Boy howdy this video snippet of Maxine Waters is apropos of the bizarre results we get when voters put democrats in office. Ms. Maxine is Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee. In 2010, as part of the Obamcare law, the U.S. federal government took over all federal student loans. Apparently Chairwoman Waters was unaware of this….
With the Mueller probe complete; with AG Barr announcing a focus to review the intelligence operation in 2016; with Devin Nunes submitting criminal referrals; with Lindsey Graham probing CIA, DOJ and FBI conduct; with Doug Collins releasing ‘Spygate’ transcripts; with Inspector General Michael Horowitz closing in on the final stages of his FISA abuse investigation; and with President Trump contemplating declassification of documents applying sunlight on the Russia collusion/conspiracy hoax; there is an outrage trap which must be avoided….
The issue(s) surround President Obama and high-ranking Obama intelligence officials, notably: John Brennan, James Comey, James Clapper and Sally Yates intentionally lying and/or misrepresenting issues to president-elect Donald Trump and the transition team in/around the transition period and shortly after the January 20, 2017, inauguration.
Some of the misinformation stems from intelligence officials telling direct lies (ex. telling President-elect, and President Trump he was not under investigation). Other aspects were lies of omission surrounding the Steele Dossier during the January 6th, 2017, intelligence briefing session with the President-elect in Trump Tower.
In essence, there were many misleading and false statements, with varying scales of severity, during the period from November 9th, 2016, through mid-May 2017 when President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey.
The FBI, DOJ, ODNI, CIA and intelligence officials were intentionally not being direct and honest with President Trump and key members of his new administration. Obviously their lack of honesty was a serious issue, and in some cases had serious ramifications.
The expressed finding by Robert Mueller’s two-year probe of ‘no Trump-Russia collusion, no Trump-Russia conspiracy, and no Trump-Russia obstruction’ has led to some hindsight reviews where anger surfaces about the now visible deception. However, there is a trap laid here and Democrats are hoping outraged voices will walk straight into it. Some are already getting very close.
At 12:15pm on January 20th, 2017, Obama’s outgoing National Security Advisor Susan Rice wrote a memo-to-self. Many people have called this her “CYA” (cover your ass) memo, from the position that Susan Rice was protecting herself from consequences if the scheme against President Trump was discovered. Here’s the email:
On January 5, following a briefing by IC leadership on Russian hacking during the 2016 Presidential election, President Obama had a brief follow-on conversation with FBI Director Jim Corney and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates in the Oval Office. Vice President Biden and I were also present.
President Obama began the conversation by stressing his continued commitment to ensuring that every aspect of this issue is handled by the Intelligence and law enforcement communities “by the book“.
The President stressed that he is not asking about, initiating or instructing anything from a law enforcement perspective. He reiterated that our law enforcement team needs to proceed as it normally would by the book.
From a national security perspective, however, President Obama said he wants to be sure that, as we engage with the incoming team, we are mindful to ascertain if there is any reason that we cannot share information fully as it relates to Russia.
[Redacted Classified Section of Unknown length]
The President asked Corney to inform him if anything changes in the next few weeks that should affect how we share classified information with the incoming team. Corney said he would.
As stated, many have looked at this as a “CYA” memo, but that’s not what this is.
This is a justification memo, written by an outgoing National Security Advisor Susan Rice to document why there have been multiple false and misleading statements given to the incoming President Trump and all of his officials.
This is not a “CYA” memo, this is a justification memo for use AFTER the Trump-Russia collusion/conspiracy narrative collapsed; if the impeachment effort failed.
The “By The Book” aspect refers to President Obama and Susan Rice being told by CIA Director John Brennan, FBI Director James Comey, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, that President Trump was the subject of an active counterintelligence investigation to determine if he was under the influence of the Russian government.
Even the timing of the memo, written 15 minutes prior to the end of the Obama administration, is ex-post-facto useful as evidence of the author’s intent.
Put aside the nonsense aspect to the origination of the investigation for a moment; that part doesn’t apply here…. Accept their position ‘as if’ it is substantive.
We are talking about Brennan, Comey, Clapper and Yates telling President Obama and NSA Susan Rice that President-elect Trump is under a counterintelligence investigation where the suspicion is that Donald J Trump is an agent of a foreign power.
