The Justice Department has announced that a USAID official named Roderick Watson, 57, of Woodstock, Maryland, and three corporate executives, Walter Barnes, 46, of Potomac, Maryland; Darryl Britt, 64, of Myakka City, Florida, and Paul Young, 62, of Columbia, Maryland, have pleaded guilty to a decade long scam involving bribery using USAID funds and awarded government contracts.

Roderick Watson took bribes and directed over $550 million to the three USAID contractors.  [SEE DETAILS HERE]

DOJ – […] According to court documents, beginning in 2013, Watson, while a USAID contracting officer, agreed with Britt to receive bribes in exchange for using Watson’s influence to award contracts to Apprio. As a certified small business under the SBA 8(a) contracting program, which helps socially and economically disadvantaged businesses, Apprio could access lucrative federal contracting opportunities through set-asides and sole-source contracts exclusively available to eligible contractors without a competitive bid process.

Vistant was a subcontractor to Apprio on one of the contracts awarded through Watson’s influence. After Apprio graduated from the SBA 8(a) program and it was no longer eligible to be a prime contractor for new contracts with USAID under this program, the scheme shifted so that Vistant became the prime contractor and Apprio became the subcontractor on USAID contracts awarded through Watson’s influence between 2018 and 2022.

During the scheme, Britt and Barnes paid bribes to Watson that were often concealed by passing them through Young, who was the president of another subcontractor to Apprio and Vistant. Britt and Barnes also regularly funneled bribes to Watson, including cash, laptops, thousands of dollars in tickets to a suite at an NBA game, a country club wedding, downpayments on two residential mortgages, cellular phones, and jobs for relatives.

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I know no one likes to watch the Republican warmongers advocate for expanded intervention, conflict and escalated global violence as a means for them to retain power.  However, this is one of those sickening points of advocacy that need to be watched and listened to very carefully.

Mike McCaul is Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and he has never experienced a war he didn’t enjoy.  McCaul notes he is happy for the House to receive a sanction package against Russia from Lindsey Graham that will likely be voted on in the Senate tomorrow.  Last week the Senate met with Ukraine officials in a closed-door session, where the after-activity review was never outlined by media.  DC is pretending the meeting never took place.

After discussing his advocacy for enhanced U.S. conflict against Russia, the Texas republican notes he has just spent 3-days in a strategy session with the leadership of Israel, specifically Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the topic of Iran.  As McCaul notes, “there is no question in my mind coming out of that meeting, what Mr Netanyahu’s intentions are and that is to strike Iran when the negotiations go bad.”  WATCH:

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McCaul asked Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu, “at least coordinate with us if you go alone to respond to the retaliation coming out of Iran.”  In essence, it will be easier for us to convince the American people to defend you, if you at least tell us after you attack Iran.  This is nuts.

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The implication of the remark, as President Trump says, “a better security” venue, is that something of much greater significance than traditional White House operations is in need of attention. To such a degree, that prior strategic discussion arrangements are not considered “secure enough.”

President Trump does not like Camp David.

Before taking office, President Trump once told a German journalist in an interview, “Camp David is very rustic, it’s nice, you’d like it. You know how long you’d like it? For about 30 minutes.”

So, the big picture questions become:

What issue would be of such importance, that changing the venue would be needed in order to address it?

What issue(s) has DC interests so aligned, that Rubio and Trump are two of a very small group on the other side of it?

I suspect this is about Iran.

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The blood slowly drains from the face of Margaret Brennan as she faces the indefatigable smiling truth that Kevin Hassett represents. The furrowed brows deepen, the lips pulsate to a purple posture, the accusatory sanctimony drips from her squints and failed constructs until ultimately, she is reduced to a sneering inflection of autonomous twitching.

Kevin Hassett smiles, thanks Ms. Brennan for her endeavors, outlines the White House position on the BBB and China trade negotiations, then happily orders an ice-cream cone for his walk back to the office on a bright sunny day.

[TRANSCRIPT] – MARGARET BRENNAN: We’re joined now by the Director of the National Economic Council, Kevin Hassett. He joins us from the White House. Good morning to you.

KEVIN HASSETT, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: Hey Margaret, good morning.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So I do want to allow you to respond to some of the very specific criticisms that Senator Klobuchar made. One of the things she brought up was something that, frankly, the Senate Majority Leader seemed to acknowledge was under discussion, and that was touching Medicare, making some kind of adjustment. He said anything we can do that’s waste, fraud, and abuse is open to discussion. Is the White House open to any discussion around Medicare?

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FBI Director Kash Patel notes in his interview with Joe Rogan that he only takes the time for one media interview per month and this long-form interview format is his first endeavor.  Director Kash Patel is happy to “finally get to join” Joe Rogan and do something “he has wanted to do since even before, on the campaign trail.”

Director Patel notes in the beginning that several FBI officials have told him they are happy about his arrival as they endeavor to catch more bad guys. According to Patel he replies to them “great, because I don’t know how to do that stuff,” and the agents appreciate his empowerment.  The FBI Director then proceeds to outline the priorities of the FBI under his tenure.

