Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in Paris talking to Emmanuel Macron last weekend while Rubio, Witkoff and Kushner were meeting with Ukraine officials in Florida.  This telephone call is reported to have taken place the following day, on Monday.

French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy together with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and European Council President António Costa held a conference call.

A transcript of the call was leaked to Spiegel, a German news outlet. According to the narrative the assembled group of EU leaders were discussing how the Trump administration was going to betray Ukraine in order to get a peace deal with Russia. The gist of the narrative sounds accurate, though some of the EU leaders are denying the specifics of the wording used.

EUROPE – “There is a possibility that the U.S. will betray Ukraine on the issue of territory without clarity on security guarantees,” Macron said, according to Spiegel, adding there was “a great danger” for Zelenskyy. The Élysée did not immediately respond to POLITICO’s request for comment. Spiegel reported the Élysée denied in a statement to the German outlet that Macron spoke of any betrayal. “The president did not use those words,” Macron’s office said, per Spiegel.

Merz chimed in that Zelenskyy had to be “extremely careful in the coming days.”

“They are playing games, both with you and with us,” Merz said, seemingly referring to Washington’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner — the son-in-law of American President Donald Trump — who spent five hours locked in talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.

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The authority for the United States government to capture the electronic records of all Americans without warrant falls under the auspices of FISA-702.  The current authority expires in April of 2026.

Some administrative state defenders will argue this issue with me. However, having researched almost every aspect to the construct, and the argument, I am confident FISA-702 authority underpins the much bigger, quasi-constitutional justification for the wholesale collection of U.S. citizen metadata.  Without the 702 authority, the legal justification for the apparatus of surveillance no longer exists.  It really is that simple.

That said, there remains ZERO justification for the wholesale capture of U.S. citizen data by the government. It is not the searching of the database that presents the issue; the capture itself violates the Fourth Amendment.

The only way the government can justify the capture of U.S. Citizen data is if there is some quasi-constitutional or national security reason for it.  That’s where FISA-702 comes in.

Take away “702” search authority, and the data collection argument collapses; ANY “incidental” search of the database then loses any plausible legal justification.  702 is the camel’s nose under the tent that forms the baseline for all data records to be intercepted, stored and ultimately available for review.

This is a very key component to fully understand.  Most practical applications of surveillance are contingent upon the capture of electronic records for tracking.  Ex. – if domestic travel records are considered private papers (never argued yet), then government agencies have no right to exploit them without a valid search warrant underpinned by a national security justification.  The government, not private sector – government, tracking people becomes more difficult if privacy rules are applied.

The legal aspect runs through the 4th Amendment, which -while historically undefined in the modern era- likely stirs in the background of the recent TSA decision to provide a $45 opt-out, for the use of REAL ID in domestic transit (interstate commerce application notwithstanding).

The Fourth Amendment aspect to the ‘warrantless’ government capture of American citizen records has never been fully argued in court; the modern definitions are opaque, and the govt has a vested interest in retaining the untested status quo.

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In an effort to return common sense, practicality and affordability to the American consumer base for automobiles, President Trump announced the elimination of Joe Biden’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for manufactured cars and trucks.

Under the auspices of the “Green New Deal”, the Biden administration mandated ridiculous quotas for EVs and demanded lower power combustible engines, or pay a climate change tax. These CAFE standards resulted in a surcharge for large vehicles, large engine autos and SUVs, and essentially bifurcated the auto consumer into those who could afford to pay for efficiency and stability, and those who could not.

“We’re officially terminating Joe Biden’s ridiculously burdensome, horrible actually, CAFE standards that impose expensive restrictions and all sorts of problems, gave all sorts of problems to automakers,” President Trump announced from the Oval Office. “It put tremendous upward pressure on car prices, combined with the insane electric vehicle mandate. Biden’s burdensome regulations helped cause the price of cars to soar more than 25%,” President Trump said. WATCH:

(Via White House) – DELIVERING A WIN FOR AMERICAN FAMILIES AND AUTOMAKERS: Today, President Donald J. Trump is delivering major relief to American families by resetting the Biden Administration’s costly and unlawful Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards.

President Trump is returning CAFE standards to levels that can actually be met with conventional gasoline and diesel vehicles. The Biden Administration standards imposed unrealistic fuel economy targets that effectively resulted in an electric vehicle (EV) mandate.

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Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Marco Rubio appears on Fox News for an extensive interview about current events. Within the interview Secretary Rubio discusses the current status of immigration vetting and the pause therein.

Additionally, Rubio outlines the current state of the U.S. operation in/around Venezuela and the ongoing negotiations with Ukraine and Russia to end the conflict in Eastern Europe. WATCH:

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President Trump was asked about the Witkoff and Kusher trip to Moscow, Russia as negotiations for an end to the conflict are ongoing.  President Trump noted he had not yet heard from the emissary duo, as he is spending time with media, answering questions and being the most transparent administration in history [Video Here].

In the contextual background, Russian Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov and Special Presidential Representative for Investment and Economic Cooperation with Foreign Countries, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Kirill Dmitriev spent time walking through Moscow center city with Trump Emissaries Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.  This is before the meeting with Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin.

This move is typical Putin.  It’s not a negative per se’, but rather an emphatic narrative contrast intended to draw attention to a Russian/American dichotomy.