Under that auspices (fraudulent though it may be) the incoming President is a counterintelligence investigation target. A potentially compromised Russian asset. Under this auspices all of the officials would be permitted to lie and mislead their target, so long as they did so “By The Book.”
That’s their justification for a lengthy series of lies and false statements.
That’s why FBI Director James Comey can lie to the President and tell him he’s not the target of the ongoing Russia investigation. That’s the justification for keeping the accusations inside the Steele Dossier (remember, the Dossier is evidence) from the President-elect. That’s the justification for all of the officials to lie to President Trump, and even mislead the media if needed.
The Susan Rice email is one big Justification Letter; setting the stage for all of the participants to have a plausible reason for lies to anyone and everyone.
Call out John Brennan for telling Harry Reid about the Steele Dossier during his gang-of-eight briefing, but not telling Go8 member Devin Nunes about it. Brennan escapes by saying Nunes was on the Trump transition team; and briefing a conflicted politician on the dossier would have compromised the FBI investigation. See how that works?
Call out James Comey for lying to President-elect Trump during the January 6th Trump Tower meeting…. Comey escapes by saying Trump was a target of the FBI investigation for potential compromise as a Russian asset; informing the target of the evidence against him would have compromised the investigation. See how that works?
Every lie, every omission, every false and/or misleading statement, must first be filtered through the “By The Book” prism of Trump being considered a Russian asset. This is the justification trap democrats are waiting to exploit for maximum damage and diminishment of counter attack.
The “By the Book” justification, where every action could have been taken because Trump might have been an actual Russian operative, is the weapon under the camouflage tarp as the radical left lures-in their political opposition. They shrug their shoulders and say in condescending voice: ‘well, we didn’t know; we had to be prudent‘, etc.
Getting outraged about the Obama administration’s lies, misstatements and fabrications can backfire if you don’t first think about it from their constructed frame-of-reference.
The ‘By-the-Book’ framework is based on a false-premise; but the action, just about any action, taken to mislead (even undermine) the incoming administration is excusable under this carefully crafted justification memo. That’s exactly why Susan Rice wrote it; and each of the participating members knows they can use it, when needed.
The way to get around the legal and political defense inside this justification memo is to ignore the activity of those protected by it and go directly to the origin of how they created that false premise in the first place:
♦ Prove the July 31st, 2016, Crossfire Hurricane operation originated from fraud by exposing the CIA operation that created the originating “Electronic Communication” memo. Declassify that two-page “EC” document that Brennan gave to Comey.
♦ Release and declassify all of the Comey memos that document the investigative steps taken by the FBI as an outcome of the operation coordinated by CIA Director John Brennan in early 2016.
♦ Reveal the November 2015 through April 2016 FISA-702 search query abuse by declassifying the April 2017 court opinion written by FISC Presiding Judge Rosemary Collyer. Show the FBI contractors behind the 85% fraudulent search queries. [Crowdstrike? Fusion-GPS? Nellie Ohr?]
♦ Subpoena former DOJ-NSD (National Security Division) head John Carlin, or haul him in front of a grand jury, and get his testimony about why he hid the abuse from the FISA court in October 2016; why the DOJ-NSD rushed the Carter Page application to beat NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers to the FISA court; and why Carlin quit immediately thereafter. Squeeze this bastard’s nuts in the proverbial legal vice.
♦ Prove the Carter Page FISA application (October 2016) was fraudulent and based on deceptions to the FISA Court. Declassify the entire document, and release the transcripts of those who signed the application(s); and/or depose those who have not yet testified.
♦ Release all of the Lisa Page and Peter Strzok text messageswithout redactions. Let sunlight pour in on the actual conversation(s) that were taking place when Crossfire Hurricane (July ’16) and the FISA Application (Oct ’16) were taking place.
♦ Release all of Bruce Ohr 302’s, FBI notes from interviews and debriefing sessions, and other relevant documents associated with the interviews of Bruce Ohr and his internal communications. Including exculpatory evidence that Bruce Ohr may have shared with FBI Agent Joseph Pientka. [And get a deposition from this Pientka fella]
♦ Release the August 2nd, 2017, two-page scope memo provided by DAG Rod Rosenstein to special counsel Robert Mueller to advance the fraudulent Trump investigation, and initiate the more purposeful obstruction of justice investigation.
In short, avoid the “justification trap” by ignoring the downstream activity (stemming as a result of the fraudulent origin), and focus on revealing the origin of the fraud.
