Apparently, the World Economic Forum had launched an internal investigation of President and CEO Borge Brende following revelations of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Today, the former Norwegian Foreign Minister resigned from his position.
ZURICH, Feb 26 (Reuters) – The president and CEO of the World Economic Forum, Borge Brende, said he was stepping down on Thursday, a few weeks after the forum launched an independent investigation into his relationship with late U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Brende, who became president of the WEF in 2017, announced his decision in a statement following disclosures from the U.S. Justice Department that showed the Norwegian had three business dinners with Epstein and had also communicated with the disgraced financier via email and text message.
“After careful consideration, I have decided to step down as President and CEO of the World Economic Forum. My time here, spanning 8-1/2 years, has been profoundly rewarding,” said Brende, a former Norwegian foreign minister.
The summary of the story basically circles back to that NSA/CIA whistleblower intercept they previously were using to attack DNI Tulsi Gabbard. Now that the whistleblower’s lawyer (same lawyer as last CIA whistleblower, Ciaramella) has leaked the subject of the conversation was Jared Kushner the democrats really want to know the details.
Two foreign nationals (unknown countries) were discussing the U.S. position toward Iran. In their conversation they talked about Jared Kushner. Their conversation was intercepted by NSA/CIA using an “exceptionally sensitive surveillance method.” The intercept was written, evaluated and determined to be “gossip” but given to the ODNI, Gabbard.
The whistleblower was upset the intercept was not shared with the larger intelligence apparatus. Thus, they were angry at Gabbard. The ODNI followed the distribution for the whistleblower complaint, but not the underlying intercepted details of the conversation.
The White House has now asserted “executive privilege” over the content of the intercept, thereby bolstering the position of not sharing what was previously determined to be gossip. The DNI was asked for the details, and Gabbard has told the Democrats the White House has asserted privilege. The House and Senate Intelligence committee democrats are now big mad they don’t get to read the gossip.
(VIA WSJ) – WASHINGTON—The Trump administration told Congress it won’t share with lawmakers the classified intelligence that led to a whistleblower complaint against U.S. spy chief Tulsi Gabbard, citing presidential claims of executive privilege.
The Supreme Court tariff ruling has created the need for U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to modify the baseline tariff approach with the approvals of President Trump.
The baseline tariffs are being reset to 10% with upward adjustment to 15% as planned. The reciprocal tariffs will not require any substantive modifications as most of the Free Trade Agreements have been cemented with reciprocity tariffs as part of the negotiated deals.
USTR Greer appears on Bloomberg to clarify the current situation and provide some information as to the transitional baseline tariffs as now modified. Additionally, and importantly, Greer begins discussing the USMCA review and his acceptance that President Trump is openly questioning the value for us. Greer notes Mexico and Canada being used as import hubs to avoid tariffs is a big issue. WATCH:
Section 232 [Steel and Aluminum examples] of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (19 U.S.C. §1862, as amended) authorizes the President to impose trade restrictions—such as a tariff or quota—if the Secretary of Commerce determines, following an investigation, that imports of a good “threaten to impair” U.S. national security. {SOURCE}
Section 301 tariffs are a trade enforcement mechanism established under the Trade Act of 1974. They allow the U.S. government to impose tariffs on imports from countries that are found to be engaging in unfair trade practices. The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) conducts investigations to determine if a country is violating trade agreements, and if so, it can impose tariffs as a corrective measure {SOURCE}
Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 allows the U.S. president to impose tariffs of up to 15% to address “large and serious” balance-of-payments deficits. This authority can be exercised without prior congressional approval for a limited duration of 150 days. After this period, any tariffs must be extended by Congress. {SOURCE}
*FYI, there is a lot of distracting noise in the various social media platforms about internecine MAGA battles and ego-driven points of specific interest. CTH chooses to focus energy and attention on the substantive policy issues that will generate substantive policy outcomes for America.
President Trump captured a fantastic moment with the gold medal winning USA Mens Hockey team during his state of the union remarks. After the Olympic team spent time in the White House earlier in the day, the team was introduced during the state of the union with thunderous applause and chants of “USA, USA” from the chambers.
Even a few of the communists in the audience stood to applaud the team as President Trump highlighted his remarks about their success and the very unique nature of the team as a whole. A very American moment.
A win for President Trump and the Dept of Homeland Security. The DC Court of Appeals has ruled against the plaintiff argument seeking to block the IRS (Treasury Secretary Bessent) from sharing cross-reference information with the Dept of Homeland Security (Secretary Noem).
