♦Puerto Rico has a long history of public corruption and abuse of federal funds.  Back in 2015 ten government officials in Puerto Rico were arrested for corruption, bribery, honest services wire fraud, extortion and various schemes related to giving payments to friends and family via federal contracts. [LINK]  This is the typical corruption PR is known for.
♦A few weeks ago (June 28) the FBI, Public Corruption Unit, posted a notification of an ongoing corruption probe and provided a tip-line for leads related to bribery and/or corruption of public officials. [LINK]  This probe is connected to the billions of dollars U.S. taxpayers have provided to Puerto Rico for recovery after hurricane Maria (2017).

So much money is poured into the island that hundreds of local and regional officials seized the opportunity to indulge their friends and family with funds from recovery accounts.  This is the widespread corruption President Trump previously drew attention to.  This overt and in-the-open corruption is why Nancy Pelosi took the entire Democrat caucus to Puerto Rico in January for a vacation with her favorite lobbyists.  Everyone in/around PR knows this corruption is the norm, not the exception.
Today, six more people were indicted under new federal charges, including two government officials: Julia Keleher, who served as Puerto Rico’s education secretary until April; and Ángela Ávila-Marrero, who was the executive director of the Puerto Rico Health Insurance Administration until late June. They are variously charged with wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy, according to the 32-count indictment.

WASHINGTON – […] The federal indictment says the former officials illegally directed federal funding to politically connected contractors. The arrests come about a month after Congress approved a controversial disaster aid bill that earmarked additional funding for Puerto Rico’s recovery from Hurricane Maria in 2017, which were tied up in part because President Trump called Puerto Rico’s officials “incompetent or corrupt.”

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Some updates in the Michael Flynn case.  As requested the DOJ has filed a response to Judge Sullivan’s order.   The DC judge wanted to know what the status of the prosecution position was now that Michael Flynn is no longer a cooperating witness for the DOJ in the EDVA case, against his former business partner.
The prosecution responds:

(Source Link)

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Earlier today President Trump delivered remarks about an important executive order initiative to fight kidney disease.  [Video and Transcript]

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[Transcript]  THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much, Secretary Azar. And thank you for everyone being here. Please sit down. Let’s enjoy it. It’s much better. You’d rather sit, right?
But today we’re taking groundbreaking action to bring new hope to millions of Americans suffering from kidney disease. It’s a big deal.
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Breakthrough – Things Making Sense Now…

Lots of things going on in/around the two legal cases involving Michael Flynn today.  The origination of the DOJ shift in position involves the indirect case (EDVA) where Flynn is/was a witness in the FARA (Foreign Agent Registration Act) case against Bijan Rafiekian and the Flynn Intel Group.
Hat Tip to Techno-Fog for a litany of legal filings assembled today [132 pages here].  This is somewhat complex to explain.

The direct case against Flynn (Judge Sullivan court – Washington DC), where Flynn copped a guilty plea for lying to FBI investigators, has a sentencing predicated on Flynn’s ongoing cooperation in the Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA) case against Bijan Rafiekian and FIG (Flynn Intel Group).  However, in a stunning move today the DOJ prosecuting Rafiekian now says it will not call Flynn as a witness; and further the DOJ state they now consider Flynn an “unindicted co-conspirator”.
From court filings (on behalf of Flynn) we find the reason.  Michael Flynn refused a demand by the DOJ to testify that the Flynn Group FARA filing was completed with knowingly false information and contained “false statements”.
Michael Flynn refused to testify to this DOJ construct because the claim was not true.
Michael Flynn and his lawyers say there was no intentional filing of false information in the Flynn Group FARA submissions; and the FARA forms were submitted based on legal advice provided for their completion.  If there were mistakes in the FARA filing, they were not falsehoods and/or mistakes made purposefully or with purposeful intent.
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White House National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow on the U.S.-China trade talks where recontact has been established and now officially restarted. As noted, President Trump is in no hurry; the status-quo is leverage in our favor.
Additionally Director Kudlow discusses the potential benefits of the USMCA trade deal and whether the Federal Reserve should lower interest rates.

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Regarding “inflation” these pundits just don’t get it.  For over three years CTH has been explaining how President Trump’s maganomic policy would reverse three decades of stagnant Main Street economic growth.  The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) consistently confirms our earlier predictions releasing data where inflation is essentially nonexistent.
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Earlier today President Donald Trump welcomed Amir Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani from Qatar to the White House. Qatar came under considerable scrutiny from President Trump as part of the 2017 mid-east alliance due to their connections to the Muslim Brotherhood, terrorist financing, and regional issues in conflict with Saudi and Egyptian allies.
When President Trump formed the mid-east coalition, & referencing extremist elements, said: “drive them out”, the target audience was Qatar. [Video and Transcript below]

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[Transcript] PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. It’s a great honor to be with the Amir of Qatar — a highly respected man, a real leader in a large part of the world and a very important part of the world. And we’ve known each other a long time. We’ve been friends for a long time.
And we’re doing a lot of work now. They’re investing very heavily in our country. They’re creating a lot of jobs. They’re buying tremendous amounts of military equipment, including planes. And they’re buying commercial planes, as you know — very large numbers of commercial planes from Boeing. And we very much appreciate it.
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Billionaire businessman and two-time independent presidential candidate, Ross Perot, has died at 89. He was battling leukemia and died Tuesday morning at his home near Dallas.

Ross Perot was the first modern presidential candidate to cut through both sets of party lines and reach out to the monster vote. Perot’s ferocious opposition to the NAFTA trade deal, and all economic policies against U.S. interests, was the center of his campaign.
There are striking similarities between President Trump and Ross Perot particularly around America-First trade deals and prioritizing policy for the American worker.
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Investigative reporter Conchita Sarnoff has spent over a decade looking at documents and talking to officials and witnesses in/around the Jeffrey Epstein case(s).   She authored the book “Trafficking” and joined Fox News host Shannon Bream on Monday night to discuss the background of the Epstein case.
When asked about Bill Clinton’s claim that he only traveled with Mr. Epstein four times, Mrs. Sarnoff flat-out calls Clinton a liar based on known documentary evidence, flight logs and witness accounts:

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President Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani appears on Fox News with Laura Ingraham to discuss the 2020 democrat candidates; the upcoming appearance by Robert Mueller; the recent arrest of Jeffrey Epstein and the race-baiting of Nancy Pelosi:

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Attorney General William Barr discusses the shift in DOJ approach to support President Trump’s request to put the citizenship question on the 2020 census; also his support for Robert Mueller if the special counsel should change his mind and not testify on July 17th to the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees.

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