Attorney General William Barr delivered stunning, albeit obviously honest, remarks during congressional testimony today in response to Democrat Senator Jeanne Shaheen about his intent to review prior intelligence activities in targeting the Trump campaign.
Before getting to the video and transcript, it is important to note how this line of questioning surfaces. The professional political apparatus, primarily Democrats – but also Republicans, who participated in the ‘soft coup’ effort are attempting to gauge the landscape of their risk by identifying AG Barr’s intention. This line of questioning is NOT organic or random; it is deeply purposeful and scripted. You can smell the fear.
Shaheen is being asked by allies within the Administrative state, including interests no longer holding political office, to do advanced query…. this is political reconnaissance intended to give corrupt officials and media allies the background to: (a) scale their risk; and (b) plan their defense narrative. They are nervous now. Very nervous.
Here’s the important transcript, (all emphasis mine):
Senator Shaheen: News just broke, today, that you have a special team looking into why the FBI opened an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 elections. I wonder if you can share with this committee: who is on that team; why you felt the need to form that kind of a team; and what you intend to be the scope of their investigation?
AG William Barr: Yeah, I, uh, as I said in my confirmation hearing, I am going to be reviewing both the genesis and the conduct of intelligence activities directed at the Trump campaign during 2016. And, uh, alot of this has already been investigated, and a substantial portion of this has been investigated, and is being investigated, by the office of the inspector general at the department. But one of the things I want to do is pull together all the information from the investigations that have gone on, including on the Hill and the department, and see if there are any remaining questions to be addressed.
Shaheen: Can you share with us why you feel the need to do that?
Barr: Well, for the same reason we are worried about foreign influence in elections we want to make sure that, uh, during an election, I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal. It’s a big deal.
The generation I grew up in, which is the Vietnam war period, people were all concerned about spying on anti-war people and so forth by the government; and there were a lot of rules put in place to ensure there was an adequate basis for, before our law enforcement agencies get involved in political surveillance. I’m not suggesting that those rules were violated, but I think it’s important to look at that; and I’m not just talking about the FBI necessarily, but the intelligence agencies more broadly.
Shaheen: So your not, your not suggesting though that spying occurred?
Barr: I don’t, well, I guess you could, I think there’s that spying did occur. Yes, I think spying did occur.
LONG PAUSE OF SILENCE
Shaheen: Wow, let me, uh…
Barr: But the question is: whether it was predicated. Adequately predicated. And I’m not suggested that it wasn’t adequately predicated, but I need to explore that.
I think it’s my obligation, congress is usually very concerned about intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies staying in their proper lane, and I want to make sure that happened; we have a lot of rules about that.
And, I want to say that I’ve said I’m reviewing this, I am going to, I haven’t set up a team yet but I do have, I have in mind having some colleagues help me pulling this information all together, and let me know if there’s some areas that should be looked at.
And I also want to make clear this is not launching an investigation of the FBI. Frankly, to the extent that there were issues at the FBI, I do not view it as a problem that’s endemic to the FBI. I think there was probably a failure among a group of leaders there, at the upper echelon; and so I don’t like to hear attacks about the FBI, because I think the FBI is an outstanding organization, and I think that Chris Wray is a great partner for me and I’m very pleased that he’s there as the director.
And if it becomes necessary to look over some former official activities, I expect that I’ll be relying heavily on Chris, and work closely with him in looking at that information. But, that’s what I’m doing, I feel I have an obligation to make sure that government power is not abused; I think that’s one of the principle roles of the attorney general.
Georgia Congressman Doug Collins releases transcripts of day #2 testimony from former FBI chief legal counsel James Baker (full pdf below). Baker was the legal advisor to FBI Director James Comey and Deputy Director Andrew McCabe during the investigation candidate Donald Trump; a key FBI small group insider during the soft-coup construct.
President Trump delivers remarks to the media as he departs the White House for a trip to Texas. [Video and Transcript]
[Transcript] – 9:28 A.M. EDT – THE PRESIDENT: The economy is doing very, very well. We have numbers coming from companies that are beyond expectation. The tax cuts are working very, very well. So we’re very proud of the economy. Job numbers are as good as we’ve ever had, and more people are working right now than ever worked in our country before. We’re doing really well.