The interview took place yesterday amid the social media blow-up between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk.  When asked for his opinion, Patel notes, “that’s out of my lane.” A former federal public defender, national security prosecutor, and senior official in both the Department of Justice and the Trump administration, Director Patel has held roles across the Intelligence Community, Department of Defense, and National Security Council. The interview is almost two-hours long.  WATCH:

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Despite what many people say, most don’t want to face the truth. What many people really want is simply constant reassurance that what they believe is the truth.  As a consequence, those who are vested in the arts of deception always find an audience willing to be deceived.

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President Trump was traveling from Washington, DC to New Jersey aboard Airforce One and took the time to walk back in the plane to the assembled press pool.  President Trump took numerous questions on the topics of Kilmar Garcia, the Chinese trade negotiations, Elon Musk and current economic conditions.

President Trump also notes the Big Beautiful Bill is gaining support in the Senate and he is optimistic it will pass without too much issue. Additionally, President Trump responded to a question about Ukraine by noting the drone attack against the bomber installations ends up giving President Putin the motive to continue more aggressive bombing of Ukraine, “here we go”… WATCH:

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As we have watched things unfold, we have noticed that Tulsi Gabbard and Marco Rubio seem to be the most effective at delivering results despite the efforts of the entrenched control mechanisms of the deep state intelligence community.  Actions speak louder than words, and while the words of many are strong, it is the actions of Gabbard and Rubio that show focus.

Previously Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard removed the National Intelligence Council from the CIA and removed the heads.  In the latest development, the intelligence apparatus is in a state of apoplexy because DNI Gabbard has experienced the politicization of the Intelligence Community Inspector General’s network (ICIG), and she is now taking bold actions around the silo control mechanism.

Before getting to the substance, it is worth reminding everyone of clear politicization within the ICIG when Michael Atkinson changed the CIA whistleblower rules in order to facilitate a false accusation against President Trump using CIA operative Eric Ciaramella and Alexander Vindman. Atkinson worked with his former boss in the DOJ, Mary McCord, to frame the construct of an impeachment against President Trump.

Also remember, Atkinson’s testimony to the House impeachment committee was sealed and classified by co-chairs Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler who were part of the framing.  That transcript has NEVER been released.

In the latest development, DNI Tulsi Gabbard has installed a key ally, Dennis Kirk, into the ICIG apparatus.  Kirk is in place to monitor the political operations of the Intelligence Community and report to DNI Gabbard so that she can eliminate the bad actors.  To say the Deep State IC embeds are apoplectic would be an understatement.  The Inspector General system within the Intelligence Community is a critical control mechanism for politicization of intelligence.

The leaks to the media are to the Washington Post, because this core part of the IC is a CIA element.  The CIA uses the Washington Post as their public relations and narrative distribution network.

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Phone calls from the Tesla Board, Peter Thiel and especially Larry Ellison, tend to change things.

Remember, Bill Ackman is the billionaire who constructed the SPARC (special purpose acquisition rights company) to save Elon Musk and Twitter financially, before Larry Ellison (Oracle) stepped in.

[Source]

Elon Musk also walked back from his threat to decommission the Dragon spacecraft {link}.

Sea Island hit the MAGA anvil, but it didn’t split.

They’ll be back.

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It was always going to be thus. However, some who do not carry the mental fortitude to withstand the TRUTH, will proclaim they are witnessing some pre-scripted game of chess or something, where the Trump -v- Musk battle is coordinated. It is not.

President Trump delivers some further consideration about Elon Musk from his perspective.

Musk responds by accusing President Trump of being in the “Epstein files” and later calls for his impeachment and replacement with JD Vance.

If you are a long(ish) time reader of CTH, what we are witnessing is exactly what we said we would see unfold. And it is really good to see it happening now. I was not looking forward to this battle as the 2026 midterms came around, and I am thankful to our loving God for delivering it now.

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To understand the dynamic, it is necessary to remain elevated and unemotional as the confrontation takes place.

The U.S. Senate currently has two issues of great importance to President Trump within their upper chamber.  The first is the Big Beautiful Bill (a reconciliation spending and budget plan).  The second is Senate positioning on sanctions against Russia and support for Ukraine.  Both are of great importance when you consider the domestic and geopolitical ramifications.

President Trump wants the BBB structurally passed and doesn’t care about the nibbling on the edges or customary Christmas Tree decorations (special interest add-ons).  Trump wants the Term-1 tax cuts extended and the border security money, these are must haves.

On the Ukraine/Russia stuff, Trump basically wants the Senate to back away from doing anything that influences his leverage positions for a resolution he will construct.  However, President Trump knows the Senate fully supports the proxy war aspect to the conflict (he doesn’t).

Trump has remained relatively quiet on Ukraine-Russia because he doesn’t want to antagonize the Senate who will use their affirmative votes for BBB as leverage to maintain the proxy war and support Ukraine.  That’s the background on the BBB, Russia, Ukraine and Trump’s position.

Into this foray comes the always self-interested and short-sighted Elon Musk who -despite being an influence asset at times- has the most annoying habit of never considering the downstream consequences for his selfishness.

As Musk rails against the BBB, which took 14 months of work from the House to get across the line he runs the risk of collapsing the BBB in the senate.

The longer the BBB sits in the Senate and/or gets changed so much it will take forever to get through the House again; the longer Trump has to bite his tongue on solving the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Musk in his infinite selfishness, cannot see how he is doing real damage to Trump’s objective around Russia by stirring up opposition to the BBB.  Things were getting ugly yesterday and became more so today.

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