this guy right here. Let me give this guy a hug right here. (Laughter.) I love this guy right here.

THE PRESIDENT: That’s really nice. Come here. That’s really nice. And that’s from the heart. I didn’t want to put you in that position. (Laughter.) But that’s from the heart. Special guy.

These two are special people. Whether you like it, whether you don’t like it, they’re special people. And I appreciate it. Jim, Kanye, I appreciate it. So let’s go have some lunch.

Thank you all very much.

END – 12:57 P.M. EDT

It is reported today that Fusion-GPS co-founder, Glenn Simpson, will not agree to testify to congress and will invoke his fifth amendment privilege to avoid answering questions.

Chris Steele – Bruce Ohr – Glenn Simpson

This is interesting for several reasons.  Recent evidence and testimony has conflicted with Simpson’s prior testimony.  Specifically testimony from DOJ official Bruce Ohr who testified to meeting with Glenn Simpson and Christopher Steele in August 2016 prior to the FBI seeking a FISA application against Carter Page.

In prior testimony Simpson said he only met with Mr. Ohr sometime after Thanksgiving of 2016.  Not coincidentally it is the FBI interview notes of Bruce Ohr that congress has requested to be declassified, and that DAG Rod Rosenstein wants to keep hidden.

Simpson hired Bruce Ohr’s wife Nellie Ohr, in late 2015 to work on the Trump opposition research project.  That oppo research effort evolved into the Christopher Steele authored dossier after the DNC and Hillary Clinton hired Fusion-GPS in April of 2016.

One of the most likely reasons for Simpson to take the fifth amendment is his network of activity extends beyond the DOJ and FBI, and directly connects to the Obama White House during the election time-frame the dossier was being assembled.  It does not seem coincidental the Obama administration recently began seeding the media with a story about why the White House was active in the ‘Trump Russia Collusion’ narrative.

The New York Magazine article dated October 10th (yesterday) is a clear signal that someone in/around the previous Obama administration team is seeking to create a plausible ‘by the book‘ excuse, for why the White House was engaged with the same elements constructing the Trump dossier.  The timing is simply too transparent.

The NYMAG article outlines a secret meeting and secret strategy from the Obama White House to force candidate Donald Trump to accept a defeat in the 2016 election:

In October 2016, senior staff in the Obama White House discussed what they should do if Hillary Clinton won the November election and Donald Trump refused to accept the result as legitimate.

[…] The Obama White House plan, according to interviews with Rhodes and Jen Psaki, Obama’s communications director, called for congressional Republicans, former presidents, and former Cabinet-level officials including Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, to try and forestall a political crisis by validating the election result.

In the event that Trump tried to dispute a Clinton victory, they would affirm the result as well as the conclusions reached by the U.S. intelligence community that Russian interference in the election sought to favor Trump, and not Clinton. (read more)

Remember, despite the claims by DNI James Clapper and CIA Director John Brennan, in the final report NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers disagreed with the premise the Russian election involvement was to help Trump.  Specifically the Russian efforts went both ways including the organization of anti-Trump rallies at Trump Tower.

That NYMAG report, published yesterday, appears to be an attempt to make an excuse for why the White House was engaged with the participants in the Russia Collusion narrative.

However, in hindsight, the actions and motives by all of the participants in October 2016, become increasingly clear.  As quoted by Hillary Clinton during the second debate, October 9th, 2016:

HILLARY CLINTON: “But, you know, let’s talk about what’s really going on here, Martha, because our intelligence community just came out and said in the last few days that the Kremlin, meaning Putin and the Russian government, are directing the attacks, the hacking on American accounts to influence our election.

And WikiLeaks is a part of that, as are other sites where the Russians hack information, we don’t even know if it’s accurate information, and then they put it out. We have never in the history of our country been in a situation where an adversary, a foreign power, is working so hard to influence the outcome of the election. And believe me, they’re not doing it to get me elected. They’re doing it to try and influence the election for Donald Trump.“

Again, in hindsight, the above highlighted part of Clinton’s statement during the second debate inherently implies her knowledge of the closed-door white house meeting.  Clinton didn’t stop at saying Russia was trying to interfere in the election, she specifically framed the issue as Russia trying to help Trump win the election.

