White House NEC Director Kevin Hassett gives an update on the current status of trade negotiations around the world.  After finishing a CNBC interview (also linked below) Director Hassett noted that Asia was likely to be the next place for an announcement following the completion of the United Kingdom deal.

Hassett outlines that approximately “two dozen” bilateral free trade agreements are completed within the reciprocity framework, and the sequencing of announcements is up to President Trump.  Japan, South Korea and ASEAN nations would be candidates for the next deal as announced. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and USTR Jamieson Greer are currently in Switzerland and will be meeting with their Chinese counterparts to begin the first point of discussion. WATCH:

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The press availability above comes immediately following a more extensive CNBC interview which is outlined below.

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Previously we watched Brussels organize pro-EU rallies in Great Britain (they lost), Hungary (they lost), the Netherlands (they lost), Poland (they won), Georgia (they lost), Moldova (they won) while Germany & France still in a state of flux.  Now the EU/NATO operation focuses on Romania.

With eurosceptic George Simion winning the first-round election and leading in the polls, the EU/NATO must increase their influence operation, or they lose position.

The largest NATO base is currently being constructed in Romania and Brussels cannot afford to permit the Romanian people to be an impediment to their militaristic progress.

The narrative is the same each time; if the citizens of the targeted country vote to support their own nationalistic interests, they are Russian sympathizers.

The pro-EU rally organizers are the same people who showed up in Warsaw, Prague, Budapest and Tblisi.

BUCHAREST, May 9 (Reuters) – Thousands of people rallied in Romania’s capital, Bucharest, and other cities in support of the European Union on Friday, one week before a presidential election run-off that could see a hard-right eurosceptic sweep into power.

Hard-right nationalist George Simion won the first round of the presidential ballot on Sunday, and an opinion survey earlier this week showed him leading ahead of the May 18 run-off vote against centrist Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan.

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One of the least understood dynamics about how the DC silos operate, pertains to review and investigative work done by government officials into government misconduct.  In essence, special counsels, special investigators and appointed special prosecutors do not look at government activity if that activity can be framed as political.  The silos protect themselves from external review.

As a consequence, the only administrative review of government misconduct happens when the silos look internally at their own agency.  In this short video below Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard outlines that 11 internal investigations are ongoing to target Intelligence Community officials, staff and employees who are leaking classified information to the media.

After the internal review, the DNI then sends (criminal) referrals to Main Justice and the FBI if warranted.  Currently three criminal referrals have been sent to the FBI/DOJ as eleven investigations continue.  WATCH:

DNI GABBARD REVEALS 11 PENDING INVESTIGATIONS INTO INTEL LEAKS AND UNDERMINING OF THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

U.S. Director of National Intelligence @DNIGabbard reveals to @MattGaetz “we have 11 other internal investigations ongoing now within ODNI and we intend to continue to… pic.twitter.com/s0SAwTQIjt

— One America News (@OANN) May 9, 2025

TRANSCRIPT … […] “as I said, the politicization of our intelligence community needs to end—to even begin to start to earn the trust of the American people. The actions that we’ve taken—unfortunately—there continue to be significant leaks coming out of the intelligence community. Not only my organization, but the CIA and others—again, by those who are very directly trying to undermine the agenda and actions of President Trump. Once again, the President who was elected by the American people with an overwhelming mandate.

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As anticipated, President Trump has moved Acting USAO Ed Martin to an internal position within Main Justice where he will oversee a review of the Dept of Justice weaponization efforts that took place under Joe Biden.

Mr Martin will also be responsible for reviewing pardons as the DOJ pardon attorney, which also seems to align with the “autopen” review.

(Via Truth Social) – “Ed Martin has done an AMAZING job as interim U.S. Attorney, and will be moving to the Department of Justice as the new Director of the Weaponization Working Group, Associate Deputy Attorney General, and Pardon Attorney. In these highly important roles, Ed will make sure we finally investigate the Weaponization of our Government under the Biden Regime, and provide much needed Justice for its victims. Congratulations Ed!”

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Unfortunately, there is a toxic stew in Washington DC that too few understand.  The events today transpire just as many Trump supporters begin to realize the unfortunate outcomes of nominating unserious people like Pam Bondi, Kash Patel and Dan Bongino.

President Trump reluctantly stated earlier today that he will nominate a different person as U.S. Attorney for the critically important Washington DC office, as the collective republican opposition to Ed Martin has proven to be strong.

Ed Martin was what President Trump needed; a very serious, deliberate and qualified person to confront the Deep State UniParty.  Those core skillsets are why the Republicans did not support him.  However, on the optimistic side, if there is ever a special counsel to be appointed, I suspect Ed Martin will be leading candidate.

WASHINGTON DC – President Donald Trump said Thursday he will withdraw the nomination of Ed Martin, a longtime champion of Jan. 6 defendants, to be the District of Columbia’s top federal prosecutor.

“We have somebody else that will be great,” Trump told reporters. “We have somebody else who we’ll be announcing.”

Support for Martin among Capitol Hill Republicans has faltered in recent days, particularly after Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) signaled his opposition to the nominee over his past comments downplaying the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

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Earlier today President Trump signed an executive order blocking the U.S. development of “gain of function” research, the manipulation of biological agents to weaponize their lethality. [Executive Order Here]

As Health and Human Service Secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr noted in his remarks, the modern U.S. development of the bioweapons program was an outcome of a little-known subset within the Patriot Act that allowed scientists to develop bioweapons without legal accountability for any negative outcome.  Let us not pretend….

