Prior to departing the White House for a visit with Tennessee disaster workers and victims, President Trump signs an $8.3 billion appropriations bill funding the ongoing efforts to combat Coronavirus.  [Video and Transcript Below]

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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Good morning, everybody. Good morning. I’m going to Tennessee to meet with the governor and a lot of people. And it’s something. It’s really something. I guess some of you are coming along, I assume. Is that right?

Q No.

THE PRESIDENT: You going?

Q There’s a crew out at Andrews waiting on you.

THE PRESIDENT: Okay.

So we’re signing the $8.3 billion. I asked for 2.5 and I got 8.3, and I’ll take it.

(The bill is signed.)

Okay? So here we are, $8.3 billion. We’re doing very well. But it’s an unforeseen problem. What a problem. Came out of nowhere, but we’re taking care of it.

We have big news on the ship. And a lot of things are happening on the ship. People are being tested right now. And I just spoke to the governor of California, Gavin Newsom. We had a good conversation. We’re both working on the ship together. It’s close to 5,000 people. So, it’s a big ship. But we’re doing testing on those people. Okay?

Could I have those others papers I’m going to sign, please? These are additional papers relevant to various things.

Okay, this is it?

AIDE: Yes.

(The document is signed.)

THE PRESIDENT: Okay, give me the other one.

AIDE: These are the (inaudible) designations for the bill. There’s two of them.

(The document is signed.)

Do you have anything you want to say to the press?

SECRETARY AZAR: I just want to make it — make it clear that in terms of tests, we have provided all the tests to the State of Washington and the State of California that they’ve asked for. The production and shipping of tests that we’ve talked about all week is completely on schedule.

All of the CDC tests — the tests that are available to test up to 75,000 people — CDC has shipped to America’s public health labs. Those are out.

Then, IDT, the private contractor working with CDC to ship to the private sector and hospitals, has already shipped enough tests for 700,000 tests. And the remaining lots are arriving at CDC this morning for quality control and should get out, as we forecast, this weekend.

And then next week, we’ll keep ramping up production. So as many as 4 million tests next week are going to be driving forward.

So everything is on schedule for the tests.

Q Mr. President, why aren’t you going to CDC today?

SECRETARY AZAR: He’s actually sent me. I’m going to go down.

THE PRESIDENT: You — you can tell them.

SECRETARY AZAR: Yeah. He sent —

THE PRESIDENT: We may — we may go. There was a — they thought there was a problem at CDC with somebody that had the virus. It turned out negative, so we’re seeing if we can do it. But yesterday afternoon, we were informed that there may have been a person with — with the virus, and they now find out that that was a negative test. They’ve tested the person very fully, and it was a negative test.

So I may be going. We’re going to see if they can turn it around with Secret Service.

Q (Inaudible.)

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, we may —

Q You may go?

THE PRESIDENT: We may we may be going. Here, Steve, this is for you after covering me so well. (Laughter.)

Q How big a — how big a hit to the economy —

THE PRESIDENT: It’s the first time I’ve ever done that to a reporter.

Q How big a hit to the economy are you expecting (inaudible)?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, job numbers just came out and they’re incredible. The job numbers were tremendous. And we picked up close to 80,000 new jobs from the last report. And if you add that up, it’s over 350,000 jobs. The job numbers just came out a little while ago, and they were shocking to the people that were analyzing them.

Q Do you expect more gyrations in the stock market?

THE PRESIDENT: No, I think — I think, you know, a lot of people are staying here and they’re going to be doing their business here. They’re going to be traveling here. And they’ll be going to resorts here. And, you know, we have a great place. That’s where — so, foreign people come, but we’re going to have Americans staying home instead of going and spending the money in other countries. And maybe that’s one of the reasons the job numbers are so good. We’ve had a lot of travel inside the USA.

Q Do you think that Congress or your administration needs to take more action to diminish the risk of recession?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, all we can do is do what we do. I mean, we’re getting a lot of business from people staying. In other words, they’re — it’s — I’ve always liked anyway; you’ve known that for a long time. But people are staying here and spending their money here, as opposed to going to Europe and other places.

Now, that’ll change when this goes away, and hopefully that will be sooner rather than later.

But people were — I would say virtually everybody — you saw the job numbers, I guess — people were shocked, because you add another 80 or whatever it is, a lot of — a lot of numbers from last month, where they upgraded. So the job numbers were at a level that nobody thought possible. They were really incredible.

Q No stimulus needed?

THE PRESIDENT: I don’t know. I mean, we’re going to see whether or not the Fed wants to stimulate. In my opinion, they should because Europe is, and China is, and everybody is but us. We have a Fed that is not exactly proactive. I’m being very nice when I say that.

Q But no fiscal stimulus?