View image on Twitter

Hillary Clinton

✔ @HillaryClinton

Computer scientists have apparently uncovered a covert server linking the Trump Organization to a Russian-based bank.

8:36 PM – Oct 31, 2016

Back to Glenn Simpson…

It is entirely likely Glenn Simpson knows exactly who, from the White House, was involved in the efforts to support his anti-Trump work.   Simpson’s wife, Mary Jacoby, visited the White House on April 19, 2016, the day after NSA Director Mike Rogers shut down contractor access to the NSA and FBI database on April 18, 2016.

The wife of Glenn Simpson (Fusion GPS), Mary B. Jacoby, with years of Russia-angled reporting –including Donald Trump– visits the White House in April 2016, at the same time as the DNC and Clinton hire Fusion GPS to conduct the opposition research on Donald Trump, surrounding Russia.  [WH Log Link]

(The Hill) A lawyer for Glenn Simpson, co-founder of Fusion GPS, told the head of the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday that his client will “invoke his constitutional rights not to testify,” defying a GOP-issued subpoena seeking to compel him to give a closed-door deposition.

The lawyer, Joshua Levy, told Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) in an electronic letter that Simpson will not participate in this committee’s inquiry because it “is not designed to discover the truth.”

“Consistent with the September 27, 2018 letter we sent to you, Mr. Simpson, whose testimony is a matter of public record, will not be participating in a confidential deposition before this Committee,” lawyers for Simpson write, according to a copy of the letter obtained by The Hill.

“He will instead invoke his constitutional rights not to testify under the First and Fifth Amendments of the Constitution.” (read more)

 

TheLastRefuge @TheLastRefuge2

Glenn Simpson (Fusion GPS) is not only the bridge that connects “spygate” to the DNC, he’s also the bridge to the Obama White House. Hence -> http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/10/obama-had-a-secret-plan-in-case-trump-rejected-2016-results.html … the Obama White House positioning a retrospective excuse for their “by the book” involvement in the operation.

David ShoelessJoe @yohiobaseball

Why should anyone be surprised and I’m sure FBI/DOJ lawyers told Simpson to take the fifth!@TheLastRefuge2
Fusion GPS co-founder will invoke ‘constitutional rights not to testify’: lawyers https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/411062-fusion-gps-co-founder-will-invoke-constitutional-rights-not-to?amp&__twitter_impression=true … via @thehill

7:23 PM – Oct 11, 2018

The Democrat party intentionally made a choice to embrace socialism and far-left Marxist ideology in an effort to fuel their political goals.  Tom Perez, current head of the DNC, has a life of activism and assembly for just these purposes. However, the predictable risk and consequence of that decision is really simple; a loss of control over the mob.

With four weeks left before the mid-term elections, the modern democrat mob is now so highly visible, and so filled with toxic/violence and rage, it has become a liability….  The only thing the media can do to assist their party is to downplay the mob and pretend it doesn’t exist; that’s the currently urgent narrative.  Cue the audio visual:

(Source)

The far-left is really the authentic democrat base under various names. Before there were Democrat Socialists it was the Antifa mob, Revolution Communism (RevCom), the Black lives Matter mob, the Dream Defenders mob, the Occupy Wall Street mob, Anarchists, the Weather Underground, the KKK, etc. ….it is all the same political leadership.

Occupy Wall Street 2011

Occupy Wall Street 2011

There are times when the perspectives of bitter, vile and shallow people are displayed in such a manner that it becomes difficult to find words to describe them.  This video excerpt from a CNN panel discussing Kanye West is one of those indescribable examples.

I can’t even fathom how this level of toxic hatred, combined with a race-based attack, is aired and presented on a network television show in modern times.  This is the face of the real democrat party apparatus when you remove their hoods.  However, Take race out of the equation for a moment…

Think about this CNN panel segment from the perspective gleefully denigrating and attempting to humiliate another person, any person, simply because you disagree with their views on any issue.  Laughing as they each try to one-up each other in the level of belittlement.

