Chopper pressers are the best pressers.  President Trump pauses to hold an impromptu press conference departing the White House for a trip to Florida. [Video and Transcript below]

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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. We’re going to The Villages in Ocala, Florida. We have a big crowd. We’re going to be talking about healthcare. We’re doing a lot of work on healthcare. We’re very successful at it. And so we’re going to be speaking to the great people of Florida. And I think they’re very happy with the job we’re doing.

Yeah.

Q Mr. President, first question, what did you —

Q What exactly, specifically, is inaccurate in the whistleblower’s complaint?

THE PRESIDENT: What?

Q What exactly is inaccurate in the whistleblower’s complaint?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, if you look at the whistleblower’s complaint, it’s totally inaccurate because the conversation that I had was absolutely perfect. And most people that have read it say the same thing. The whistleblower never saw the — saw the conversation. He got his information, I guess, second- or third-hand. He wrote something that was total fiction. And now, when people see that, they’re not happy.

Q Do you want to restrict investment flows into China and have Chinese stocks delisted?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’re looking at a lot of different things. China is coming in next week. We’re going to have a meeting with them. We’ll see. But we’re doing very well.

Some of the numbers, I think, are being affected by all of the nonsense, all of the politics going on in this country by the Democrats. I call them the “Do-nothings.” They do nothing for this country. They don’t care about this country. But the numbers, really, are looking very good, going into the future.

So, we’ll see. I have a lot of options on China. But if they don’t do what we want, we have tremendous — tremendous power.

Q Mr. President, what exactly did you hope Zelensky would do about the Bidens after your phone call? Exactly.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I would think that, if they were honest about it, they’d start a major investigation into the Bidens. It’s a very simple answer.

They should investigate the Bidens, because how does a company that’s newly formed — and all these companies, if you look at —

And, by the way, likewise, China should start an investigation into the Bidens, because what happened in China is just about as bad as what happened with — with Ukraine.

So, I would say that President Zelensky — if it were me, I would recommend that they start an investigation into the Bidens. Because nobody has any doubt that they weren’t crooked. That was a crooked deal — 100 percent. He had no knowledge of energy; didn’t know the first thing about it. All of a sudden, he is getting $50,000 a month, plus a lot of other things. Nobody has any doubt.

And they got rid of a prosecutor who was a very tough prosecutor. They got rid of him. Now they’re trying to make it the opposite way. But they got rid —

So, if I were the President, I would certainly recommend that of Ukraine.

Q Have you asked President Xi to investigate at all?

THE PRESIDENT: I haven’t, but it’s certainly something we can start thinking about. Because I’m sure that President Xi does not like being under that kind of scrutiny, where billions of dollars is taken out his country by a guy that just got kicked out of the Navy. He got kicked out of the Navy; all of a sudden, he’s getting billions of dollars. You know what they call that? They call that a “payoff.”

Q In your view, Mr. President — in your view, should the White House comply with any congressional subpoenas associated with the whistleblower complaint?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I leave that to the lawyers. I can say, though, that Schiff has now been proven to be a liar. We’ve known it for three years, because they’ve been trying to impeach for three years. He’s a li- — he’s a stone-cold liar. So I leave that to the lawyers. That’s up to them to decide. But the whole investigation is crumbling.

Yeah.

Q Can you still work with Congress to get other work done? Can you still work with Congress?

THE PRESIDENT: I can. Yeah, I can.

Q How can you do that? How?

Q (Inaudible.)

THE PRESIDENT: You got — I —

Q Mr. President, Pakistan is urging (inaudible) talks with the Taliban. Are you going to do that?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, we have a real problem. We’ve been hitting the Taliban very, very hard. And, as far as I’m concerned, they still haven’t recovered from killing 12 people — one of — happened to be a great American solider from Puerto Rico. They still have not recovered, and they probably never will.

Q Mr. President — President Trump, what is McConnell — what is McConnell telling you about impeachment? Has he assured you that Senate Republicans won’t vote for it?

THE PRESIDENT: No, but I read Mitch McConnell’s statement yesterday, and he read my phone call. And, as you know, he put out a statement that said that was the most innocent phone call he’s read. And I spoke to him about it, too.

He read my phone call with the President of Ukraine. Mitch McConnell — he said, “That was the most innocent phone call that I’ve read.” I mean, give me a break. Anybody that reads it says the same thing. And the only people that don’t understand it is when they look at the false, fabricated, fraudulent statement made by Shifty Schiff.