I’d like to congratulate Bibi Netanyahu. It looks like that race has been won by him. It may be a little early, but I’m hearing he’s won it and won it in good fashion. So, he’s been a great ally and he’s a friend. I’d like to congratulate him. That was a well fought-out race, I can tell you. But it looks like Bibi has won that race.
Go ahead, Steve.
Q Are you going to release the Middle East Peace Plan now?
THE PRESIDENT: Say it?
Q Are you going to release the Middle East Peace Plan now?
THE PRESIDENT: So, the fact that Bibi won, I think we’ll see some pretty good action in terms of peace. Look, everyone said — and I never made it a promise — but everybody said you can’t have peace in the Middle East with Israel and the Palestinians. I think we have a chance. And I think we have, now, a better chance with Bibi having won.
Yes, please. Major.
Q Mr. President, have you been briefed on the —
THE PRESIDENT: Hold it. Major.
Q Do you believe (inaudible) law requires you to give Congress your tax returns?
THE PRESIDENT: No, there is no law. As you know, I got elected last time with this same issue. And while I’m under audit, I won’t do it. If I’m not under audit, I would do it. I had no problem with it. But while I’m under audit, I would not give my taxes. There’s no law whatsoever.
Now, I will say this: I would love to give them, but I’m not going to do it while I’m under audit. It’s very simple. Remember, I got elected last time — the same exact issue, with same intensity, which wasn’t very much because, frankly, the people don’t care.
What I have done is approximately a 104-page summary — and, really, in great detail — of assets and values. And nobody wants to go over that because it’s so good. I built a great company, one of the best companies. I have some of the greatest assets in the world. I did a good job. And now, frankly, I don’t care about them; I only care about the United States.
But I have no obligation to do that while I’m under audit. And no lawyer would tell you to release your tax returns while you’re under audit.
Q Do you want to see a binary choice for asylum seekers?
THE PRESIDENT: I think that the whole asylum rules, laws, and regulations have been taken advantage of by people that are very bad people, in many cases. These are the people running the cartels. They’re gaming the system; they have been for years. The only difference is our economy is now so strong that more people come up.
We have done a great job at the border with bad laws. It’s very important that the Democrats in Congress change these loopholes. If they don’t change them, we’re just going to be fighting.
Now, the other thing: We’ve built a lot of wall. A lot of wall. And it’s new wall. You know, when we rip down an old wall and then replace it, it’s called a “new wall.” And that’s what we’ve done. A lot of wall is going up. And every place we build the wall, it’s less and less.
But the power of the economy, it’s like a magnet; it’s bringing more people than we’ve seen in a long time.
Major.
Q Mr. President, what is your current thinking on releasing as much of the Mueller Report as possible? The Attorney General yesterday said (inaudible). Do you agree with that?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, the Mueller Report is interesting. After $35 million, with 13 — increased to 18 — angry Democrats — people that truly hated Donald Trump, truly hated Trump — they found no collusion whatsoever with Russia. But I could have told you that and so could most people. And so could have everybody that voted for me, which was a lot of people.
So after wasting all of this money and all of this time with people that were haters — people that worked on the Hillary Clinton Foundation, people that were absolutely haters of Trump — they found no collusion.
What has been found during this period of time are the illegal acts of getting this whole phony investigation started. And hopefully that’s where people are going now. That’s where people are going.
And it’s very interesting. It was an illegal investigation. Major, it was an illegal investigation. It was started illegally. Everything about it was crooked — every single thing about it. There were dirty cops. These were bad people. If you look at McCabe and Comey, and you look at Lisa and Peter Strzok, these were bad people.
And this was a — an attempted coup. This was an attempted takedown of a President. And we beat them. We beat them.
So the Mueller Report, when they talk about obstruction, we fight back. And do you know why we fight back? Because I knew how illegal this whole thing was. It was a scam. And what I’m most interested in —
Q (Inaudible.)
THE PRESIDENT: Excuse me. What I’m most interested in is getting started.
Hopefully, the Attorney General — he mentioned it yesterday — he’s doing a great job — getting started on going back to the origins of exactly where this all started, because this was an illegal witch hunt and everybody knew it, and they knew it too. And they got caught.
And what they did was treason. What they did was terrible. What they did was against our Constitution and everything we stand for.
So hopefully that will happen. There is a hunger for that to happen in this country like I have never seen before, including all of the millions of people that voted for me.