The participants should be ashamed, but they won’t be. They should apologize for their belittling commentary, but they won’t.  CNN should be ostracized for their vile, condescending and openly aired hatred; but they likely don’t even see the scale of their inhumanity.  This is CNN, and the face of the modern political left:

There was a Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee hearing today where one of the responding executive branch officials was FBI Director Christopher Wray.  Toward the end of the hearing, long after the rest of the members had left the hearing, Chairman Ron Johnson took the opportunity to ask Director Wray some very specific and pointed questions about the current issues within the FBI as an institutional office.

Few people remember, fewer even know, that it was Ron Johnson’s committee effort that brought out the Lisa Page and Peter Strzok text messages.  Lots of other committees began exploring DOJ and FBI misconduct, but it was Johnson who started the sunlight back in July and August of 2017.  That’s the baseline to begin to appreciate this questioning.

The exchange between Chairman Johnson and Director Wray begins around 02:15:00 of the video (nearly two and a half hours into the hearing).  Likely few will have watched this because, just like actually reading the 600 pages of Page/Strzok text messages, it takes granular exploration to understand what is happening.

Chairman Johnson starts asking specific questions about the lack of response from officials underneath Director Wray.  As CTH outlined in the June 2018 FBI press conference on the IG report, Christopher Wray transparently has no clue (intentionally so) what is going on within his institutional apparatus.

Wray doesn’t know who has responded to oversight requests; what oversight requests have been made; what documents exist; what documents are being hidden; what documents the FBI possesses; and the current status of the FBI to produce documents for oversight.

This level of disconnection is critical to see and watch first-hand.

It is critical to see because this reality speaks directly to the corrupt internal officials who are underneath Wray and manipulating the executive suites of the cabinet.

A combination of willful blindness and abject ineptitude comes to the surface as you watch the shallow and superficial answers from the FBI director.  This is not necessarily Wray being corrupt, this is Wray’s office being corrupted by officials within the FBI as an institution.

Don’t take my word for it.  Watch it yourself [prompted, just hit play]:

.

Then comes the “rip off the bandaid” [02:18:30] – Two issues of primary focus:

♦ (1) Notice how Director Wray deflects questions about current documentary requests behind the shield of the Special Counsel Robert Mueller investigation.  There’s the frustrating part for Senator Johnson and those of us who completely accept this shield is by design.  THIS is the purpose of Mueller.

Robert Mueller (the entire team) was put into place, carefully selected by James Baker and Andrew McCabe, specifically to cover for the DOJ and FBI activity that preceded the firing of James Comey. Mueller’s role has two essential aspects:

♦(i) Create an investigation – Just by creating the investigation it is then used as a shield by any corrupt FBI/DOJ official who would find himself/herself under downstream congressional investigation.  Former officials being deposed/questioned by IG Horowitz or Congress could then say they are unable to answer those questions due to the ongoing special counsel investigation.  In this way Mueller provides cover.

♦(ii)  Use the investigation to keep any and all inquiry focused away from the corrupt DOJ and FBI activity that took place in 2015, 2016, 2017.  Keep the media narrative looking somewhere, anywhere, other than directly at the epicenter of the issues.

♦ (2) As the conversation between Johnson and Wray continues, [02:20:12] On the Bruce Ohr 302’s etc. Note Director Wray’s response:

….”But I do know there is a very serious, ongoing, criminal investigation, that involves grand jury secrecy and the need to protect the integrity of that investigation.  Whether the particular documents that you are asking for, and the particular requests, run afoul of that I’d have to have someone take a look at it”…

This reference is likely directed toward the previously reported criminal referral of Asst. FBI Director Andrew McCabe for his actions and activities surrounding his lies to INSD investigators about leaking information to media; and the creation of the “spygate” fiasco.

It was reported in early September, 2018, that a grand jury was impaneled to review the evidence against Andrew McCabe [SEE HERE]

That said, there are ridiculous amounts of people who would take that statement by Director Wray as an “ah-ha” defense to say there is a vast 3-D, stealth Jeff, ongoing sting operation being conducted under the radar to take down mass swaths of the former administration, DOJ and FBI officials.  That claim is nonsense.

