Taking a victory lap around the White House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer hold a press conference after President Trump agreed to temporarily re-open government (three weeks), without any funding or promises toward a southern border wall.
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Additionally, it seems Speaker Pelosi is positioning herself to use the current investigative calendar, and narrative as built therein, as a rebuke for an illegitimate President Trump – keeping him from making any State of the Union speech within the House chamber.
The U.S. Embassy is remaining open and staffed; however, the State Department has requested all non-emergency U.S. government employees to leave Venezuela. Additionally, the U.S. embassy in Caracus is warning all American citizens to “strongly consider” departing the country while commercial flights are still available.
The security concerns surround a possibility an increasingly isolated dictator Nicolas Maduro may retaliate against Americans in Venezuela. National Security Adviser John Bolton discusses the current status.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department on Thursday ordered some U.S. government workers to leave Venezuela and said U.S. citizens should consider leaving the country, a day after Washington recognized an opposition politician as Venezuela’s president.
“We are taking this action based on our current assessment of the security situation in Venezuela. We have no plans to close the embassy,” a State Department spokesperson said in a statement.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro broke off diplomatic relations with Washington and gave U.S. embassy personnel three days to leave the country after President Donald Trump on Wednesday recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as president. (read more)
Additionally, Maduro has now stated he will close all Venezuela embassy locations within the United States…. That should be interesting.
President Donald Trump delivers remarks after the Senate failed to pass legislation to fund government and provide border security. The president reiterates the need for the border wall/fence, and says Senate Leader Mitch McConnell is negotiating with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for an interim compromise.
The diplomatic activity that took place in the lead-up to the events yesterday must have been exceptionally coordinated. Literally within minutes of Venezuela’s legislature decreeing opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president dozens of countries aligned with support and affirmation.
Earlier today Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered remarks about the U.S. support for Guaido and the people of Venezuela during a speech at the OAS:
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[Transcript] SECRETARY POMPEO: Thank you very much. The United States is a friend of Venezuela and of the Venezuelan people. We have watched Venezuelans suffer for far too long. We know what they know, that the tyranny of the now defunct Maduro regime has far too long – for far too long choked the country and its citizens.
Yesterday, in solidarity with the Venezuelan people, and out of respect for Venezuelan democracy, the United States proudly recognized National Assembly President Juan Guaido as the interim president of Venezuela. You’ve seen the statements from President Trump and from myself.
Many other countries, including a number of OAS states, have also recognized the interim president. We thank them for their support.
It’s now time for the OAS as an institution as a whole to do the same. All OAS member states must align themselves with democracy and respect for the rule of law. All member states who have committed to uphold the Inter-American Democratic Charter must now recognize the interim president.
The time for debate is done. The regime of former president Nicolas Maduro is illegitimate. His regime is morally bankrupt, it’s economically incompetent, and it is profoundly corrupt. It is undemocratic to the core. I repeat: The regime of former president Nicolas Maduro is illegitimate. We, therefore, consider all of its declarations and actions illegitimate and invalid.
In light of these facts, we call on Venezuelan security forces to ensure the protection of interim President Guaido’s physical integrity and his safety. We’ve seen reports that a number of protesters were killed yesterday and that more than one hundred were arrested, so I reiterate our warning about any decision by remnant elements of the Maduro regime to use violence to repress the peaceful democratic transition.
The United States did not arrive at this conclusion overnight. We came to this conclusion after a long and bitter experience and following a considered assessment of the facts. And we’re not alone. The OAS General Assembly has itself agreed to these facts. In June of last year, the OAS General Assembly declared the re-election of former president Maduro an invalid sham. This past January 10th, the OAS Permanent Council declared former president Maduro’s second term illegitimate.
Venezuela’s National Assembly became the only legitimate, duly and democratically elected body in the country. On January 23rd, National Assembly President Juan Guaido declared himself the interim president of Venezuela, pursuant to Article 333 and 350 of Venezuela’s constitution. He made this declaration with the full support of the National Assembly and, most importantly, of the Venezuelan people.
In his public address, interim President Guaido also outlined the steps he plans to take to restore democracy to his country, including free, fair, transparent, and truly democratic elections.
The United States stands solidly behind him. We stand ready to support the efforts of the National Assembly, the Venezuelan people, and the interim president to restore democracy and respect for the rule of law in Venezuela.
We also stand ready to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Venezuela as soon as logistically possible. Today, I am announcing that the United States is ready to provide more than $20 million in humanitarian assistance to the people of Venezuela. These funds are to help them cope with the severe food and medicine shortages and other dire impacts of their country’s political and economic crisis. Our announcement of aid is in response to a request from the National Assembly, led by the interim president.
As a friend of the Venezuelan people, we stand ready to help them even more, to help them begin the process of rebuilding their country and their economy from the destruction wrought by the criminally incompetent and illegitimate Maduro regime.
Our support for Venezuela’s democratic hopes and dreams is in sharp contrast to the authoritarian regimes across the globe who have lined up to prop up former President Maduro. And there is no regime which has aided and abetted Maduro’s tyranny like the one in Havana. Maduro’s illegitimate rule was for years sustained by an influx of Cuban security and intelligence officials. They schooled Venezuela’s secret police in the dark arts of torture, repression, and citizen control. Maduro was a fine student at the Cuban academy of oppression.
