During a bond hearing today prosecutors say the FBI is still investigating whether a 32-year-old Yujing Zhang, the Chinese woman accused of lying to illegally enter President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, is a spy.
After a search warrant, additional spy tech was found in her hotel room including: $7,500 in one hundred dollar bills; a signal detector device to find hidden cameras; nine USB drives, five SIM cards and an additional cell phone.  Sketchy… all of it.

(Via CBS) A federal prosecutor says a Chinese woman who was arrested for illegally entering President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club had a device to detect hidden cameras in her hotel room when Secret Service agents searched it.
Speaking at Yujing Zhang’s bail hearing Monday in West Palm Beach, Florida, prosecutor Rolando Garcia said agents also found U.S. and Chinese currency in her room, along with nine USB drives and five USB cards. She’s charged with lying to a federal agent and illegal entering.

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National Economic Council Chairman Larry Kudlow appears on Face The Nation to discuss issues with the U.S-Mexico border and possible economic ramifications if the security issues are not addressed. Additionally, Kudlow discusses the USMCA trade deal and the status of current negotiations with China.

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There are no coincidences when you dance with the dragon.  Earlier today U.S. prosecutors notified Huawei in a court filing they intend to use classified surveillance evidence gained through a FISA warrant against the Chinese state-owned enterprise.

Assistant US Attorney Alex Solomon said at the hearing in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, that the evidence, obtained under the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), would require classified handling. (more)

A few hours later, President Trump holds a meeting in the oval office to discuss trade issues with Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He….  [Video and Transcript Below]

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[Transcript] – 4:31 P.M. EDT – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. It’s a great honor to be with the Vice Premier of China, a highly respected man all over the world. We’ve had tremendous discussions. We’re getting very close to making a deal. That doesn’t mean a deal is made, because it’s not, but we’re certainly getting a lot closer. And I would think with — oh, within the next four weeks or maybe less, maybe more — whatever it takes — something very monumental could be announced.
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President Trump delivered remarks today during a White House Opportunity and Revitalization economic group meeting. [Video and Transcript Below] What is the axiom that needs to be continually referenced when contemplating the forces aligned against President Donald Trump?  “There are trillions at stake“.
President Trump is single-handily navigating U.S. interests amid a landscape where the entire BIG CLUB is aligned against him.  All but a handful of DC politicians are owned by Wall Street’s BIG CLUB (Donohue and McConnell); multinationals & allied media. Meanwhile, to enhance their self-interests/plans, the ‘Occupy’ left-wing Democrats have abandoned all prior positions and joined a tactical alliance with Wall Street in the hopes of removing President Trump.  These are the forces against all ‘America First‘ policies.

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[Transcript] -White House – […] PRESIDENT TRUMP: We’re losing, a few years ago, two hundred, routinely, to China. We can’t do that. We’re going to turn it around. It’s got to be a great deal. If it’s not a great deal, we’re not doing it.
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Suspicious Cat says this story is suspicious. A Chinese woman, Yujing Zhang, used fake names and different stories to explain why she was at the Southern White House. Secret Service Agents said they seized four cell phones, a laptop computer, and a thumb drive that had malware on it….

WEST PALM BEACH — A 32-year-old Chinese woman, who said she wanted to talk to President Trump’s family about economic relations between the United States and her home country, lied her way into Mar-a-Lago over the weekend before she was arrested, U.S. Secret Service agents said.

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Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham (U-DC) appears on Fox News with Maria Bartiromo to discuss his plans for investigative obfuscation and oversight.  On a positive note, Graham is considerably less optimistic as he discusses his efforts to pressure AG Bill Barr to establish a special counsel.  Previously Graham expressed “confidence”, now he’s expressing “hope”. Hmm, perhaps AG Barr is less favorable to another special counsel.
It also sounds like someone has informed Senator Graham the preferred direction for accountability is support for criminal referrals and direct investigation/prosecution. Perhaps that subtle shift is connected to his re-election effort.
The conversation then shifts to border security, China and North Korea.  Senator Graham affirms he is aligned with President Trump on those three critical issues.

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[Originally posted in 2017] To understand the China ‘One-Belt / ‘One-World‘ economic trade strategy it becomes necessary to understand how structurally weak the Chinese economy was when created.
People often talk about the ‘strength’ of China’s economic model; and indeed within a specific part of their economy -manufacturing- they do have economic strength.
However, the underlying critical architecture of the Chinese economic model is structurally flawed and President Trump with his current economic team understand the weakness better than all international adversaries.
Lets take a stroll and lightly discuss.
China is a central planning economy. Meaning it never was an outcropping of natural economic conditions. China was/is controlled as a communist style central-planning government; As such, it is important to reference the basic structural reality that China’s economy was created from the top down.
This construct of government creation is a key big picture distinction that sets the backdrop to understand how weak the economy really is.
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Steve Bannon appears on CNBC to discuss the economic objectives of China and how President Trump and USTR Lighthizer are confronting three very important convergences.
Bannon does a good job outlining the three Chinese priorities: ¹One-belt, one road; ²Made in China 2025; and ³Huawei 5G rollout; and how those efforts conflict with U.S. interests.

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Something slightly delayed next week’s schedule by a few days.  Quite possibly the issue with the “Sanctions”, discussed yesterday.  However, that said, the next two face-to-face discussions between USTR Lighthizer and Vice Premier Liu He have been scheduled.

Statement from the Press Secretary – At the direction of President Donald J. Trump, United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin will travel to Beijing, China, for principal-level meetings starting on March 28, 2019, to continue negotiations aimed at improving the trade relationship between the United States and China.

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Yesterday the U.S. Treasury announced sanctions against two Chinese shipping firms for violating ongoing sanctions against North Korea [TREASURY HERE].
With USTR Robert Lighthizer and Secretary Mnuchin set to travel this weekend to Beijing for ongoing trade discussion, the sanction timing complicates the dance with the dragon. Subsequently President Trump sends the following tweet:

Slamming China with sanctions (over DPRK dragon activity) while Beijing is showing the Panda mask (during Beijing trade negotiations) is not wise. If the Panda mask drops during trade negotiations to reveal the Dragon face, then ok. However, the majority of the West, driven by a misunderstanding of the China-DPRK relationship, does not know how directly a manipulative Beijing controls Pyongyang.
Taking aggressive sanction action against China could backfire with Beijing ordering those around Chairman Kim to test a missile.
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