By looking at the behavior of those who would directly be targeted within such an investigative approach, if real; and from an acceptance that such a vast sting operation being conducted within the apparatus of the DOJ and FBI would not remain hidden to the corrupt officials it would be targeting; and accepting there are corrupt institutional elements remaining within the DOJ and FBI that would tip-off external elements that would be the target of such an approach; and accepting the factual basis of what decision-making took place within the FBI and DOJ surrounding James Wolfe…. there is not a scintilla of demonstrable evidence such an investigative round-up is taking place.

The Occam’s Razor behind the Wray comments is the narrow criminal focus on the conduct of former FBI Director Andrew McCabe.  Yes, McCabe is a potential criminal target; however, he is the only known (and inferred) criminal target.

Additionally, the outlying evidence -McCabe knowing he is a target- is visible within the latest reports from the Washington Post, specifically Devlin Barrett reporting, highlighting how team McCabe is constructing a narrative in defense of McCabe to the disparagement of Rod Rosenstein.  [SEE HERE]

Team McCabe is trying to set-up Rosenstein to go down if McCabe is taken down.

Team McCabe is: Lisa Page, Peter Strzok, James Baker, Michael Kortan, Daniel Richman, Benjamin Wittes, Michael Bowditch and to a lesser and self-serving extent, James Comey and David Laufman….  These are the people leaking to, and sources for, Devlin Barrett and the Washington Post, as well as the New York Times, in the effort to pin DAG Rod Rosenstein to the cross and distract from the epicenter of the soft-coup, Andrew McCabe.

Defending McCabe in essence defends the entire soft-coup team.

While this defense is ongoing at a very high level, the institutional brethren of the group, mainly from deep inside Main Justice, are working earnestly to continue marginalizing AG Sessions and fuel the Robert Mueller ‘insurance policy’.  In effect, this keeps congressional oversight at a controllable distance.

TEAM McCABE – Shortly after Robert S. Mueller III was appointed to investigate possible coordination between President Trump’s campaign and the Kremlin, he was drawn into a tense standoff in which Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein and then-acting FBI director Andrew McCabe each urged the other to step aside from the case, according to people familiar with the matter.

At the time of the confrontation in mid-May 2017, tensions were running high at the FBI and Justice Department, and between Rosenstein and McCabe. Trump had just fired James B. Comey as the bureau’s director, and almost immediately afterward, FBI officials had opened a case into whether the president had obstructed justice. (read more)

Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein is a man without any team.  He is simultaneously trying to keep the narrative engineers from constructing his framing – and with his fingertips, hold on to the possible defensive skirt of the President.

From a political perspective Rosenstein is in ‘no-man’s-land’.  Perhaps wasn’t a direct and active participant in the soft-coup; however, at the same time he did nothing to impede their efforts; and the “small group” manipulated his position to initiate the Special Counsel.

Rosenstein is FUBAR.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein was scheduled to testify tomorrow to a closed-door joint House congressional committee (Judiciary/Oversight) chaired by Bob Goodlatte.   This committee has been conducting oversight into activity within the FBI and DOJ as it pertains to prior politicization of the agencies.

According to reports from earlier today, DAG Rosenstein is now refusing to deliver testimony to the committee about his personal involvement in the soft-coup attempt against President Trump:

(Via Washington Post) Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein’s interview with a joint House panel reviewing the Justice Department investigation of President Trump’s alleged Russia ties will not take place this week as expected, according to congressional aides involved with the planning.

The House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform committees were expected to speak with Rosenstein behind closed doors Thursday as part of their probe into federal law enforcement’s conduct during the investigations of Trump’s campaign and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. But a dispute over the interview’s terms prevented the committees and the Justice Department from reaching a deal to hold the meeting, according to people familiar with the discussions.  (read more)

Judiciary Committee member Louie Gohmert appears on Fox News with Lou Dobbs to discuss how DAG Rosenstein is attempting to delay testimony until after the mid-term election.

.

As previously outlined, congress and President Trump have two different priorities when it comes to the position of Rod Rosenstein.

From President Trump’s perspective the thorn in his administration has been Special Counsel Robert Mueller.  Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein created the special counsel under fraudulent pretense.  That origination material (Ohr 302’s, FISA pages, origination EC, and Page/Strzok messages) is now a risk to the Deputy AG.