This optical presentation was likely coordinated via Yury Ushakov and Steve Witkoff.  The optical message is psychological targeting; the city of Moscow -structural order, cleanliness, visual and representative Christmas holiday festival spirit- contrast and compared to the city of Washington DC, chaos, conflict and lack of social cohesion.

Traditional American intelligence review would be angered by what would be deemed psy-op manipulation; however, the reality of the situation doesn’t diminish just because the intent is to emphasize the contrast.

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Republican Matt Van Epps won a Tennessee House special election on Tuesday defeating Democrat Aftyn Behn.

CD07 covers portions of heavily Democrat Nashville, which gave Democrats hope to make a flip of this House seat.

(VIA AP) – […] A military veteran and former state general services commissioner from Nashville, Van Epps defeated Democratic state Rep. Aftyn Behn to represent the 7th Congressional District.

In a victory statement, Van Epps said he will be “all-in” with Trump in Congress.

“Running from Trump is how you lose. Running with Trump is how you win,” he said. “Our victory was powered by a movement of Tennesseans that are ready for change. We are grateful to the President for his unwavering support that charted this movement and catapulted us to victory.

Trump congratulated Van Epps, saying in a social media post: “The Radical Left Democrats threw everything at him, including Millions of Dollars. Another great night for the Republican Party!!!” (more)

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During the cabinet meeting, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard recapped the reform efforts still underway to identify deep state actors within the federal intelligence bureaucracy and hold them accountable. WATCH:

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Dept of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem endorses plans for a ‘full travel ban’ on countries that are sending ‘killers, leeches and entitlement junkies’ to the United States after a meeting with President Donald Trump.

[SOURCE]

There is no haystack, it’s all needles.

Noem’s announcement comes after President Trump announced a halt to all immigration from Afghanistan, including decisions on refugee status in the wake of the terrorist attack in the nation’s capital last Wednesday.

President Trump has also vowed to ‘permanently pause migration’ from all Third World countries and has announced that immigrants who hail from 19 countries covered by his travel ban will have their cases re-examined.  The countries include Afghanistan, Iran, Somalia, Haiti, Sudan, Yemen, Libya and Venezuela among others.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio affirmed, “the Trump Administration will protect our people and preserve our national identity.”

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Washington DC continues pretending they do not know things.  It is insufferable and frustrating.  However, they are blind to the reality that a large segment of the American population is aware of the issues and understand the position of Republicans is not part of some mistake or flaw; it is a feature of their intent.

Elise Stefanik notes: “Republicans have the House, Senate, and the White House, yet the deep state is alive and well with the Speaker getting rolled by House Dems attempting to block my provision to require Congressional disclosure when the FBI opens counterintelligence investigations into presidential and federal candidates seeking office.

In a March 2017 open hearing, my questions to former FBI Director James Comey began the unraveling of the Russia Hoax when Comey admitted to not following proper notification procedures with his illegal opening of Crossfire Hurricane. A criminal act that can never happen again.

My provision will strengthen this accountability and transparency to deter this illegal weaponization and it passed out of the House Intelligence Committee in this Congress and previous ones. Yet House Republicans continue to get rolled by the deep state due to opposition by Jamie Raskin.

If Republicans can’t deliver accountability and legislative fixes to arguably the biggest illegal corruption and government weaponization issue of all time, then what are we even doing.

This language is even more essential in light of the continued weaponization of the federal government evidenced by the sweeping Arctic Frost wiretapping scandal and the recent illegal leaks of Steve Witkoff’s conversations with foreign counterparts.

Unless this provision is added back into the bill to prevent illegal political weaponization of the intelligence community in our elections, I am a HARD NO. I have always voted in support of the defense and intelligence authorization bills, but no more.

It is a scandalous disgrace that Republicans are allowing themselves to be rolled by the Dems and deep state on this.”  (more)

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On Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump emissaries Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met with the Ukraine negotiating team in Florida to further discuss acceptable terms for a broader ceasefire and end to the war.

Still trying to recover from corruption charges against his senior presidential team, Volodymyr Zelenskyy was not at the talks. Instead, the Ukraine delegation was led by State Security Council Secretary Rustem Umerov, while Zelenskyy went to Paris for an emotional support session with Emmanuel Macron.

Secretary Rubio and Secretary Umerov spoke before and after their 5-hour negotiation session.  Secretary Rubio emphasized the main topic as securing the long-term future of Ukraine both from a security position and from an economic prosperity position.

This state security aspect comes as the Ukraine delegation is facing pressure to accept, they will lose most -if not all- of the Donbas region to Russia. “The end goal is obviously not just the end of the war. Obviously, that’s central and fundamental,” Rubio said. “It’s also about securing an end to the war that leaves Ukraine sovereign and independent and with an opportunity at real prosperity.”

In better-than-expected news, the EU is now saying they will not comply with any removal of sanctions against Russia.  If the U.S-Russia and Ukraine work out a negotiated settlement that permits legal or economic relief for Vladimir Putin, the European Union will not agree and will instead make up their own decision on the issues.

Europe is holding this position as a threat, because President Trump is not fully consulting with them on all the granular details.  However, this is the type of threat that is exactly beneficial to what appears to be the long-term strategy of Trump.

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