Q Mr. President, Vice President Biden — Vice President Biden said that he’s not going anywhere. He has said that you’re not going to destroy his family. What do — what’s your response?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think Biden is going down. And I think his whole situation — because now you may very well find that there are many other countries that they scammed, just like they scammed China and Ukraine. And basically, who are they really scamming? The USA. And it’s not good.

Q He said he was carrying out the official policy —

THE PRESIDENT: And that’s probably why China, for so many years, has had a sweetheart deal where China rips off the USA — because they deal like people with Biden, where they give their son a billion and a half dollars. And that’s probably why China has such a sweetheart deal that, for so many years, they’ve been ripping off our country.

Q Do you support SB-206 — the college athletes getting paid? Or do you side with the NCAA and the schools? And do you think this should be a federal law?

THE PRESIDENT: We’re looking at it. We’re looking at very closely. It’s under study.

Q Has North Korea gone too far this time with the ballistic missile? Is that too far?

THE PRESIDENT: We’ll see. They want to talk, and we’ll be talking to them soon. We’ll see.

So I’m going to — yes?

Q Mr. President, why did recall the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine? Was she a problem? Why did you recall her?

THE PRESIDENT: I heard very bad things about her. And I don’t know if I recalled her or somebody recalled her, but I heard very, very bad things about her for a long period of time. Not good.

Thank you. I’ll see you in Florida. I’ll see you all in Florida.

END 10:24 A.M. EDT

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White House trade and manufacturing policy advisor Peter Navarro appears on Fox Business to discusses the World Trade Organization ruling granting the U.S. $7.5 billion in annual tariff countermeasures against the EU.

Jumpin’ ju-ju bones – The Trump administration via U.S. Trade Rep Robert Lighthizer and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross won a massive $7.5 billion award as an outcome of the World Trade Organization agreeing with the U.S. against the EU and Airbus subsidies.  The WTO arbitrators decision is final and cannot be appealed.

This win sets the stage for President Trump to deploy $7.5 billion in countervailing duties against products from the EU.  Keep in mind, a final WTO ruling means the EU cannot retaliate against any WTO-authorized countermeasures.  The downstream ramifications are very significant. Think about it: at 25% the U.S. could tariff $30 billion in EU goods.

Man, talk about serendipitous timing… But first, here’s the press release from Robert Lighthizer:

Washington, D.C.–  The United States has won the largest arbitration award in World Trade Organization (WTO)  history in its dispute with the European Union over illegal subsidies to Airbus.  This follows four previous panel and appellate reports from 2011-2018 finding that EU subsidies to Airbus break WTO rules.

Today’s decision demonstrates that massive EU corporate welfare has cost American aerospace companies hundreds of billions of dollars in lost revenue over the nearly 15 years of litigation.

“For years, Europe has been providing massive subsidies to Airbus that have seriously injured the U.S. aerospace industry and our workers. Finally, after 15 years of litigation, the WTO has confirmed that the United States is entitled to impose countermeasures in response to the EU’s illegal subsidies,” U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said.

“Accordingly, the United States will begin applying WTO-approved tariffs on certain EU goods beginning October 18. We expect to enter into negotiations with the European Union aimed at resolving this issue in a way that will benefit American workers.”

The award of $7.5 billion annually is by far the largest award in WTO history—nearly twice the largest previous award.  The Arbitrator calculated this amount based on WTO findings that EU launch aid for Airbus is causing significant lost sales of Boeing large civil aircraft, as well as impeding exports of Boeing large aircraft to the EU, Australia, China, Korea, Singapore, and UAE markets.  Under WTO rules, the Arbitrator’s decision is final and not subject to appeal.

The United States today has requested that the WTO schedule a meeting on October 14 to approve a U.S. request for authorization to take countermeasures against the EU.  Pursuant to WTO rules, the WTO will provide this authorization automatically at that meeting. The EU is not allowed to retaliate against WTO-authorized countermeasures.

The tariffs will be applied to a range of imports from EU Member States, with the bulk of the tariffs being applied to imports from France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom – the four countries responsible for the illegal subsidies.