THE PRESIDENT: I think what happens is the Fed should cut and the Fed should stimulate. And they should do that because other countries are doing it, and it puts us at a competitive disadvantage. And we have the most prime. We are considered by far the most prime. And it’s our dollar that everybody uses. The Fed should stimulate and the Fed — they should cut.

And why should Germany have an advantage over us with interest rates? So Germany — you know, Germany, just announced that they’re stimulating and they’re cutting.

Asia is. All over Asia they are. China is. China is tremendously.

And we’re really not. And we pay higher interest; we have a higher rate. And it’s ridiculous, frankly. We should have the lowest rate by far, and instead we pay more than other countries. Other countries are paying zero and less than zero. You know it very well. And we’re paying interest, which is a very conservative approach, but it’s not a good approach because we’re also competing against other countries, whether we like it or not. Even our friends, we’re competing against.

Q Mr. President, on Afghanistan, are you afraid that once the U.S. pulls out, that the Taliban will basically just overrun the Afghan government?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, you know, eventually countries have to take care of themselves. We can’t be there for the next — another 20 years. We’ve been there for 20 years, and we’ve been protecting the country. But we can’t be there for the next — eventually, they’re going to have to protect themselves.

You know, this should have been done a long time ago. But you can only hold somebody’s hand for so long. We have to get back to running our country too. So you understand that.

Q So do you think the Afghan government will be capable, in the long term, of defending itself?

THE PRESIDENT: I’ll let you know later. You know, we’ll have to see what happens. I hope they are, but I don’t know. I can’t answer that question.

Q Mr. President, any concern that the coronavirus is —

THE PRESIDENT: It’s not supposed to happen that way, but it possibly will.

Q Any concern that the virus is more widespread than originally thought because of the lack of testing? Is that any reason why you’re not going to Atlanta today?

THE PRESIDENT: No, no, no. They had one person who was potentially infected.

And speaking of that, I’d like to go. So you guys are trying to work that out. I was going to Tennessee first, in any event, and then I was stopping in Atlanta, then going down to Florida for meetings. I think that they are trying to work it out that I do go.

No, I hadn’t heard that. I heard “one person.” And because of the one person at a high level — because of the one person, they didn’t want me going. But I would prefer going. And now that the person — the test came out negative, we’re going to try and go.

The most powerful man in all of the media. Come on over here, please. He has a little something to do with the Wall Street Journal. I don’t know if you know. This is real power. Right? (Laughter.) You used to do what they did.

MR. THOMSON: Yeah.

THE PRESIDENT: Right? And he did it — he did it so well that he’s the boss at News Corp. Of course, Rupert has something to say with that, I guess. Right? Lachlan.

It’s good to have you. It’s good to have you. They treat me very nicely — the media. Right? Except for the Wall Street Journal, but that’s okay.

Q How do you keep people from panicking from (inaudible)?

THE PRESIDENT: I don’t think they’re panicking. I don’t think people are panicking. I said last night — we did an interview on Fox last night, a town hall. I think it was very good. And I said, “Calm. You have to be calm.” It’ll go away.

We do have a situation where we have this massive ship with 5,000 people and we have to make a decision. You know, that’s a big decision because we have very low numbers compared to major countries throughout the world. Our numbers are lower than just about anybody.

And in terms of deaths, I don’t know what the count is today. Is it 11? Eleven people? And in terms of cases, it’s very, very few. When you look at other countries, it’s a very tiny fraction because we’ve been very strong at the borders. But then you have a ship with a lot of Americans on it. It’s got 5,000 people on it. It’s a massive ship and — you know, and they want to come in. So we have to make a decision. We’re working with the governor of California on that.

Q Are you meeting with President Bolsonaro this weekend, sir?

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, I am. We’re having dinner at Mar-a-Lago. He wanted to have dinner in Florida, if that was possible — the President of Brazil. So we’ll be doing that today.

Q Do you think the financial markets are overreacting?

THE PRESIDENT: I think financial markets will bounce back as soon as this — really bounce back. Don’t forget, they’re down probably 10 or 11 percent from, you know, where they were, but they were up 70 percent. So, you know, it’s only a — it’s a relatively small piece. I don’t like to see it happen because I was looking for 30,000 very soon. You were — you were — it seemed days away from 30,000. And now we have a little more room to make up.

But I think financially — I think the country is so strong. We’re so strong as a country now. We have never been like this. The consumer is generating so much because of the tax cuts, the regulation cuts, and, you know, the things we’ve done. So I think we’re in great shape. I mean, I think we’re in great shape.

This came unexpectedly a number of months ago. I heard about it in China. It came out of China, and I heard about it. And made a good move: We closed it down; we stopped it. Otherwise — the head of CDC said last night that you would have thousands of more problems if we didn’t shut it down very early. That was a very early shutdown, which is something we got right. Okay?