DAG Rosenstein does not want his involvement in the fraud to be exposed; hence his request to block/stall/delay the declassification directive. However, at any time President Trump can declassify all the documents and outline the fraudulent basis that originated the special counsel. This is essentially President Trump’s leverage.

The ongoing efforts of the FBI and DOJ to hide their malfeasance, does not interrupt or impede Trump’s MAGA agenda; the special counsel does. Having leverage over the special counsel is more valuable than exposing the soft-coup plotters.

If the corrupt current and previous FBI and DOJ officials are laid naked to their enemies, great; but from President Trump’s unique perspective it does not appear to be a priority.

Exposing the FBI/DOJ dirty deeds is a major priority for a contingent within congress and a multitude of Trump supporters – but for the office of the President, in the immediate future, not-so-much.

When you have this much leverage on someone, you don’t want them to quit. You want to use their damaged and tenuous position to your advantage. President Trump is in no hurry to fire Rosenstein (not yet), because the DAG is so weak and President Trump holds all the leverage in the relationship.

Rod Rosenstein knows what he did wrong; and President Trump knows what Rosenstein did wrong. Though it could change based on new discoveries of how far the DAG went along within the soft-coup process, President Trump isn’t likely to let Rosenstein go until everyone else knows what Rosenstein did wrong.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes appears with Laura Ingraham to discuss the ongoing congressional issues with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Chairman Nunes notes the motives and intents of the DOJ to hide the information within the previous declassification directive.

.

Exposing the FBI/DOJ dirty deeds is a major priority for a contingent within congress and a multitude of Trump supporters.  Therefore HPSCI Chairman Devin Nunes and Trump supporters have differing sets of priorities than President Trump.

Reminder:

“I met with the DOJ concerning the declassification of various UNREDACTED documents.”

President Trump meeting with DOJ, meaning Rod Rosenstein. Notice “various unredacted documents”. Heavily referencing section 3 and 4 of the declassification directive.

“They agreed to release them but stated that so doing may have a perceived negative impact on the Russia probe.”

DOJ saying they will release; but note the word “perceived negative impact”. The full sunlight (full release) would undermine the legitimacy of Robert Mueller. DOJ doesn’t want to undermine the fraudulent Mueller investigation. Rosenstein is now admitting to the President, that Muellers probe is illegitimate.

“Also, key Allies’ called to ask not to release.”

As noted , likely the U.K and Australian government are both concerned and embarrassed at the exploitation that took place. Christopher Steele (U.K), Alexander Downer (AU) etc.

The collaborative ‘spy-gate’ operation (crossfire hurricane) between the CIA, FBI and DOJ-NSD is an embarrassment; and globally no-one knows the extent to which the FISA and Five-Eyes process is used, manipulated and abused.

Key point. Trump now has the leverage.

When wondering what President Trump will do with the leverage he now carries, think back to how Donald Trump (apex predator) always holds leverage for maximum impact at specifically chosen (by him) pressure points. Trump carries leverage like currency; he withdraws from positions when he gains leverage. The ability to deploy leverage at a time of his choosing is the power; the position which creates the leverage is not as powerful, and thereby discarded.

“Therefore, the Inspector General has been asked to review these documents on an expedited basis.”

DOJ (Rosenstein) tells Trump in exchange for you withholding this weapon, we will tell our IG to rush forward with his investigation. The DOJ seems to be indicating they will allow Michael Horowitz to put more damaging verbiage in his report this time.

“I believe he will move quickly on this (and hopefully other things which he is looking at).”

POTUS Trump accepts the position of the DOJ; puts the leverage in his arsenal; and then pressures the DOJ to work with Horowitz and hurry-the-hell-up with the report.

“In the end I can always declassify if it proves necessary.”

If the corrupt interests within the DOJ and FBI do not uphold their end of the bargain, POTUS retains the ability to deploy the original declassification directive…. if the outcome of the IG report is not forthcoming; or if the outcome does not match the truth; he will trigger the declassification.

It is within this section where all those who understand the truth get rightly, and understandably, worried that the DOJ will renege on the deal they just made with Trump.

“Speed is very important to me – and everyone!”

Everyone understands this could have election impact. Trump telling the corrupt DOJ to get the truth in front of the American people as soon as possible.