Although USTR has the authority to apply a 100 percent tariff on affected products, at this time the tariff increases will be limited to 10 percent on large civil aircraft and 25 percent on agricultural and other products.  The U.S. has the authority to increase the tariffs at any time, or change the products affected. (read more)

Macron’s Merlot, Merkel’s Mercedes, Conte’s Chianti and Johnsons’ Johnson are all quivering.  Trump, Lighthizer and Ross can pick and choose whatever products they choose to designate the countervailing duties upon; they can mix-and match; they can shift and change; they can assign and withdraw; and there’s not a single thing the EU can do about it. Remarkable… ‘leverage‘,… oh, this could be lots of fun.

Ambassador Lighthizer has already made a list of products for the countermeasures.  Varying products with varying tariffs.  You can read the full list HERE (pdf).  Reuters has an outline on some of the products, and the responses from Europe.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration slapped 25% tariffs on French wine, Italian cheese and single-malt Scotch whisky — but spared Italian wine, pasta and olive oil — in retaliation for European Union subsidies on large aircraft.

The U.S. Trade Representative’s Office released a list of hundreds of European products that will get new tariffs, including cookies, salami, butter and yogurt – but in many cases applied to only some EU countries, including German camera parts and blankets produced in the United Kingdom.

The list includes UK-made sweaters, pullovers, cashmere items and wool clothing, as well as olives from France and Spain, EU-produced pork sausage and other pork products other than ham, and German coffee. The new tariffs are to take effect as early as Oct. 18.

The U.S. Trade Representative’s Office said it would “continually re-evaluate these tariffs based on our discussions with the EU” and expects to enter talks in a bid to resolve the dispute. (more)

“He doesn’t think I’ll tax his meat pies”…

What makes this even more excellent is the timing for Brexit.  If Boris Johnson can get out of the EU without strings Trump can use these WTO-authorized tariffs to position a UK trade deal with the U.S. as a trade superhighway.  Incredibly this WTO decision plays right into the hand of President Trump’s global trade realignment.

KORUS (Korea-US) is in the books; phase one of the U.S-Japan agreement is in the books; the North American USMCA is complete – pending ratification; the EU previously agreed to purchase U.S. beef exports; and President Trump has been working on a post-Brexit UK-US bilateral trade agreement.  The timing for this WTO decision is, well, perfect.

China and the EU have devalued their currency in an effort to block the impacts from President Trump’s trade realignment and the ‘America First’ trade policy.

Because those currencies are devalued against the dollar, the resulting effect is a rising dollar value. That’s the stupid hypocrisy of global banking outlooks. They make a decision to devalue their currency, which causes the dollar value to rise, and then turn around and blame the U.S. dollar for being overvalued. The root cause of the devaluation is unaddressed in their argument.

The EU (specifically Germany and France) and China are trying to retain their global manufacturing position and offset the impact of President Trump’s tariffs by lowering the end value of their exports.  However, it’s a never ending spiral – and the U.S. consumer cannot save the world.

In the bigger picture this is why President Trump is the most transformative economic President in the last 75 years. The post-WWII Marshall Plan was set up to allow Europe and Asia to place tariffs on exported American industrial products. Those tariffs were used by the EU and Japan to rebuild their infrastructure after a devastating war. However, there was never a built in mechanism to end the tariffs…. until President Trump came along and said: “it’s over”!

By putting tariffs on foreign imports he has counterbalanced the never-ending Marshal Plan trade program and demanded renegotiation(s).  Trump’s goal is reciprocity; however, the EU and Asia, specifically China, don’t want to give up a decades-long multi-generational advantage. This is part of their fight.

No-one, ever, could take on all these interests. Think about it… The EU, Asia, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, China, Russia, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Iran, U.S. Congress, Wall Street, the Big Club, Lobbyists, Hollywood, Corporate Media (foreign and domestic), and the ankle-biters in Never Trump…. All of these financial interests are aligned against Main Street USA and against President Trump.

Name one individual who could take them on simultaneously and still be winning, bigly.

They say he’s one man. They say they have him outnumbered. Yet somehow, as unreal as it seems, he’s the one who appears to have them surrounded.

Incredible.

Go Trump!

Today President Trump holds a joint press conference with the President of the Republic of Finland Sauli Niinistö.  Anticipated start time 2:20pm ET

WH Livestream Link – Fox News Livestream Link – Fox Business Livestream

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Earlier today President Trump joined in celebration with the Scalia family to deliver remarks from the Oval Office during the swearing-in of Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia.