Q So looking at the Super Tuesday results, are you worried the Democratic Party is unifying around Joe Biden and that will take away your argument about Democrats being too left wing and too socialist?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, he’s left wing and he’s got all people that are left wing. And in many ways, he’s worse than Bernie. Look at what he did with guns; he put Beto in charge of guns. Beto wants to get rid of guns, right? So that’s a bad — that’s a bad stance.

And he’s got a lot of people that are left wing, and they’ll be running the government. He’s not going to be running anything. If he ever got in, they’ll be running the government. They’ve got people further left wing than what Bernie has. So, not — not going to be good. Wouldn’t be good for Wall Street, I can tell you that.

Plus, if you look at his taxes, he’s going to raise taxes incredibly. He’s going to raise taxes more than Bernie. I looked at — and he’s open about it. Bernie doesn’t like to — doesn’t like to talk about it.

I mean, Joe Biden, his tax increases are — they’re staggering. It’s ridiculous. He’ll destroy everything that’s been built.

Q Do you think sexism was a factor in Elizabeth Warren pulling out? And do you believe you will see a female President in your lifetime?

THE PRESIDENT: No, I think lack of talent was her problem. She had a tremendous lack of talent. She was a good debater.
She destroyed Mike Bloomberg very quickly, like it was nothing. That was easy for her. But people don’t like her. She’s a very mean person, and people don’t like her. People don’t want that. They like a person like me, that’s not mean.

Okay, I’ll see you guys. Bye, bye everybody.

END 9:07 A.M. EST

Unfortunately, there were no live-stream options available for the Fox News town hall with President Trump at 6:30pm.   Additionally, the Donald Trump 2020 campaign did not provide a streaming service of the town hall on any of their platforms.

Despite the efforts of Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum to shape the questions against the interests of the President, the event was very good.  No politician is as good as President Trump when it comes to owning the downside and reversing the narrative.  [Video Replay Added]

President Donald Trump called-in for an extensive interview this evening with Fox News host Sean Hannity.  Topics included the recent comments by Senator Chuck Schumer threatening the Supreme Court, the 2020 Democratic race and the ongoing administration efforts to tackle the coronavirus outbreak and more. Full interview video below:

Earlier today President Trump delivered remarks to Hispanic American business leaders and small business owners along with members of the Latino Coalition attending the Annual Latino Coalition Legislative Summit. [Video and Transcript Below]

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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. And thank you, Hector. Please. Let’s have some fun, right? (Laughter.) But thank you very much for that beautiful introduction, Hector. And I appreciate it. It’s been a great friendship and it’s a terrific thing to honor all of these incredible people, the Latino Coalition. Latino Coalition. You’re having the best year you’ve ever had, I have to say that. Last year was your best and we’re beating it this year.

This afternoon, we celebrate the phenomenal achievements of Latino business leaders, entrepreneurs, innovators, and workers who are lifting our nation to soaring new heights. We’re very proud of it too. You are powering the American Dream and my administration stands proudly right by your side. With the hard work, love, and devotion of millions of incredible Hispanic Americans, our country is thriving, our people are prospering, and our future has ever — really never looked better than it does right now. I think we’re doing something that’s really extraordinary. Our future has never looked better.

America’s extraordinary success over the last three years has ensured that we are the best prepared in the world to address any threat or any challenge. Nowhere is more true than our vigilant and unprecedented effort, right now, to protect Americans from the coronavirus. It’s — really, we have an incredible team of talented people, the most talented people in the world. We’re actually helping a lot of other countries too, as you know.

Early on, my administration leapt into action, and undertook the quickest and most aggressive response to a foreign outbreak in modern history. We implemented sweeping travel restrictions, imposed historic quarantines, and marshalled American industry and science to begin developing a vaccine while also racing to produce antiviral therapies. And I visited, yesterday, different — with different people, the great companies of our country and of the world, and also NIH. And we — I’ll tell you, what I saw is really inspiring.

We are using every resource at our disposal. We closed the border, as you know, very, very early to the troubled areas and that saved a lot of lives. A lot of countries are having a big, big problem — bigger than what we have, frankly. But we closed those borders very early, against the advice of a lot of professionals, and we turned out to be right. I took a lot of heat for that.

The health and safety of our people is my first priority. In everything we do, we are putting America first always.

We are grateful to be joined today by Secretary Ben Carson, a fantastic — where is Ben? Where is Ben? Ben? (Applause.) Thank you, Ben. Thanks, Ben. Great job.

Administrator of Small Business Administration, Jovita Carranza. (Applause.) Jovita, how are you? And she got a very big vote in the Senate, I have to tell you. In fact, I started to wonder: How did you get so many votes? (Laughter.)

