The defense team for Michael Flynn presents their sentencing memo [see here] to support the special counsel recommendation. However, within the memo the Flynn team smartly uses pre-approved (by Special Counsel) language to highlight how the FBI structured the set up Yes, Flynn’s lawyers had to get permission to write this:
The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a 35-page sentencing memo (full pdf below) recommending a two-year prison term for busted Senate Intelligence Committee Director of Security, James Wolfe. The DOJ is seeking a term of imprisonment above the guidelines for the plea of lying to federal investigators.
The DOJ sentencing recommendation outlines the events surrounding the FBI investigation of Wolfe, and provides a more fulsome picture of the issues faced when a top-tier staff member of the legislative branch is suspected of leaking classified intelligence.
The DOJ notes the challenge presented when the executive branch is investigating a critical internal office of the legislative branch. While James Wolfe was never actually charged with leaking classified documents, the type of leaks he participated in and the resulting media reports which drew from his information network – certainly implies there was classified documentary evidence leaked; the DOJ claims they cannot prove it.
Given the direct evidence of corrupt and politically motivated conduct by officials within the DOJ and FBI the sentencing memo is an interesting read with multiple facets for consideration. (more…)
The CFO of Huawei has been released on bail pending her extradition hearing to the United States. Ms. Meng will have to wear and ankle monitor and travel with security agents until her next hearing on February 6th.
(Via NBC) A Vancouver judge set a $10 million CAD bail ($7.5 million U.S.) for Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou Tuesday, capping a week of increasing trade tensions and strong market reactions around the dispute between the Department of Justice and one of China’s largest hardware companies.
The United States had asked the Vancouver court to deny bail for Meng, whose father is a billionaire and a founder of Huawei, calling her a flight risk. Canada has been expected to extradite Meng to the United States over charges that the company improperly took payments from Iran in violation of sanctions against the country.
President Trump signs H.R. 390: The “Iraq and Syria Genocide Relief and Accountability Act of 2018,” which authorizes assistance to entities engaged in aiding individuals and communities in Iraq or Syria who are being, or are likely to be, targeted for genocide, crimes against humanity, or war crimes.
After signing the bill [@03:00] President Trump took questions from the media.
Early this morning China transmitted and interesting tweet position that was/is a transparent display of their panda mask. In essence the panda play was a call for team USA to drop the zero-sum outlook and seek a win/win. Given the historic nature of Chinese negotiations the tweet was rather funny. However, it does highlight the dance.
Additionally, a few hours later President Trump tweeted about ongoing U.S-China trade discussions and something to watch for: Moments ago we received the first indications of Chairman Xi’s panda play:
(Via Wall Street Journal) China agreed to reduce tariffs on U.S. autos to 15%, down from 40% currently, during a phone call with U.S. officials that opened the latest round of trade talks aimed at settling a trade dispute festering between the world’s two largest economic powers, according to a person familiar with the matter.
President Donald Trump invites the media to stick around and watch as he highlights the resistance between his administration and democrats on border security.
Democrat leader Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer are very uncomfortable allowing the media to hear their resistance discussion.
Backstory: According to an email chain between Google executives obtained by Fox News’ Tucker Carlson and Breitbart News, Google’s Multicultural Marketing development head Eliana Murillo sent out an email November 9th, 2016, detailing how Google had “supported partners like Voto Latino to pay for rides to the polls in key states,” which she characterized as a “silent donation.”
“We even helped them create ad campaigns to promote the rides (with support from HOLA folks who rallied and volunteered their time to help),” Murillo said. “We supported Voto Latino to help them land an interview with Sen. Meza of Arizona (key state for us) to talk about the election and how to use Google search to find information about how to vote. They were a strong partner, among many in this effort.”
Jim Jordan questions Google CEO Sundar Pichai about their specific political bias.
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These answers ring especially hollow when you remember the video of Google CEO Sundar Pichai and all top executives discussing their sadness at the result of the 2016 election. See below: (more…)
The issues appear multifaceted. In a Canadian court lawyers for Chinese company Huawei CFO, Meng Wanzhou, are arguing for bail while she awaits extradition to the United States for violations on Iran sanctions. There’s an element to this entire story that appears suspicious. President Trump was intentionally kept out of the loop; and that reality could infer that U.S. (deep state) actors were/are leveraging the Huawei matter as a poison pill against Trump’s trade reset with China.
Years ago such a possibility might be dismissed as conspiracy theory. However, today, knowing how far the administrative state has gone to disrupt the Trump presidency, such a concerted deep state scheme with Canada seems entirely plausible.
VANCOUVER (Reuters) – A Canadian provincial court on Monday weighed whether to grant bail to a top executive of one of the world’s biggest telecommunications companies, Huawei Technologies, while she awaits a ruling on extradition to the United States.
U.S. prosecutors want Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou to be extradited to face accusations she misled multinational banks about Huawei’s control of a company operating in Iran, putting the banks at risk of violating U.S. sanctions which would incur severe penalties, court documents said.
CTH has never hidden our disgust for the corrupt lobbying enterprise known as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and their President Tom Donohue. No internal organization in modern history has done more to harm American workers and American industry than the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Their fraudulent and corrupt enterprise is a toxic threat to our economy.
Today the U.S. Chamber of Commerce issues a statement denouncing the trade strategy of the Trump administration and announcing their lobbying support for the USMCA trade agreement is contingent upon the removal of Steel and Aluminum tariffs.
As the Washington Times writes: “The Chamber had previously complained that the deal’s language limiting protections for investors and stiffening of the “rules of origin” for when autos can be duty-free were problematic.” Put another way: Wall Street is angry their multinational constructs are not supported, and protecting U.S. workers from the predatory nature of global outsourcing is bad for their controlled market schemes.
Ultimately, Donohue’s biggest complaint -revealed by historic review- is that his organization didn’t get to write the USMCA trade agreement and were stopped from selling their special interest carve-outs to their corporate clients. (more…)
With massive civil unrest overwhelming many parts of French society, President Emmanuel Macron made a televised speech to the nation attempting to calm the anger. Macron declared a social and economic state of emergency and attempted to stop the ongoing Yellow Vest protests by announcing a special year-end bonus.
In addition to the year-end bonus, during the national address from the Elysee Palace Macron announced an increase in the minimum wage of €100 per month; a tax exemption on overtime pay; and a plan to not raise taxes on pensioners with an income less than €2,000/month. Here’s the english version of the EU broadcast.
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When the same issues happened in Venezuela, Maduro followed a similar plan… things didn’t end well. Macron has already committed the full weight of his police and military to crush any uprising. Tenuous times in France. (more…)