The President also took a question from the media pool [Video and Transcript Below]

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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Well, this is a very big day. We just had the swearing-in. We just had the most beautiful ceremony. I don’t know if anybody was there, of you, but — our new head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And now we have Department of Labor. So, that’s big stuff. This is a big day.

And it’s my pleasure to welcome everyone to the swearing-in of our new Secretary of Labor, Eugene Scalia. Gene is joined by many members of his family, which is a large family, including his mother, Maureen, who’s been my friend for a long time, even before I knew you. Right? His mother is an incredible woman. And his wife, Patricia. Incredible job. Thank you, honey. And six of their beautiful children.

And I have a list of the folks. It’s like — what a family. So you have Maureen, who a lot of the people in this room know, from the standpoint even of the media. You have Patricia, who is a very powerful person in the family — namely, the wife. (Laughter.) The wife is always powerful — or, in some cases, right? But in this case —

MR. SCALIA: This one is.

THE PRESIDENT: Super powerful, right?

Antonin Scalia’s son. Antonin. We have Megan Scalia, daughter; Bridget Scalia, daughter; Luke Scalia, son; Erin Scalia, daughter; Isabella Scalia, daughter. That’s pretty impressive. John Scalia, brother. Catherine Courtney, sister. Mary Clare Murray, sister. Reverend Paul Scalia, who many of the folks know, in the room. The most powerful man, by far, in the room. Reverend Paul Scalia, brother. Christopher Scalia, brother. Margaret Scalia Bryce, sister. Christie S. Larsen — oh, wow — father-in-law. Susan Larsen, mother-in-law. That’s powerful. That’s powerful stuff. That’s a great — that’s a great family.

And, as you know, this was just happened — confirmed as the 20th Secretary of Labor, on September 26th, by a very substantial vote in current politics. Some people would say, “Gee, that was close.” 53 to 44. I call that a landslide. (Laughter.) In this administration, I call it a landslide.

Eugene Scalia is one of the most qualified people ever confirmed as Secretary of Labor. He will use his skills as he has over the years, and he’s built an extremely distinguished career to fight and win for the American workforce. He’s a tremendous lawyer, a tremendous talent. One of the best anywhere in our country.

He earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Virginia, and went on to the University of Chicago Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Law Review.

From 2002 to 2003, Gene served as the top legal officer at the Department of Labor. So he’s very familiar with the environs. He earned a reputation as a brilliant and unbiased defender of rights and protections of the American people.

After his time in government service, Gene moved to the private sector, where he really became a tremendous force and very successful. He fought in some of the highest courts of our land, and worked to overturn bureaucratic overreach and unfair, job-killing regulations. That sounds very familiar. That’s going to be good in this administration.

As he returns to the Department of Labor, Gene will use his wealth of experience to continue our bold regulatory reduction campaign. Most importantly, he will always put American workers first. I know that very well. That’s what he’s done his whole life.

And your father is looking down right now. Your husband is looking down right now and proud as can be. You know that. You understand that. He’s looking down and he is beaming. And I knew him well enough to know that he was a beamer when he was proud, right?

MRS. MAUREEN SCALIA: Yes.

THE PRESIDENT: So, Gene, I’m confident that your sharp legal mind, firmness of character, devotion to justice, love for this country, and commitment to its people will make you an outstanding Secretary of Labor. I want you to be the best. Can we say “the best of all time”? I’ll ask you, maybe later, who was the best, so far. But you’re going to top.

Congratulations to you and to your wonderful family.

And I’d like to now have Gene just say a few words and then we’ll ask Vice President Pence to administer the oath of office. And thank you all for being here. This is a very important day. Thank you very much. (Applause.) Thank you.

MR. SCALIA: Mr. President, thank you for those remarks. Thank you for this great honor to serve as Secretary of Labor. And thank you for what’s also a great opportunity, as well, to hold that position in this administration with a President who’s willing to try things that are different, not necessarily conventional, and as you remarked a moment ago, prepared to fight for things that he considers are important for the American people.

You offered this job to me back in July, in this office. And in that meeting, you expressed to me your commitment to American workers and to our economy. And I will bear those words in mind every day that I serve as Secretary of Labor.