And Puerto Rico Governor Wanda Vázquez Garced. Thank you very much. (Applause.) Governor? Where is — hi, Governor. Thank you, Governor. Those lights are so bright, Governor, but you’re looking good. Thank you very much. (Laughter.) I appreciate it.

As I said in my State of the Union Address, we’re in the midst of the great American comeback. Under the booming Trump economy, Latinos are achieving record gains. Since my election, we have created 7 million new jobs. An un- — really, unthought-of number. They thought that it would be 2 [million]. The prediction was two, maybe less than two, and that would have been good. We did seven.

We’ve created 3 million new jobs for Hispanic Americans. Hispanic American unemployment has fallen to the lowest rate ever recorded. More than 600,000 Hispanic Americans have been lifted out of poverty; that’s a record.

Median — (applause) — yeah, great. Median household income for Hispanic Americans surpassed $50,000 a year for the first time ever, and it’s now at the highest level in American history. That’s something really special too.

A record share of Hispanic households are now earning over $200,000 per year. And we’ve increased Hispanic American homeownership by more than half a million homes. That’s tremendous.

We’ve seen the largest net gain in Hispanic American homeowners ever recorded. Our agenda is delivering remarkable opportunity and security to millions of hardworking Hispanic American families. Nearly 40 million Hispanic Americans live in households benefiting from our expansion of the child tax credit — a big deal — providing an extra $2,000 yearly for the average family of four.

To help working parents, we are fighting to make childcare more affordable and expanding access to paid family leave. We’re doing it like nobody has ever done it before.

And to ensure every student can get a great education, we’re fighting to expand school choice because no parent should be forced to send their child to a failing government school. (Applause.) We’ve created — thank you — (applause) — school choice. Big deal, school choice. And, within the Hispanic community, I think school choice is a very, very big deal.

We have created nearly 9,000 Opportunity Zones in forgotten and distressed communities that are home to 9 million Hispanic Americans. Jobs and new investment are now pouring into those communities. And to keep your family businesses in the family, we virtually eliminated the very unfair estate tax, or the death tax, for the small businesses and farms and other things. We’ve actually eliminated it for those small businesses and farms. (Applause.)

Our nation’s 4.4 million Hispanic-owned businesses are growing at an astounding pace — really unparalleled — propelled by our groundbreaking campaign to remove job-killing regulations. Our regulatory cuts alone will save $3,100 per household every single year — a number that was unthinkable if you go back three years.

Four out of five Hispanic-owned small businesses expect their revenue to increase this year, and half of all Hispanic-owned small businesses plan to hire more workers. In 2019, Latino businesses saw an astonishing 46 percent increase in revenues, which is incredible. And it’s — think of that. (Applause.) 46 percent.

With us today is Coalition Member Rafael Cuellar. And following our tax cuts, Rafael dramatically expanded his grocery store business, hiring hundreds of new employees. And Rafael has got a great story to tell. Please, Rafael, come up and give us a little story, Rafael. I want to hear this. I hear it’s a good one. (Applause.) I hear it’s a good one. Thank you.

Come on up, Rafael. That’s great. I think they’ll let him through, what do you think? (Laughter.) He looks good to me.

MR. CUELLAR: Wow. First and foremost, what an honor. Thank you so much for having me come up here and speak to everyone for a moment.

What can I tell you? I mean, I’ve had the luxury of enjoying the benefit of the tax cuts. The tax cuts allowed me to grow my businesses. So not only do I own a supermarket but I now own a large liquor store, one of the largest in the state. And I actually recently opened up a franchise — a gym franchise.

So I’ve been able to glean those benefits because of the tax cuts that the administration put out and that yourself did, Mr. President, and I can’t tell you how grateful I am. If it weren’t for those things, my business would have stagnated, it would have stayed flat, and we wouldn’t have been able to expand and had many more jobs and more opportunity for other people. And hopefully, we’ll continue to keep on growing for the next five years thanks to you.

THE PRESIDENT: I have no doubt. I have no doubt.

MR. CUELLAR: Thank you so much, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: Keep up the good work.

MR. CUELLAR: Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: I have no doubt about that, Rafael. Thank you very much. That’s pretty good. And I heard that — that one store of yours, that first one, is really spectacular too. He just told me that backstage. I said, “Give me a little bit about Rafael.” He said, “Well, I’ll tell you, he’s really successful.” Great job.

My administration is determined to ensure our nation’s prosperity lifts all Americans. We want to lift all Americans. Since my election, more than 1 million Latinas have entered the workforce and their unemployment rate right now is falling to a record low. Within a very short period of time, it’s going to be the lowest-ever. We have a tremendous thing happening. (Applause.)

And it’s like that for almost all groups. All groups, it’s — the country is really doing great. And countries are sending tremendous amounts of companies — companies that they sort of control because they control where they go, and I say, “Mr. Prime Minister, Mr. President, you have to let them come. You have to let them come.” And they let them come. And it’s made a tremendous difference in our country.