In 2014 a U.S. developed bioweapon escaped a lab and in response President Obama stopped the program.  However, the stoppage only blocked development of the bioweapons on U.S. soil.  The various government agencies then continued the “gain of function” bioweapon development by offshoring the experiments and conducting the research in foreign countries.  The SARS-CoV-2 weapon, COVID-19, was developed in one of those labs in Wuhan, China, and escaped creating the pandemic of 2020.  WATCH:

EXECUTIVE ORDER – Section 1. Purpose. Dangerous gain-of-function research on biological agents and pathogens has the potential to significantly endanger the lives of American citizens. If left unrestricted, its effects can include widespread mortality, an impaired public health system, disrupted American livelihoods, and diminished economic and national security.

The Biden Administration allowed dangerous gain-of-function research within the United States with insufficient levels of oversight. It also actively approved, through the National Institutes of Health, Federal life-science research funding in China and other countries where there is limited United States oversight or reasonable expectation of biosafety enforcement.

This recklessness, if unaddressed, may lead to the proliferation of research on pathogens (and potential pathogens) in settings without adequate safeguards, even after COVID-19 revealed the risk of such practices.

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At the behest of President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson previously removed House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) Chairman Mike Turner from his position. Representative Mike Turner is no longer Chairman of HPSCI. This was a big loss for the Deep State.

The removal timing was not coincidental as it followed President Trump announcing an intelligence advisory board headed by Devin Nunes {SEE HERE}. In addition to his manipulative support for Ukraine, in December of 2023 Chairman Turner lied about his FISA-702 renewal having support from Devin Nunes and John Ratcliffe {LINK}. Mike Turner was identified as a big fibber; he lied about Nunes; Turner was removed from the HPSCI chair.

After a few months of general invisibility, Mike Turner appears on CBS today to discuss the tariffs in addition to the removal of his good friend Mike Waltz from the position of National Security Advisor to President Trump.  Video and Transcript below.

[Transcript] – MARGARET BRENNAN: Good morning and welcome to Face the Nation. We have a lot to get to, so let’s begin today with Ohio Republican Congressman Mike Turner. Good to see you here in person.

REP. MIKE TURNER: Thanks for having me, Margaret.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So, I have a lot of national security topics to get to you, but at the heart of so much is America’s economic strength, and so I want to ask you about what President Trump said this week about the cost, the impact of his China tariffs on the supply of goods in the United States. Take a listen.

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The report is coming from Axios, so take it with a grain of salt.  It could also be the White House testing the waters for DC reaction to the possibility.  The outlet is saying White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Stephen Miller is a top candidate for consideration to fill the National Security Advisor role to President Trump [SEE HERE].

Stephen Miller already runs the White House Homeland Security group, inside the executive office.  He has been an excellent organizer and spokesperson for DHS deportation operations, and the Homeland Security Council runs very smooth under his direction.

That said, from my perspective, the key qualification for Stephen Miller is that he DOES NOT carry the infection of time spent inside the Intelligence Community silos.  Miller’s autonomic outlook is not contextualized to believe everything the IC says. This is critical.

An effective National Security Advisor in the modern era (post Patriot Act) needs to look at all intelligence with cynicism, accepting that weaponized political perspective permeates the entire silo that might be providing the information.  The NSA cannot trust anyone in the IC, yet the NSA must be trustworthy to President Trump.

Remember, the Director of National Intelligence (Tulsi Gabbard) is an assembler of pre-existing intelligence, the DNI does not create intelligence.  The Director of the National Security Agency is under the DNI and operates as the librarian for data, from which other silos gather intelligence.  The Director of the NSA does not create intelligence.

It is the Pentagon, the State Dept., the FBI, the DOJ-NSD and the CIA who create most of the intelligence that flows to the President.  The National Security Advisor needs to be the filter between manipulated DoD, DoS, FBI and CIA information.

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In this segment of a remarkable interview by MeAgain Kelly, DNI Tulsi Gabbard discusses the current intelligence community research into the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (aka COVID-19).   Gabbard talks about the U.S. government funding of ‘gain of function’ research which is a soft sounding phrase to describe the weaponization of biological agents.

Gabbard notes the gain of function research taking place in the Wuhan lab, was coordinated and funded by the United States Government, and the Intelligence Community is close to making a direct link between the research and the release of the COVID-19 virus.  Additionally, DNI Gabbard explains the concern of other biolabs around the world and then gets very close to the line of admitting the IC itself is politically weaponized (which it is but would be stunning to admit).  WATCH:

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CTH said in November 2024, I doubt he could succeed.   I said in December 2024, he would be the first to get fired.  I have said over the past several weeks it was obvious Mike Waltz was no longer in a position of National Security influence, and that President Trump had an NSA “in name only.”

Today, Trump fired National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and his deputy, Alex Wong….

VIA CBS – National security adviser Mike Waltz and his deputy, Alex Wong, will be leaving their posts in the Trump White House, according to multiple sources familiar with their departure.

[…] One source familiar with the situation at the National Security Council said the president thinks sufficient time has passed since the Signal incident that Waltz and Wong’s departures can be framed as part of a reorganization. The president has been hesitant to oust Waltz over the perception that doing so could be seen as bending to outside pressure.

Wong served in the first Trump administration as deputy special representative for North Korea and also as deputy assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the State Department. In announcing his appointment, Mr. Trump said that Wong helped negotiate his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. (more)

I’m not going to repeat all the issues that made this outcome transparently predictable from the first day of then President-elect Trump’s announcement.  You can read the background HERE and HERE and HERE.

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