Bottom line, the IRS can share data with DHS to identify status of illegal aliens.
“The only issue that we decide is whether, on the sparse record before us, Appellants have met their heavy burden to make a clear showing that they are entitled to the preliminary injunctive relief sought. For the reasons indicated, we conclude that Appellants have not.”
I guess we can put this in the open admission file surrounding the all-out effort by the European Union to defeat Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
According to a leaked document received by Reuters, the European Union is scheduled to permanently ban all EU nations from importing Russian oil. They have scheduled the ban to trigger on April 15th, three days after the Hungarian election.
BRUSSELS, Feb 24 (Reuters) – The European Commission will submit a legal proposal to permanently ban Russian oil imports on April 15, three days after Hungary’s parliamentary election, according to EU officials and a document seen by Reuters.
Two EU officials told Reuters the timing was designed to prevent the oil ban becoming a major factor in Hungary’s election campaign. Hungary and Slovakia, still reliant on Russian oil imports, are strongly opposed to any ban.
In the April 12 election, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his nationalist Fidesz party are facing the biggest challenge to their hold on power in 16 years.
The Ukraine military, technically and non-pretendingly accepted as the EU military, has targeted a key oil pumping station in Russia that feeds into the westerly directed oil supply. However, if you stand back from the western media, what you will notice from this attack is not the target in Russia, but the customers at the end of the pipeline in Europe, mainly Hungary and Slovakia.
[…] Through local stations, including infrastructure around Kaleykino, oil from Tatarstan and neighboring regions feeds into the main pipeline, which runs through the Samara region and continues westward toward Belarus and further to countries in Eastern and Central Europe. […] There were also earlier reports that Ukrainian forces carried out several attacks on Druzhba pipeline infrastructure inside Russia, which at times disrupted Russian oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia. {source}
So, what’s going on here?
Well, with the anniversary of the Russian Federation beginning the war into Ukraine, the Europeans who now control the military operations inside Ukraine are targeting European countries who do not align with their bloodlust, specifically Hungary and Slovakia.
Both Hungary and Slovakia are land locked countries without easy access seaports. Because of their geographic locations, they rely on Russian oil and gas for their energy needs. Hungary and Slovakia have not wanted to expand the war against Russia. The EU is demanding Hungary and Slovakia agree to expanded war.
The European ‘coalition of the willing’ is now targeting key Russian infrastructure that supplies energy products to European countries who are not in compliance with the EU dictates of war.
According to The Daily Mail, former British Ambassador Mandelson was arrested Monday around 4:00pm in the afternoon, questioned for several hours and then released on bail at approximately 2:00am Tuesday.
Mandelson was arrested on similar charges to those levied against Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Both charged with misconduct in public office.
Via Daily Mail – Peter Mandelson has been released on bail after being quizzed late into the night over allegations he leaked sensitive information to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein during his time as business secretary.
The disgraced former minister was led away by detectives from the Metropolitan Police’s Special Investigations Team – the unit dubbed the Yard’s ‘Celeb Squad’ – on suspicion of misconduct in public office yesterday afternoon.
After Special Counsel Jack Smith was dispatched by Judge Aileen Cannon, his team continued to organize materials to frame the hit against an incoming Trump administration. Judge Cannon calls out this wrongdoing as part of her ruling to keep all the records sealed. [Ruling pdf Here]
“While it is true that former special counsels have released final reports at the conclusion of their work,” Cannon wrote, “it appears they have done so either after electing not to bring charges at all or after adjudications of guilt by plea or trial. The Court strains to find a situation in which a former special counsel has released a report after initiating criminal charges that did not result in a finding of guilt.”
The surprise operation to kill Nemesio ‘El Mencho’ Oseguera Cervantes, leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, caught everyone off-guard. According to most media reports, El Mencho’ was killed in a Mexican military operation supported and backed by U.S. intelligence.
His death has now unleashed violent retaliation across several Mexican states, with roadblocks, arson, attacks on government infrastructure and transport systems. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, a woman who previously refused to confront the cartels directly, is now attempting to manage the aftermath.
CJNG is essentially a cartel armed with the same weapons systems as the military itself. Shoulder missiles, armored vehicles, helicopters, mines, high caliber automatic weapons and more are reportedly part of the arsenal within the CJNG cartel. These assets are now being deployed by the cartel against police and the Mexican military.