We call on the OAS and all its member states to act on basic, decent, democratic principles and the incontrovertible facts on the ground.
Each of us – each of us – must live up to our calling to promote and defend democracy, as expressed in the tenets of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, to which everyone in this chamber is a signatory.
And we call on all our partners and responsible OAS member states to show leadership and pledge support for Venezuela’s democratic transition and for interim President Guaido’s pivotal role in that.
We look forward to welcoming Venezuela back into the fold of responsible democratic nations and remaining in our inter-American community. We look forward to welcoming representation of the interim Venezuelan Government to the OAS at the earliest possible opportunity. And we look forward to working with all responsible OAS member states, with the Venezuelan people, our inter-American system, and with the interim government of President Guaido to restore democracy in Venezuela.
We – we each – have a critical opportunity to help the Venezuelan people live free once again. I ask my colleagues to reconvene a meeting of foreign ministers to continue our conversation on the peaceful democratic transition for Venezuela. History will remember whether we help them or not. The United States calls on all nations of the OAS to make the right choice and make that right choice right now.
Yes, the most corrupt Senate committee; at the epicenter of the legislative corruption within the ‘spygate’ fiasco; joins the resistance effort, and files a subpoena to compel testimony from Michael Cohen.
It must be remembered that SSCI Chairman Richard Burr and SSCI Vice-Chair Mark Warner, have previously admitted they are closely coordinating their efforts with Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
(CNN) President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen was subpoenaed Thursday to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee in mid-February, a source close to Cohen told CNN.
It is not clear how Cohen will respond. The source said that Cohen has the same concerns regarding the safety of his family that led him to postpone his scheduled public appearance before the House Oversight Committee next month. Senate Intelligence traditionally does their interviews behind closed doors, not publicly.
Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican, declined to comment on the subpoena. A spokeswoman for the committee also declined to comment. (read more)
Apparently CNN received the information from Cohen’s handler, Lanny Davis. Cohen is currently scheduled to deliver public testimony on February 7th, to the House Oversight Committee (Elijah Cummings); and, according to their released statements, Cohen will also give closed-door testimony to the House Intelligence Committee (Adam Schiff).
Lanny Davis proclaimed (without evidence) yesterday that Cohen was being threatened by President Trump. This framework is likely part of a publicity narrative to further the larger ‘obstruction‘ premise that underlines the impeachment need (Nadler).
As the narrative is being sold Cohen does not want to testify. However, adding weight to the likelihood Cohen’s prison deferment is part of an agreement to testify, Chairman Schiff and Chairman Cummings said “not appearing is not an option“. According to Cummings there was prior agreement between himself, Schiff and Cohen:
[…] when our Committees began discussions with Mr. Cohen’s attorney, not appearing before Congress was never an option. We will not let the President’s tactics prevent Congress from fulfilling our constitutionally mandated oversight responsibilities. (link)
Again, there is very little doubt the approach has already been mapped out in post-election meetings between: Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, the Democrat committee heads, allies in the lawfare community, political allies inside the executive branch (IC, DOJ, FBI etc.), along with feedback from political networks, DNC (Perez) and major resistance donors. All the evidence to support this strategy was outlined in Speaker Pelosi’s Rules.
This was worked out months ago. Michael Cohen’s deferred prison sentence is part of this planning and coordination. Yes, the current DOJ helped coordinate and plan. It is virtually guaranteed the DOJ (SDNY) and Robert Mueller team members met with select emissaries of congressional democrats, Lawfare and media. Together they had this outline drawn up immediately following the mid-term election.
It should be noted Mr. Cohen is being represented at committee hearings by DNC operative Lanny Davis. However, Mr. Lanny Davis is not being paid by Mr. Cohen; he is being paid by democrat groups supporting the ‘resistance’ strategy.
“If they go down the presidential harassment track, if they want go and harass the president and the administration, I think that would be the best thing that would happen to me. I’m a counter-puncher and I will hit them so hard they’d never been hit like that,” he said during a 36-minute Oval Office sitdown.
The commander-in-chief said he could declassify FISA warrant applications and other documents from Robert Mueller’s probe — and predicted the disclosure would expose the FBI, the Justice Department and the Clinton campaign as being in cahoots to set him up.
“I think that would help my campaign. If they want to play tough, I will do it. They will see how devastating those pages are.”
But Trump told The Post he wanted to save the documents until they were needed.
“It’s much more powerful if I do it then,” Trump said, “because if we had done it already, it would already be yesterday’s news.”
The McConnell (Republican) amendment to the appropriations bill which would have funded government, including funding for a border wall/fence, failed to pass the Senate.
One Democrat Senator (Joe Manchin) voted to support the republican plan. Two Republicans (Mike Lee and Tom Cotton) voted against the Republican plan.
Next up…. The Chuck Schumer (Democrat) amendment to the appropriations bill, which would have funded government without including funding for a border wall/fence, also failed to pass the Senate.