What they did was disgraceful. There’s never been anything like it in the history of our country.
Q Mr. President, Senate Republicans have concerns about Herman Cain. Is his nomination safe?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I like Herman Cain. And Herman will make that determination. Herman is a wonderful man. He’s been a supporter of mine for a long time. He actually ran a very good campaign. And that’s up to Herman.
Herman is — you know, he’s already sat on one the Fed boards, and he’s just somebody I like a lot. As to how he’s doing in the process, that I don’t know. You go through a process. But Herman is a great guy, and I hope he does well.
Q Mr. President, since Stephen Miller is already, basically, running your Homeland Security apparatus, have you ever thought about making Stephen Miller the DHS Secretary?
THE PRESIDENT: No, Stephen is an excellent guy. He’s a wonderful person. People don’t know him. He’s a wonderful — been with me from the beginning. He’s a brilliant man. And, frankly, there’s only one person that’s running it. You know who that is? It’s me.
Q Mr. President, has anyone in this White House been briefed on the Mueller report, or have you seen it?
THE PRESIDENT: I have not seen the Mueller report. I have not read the Mueller report. I won. No collusion. No obstruction. I won. Everybody knows I won. And the pros knew it was illegally started. The whole thing was illegal.
I have not read the Mueller report. I haven’t seen the Mueller report. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t care about the Mueller report. I’ve been totally exonerated. No collusion. No obstruction.
And I’m off to dealing with China. I’m off to dealing with North Korea. I’m off to dealing with Venezuela and all the problems in this world. I’m not worrying about something that never, ever should’ve taken place.
Q Did you see what happened to Candace Owens yesterday?
THE PRESIDENT: I did not see what happened. I did not see what happened to Candace Owens.
Q (Inaudible.)
THE PRESIDENT: Excuse me. I did not see what happened to Candace Owens.
Q Congressman Ted Lieu played a little snip of audio and accused her of being a Hitler supporter, and then she slapped back at him.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think that’s a terrible thing. I think that’s a terrible thing that he would do that. I find her to be a very — I know her. I think she’s a fine person, a fine young woman, and I think that’s disgraceful that they could say that.
Q The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Southern District has spoken to Hope Hicks, Keith Schiller, and others in their investigations. Any response to that?
THE PRESIDENT: I don’t hear you.
Q The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Southern District has spoken to Keith Schiller, Hope Hicks —
THE PRESIDENT: I have no idea.
Q Mr. President, what are your thoughts on Kris Kobach for DHS? Is he a leading contender for you?
THE PRESIDENT: I respect him. I like him. And he’s somebody that, you know, I have a lot of regard for.
Q SDNY, Mr. President — SDNY (inaudible) into your finances up in New York. Are you concerned about that investigation?
THE PRESIDENT: My finances are very clean. I don’t think there is an investigation. If you say it, I don’t know. But I don’t think there is an investigation. My finances are very clean.
Q Mr. President, will Kevin be your nominee for DHS Secretary permanently?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I like him a lot. He’s doing a very good job. It could happen. We’ll make a determination.
Q Are you looking at others like Rick Perry or Matt Whitaker?
THE PRESIDENT: We have others, but right now he’s the man. He’s doing a great job.
Events in the 2016 elections were unprecedented. Top FBI officials knowingly used information paid for by the campaign of Hillary Clinton to obtain a #FISA#spy warrant on a member of the #TrumpCampaign. Meanwhile, top Obama administration officials also spied on the campaign, using so-called unmasking requests. Those same FBI agents, however, chose to look the other way when it came to the risks posed by Clinton’s use of a private email server. We now know that emails she send as Secretary of State through that server were automatically copied to an unknown foreign entity. Looking ahead of the 2020 elections, the question is whether the FBI has been reformed enough to make sure political bias don’t influence investigations. Today we sit down with Tony Shaffer, acting president of the London Center for Policy Research. He served as a Lieutenant Colonel in U.S. Army, where he was a senior intelligence officer. Today he’s also an advising producer for National Geographic and a member of the Trump 2020 advisory board.
Something is coming… something delicious. How can we tell? Well, whenever a bombshell is about to drop on the corrupt Intelligence Community, the New York Times does a quick narrative dump to get out ahead of the story.