And I’m very proud also to report that more Latinas now own small businesses than ever before. The highest number ever recorded. (Applause.)

Since I took office, the Small Business Administration has made over $6 billion in loan guarantees to Hispanic-owned small businesses — another record.

And I’d like to ask Administrator Carranza to please come up and tell us a little about the great job that you’re doing. Thank you very much. (Applause.) Thank you, Jovita. Thank you.

ADMINISTRATOR CARRANZA: Thank you very much. Thank you, President.

Now, this is an exceptional backdrop, being able to tell the good stories of SBA, with the President standing right behind you. So I better get this right. (Laughter.)

First of all, I would like to tell you, President Trump, that if it weren’t for your tax cuts, we would not have our economy fueled with the vitality that is experienced and that all of these people here, as well as all the small businesses that I visited between Pennsylvania to New Orleans, harbors, aircraft hangers — they all talk about opportunity and certainty.

And the microloan program, we have focused in on the underserved markets, in particular the Latino, the women, and the veterans. And we’ve done some exceptional outreach to our lender partners so that they are just as focused, as this administration is, in the underserved market.

And as a result of that, we have realized historical microloan portfolio growth since its existence, which is over 30 years. So we have a lot more to get done. And all I can say is thank you for being such a friend of the Hispanic community. (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Jovita. Thank you.

Beautiful job. I would have given you a little more distance, but I have this machine standing right next to me, and I didn’t want to take it on. (Laughter.) And she is doing a fantastic job. Thank you, Jovita.

America is also making tremendous progress in delivering fair and reciprocal — one of my favorite words, “reciprocal,” because we’ve been taken advantage of for a long time with these horrible trade deals — but reciprocal trade to defend our jobs and all of our exports, and to knock down unfair barriers for American-made goods. We love American-made goods.

The United States lost one in four manufacturing jobs with the horrible NAFTA that was signed many years ago. That’s why my administration replaced NAFTA with the brand-new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which is incredible. The USMCA will give a major boost to farmers, ranchers, manufacturers, workers, and to our country as a whole. What a difference it will make.

I especially want to thank Hector and everyone here at the Latino Coalition, whose vital support helped get this deal passed. Hector and everybody really chipped in. We were having a hard time getting it passed through the Democrats, I must say. And it was not an easy situation, but in the end, we got it done. And it’s going to go down as one of the great deals.

We also made a big deal with China, to put it mildly. They’ll be buying $250 billion dollars’ worth of our goods. I look forward — that’s a big one. (Applause.) And others. I deal with Japan, I deal with South Korea. We have — we’ve done a lot of them. It’s going to have a tremendous impact over the next number of years. And, I guess, by the time it kicks in, it’ll be around election time, but it’ll — unfortunately, some of them don’t kick in for a little while. They kick in gradually because it takes, even bureaucratically, a certain period of time. But, boy, the numbers are going to be astronomical.

What’s going to happen to this country is going to be — I hope they remember that I did it. Okay? (Laughter.) They’ll say, “Oh, he had nothing to do with it. What did he have to do with the China deal, the USMCA? What did he have to do with the deal with Japan or the deal with South Korea?” You know, it’s like — but you people will remember. As long as you remember, that’s all that matters.

But I look forward to working closely with Mexico in the years to come for the continued benefit of both of our countries. We have a great relationship.

Also here this afternoon is Miguel Gutierrez of San Antonio, Texas, who has been able to triple his business in the past two years. If he was a New York Stock Exchange company, his stock would be very high; it would triple. They like to hear “triple.” There aren’t too many of them. But triple them. And revenues, employees, and expansion, and an extension of the new markets into Mexico.

And I’d like to ask Miguel to please come up and tell us your story. It’s a great story. (Applause.) Thanks, Miguel. Thank you, Miguel.

MR. GUTIERREZ: Mr. President, thank you. And first and foremost, I need to thank my colleague and friend, Hector Barreto, chairman of the coalition, and giving me the honor of sitting on this board for 20 years. I think I’m the longest-lasting board member of the coalition.

Mr. President, with the passage of USMCA, I have to say that, you know, we have three tables here of friends that are our business partners and our friends from Mexico. If you all want to raise your hands? There you go. (Applause.) See? All these folks have allowed us to expand our businesses and reach new heights. And we’re going to continue to grow. So I want to say thank you to you all, and thank you, Mr. President, for all of your support to Latinos. (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. That’s fantastic. Great job. (Applause.) Twenty years? You’ve been on the board for 20 years, Miguel? That’s pretty good. You’ve seen a lot of progress, haven’t you? That’s great. Thank you very much.