Again, President Trump views these events as gaining him massive leverage toward the accusations against him by Robert Mueller. Don’t look at this through the prism of Trump supporters – look at this through the prism of President Trump.

Robert Mueller has been held over President Trump’s head like a sword of Damocles for more than a year.  Leverage over Mueller is worth withdrawing the declassification directive in exchange for allowing the FBI and DOJ to manage how the institutional corruption surfaces.

Robert Mueller (the entire team) was put into place, carefully selected by James Baker and Andrew McCabe, specifically to cover for the DOJ and FBI activity that preceded the firing of James Comey.   Mueller’s role has two essential aspects:

♦(1) Create an investigation – Just by creating the investigation it is then used as a shield by any corrupt FBI/DOJ official who would find himself/herself under downstream congressional investigation.  Former officials being deposed/questioned by IG Horowitz or Congress could then say they are unable to answer those questions due to the ongoing special counsel investigation.  In this way Mueller provides cover.

♦(2)  Use the investigation to keep any and all inquiry focused away from the corrupt DOJ and FBI activity that took place in 2016, 2016, 2017.  Keep the media narrative looking somewhere, anywhere, other than directly at the epicenter of the issues.

In both of these objectives the Mueller special counsel has been stunningly effective.

All of the visible activity being conducted by Rosenstein has been an intentional effort to keep as much of the corrupt evidence hidden from public review.  When Nunes points out that Rosenstein’s motives are to keep the documentary evidence classified he is speaking directly to this aspect.

But the current corrupt DOJ activity is not isolated to FISA abuse and documents the usurping officials want to keep hidden.  The corrupt activity also flows outward and can be found in the DOJ behavior surrounding James Wolfe; the busted Senate Intelligence Security Official who was caught leaking the classified FISA application to the media.

The reason Wolfe was not indicted for the more serious charges of leaking classified intelligence is because the *CURRENT* DOJ needs to hide what was taking place.  Wolfe is simply a benefactor of current DOJ officials who need to hide their fingerprints and activity in 2016 and 2017.

Those currently corrupt DOJ and FBI officials are not protecting Wolfe as much as they are protecting themselves.  This includes Rosenstein, FBI Director Christopher Wray, Deputy FBI Director David Bowditch and current FBI general counsel Dana Boente; as well as all the second level and third level carry-over career officials.  The failure to accept this currently corrupt DOJ and FBI is where most of the “Stealth Jeff” and “Q” believers are entirely wrong.

The efforts of Rosenstein, Wray, Bowditch, Boente et al, to cover-up the institutional corruption extends far beyond their blocking activity of the declassification requests; and shows up in the lack of substance behind the Wolfe indictment and the ability of the external Lawfare group, former officials, to influence current activity.

Part of that current influence is keeping the most severe elements of investigative sunlight away from review.  These officials have done this in many visible ways.  Three of them are inarguable:

(1) By redacting innocuous, albeit highly damaging information, within the Lisa Page and Peter Strzok text messages and emails.  Officials within the agencies are hiding information and even eliminating the most damaging material.

(2) By controlling what records IG Horowitz has access to; in addition to who he is interviewing. The IG is only as effective as the material he has to review.

(3) By shaping the executive summaries of the two previous IG reports to ensure the specific material within the report is diluted as much as possible in the summary and conclusions.

The collaborative efforts of the current group of corrupt officials is also evident in the hit job against Judge Brett Kavanaugh.  Those corrupt former DOJ/FBI officials (Bromwich, McLean, Laufman, etc.), who are part of the Blasey-Ford construct, were clearly working with a set of current officials. [This collaborative interest extends to people within government (the legislative branch) and those outside government (media allies).]

The appearance of former DOJ lawyer Michael Sussmann working with Perkins Coie and on behalf of the DNC, to feed information to former FBI legal counsel James Baker, only highlights this systemic collaboration and corruption within the DOJ and FBI.   That corruption has not been addressed; it is currently being protected from sunlight.

On March 2nd, 2017, AG Jeff Sessions met with a group of DOJ officials who helped him make the decision to recuse himself (meeting schedule below).  As a seemingly intended result, AG Jeff Sessions became irrelevant within any effort to ferret out the corrupt officials who participated in the soft-coup attempt.