All the way down, buried deep, in a NYT story about Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s FISA investigation and AG Barr’s review of DOJ and FBI activity… they drop the following two paragraphs (emphasis mine):
[…] The inspector general is also scrutinizing another early source of information for the Russia investigation, the people said: Mr. Horowitz’s investigators have been asking questions about the role of Stefan A. Halper, another F.B.I. informant, and his prior work for the bureau.
Agents involved in the Russia investigation asked Mr. Halper, an American academic who teaches in Britain, to gather information on Mr. Page and George Papadopoulos, another former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser. (read more)
Oh? NYT now saying FBI agents asked help from intelligence asset Stefan Halper to go gather information on Carter Page and George Papadopoulos?
Six months ago the New York Times was calling people ‘conspiracy theorists’ for pointing out how the CIA and FBI were using overseas intelligence officials to run up against the Trump campaign. Now they just drop it in their column as ‘meh‘, all casual like…. running spies into political campaigns, well, it happens all the time… or something. Obviously they are shaping and dumping their narratives and quietly trying walking away.
The bigger question the Times avoids is: “FBI Agents involved in the Russia investigation asked Mr. Halper to gather information on Page & Papadopulos” predicated on what?
What’s the underlying evidence that would inspire the FBI to request Stefan Halper to spy on American citizens connected to the Trump campaign? What’s the reason?
These contacts took place prior to July 31st, 2016, when Crossfire Hurricane began; so they are not part of the ‘official‘ FBI investigation… because these requests would have come before the investigation began… so what gives?
What’s the predicate for such a request?
The FBI has a “Brennan” problem. CIA Director John Brennan organized foreign intelligence assets to run against the Trump campaign March through July 2016 to help construct Brennan’s “EC” memo that he gave to James Comey to initiate the official start of the FBI counterintelligence operation.
As soon as The New York Times mentions the name Professor Joseph Mifsud in the same way as Professor Stefan Halper the gig is up.
Attorney General William Barr was questioned today by republican lawmaker Robert Aderholt about potentially fraudulent DOJ and FBI submissions to the FISA court – to gain a Title-One surveillance warrant against U.S. Person Carter Page.
In a deliberate response AG Barr stated: “The Office of the Inspector General has a pending investigation of the FISA process in the Russia investigation. I expect that will be complete in probably May or June, I am told. More generally,I am reviewing the conduct of the investigation and trying to get my arms around all the aspects of the counterintelligence investigation that was conducted during the summer of 2016.”
.
The response would indicate AG Barr is taking personal interest in the events behind the July 31st, 2016, origination of the Crossfire Hurricane counterintelligence operation. Additionally, this approach indicates AG Barr’s review is going much further than Inspector General Horowitz; taking the review all the way to the origin of the intelligence community operation.
UPDATE:Bloomberg Reports: Attorney General William Barr has assembled a team to review controversial counterintelligence decisions made by Justice Department and FBI officials, including actions taken during the probe of the Trump campaign in the summer of 2016, according to a person familiar with the matter.
This indicates that Barr is looking into allegations that Republican lawmakers have been pursuing for more than a year — that the investigation into President Donald Trump and possible collusion with Russia was tainted at the start by anti-Trump bias in the FBI and Justice Department.
“I am reviewing the conduct of the investigation and trying to get my arms around all the aspects of the counterintelligence investigation that was conducted during the summer of 2016,” Barr told a House panel on Tuesday.
Barr’s inquiry is separate from a long-running investigation by the Justice Department’s inspector general, said the person, who asked not to be identified discussing sensitive matters. The FBI declined to comment. Barr said he expected the inspector general’s work to be completed by May or June.
The issue came up as Barr testified before a Democratic-controlled House Appropriations subcommittee. Most of the questioning concerned demands for Barr to give lawmakers Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s full report and the evidence behind it. But the issue is sure to get more attention when Barr appears Wednesday before the panel’s GOP-led Senate counterpart. (read more)
There’s a term called “zeroing” at the heart of this World Trade Organization decision that supports President Trump, Secretary Ross and USTR Lighthizer.
When an industry product like Canadian softwood lumber is shipped into the U.S. for sale at a lower price than exists in Canada, the U.S. Commerce department calls that“dumping“. If the Canadian product is the same or higher in the U.S. as it is in Canada there is no dumping. No dumping is a “zero” or normal price differential; hence “zeroing”.
