The CFO of Huawei has been released on bail pending her extradition hearing to the United States. Ms. Meng will have to wear and ankle monitor and travel with security agents until her next hearing on February 6th.

(Via NBC) A Vancouver judge set a $10 million CAD bail ($7.5 million U.S.) for Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou Tuesday, capping a week of increasing trade tensions and strong market reactions around the dispute between the Department of Justice and one of China’s largest hardware companies.
The United States had asked the Vancouver court to deny bail for Meng, whose father is a billionaire and a founder of Huawei, calling her a flight risk. Canada has been expected to extradite Meng to the United States over charges that the company improperly took payments from Iran in violation of sanctions against the country.

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An interesting legal development (full pdf below) in the aftermath of the mysterious FBI raid on protected FBI whistleblower Nate Cain. [Backstory]  The DOJ wants the details behind the search warrant to remain under seal, and the whistleblower target of that warrant -who was not arrested- is accusing the DOJ-FBI of being a police state:

[Tweet Link – – Daily Caller Story Link]

Something about this entire story is just not adding up.  The whistleblower came forward to the IG with information about how the FBI covered-up for the Clintons during investigations about the Clinton Foundation.  The IG gave the whistleblower protection, confirmed anonymity, and passed on his documentary evidence to the Senate Intelligence Committee (SSCI).   Then the whistleblower gets raided.
From the outset the DOJ and IG claims don’t match the DOJ and FBI conduct.   Even Senator Chuck Grassley has questions.
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The issues appear multifaceted. In a Canadian court lawyers for Chinese company Huawei CFO, Meng Wanzhou, are arguing for bail while she awaits extradition to the United States for violations on Iran sanctions.
There’s an element to this entire story that appears suspicious. President Trump was intentionally kept out of the loop; and that reality could infer that U.S. (deep state) actors were/are leveraging the Huawei matter as a poison pill against Trump’s trade reset with China.
Years ago such a possibility might be dismissed as conspiracy theory. However, today, knowing how far the administrative state has gone to disrupt the Trump presidency, such a concerted deep state scheme with Canada seems entirely plausible.

VANCOUVER (Reuters) – A Canadian provincial court on Monday weighed whether to grant bail to a top executive of one of the world’s biggest telecommunications companies, Huawei Technologies, while she awaits a ruling on extradition to the United States.
U.S. prosecutors want Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou to be extradited to face accusations she misled multinational banks about Huawei’s control of a company operating in Iran, putting the banks at risk of violating U.S. sanctions which would incur severe penalties, court documents said.

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The transcript from the first James Comey interview with the joint house committee is rather revealing for several measures.  One of the more interesting aspects surrounds Comey claiming the FBI never investigated the Trump campaign; and yet also claiming four Trump campaign officials had FBI investigative files opened on them simultaneously.
Apparently, Comey wants everyone to believe it was a coincidence or something.
Additionally, within his ‘interview’ Comey confirmed our previous hunch on a very specific redaction within the Nunes memo:

Chuck Ross expands: The FBI opened counterintelligence investigations into four Trump campaign associates in late July 2016, earlier than previously known, former FBI Director James Comey told Congress Friday.

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President Trump is the first U.S. President to confront Beijing directly -head on- and the Chinese respect him immensely for it. It is an inherently adversarial relationship; but it is also a conflict where opponents respect their enemy because the outcome is victory or death. Ultimately, this, from the perspective of China, is a zero-sum contest.
President Trump is also the first U.S. President to: (1) understand how the red dragon hides behind the panda mask; and (2) be willing to directly confront that dynamic. That’s where U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer comes in.

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Ambassador Lighthizer is willing to go to the mattresses because he knows that ultimately his kids future, and his bosses’ grand-kids future, are entirely dependent on victory.  Freedom or serfdom, those are the alternatives.  Yes, this is that big a deal.  The biggest of all big deals (pun intended) in the last century.
There is also no doubt in my mind that President Trump has a very well thought out long-term strategy regarding China.
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Representative Jim Jordan discusses his perspectives on the closed-door testimony of former FBI Director James Comey.

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Here’s the transcript (full pdf below) of the December 7th, 2018, deposition of former FBI Director James Comey to the joint house committee headed by Trey Gowdy and Bob Goodlatte:
[scribd id=395239462 key=key-mrRcuymxydLx1G9aSbLV mode=scroll]

(Oversight pdf link – scribd pdf link)

This is breaking.  CTH analysis to follow…

Former FBI Director James Comey gives a brief press conference following his testimony before a joint congressional committee.  Notably, Comey references the importance of saving the ‘institutions’ (and all the corrupt interests within it) above all other aspects.
When the institutions are corrupt; and the officials within the institutions are corrupt; and there is inquiry into the corrupt activity of the officials within the institutions; then retaining the institutions is the priority.  It’s that simple.  If you take down the institution you run the risk of exposing the corruption…. So anyone associated simply demands another coat of paint.

Additionally, Comey seems to infer that the removal of Jeff Sessions is now part of the Mueller/Rosenstein/Democrat approach to frame obstruction against President Trump.  Quite simply, any action by Trump to expose the previously described corruption is viewed as unlawful obstruction.  That’s their plan, and the approach has worked so far.
Comey is scheduled to return for more testimony on December 17th. Transcripts of today’s hearing should be available soon.
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Within a sentencing memo filed today (full pdf below) the US Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York recommends “a substantial term of imprisonment” for Michael Cohen, who has pleaded guilty to fraud and tax charges and campaign finance crimes, as well as lying to Congress.
Reading through the memo – the content of cooperation, and the details that surface as a result therein, are entirely different from all previous media claims:

Additionally, special counsel Robert Mueller filed a second memorandum, recommending no additional prison time for Cohen’s guilty plea for lying to Congress, saying it would be “appropriate” for Cohen to serve any sentence in that case concurrently with the sentence in the SDNY case.
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Apparently the institutional protection system was in full force today as current FBI lawyers blocked any questions directed toward former FBI Director James Comey as they related to FBI investigations of Hillary Clinton; applications to the FISA court and the use of the Steele Dossier.  Darryl Issa explains a transcript will show the severity of shielding:

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