However, six republican senators joined the Democrats: Lamar Alexander, Susan Collins, Corey Gardner, Lisa Murkowski, Johnny Isakson and Mitt Romney.
No Democrats voted against their plan.
WASHINGTON — Six Republican senators crossed the aisle on Thursday to vote for a Democratic measure to end the 34-day government shutdown, but the proposal still failed.
The Democratic measure, which would have reopened federal agencies until Feb. 8 but provided no funding for a border wall, was defeated in a 52-44 vote. Moments earlier, the Senate also failed to advance a Republican spending measure proposed by President Donald Trump that would have provided $5.7 billion for his border wall in exchange for temporary protections for so-called Dreamers brought illegally to the country as children. (more)
A magnanimous and deferential President Trump announced via Twitter his intent to delay the State of the Union address until after the partial government shutdown impasse is resolved…
Wow. Unexpected.
1. This puts pressure on Pelosi to answer his compromise with one of her own
2. Trump acknowledges the separation of powers (something Obama did not)
3. The president shows a softer side, clearly addressing his key 2020 weakness
Well-played. And cost him nothing.
Donald J. Trump
✔@realDonaldTrump
As the Shutdown was going on, Nancy Pelosi asked me to give the State of the Union Address. I agreed. She then changed her mind because of the Shutdown, suggesting a later date. This is her prerogative – I will do the Address when the Shutdown is over. I am not looking for an….
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo goes one-on-one with Martha MacCallum to discuss his message to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland and Trump’s approach to NATO. This is a really strong interview.
Secretary Pompeo brilliantly outlines the value of the nation state, and the principle that when a coalition is formed all members within that coalition (ie. NATO) have a responsibility to participate. Watch:
Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen is scheduled to appear in front of the House Oversight Committee and Chairman Elijah Cummings on February 7th. Cummings, Schiff and Nadler have a plan to use Cohen to build their political resistance effort.
However, today Michael Cohen, through his DNC handler Lanny Davis, attempted to back out of testimony by accusing President Trump of threatening him.
New York – “Due to ongoing threats against his family from President Trump and Mr. Giuliani, as recently as this weekend, as well as Mr. Cohen’s continued cooperation with ongoing investigations, by advice of counsel” he will postpone appearing, Lanny Davis said in a statement. “This is a time where Mr. Cohen had to put his family and their safety first,” Davis added. (link)
According to prior communication, as relayed by Representative Jim Jordan, Cohen’s lawyer, Guy Petrillo, said Mr. Cohen would not be able to discuss anything concerning the investigation of special counsel Robert Mueller. [Mueller continues to be the shield] Therefore it would appear the Cummings committee intent is to script an impeachment or obstruction narrative without Cohen able to answer specific questions.
It is very likely Cohen’s cooperation with congress was part of the reason why the start of his prison sentence was deferred. With that in mind, Chairman Cummings and Chairman Schiff respond to Cohen and inform him they will not accept his refusal to comply:
“We have received Mr. Cohen’s notice postponing his voluntary appearance in an open hearing before the Committee on Oversight and Reform. We certainly understand the completely legitimate concerns for the safety and security of Mr. Cohen and his family members in light of the attacks last week by President Trump and again this past weekend by his attorney, Rudy Giuliani.
“As we stated previously with our colleague, Chairman Jerry Nadler of the Judiciary Committee, efforts to intimidate witnesses, scare their family members, or prevent them from testifying before Congress are textbook mob tactics that we condemn in the strongest terms. Our nation’s laws prohibit efforts to discourage, intimidate, or otherwise pressure a witness not to provide testimony to Congress. The President should make no statement or take any action to obstruct Congress’ independent oversight and investigative efforts, including by seeking to discourage any witness from testifying in response to a duly authorized request from Congress.
“We understand that Mr. Cohen’s wife and other family members fear for their safety after these attacks, and we have repeatedly offered our assistance to work with law enforcement to enhance security measures for Mr. Cohen and his family.
“Nevertheless, when our Committees began discussions with Mr. Cohen’s attorney, not appearing before Congress was never an option. We will not let the President’s tactics prevent Congress from fulfilling our constitutionally mandated oversight responsibilities. This will not stop us from getting to the truth. We expect Mr. Cohen to appear before both Committees, and we remain engaged with his counsel about his upcoming appearances.” [Link to Oversight]
Bottom line – Michael Cohen will be there to testify with Lanny Davis at his side. Davis knows exactly what he’s doing. Lanny Davis comes from the same political school as Lee Atwater. The claims of witness intimidation etc. are part of the strategy…. this is all a carefully planned stunt to build up interest.
Lanny Davis knows exactly what he is doing. Everyone has a role to play….
Chad Pergram
✔@ChadPergram
Cummings: I promise you that we will hear from Mr. Cohen. We will make those determinations soon and we will let you know how we plan to proceed but we will get to testimony as sure as night becomes day and day becomes night.
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This is a library of News Events not reported by the Main Stream Media documenting & connecting the dots on How the Obama Marxist Liberal agenda is destroying America
Chad Pergram
Centinel2012 