I also want to thank the President for the kindness that he has, in fact, shown my mother since even before his inauguration. It’s a story few people know. I’m fixing that right now, I think. But he reached out to my mother for — just out of kindness, with no political advantage, to see how she was doing, to then make sure that she had a good inauguration seat and the like. And he looked after an elderly woman who was going through a difficult time and gave her some help and support when it meant an awful lot. And we’re very grateful.

I do want to thank my mother, as well; my father who we do like to think is looking down and watching with some pride. And, of course, I want to thank my wife Trish for all of the support that she has given me, both in recent weeks, but throughout our marriage. And my brothers and sisters, too.

Mr. President, I’m sorry that the group is — might strike you as small. (Laughter.) There were three who couldn’t make it, but they’re here in spirit, too.

So, again, I want to thank the President and the Vice President for what is a great honor, but, more importantly to me, it’s an opportunity to further the mission of the Department of Labor; to implement this President’s agenda; and, to paraphrase the Constitution, to take care that our laws are faithfully executed.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Congratulations. Fantastic. (Applause.)

Mike? Thanks.

(The oath is administered.)

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Congratulations, Mr. Secretary.

SECRETARY SCALIA: Thank you. (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you all very much. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you very much, everybody.

Q Do you know who the whistleblower is, sir?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’re trying to find out about a whistleblower — when you have a whistleblower that reports things that were incorrect. As you know, and you probably now have figured it out, the statement I made to the President of Ukraine — a good man, a nice man, new — was perfect. It was perfect. But the whistleblower reported a totally different statement. Like, the statement, it’s — it was not even made. I guess “statement,” you could say, was the call. I made a call. The call was perfect.

When the whistleblower reported it, he made it sound terrible. And then, you had Adam Schiff who, even worse, made up my words, which I think is just a horrible. I’ve never even seen a thing like that.

Adam Schiff — representative, congressman — made up what I said. He actually took words and made it up. The reason is, when he saw my call to the President of Ukraine, it was so good that he couldn’t quote from it because it — there was nothing done wrong. It was perfect. So Adam Schiff decided, “I can’t let this happen, so let me make up…” — did you ever hear of this one, Gene? You ever hear a thing like this? So Adam Schiff made up a phony call. And he read it to Congress and he read it to the people of the United States. And it’s a disgrace. This whole thing is a disgrace.

There’s been tremendous corruption. And we’re seeking it. It’s called “drain the swamp.” There’s been corruption on the other side. There’s been corruption like you’ve never seen.

Now, the new President of Ukraine ran on the basis of no corruption. That’s how he got elected. And I believe that he really means it. But there was a lot of corruption having to do with the 2016 election against us. And we want to get to the bottom of it, and it’s very important that we do.

Thank you very much.

END 2:29 P.M. EDT

As we keep saying: chopper pressers are the best pressers.

In response to a chopper presser by President Trump on May 24th, 2019, the Australian government sent U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr an unsolicited letter saying they would “fully support” Barr’s investigative “efforts”:

(Source Link)

Earlier today the New York Times attempted to construct a narrative that Bill Barr requested President Trump to contact the Australians on his behalf.  This letter refutes the construct of the New York Times report which was based on Lawfare leaks and spin.

In corporate and diplomatic parlance the letter from Australia, based on the public comments from President Trump, is known as “requesting a climate assessment in advance of a forced inquisition’.

In other words, Australia sensed they were going to be contacted based on Trump’s comments; so they took the initiative, engaged in open-door diplomacy, and contacted Bill Barr in advance letting him know they were “supportive of his efforts.”

Chopper Pressers are the best pressers.  The remarks from President Trump on May 24th, 2019, are directly appropriate to revisit today:

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[Transcript – May 24th, 2019] – Q Mr. President, are you ordering (inaudible) investigation into James Comey and McCabe?

THE PRESIDENT: So, we want to be very transparent. So, as you know, I declassified everything. Everything they want. I put it under the auspices of the Attorney General. He’s going to be in charge of it. He’s a great gentleman and a highly respected man.

So everything that they need is declassified, and they’ll be able to see how this hoax — how the hoax or witch hunt started and why it started. It was a — an attempted coup or an attempted takedown of the President of the United States. It should never, ever happen to anybody else. So it’s very important.

Now, people have been asking me to declassify for a long period of time. I’ve decided to do it. And you’re going to learn a lot. I hope it’s going to be nice, but perhaps it won’t be.