As we expand freedom and opportunity in America, we’re proudly promoting liberty in the Western Hemisphere. The United States is leading a historic coalition of 59 countries dedicated to the future of democracy for the people of Venezuela. (Applause.) The tragedy in Venezuela is a reminder that socialism and communism bring misery and heartache everywhere they’re tried.

I remember so many years ago — 20, less — it was the wealthiest country. People said, “Oh, it’s so incredible. It’s so beautiful. It’s so happy.” And now people can’t get water, they can’t get basic food. They can’t get anything. It’s incredible to see what bad concepts and bad people — I mean, you have some bad people, leadership — or lack of leadership.
But it’s amazing to see what happened to Venezuela, beautiful Venezuela. We’re with Venezuela all the way, and we’re doing a lot. And we have a lot planned.

America stands with the suffering people of Venezuela and Cuba and Nicaragua — (applause) — in their righteous struggle for liberty. And we’ll continue working for the day when we will become the first fully free hemisphere in all of human history. First time. And we’ll have that day.

We’ve invested over $2 trillion to rebuild the United States military — it was in very, very, bad shape; it was very, very depleted — and delivered a well-deserved pay raise for every soldier, sailor, airman, Coast Guardsman, and Marine. More than a quarter of a million Hispanic Americans courageously serve in our armed forces. (Applause.) It’s true. Great. Great.

And we’re also immensely grateful for the countless Hispanic Americans proudly serving in local, state, and federal government, including the brave Hispanic Americans protecting our nation on the front lines as border agents. We have a lot of border agents. (Applause.) They are doing a great job, and we’re — we’re doing incredible numbers. You’re hearing what’s going on on the border, and we’re actually up to mile 128 for the wall. And the wall has made a tremendous difference. (Applause.)

And you know who wants the wall more than anybody else? The Hispanics. Because they get it. They’re here, they want to be safe, and they know some of the people coming across are not the people that you want to be with. And the Hispanics understand the border. You know, when I — a poll came out with very high numbers, and people said, “I can’t imagine why the Hispanics like President Trump so much.” You know why? Because they understand the border better than anybody, and they want a safe border. They understand it better than anybody.

So I wasn’t surprised, and some of the other folks weren’t surprised. But some were, but now they’re not any longer. It’s been — it’s been a great relationship that I’ve had with Hispanic Americans.

It is really estimated that more than half of our nation’s border agents — and this is a number that I think can even go higher than this but — are Hispanic Americans. And they do an incredible job. We’re immensely grateful for their amazing work in seizing drugs; stopping human trafficking, which is so terrible; and ensuring a safe, human, and lawful system of immigration. A real humane system is what we’re developing along the border.

At every level of government, our nation is truly blessed to be defended by thousands of Hispanic American heroes, and that’s what they are. Today we give thanks to the millions of wonderful Latino immigrants and citizens who uphold our laws, strengthen our families, and contribute to our communities. They build incredible businesses, like we’ve just seen, and raise up our industries and protect our great American flag. So important.

Our Latino communities have always been a vital and indispensable part of the American family. From the beginning of our republic, the exceptional drive, talent, faith, skill, imagination, and devotion of Latino Americans has uplifted our entire nation. You’ve deeply enriched American life in history and culture.

Latinos have invigorated our economy, expanded our prosperity, and poured your heart, sweat, and soul into our beloved country.

Today we express our gratitude and appreciation to each and every one of you for keeping America safe, strong, proud, prosperous, and free. And together, we are making America greater than ever before.

I’d like to just say this has been a great honor to be with you. It’s — I’m with you all the way. We’re working together really brilliantly, hand in hand.

And I just leave by saying God bless you all and God bless America. Thank you very much. (Applause.) Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you very much.

END 2:17 P.M. EST

Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions came in second place to former Auburn head football coach Tommy Tuberville in the Alabama primary. Now the two will head into a March 31st runoff to decide the Republican nominee for a U.S. Senate seat.

Tommy Tuberville won approximately 33 percent of the vote while Jeff Sessions won 31 percent. U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne placed third with 25 percent. The result sets up an interesting four-week race between Sessions and Tuberville; and it would appear Jeff Sessions is not likely to get any support from his old boss:

Comeuppance !

June 2019 – PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I would say if I had one do over, it would be, I would not have appointed Jeff Sessions to be attorney general. That would be my one —

CHUCK TODD: That’s your, in your mind, that’s your worst mistake?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah, that was the biggest mistake. (link)

A Judicial Watch FOIA Lawsuit resulted in the release of a May 16, 2017, memo written by then Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe. [Link Here]  At the time media focused on Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein willingness to wear a wire into the Oval Office to record the President; however, the memo content actually reveals much more.

There are three aspects to the McCabe memo that warrant attention: (1) Rosenstein’s willingness to wear a wire. (2) Evidence that Rosenstein took Mueller to the White House on May 16, 2017, as a set-up to interview Mueller’s pending target; and (3) the CURRENTredactions to the memo indicate CURRENT efforts by the CURRENT AG Bill Barr to protect the corrupt intent of Rod Rosenstein. While all three points are alarming; the last aspect is concerning in the extreme.