As a specific outcome of that recusal decision, DAG Rod Rosenstein, FBI Director Christopher Wray, Deputy FBI Director David Bowditch, FBI Chief Legal Counsel Dana Boente, Special Counsel Robert Mueller and the affiliated network of political operatives within the DOJ and FBI had free reign to shape everything in the past two years.

Almost all of the recent discoveries from congressional testimony surround the DOJ and FBI efforts to target President Trump; and the downstream efforts to hide the targeting.

This is the current state of the issue.

From President Trump’s perspective the thorn in his administration has been Special Counsel Robert Mueller.  Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein created the special counsel under fraudulent pretense.  That origination material (Ohr 302’s, FISA pages, origination EC, and Page/Strzok messages) is now a risk to the Deputy AG.

DAG Rosenstein does not want his involvement in the fraud to be exposed; hence his request to block/stall/delay the declassification directive. However, at any time President Trump can declassify all the documents and outline the fraudulent basis that originated the special counsel. This is essentially President Trump’s leverage.

The ongoing efforts of the FBI and DOJ to hide their malfeasance, does not interrupt or impede Trump’s MAGA agenda; the special counsel does. Having leverage over the special counsel is more valuable than exposing the soft-coup plotters.

If the corrupt current and previous FBI and DOJ officials are laid naked to their enemies, great; but from President Trump’s unique perspective it does not appear to be a priority.

Exposing the FBI/DOJ dirty deeds is a major priority for a contingent within congress and a multitude of Trump supporters – but for the office of the President, in the immediate future, not-so-much.

When you have this much leverage on someone, you don’t want them to quit. You want to use their damaged and tenuous position to your advantage. President Trump is in no hurry to fire Rosenstein (not yet), because the DAG is so weak and President Trump holds all the leverage in the relationship.

Rod Rosenstein knows what he did wrong; and President Trump knows what Rosenstein did wrong. Though it could change based on new discoveries of how far the DAG went along within the soft-coup process, President Trump isn’t likely to let Rosenstein go until everyone else knows what Rosenstein did wrong.

On March 28th, 2018, the DOJ Office of Inspector General Michael Horowitz formerly announced an additional investigation of how the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation engaged with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) in matters relating to the FISA Title-1 application filed against U.S. person Carter Page.  However, one part of the OIG notification was generously overlooked by a defensive and IC compliant media:

As part of this examination, the OIG also will review information that was known to the DOJ and the FBI at the time the applications were filed from or about an alleged FBI confidential source. Additionally, the OIG will review the DOJ’s and FBI’s relationship and communications with the alleged source as they relate to the FISC applications.  (pdf link)

Two months later on Monday May 21st, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein added a significant DOJ mandate to the Inspector General review.  Rosenstein expanded the original FISA review to include looking at whether officials within the intelligence community may have unlawfully used human intelligence assets to “spy” or “surveil” the Trump campaign:

“The Department has asked the Inspector General to expand the ongoing review of the FISA application process to include determining whether there was any impropriety or political motivation in how the FBI conducted its counterintelligence investigation of persons suspected of involvement with the Russian agents who interfered in the 2016 presidential election.” (link)

The IG process for the FISA report is structural.  Once the interviews and investigation is complete the “IG referencer” phase takes several weeks.  The referencer could be a person or a group of people depending on the size of the report.

The referencer has the responsibility for going through every statement of fact and providing the citation or footnote for the assertion. The person(s) doing the reference review has/have the most arduous of tasks.

The referencer checks every sentence, every assertion, and ensures only provable facts with citations are part of the report. Every assertion of fact must be cited (or footnoted) to include the investigative material that proves the fact.  After the footnotes, citations and all fact assemblies are reconciled a draft report is written. The Draft Report encompasses the findings.

The Draft Report is then sent to the principals to review.  The Draft Report review allows the principals to provide input on the facts identified and outlined within the draft.  This part of the process takes at least two weeks.  Responses from the principals about the facts outlined in the draft report are then reviewed, cleared for addition if appropriate, and included in the final report.  Then the final report goes to print.

The election is 29 days away from today.  There is almost no way the IG report on FISA abuse and “spygate” will be completed prior to the mid-term election.