Q What if the Barr investigation does not turn out the way you think it will?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’re going to see. I gave — as you know, I declassified, I guess, potentially, millions of pages of documents. I don’t know what it is. I have no idea. But I want to be transparent. Everybody wanted me to declassify. I’ve done it. And you can almost say he’s the trustee. He’s a highly respected man. Our Attorney General is in charge. Let’s see what he finds.

But we have — we have documents now that I have declassified for the purpose of the Attorney General. He can then show them to the public, do whatever he wants to do with them.

But you have to get down to what happened. Because what happened is a tremendous blight on our country. What happened — the investigation — they tried to do a takedown, and you can’t do that. And let me just tell you: This should never, ever happen to another President again.

Q Mr. President, why should people trust the Attorney General to select what to declassify? Even Robert Mueller expressed concerns about the way Barr handled his findings.

THE PRESIDENT: The question is so false and so phony. The Attorney General —

Q The Special Counsel sent a letter to the Attorney General —

THE PRESIDENT: Let me just explain — let me explain to you something. The Attorney General is one of the most respected people in this country and he has been for a long period of time. He is going to look at a lot of documents. Some he might find interesting; maybe he’ll find none interesting.

But for over a year, people have asked me to declassify. So what I’ve done is I’ve declassified everything. He can look. And I hope he looks at the UK, and I hope he looks at Australia, and I hope he looks at Ukraine. I hope he looks at everything, because there was a hoax that was perpetrated on our country. It’s the greatest hoax —

Q How will you protect (inaudible)?

THE PRESIDENT: Excuse me. Excuse me.

It’s the greatest hoax, probably, in the history of our country. And somebody has to get to the bottom of it. We’ll see. But for a long period of time, they’ve wanted me to declassify and I did.

Q (Inaudible) of this investigation. What is it truly about? Is it about getting payback for the two years of investigation?

THE PRESIDENT: This is about finding out what happened. I won an election. I won it easily — 306 to 223. I won it pretty easily. And I’ll tell you what: This is all about what happened and when did it happen. Because this was an attempted takedown of the President of the United States, and we have to find out. Why did somebody write a text message — the two lovers — that if she loses, we have an insurance policy? An insurance policy to take down the President. We’re going to find out what happened and why it happened.

Let me just tell you —

Q Is it payback, sir?

THE PRESIDENT: It’s not payback. I don’t care about payback. I think it’s very important for our country to find out what happened.

[Transcript Link]

White House trade and manufacturing advisor Peter Navarro appears on CNBC to discuss the Bloomberg news story about the White House blocking U.S. investment in China.  Additionally, Navarro is asked about U.S-China trade discussions.

This interview happens on the heels of a massive win for the White House at the Universal Postal Union Congress, where the UPU accepted that inbound package deliveries to the United States will no longer be subsidized by U.S. taxpayers – {Details Here}.

Earlier today President Trump delivered remarks to honor the 20th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley. [Video and Transcript Below]

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[Transcript, POTUS remarks @5:32] –  THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Mike. And I have to start off by saying that all of my life I’ve heard that if it rains on a big occasion, it brings luck. So, Mark, I think you’re going to be the luckiest general in history. (Laughter.)

I want to thank everybody for being here — Vice President Pence. And thank you all for the incredible service members. We have the finest military anywhere in the world. The American military is the greating — greatest fighting force, without question, in the history of the world. And today it’s stronger than it’s ever been, by a large factor. No enemy on Earth can match the awesome might of the American Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and the United States Marines.

We’re gathered together for a truly historic occasion. We’re here to welcome our outstanding new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: General Mark Milley. Mark, I want to congratulate you. You’re my friend. You’re my advisor. And you deserve this position. I never had a doubt. Congratulations. (Applause.)

I also want to express our profound gratitude to Mark’s wife Hollyanne, and his children, Mary and Peter, for their selfless devotion to our country. The strength of our military is truly found in the love and support of our military families. So important. Those families are so important.

We’re especially honored to be joined by some of America’s Gold Star Families. Your treasured loved ones made the supreme sacrifice for our nation. They’re looking down on you right now. You look up in the sky, and they’re looking down on you. Our debt to you is infinite and eternal. America will hold you in its heart forever. And we will never forget.

We’re also grateful to the many veterans here today. (Applause.) To our heroic wounded warriors in attendance: Our nation will always remember what you did for the cause of freedom.