In order to show the significance of this FOIA release CTH is going to present the McCabe memo in two different ways. First, by highlighting the raw memo release; and then secondly, to highlight the important context by inserting the memo into the timeline.

First, here’s the McCabe memo:

[Link to Judicial Watch FOIA pdf]

There are two important background contexts that help understand what is written in the McCabe memo, as contrast with the events at the time:

#1 [Rosenstein’s work with Robert Mueller in the Oval Office Meeting] and

#2 [The Overlay of the IG Report on James Comey with the Archey Declarations]

The first two substantive issues within the McCabe memo can only be accurately absorbed against the background of those two context links.

Now we can insert the new McCabe memo information into the timeline. This will help better understand what was happening in/around the dates in question.

Start by noting the May 16, 2017, date of the meeting at 12:30pm is immediately before Rod Rosenstein took Robert Mueller for an interview with President Trump in the oval office. The oval office “interview” is where Mueller reportedly left his “cell phone” at the White House.

“Crossfire Hurricane” – During 2016, after the November election, and throughout the transition period into 2017, the FBI had a counterintelligence investigation ongoing against Donald Trump. FBI Director James Comey’s memos were part of this time-period as the FBI small group was gathering evidence. Then Comey was fired….

♦Tuesday May 9th – James Comey was fired at approximately 5:00pm EST. Later we discover Rod Rosenstein first contacted Robert Mueller about the special counsel appointment less than 15 hours after James Comey was fired.

♦Wednesday May 10th – From congressional testimony we know DAG Rod Rosenstein called Robert Mueller to discuss the special counsel appointment on Wednesday May 10th, 2017, at 7:45am. [See Biggs questions to Mueller at 2:26 of video]

According to his own admissions (NBC and CBS), Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe immediately began a criminal ‘obstruction’ investigation. Wednesday May 10th; and he immediately enlisted Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

A few hours after the Rosenstein-Mueller phone call James Comey’s office was being searched by the SSA Whistleblower per the IG report on Comey’s memos.

♦Thursday May 11th – Andrew McCabe testified to congress. With the Comey firing fresh in the headlines. McCabe testified there had been no effort to impede the FBI investigation.

Also on Thursday May 11th, 2017, The New York Times printed an article, based on information seemingly leaked by James Comey, about a dinner conversation between the President and the FBI Director. The “Loyalty” article [link]. The IG report shows: “[Daniel] Richman confirmed to the OIG that he was one of the sources for the May 11 article, although he said he was not the source of the information in the article about the Trump Tower briefing“.

♦Friday May 12th – Andrew McCabe met with DAG Rod Rosenstein to discuss the the ongoing issues with the investigation and firing. Referencing the criminal ‘obstruction’ case McCabe had opened just two days before. According to McCabe:

… “[Rosenstein] asked for my thoughts about whether we needed a special counsel to oversee the Russia case. I said I thought it would help the investigation’s credibility. Later that day, I went to see Rosenstein again. This is the gist of what I said: I feel strongly that the investigation would be best served by having a special counsel.” (link)

According to Andy Biggs questioning of Mueller, on this same day, May 12th, evidence shows Robert Mueller met “in person” with Rod Rosenstein. This is the same day when SSA Whistleblower went to James Comey’s house to retrieve FBI material and both Rybicki and Comey never informed the agent about the memos:

May 12th, is the date noted by David Archey when FBI investigators had assembled all of the Comey memos as evidence. However, no-one in the FBI outside the “small group” knows about them.

♦On Saturday May 13th, 2017, another meeting between Rod Rosenstein and Robert Mueller, this time with AG Jeff Sessions also involved. [Per Andy Biggs]

♦Sunday May 14th – Comey transmitted copies of Memos 2, 4, and 6, and a partially redacted copy of Memo 7 to Patrick Fitzgerald, who was one of Comey’s personal attorneys. Fitzgerald received the email and PDF attachment from Comey at 2:27 p.m. on May 14, 2017, per the IG report.

♦Monday May 15th, McCabe states he and Rosenstein conferred again about the Special Counsel approach. McCabe: “I brought the matter up with him again after the weekend.”

On this same day was when James Rybicki called SSA Whistleblower to notify him of Comey’s memos. The memos were “stored” in a “reception area“, and in locked drawers in James Rybicki’s office.

♦Tuesday May 16th – Per the IG report: “On the morning of May 16, Comey took digital photographs of both pages of Memo 4 with his personal cell phone. Comey then sent both photographs, via text message, to Richman.