The Canadian government is subsidizing their lumber industry by allowing tree removal from federal land at discounted rates so long as the lumber is exported. This made softwood lumber cheaper in the U.S. than in Canada and set up the dumping issue.
[NOTE: This is the same issue with Steel and Aluminum from China]
U.S. lumber mills were going out of business because Canada was dumping subsidized product into the U.S. market at a discounted rate. As a consequence, in 2017 Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross instituted a 20% tariff on Canadian lumber to protect the U.S. lumber industry. The tariff is a countervailing duty to offset the Canadian subsidy. ie. “zeroing”.
With the 20% tariff, Canadian lumber sold into the U.S. was the same price as Canadian lumber sold in Canada. This allows U.S. lumber mills to compete for U.S. market business on an equal basis.
Instead of removing their federal lumber subsidy (which would have removed the tariff) the Canadian government, via Justin Trudeau, went bananas and sued the U.S. at the World Trade Organization (WTO). Trudeau was counting on prior disputes where the WTO did not side with the U.S. position on the calculations for industry “zeroing”.
However, in a departure from prior WTO opinion; and conceding to the obvious validity of the math while faced with a U.S. president who would not relent; the WTO agreed with President Trump, Secretary Ross and Ambassador Lighthizer and affirmed the 20% tariff as a valid countervailing duty.
The softwood lumber tariff was upheld by the WTO and Canada has lost its case.
This is a major victory for the U.S. with considerable ramifications for all further “anti-dumping” tariffs and/or countervailing duties.
(Reuters) […] U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer welcomed the ruling by a WTO dispute panel, which he said showed the “erroneous”, “unpersuasive” and “flawed reasoning” of Appellate Body rulings in the past.
“The United States commends this panel for doing its own interpretive analysis, and for having the courage to stand up to the undue pressure that the Appellate Body has been putting on panels for many years,” Lighthizer said in a statement.
He said the WTO rules did not prohibit zeroing, and the United States would never have signed up to WTO rules that did prohibit the practice.
“WTO Appellate Body reports to the contrary are wrong, and reflect over-reaching by that body,” he said.
Canada launched the WTO dispute in November 2017, saying it would forcefully defend its lumber industry against “unfair, unwarranted and deeply troubling” U.S. tariffs.
The U.S. Commerce Department had accused Canada of unfairly subsidizing and dumping softwood lumber, which is commonly used in the construction of homes. Its duties affected about $5.66 billion worth of imports.
There was no immediate reaction from Canada’s international trade ministry, which could appeal against the ruling. (more)
This ruling is especially important as USTR Lighthizer engages with China on the current trade discussion. Prior WTO rulings essentially allowed China to subsidize their state-run industries/companies and undermine free-market prices. Globally this put China at a manufacturing advantage; however, moving forward, the U.S. can apply the “zeroing” analysis and offset the Chinese state subsidy with countervailing duties.
In essence this WTO ruling forces the financial principles underlying a free and fair market into the global economy. If China wants to sell industry products into the U.S. they can no long manipulate their price to export at a lower cost than exists in China.
President Trump has a simple economic platform: “Buy American and Hire American“; toward that goal all economic and fiscal policies are now directed to assist U.S. manufacturing companies and retain U.S. workers. This includes free, fair and reciprocal trade agreements. Period.
Once upon a time, there was an old man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach every morning before he began his work. Early one morning, he was walking along the shore after a big storm had passed and found the vast beach littered with starfish as far as the eye could see, stretching in both directions.
Off in the distance, the old man noticed a small boy approaching. As the boy walked, he paused every so often and as he grew closer, the man could see that he was occasionally bending down to pick up an object and throw it into the sea. The boy came closer still and the man called out, “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?”
The young boy paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean. The tide has washed them up onto the beach and they can’t return to the sea by themselves,” the youth replied. “When the sun gets high, they will die, unless I throw them back into the water.”
The old man replied, “But there must be tens of thousands of starfish on this beach. I’m afraid you won’t really be able to make much of a difference.”
The boy bent down, picked up yet another starfish and threw it as far as he could into the ocean. Then he turned, smiled and said, “It made a difference to that one!”
Attorney General General William Barr told lawmakers today the public can expect to have the redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference “within a week.” AG Barr noted his team is working with the special counsel to provide “explanatory notes” describing the basis for each redaction. WATCH:
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