Joining us as well are: Secretary Mark Esper. Thank you, Mark. Great job you’re doing. Secretary Mike Pompeo. Mike, thank you very much. EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. Thank you, Andrew. Many of our great secretaries and my Cabinet and service chiefs.

I know we have a couple of wonderful representatives — I think you have many, so I’ll get myself in trouble, but I see John Carter and I see Brad Wenstrup. Thank you very much for being here, fellas. Thank you very much. And I see a senator that’s so supportive of our military and this administration, Senator Dan Sullivan. Thank you, Dan — of Alaska. Done a great job.

As we prepare to welcome a new Chairman, we must first pay tribute to one of America’s most admired and beloved military leaders: outgoing Chairman Joseph Dunford, here today with his wonderful wife, Ellyn.

Joe Dunford hails from just outside Boston. His father was a Marine — and a tough one — who landed on Inchon, in Korea, and fought at the Chosin Reservoir. So, Joe knew which branch he was destined to join. He didn’t have too much of a decision to make, I think. What do you think about that? Huh? Not a big decision? No.

In 1977, he was commissioned into the U.S. Marine Corps.
In 2003, Joe commanded some of the first American troops in Operation Iraqi Freedom — and very, very successfully commanded them. For his exceptional bravery, he received the Legion of Merit with Combat Valor.

As a general, Joe was promoted so quickly that he was nominated for his third star before he had formally received his second. How do you do that? How do you do that, Joe?

In 2013, he was named International Security Assistance Force Commander in Afghanistan. And he was instrumental in strengthening Afghan security forces to share more of the burden. And today, they are indeed sharing much more of the burden.

In 2014, Joe became Commandant of the Marine Corps, and the next year he was named Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And in that role, Joe published the first Joint Military Net Assessment in 20 years. We have a lot of the ideas that we’ve brought forward. And, you know, we’ve spent $2.5 trillion since I’m President — $2.5 trillion — far more than this country has ever even thought about spending. But we had to have a modern, great military with the most magnificent and the finest machinery, planes, boats, ships, weapons of all kinds. We’ve never had anything like you have today. When I took over, we were a very depleted military, and today we’re at a level that we have never even come close to.

Joe solidified America’s competitive advantage through global integration of the Joint Force. He also provided critical leadership during the complete rebuilding of our military.

And he helped me in another way — something that probably only Joe and Ellyn really know — because in, I would say, in 2015, I sat with Joe at a dinner. And believe it or not, I was getting a big award from the Marines. And Joe was presenting the awards, and I had no even thought of running for President. And I said to my wife and family, “Look at that guy. He’s a great looking guy, isn’t he? He’s like central casting. He’s like right out of Hollywood.” But he made the great presentation that night.

And I got to talk to him because I sat with him and Ellyn and his son, Patrick. And I was asking Joe lots of questions about the military. He said, “You really enjoy this, don’t you?” I said, “Well, I just love our country. It’s very important to me. I love our country.” And I said, “I don’t know. What do you think? Should I give it a shot?” This was before it was public. He was one of the first people I asked. I said, “What do you think? You think I’d have a shot? If I get it, we’re going to rebuild that military. It’s going to be stronger than ever before.”

And he helped me form an opinion. He gave me a lot of information. And he has ever since. So, for that, I want to thank you and Ellyn, and I want to thank Patrick. I hope I got his name right. It was a long time ago, but I think his name was Patrick, right? Huh? Did I do good? (Laughter.)

But General Dunford also provided vital strategic direction to the campaign against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. With his help and the great courage of our warfighters, I am proud to say that the ISIS territorial caliphate has been 100 percent completely obliterated. When we came to office, it was a mess; it was all over. Now we have thousands of captured ISIS fighters, and we have 100 percent of the caliphate.

As Chairman, Joe has also been a strong supporter and crucial advocate for creating the sixth branch of the U.S. Armed Forces — something that I’m really proud about and something that, when I make these speeches in these massive arenas loaded up with people, thousands and thousands, it just about gets the number one line of applause because I say, “We’re creating the Space Force.” And the place goes crazy. Great popularity, because that’s where it’s going to be at, more and more.

General, your life exemplifies those words that beat in the heart of every Marine: Semper Fi. America salutes your incredible legacy of noble service. You’ve been exceptional. Thank you. Thank you very much, Joe. (Applause.) I think they like you, Joe.