Back in Main Justice at 12:30pm Rod Rosenstein, Andrew McCabe, Jim Crowell and Tashina Guahar all appear to be part of this meeting. I should note that alternate documentary evidence, gathered over the past two years, supports the content of this McCabe memo. Including texts between Lisa Page and Peter Strzok:

[Sidebar: pay attention to the *current* redactions; they appear to be placed by existing DOJ officials in an effort to protect Rod Rosenstein for his duplicity in: (A) running the Mueller sting operation at the white house on the same day; (B) the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel, which was pre-determined before the Oval Office meeting.]

While McCabe was writing this afternoon memo, Rod Rosenstein was taking Robert Mueller to the White House for a meeting in the oval office with President Trump and VP Mike Pence. While they were meeting in the oval office, and while McCabe was writing his contemporaneous memo, the following story was published by the New York Times (based on Comey memo leaks to Richman):

Also during the approximate time of this Oval Office meeting, Peter Strzok texts with Lisa Page about information being relayed to him by Tashina Guahar (main justice) on behalf of Rod Rosenstein (who is at the White House).

Later that night, after the Oval Office meeting – According to the Mueller report, additional events on Tuesday May 16th, 2017:

It is interesting that Tashina Gauhar was taking notes presumably involved in the 12:30pm 5/16/17 meeting between, Jim Crowell, Rod Rosenstein, and Andrew McCabe. But McCabe makes no mention of Lisa Page being present. 

It appears there was another meeting in the evening (“later that night”) after the visit to the White House with Robert Mueller. This evening meeting appears to be Lisa Page, Rod Rosenstein and Andrew McCabe; along with Tashina Gauhar again taking notes.

♦ Wednesday May 17th, 2017: Rod Rosenstein and Andrew McCabe go to brief the congressional “Gang-of-Eight”: Paul Ryan, Nancy Pelosi, Devin Nunes, Adam Schiff, Mitch McConnell, Chuck Schumer, Richard Burr and Mark Warner.

… […] “On the afternoon of May 17, Rosenstein and I sat at the end of a long conference table in a secure room in the basement of the Capitol. We were there to brief the so-called Gang of Eight—the majority and minority leaders of the House and Senate and the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. Rosenstein had, I knew, made a decision to appoint a special counsel in the Russia case.”

[…] “After reminding the committee of how the investigation began, I told them of additional steps we had taken. Then Rod took over and announced that he had appointed a special counsel to pursue the Russia investigation, and that the special counsel was Robert Mueller.” (link)

Immediately following this May 17, 2017, Go8 briefing, Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein notified the public of the special counsel appointment.

We Exit The Timeline:

♦Back to the memo. Notice the participants: Andrew McCabe, Rod Rosenstein, Tashina Gauhar and Jim Crowell:

Now remind ourselves about who was involved in convincing Jeff Sessions to recuse himself:

The same two people (lawyers) Tasina Guahar and Jim Crowell, were involved in recusal advice for Jeff Sessions and the “wear-a-wire” conversation a few months later.

♦Back to the redactions. Notice how in the McCabe memo FOIA release, the DOJ is redacting the aspects of the appointment of a special counsel. The redaction justification: b(5) “inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums or letters which would not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with the agency.” Or put another way: stuff we just don’t want to share: “personal privacy” etc.

Again, when combined with the testimony by Mueller in response to the questioning by Rep. Andy Biggs, the redacted information looks like current DOJ officials hiding the timing of the decision-making to appoint Mueller thereby protecting Rod Rosenstein.

More motive for this scenario shows up during a statement tonight by Matt Whitaker who appeared on Tucker Carlson television show. Whitaker outlines why Rosenstein could never admit to having said he would wear a wire at the time the story broke.

When the “wear-a-wire” story first surfaced was when DAG Rosenstein was trying to convince President Trump not to declassify any information until after the Mueller special counsel was concluded. Rosenstein’s justification for his instructions surrounded President Trump possibly obstructing justice during Mueller’s investigation.

.

Reminder when Rod Rosenstein convinced President Trump not to declassify the documents that were being requested by Congress (Sept. 2018):

While McCabe is a known liar, there is enough ancillary supportive information, circumstantial and direct evidence, to make the content of the McCabe memo essentially accurate.

Remember, Rosenstein expanded the scope of Mueller’s investigation twice, the second time targeting Michael Flynn Jr. Also, Rosenstein participated in the indictment of fictitious Russia trolls and a Russian catering company. Yes, all indications are that Rod Rosenstein was a willing participant in the overall McCabe/Mueller effort.

Ultimately all of the DOJ obfuscation, delay and hidden information under AG Bill Barr has an identical motive: help protect Rod Rosenstein. That effort continues today with the internal DOJ redactions…

….The problem for Attorney General Bill Barr is not investigating what we don’t know, but rather navigating through what ‘We The People’ are already aware of…. (link)