As one exceptional Chairman departs, our nation gains another. Today, Mark Milley takes General Dunford’s place as the highest-ranking member of the most skilled, determined, and powerful military ever assembled in human history.

Mark has been preparing for his duty his entire life. Like Joe, he grew up in a family of patriots just outside of Boston. His dad was a Navy corpsman, and tough as can be, they say. Was he that tough?

GENERAL MILLEY: He was that tough.

THE PRESIDENT: Huh? No games? He didn’t play games?

GENERAL MILLEY: No. No.

THE PRESIDENT: (Laughs.) He says, “No games.”

But his dad was a strong Navy corpsman, serving with the 4th Marine Division in World War Two — a veteran of the assault landings in the Marshall Islands campaign, the Mariana campaign, and in two Iwo Jima hits. During the war, Mark’s mother also served at a Navy hospital in Seattle, treating wounded men from the Pacific.

Inspired by their example, Mark chose the path of duty and the life of service. He could have done whatever he wanted. He was exceptional in every way.

In 1980, he was commissioned into the Army, and quickly joined the ranks of its finest soldiers. He graduated from the Army Ranger School and became a master parachutist and a Green Beret. In a long Army career, Mark deployed to Panama, Colombia, Korea, Somalia, Egypt, Haiti, Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan — often seeing very, very close up the combat.

He has not just served, but shown immense valor, on nearly every continent. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Service Medal, four Bronze Stars, and the Legion of Merit, along with two awards of the Combat Infantry Badge.

With degrees from Princeton, Columbia — wow, I didn’t know you were such a great academic. (Laughter.) Wow, let me give you a little more. (Laughter.) I’m impressed with that. That’s very good. And the Naval War College — but I liked you anyway — Mark is living proof that the American warfighter is the toughest, smartest and bravest, best and brightest, by far, anywhere in the world.

Following four deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, he became the 39th Chief of Staff of the Army in 2015. Over the last several years, he has worked tirelessly to rebuild a depleted force into a fully manned, fully trained, and fully equipped Army prepared to achieve complete victory in the conflicts of tomorrow.

And when we were determining where we were going to spend all of these billions of dollars, like you’ve never seen — we haven’t seen it in decades — I went with Mark, I sat with Mark, and I hope we spent it wisely, and I know we spent it wisely. Two and a half trillion dollars.

He built the Army Futures Command, and he created Security Force Assistance Brigades to reduce the need for large deployments.

When Mark took over, only two Brigade Combat Teams were at the highest levels of readiness. Today, that number stands at 28 — an extraordinary turnaround and achievement. And I congratulate everybody here today. (Applause.)

America’s Armed Forces are more powerful than ever and growing even stronger. We have the newest equipment, and we also have equipment that we keep under wraps that nobody has ever even heard of. We have weapons that we pray to God we never have to use. Our nuclear has been totally rebuilt; some brand new and some refurbished. But we hope to God we never have to use any of our weapons — any of our weapons.

In his new role as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Milley will serve as my top military advisor. I have absolute confidence that he will fulfill his duty with the same brilliance and fortitude he has shown throughout his long and very distinguished career.

From the great General Omar Bradley to the famed Joe Dunford, our nation has been blessed by the advice, counsel, and wisdom of 19 Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Today, we pass the baton to the 20th.

Together, we vow to continue the righteous mission that has united every Chairman and every patriot ever to wear the uniform and to defend our great American flag. We will keep America safe, we will keep America strong, and we will keep America proud so that our children and their children will forever and always be free.

Thank you again, General Dunford, for the incredible job you’ve done. And to General Mark Milley: Good luck, Godspeed, God bless you, God bless our military, and God bless America. Thank you all for being here. Thank you very much. It’s a great honor. Thank you. Thank you. (Applause.)

END 12:05 P.M. EDT

Guardian of the swamp gates, Chris Wallace, returns from executive planning sessions with fellow travelers to advance the Trump-Ukraine Conspiracy narrative.  Taking the most recent talking points from House Democrats on Fox News Sunday, the insufferable Wallace debates White House advisor Stephen Miller.

Baghdad Wallace skips over the actual transcript of the Trump-Zelenskyy phone call and instead prefers to debate the scripted narrative within the whistleblower complaint about the content of the phone call.  Whistleblower good / Orangeman bad.