Well, well, well… the media cannot say President Trump didn’t try to warn them about throwing fake-news rakes in front of their narrative parade – then wondering why they keep getting black-eyes.   Here we go, the details begin to surface.
With more reporting by John Solomon, cited and attributed to on-the-record officials in the State Department and Ukraine, a much more clear picture emerges. In reality, and unfortunately as expected, the fulsome picture is 180° divergent from the media narrative.

The government of Ukraine under both Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, and now President Volodymyr Zelensky, had been trying to deliver information about Obama officials and Democrat party officials (DNC on behalf of Hillary Clinton) requesting the government of Ukraine to interfere in the 2016 election.
Both Poroshenko and Zelensky administrations had tried, unsuccessfully, to get information to current U.S. officials. U.S. State Department officials in Ukraine were refusing to give visa’s to Ukrainian emissaries because they did not want the damaging information sent to the President Trump administration.
Failing to get help from the U.S. State Department, the Ukranians tried a workaround, and hired a respected U.S. lawyer to hand deliver the documentary evidence directly to the U.S. Department of Justice. The contracted American lawyer hand-delivered the information to the U.S. Department of Justice in New York.
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Earlier today in the oval office President Trump was questioned about the intelligence “whistleblower” story.  The President warned media they are setting themselves up for another fake news embarrassment:

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[Transcript Below]
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The mysterious “whistleblower” case now looks like a coordinated Democrat effort to block any investigation of presidential candidate Joe Biden for corrupt pressure on Ukraine to drop the investigation of Burisma, an energy company operating in the country, on which his son Hunter Biden was a board member.
In March 2016, then Vice-President Joe Biden warned Ukraine that $1 billion in loan guarantees would be withheld by the U.S. unless they replaced Viktor Shokin, the prosecutor general who was investigating Hunter Biden.  Ukraine did remove Shokin, and the prosecution was dropped.  It looks like a clear case of a quid-pro-quo.
However, as things are starting to shake out, the current obfuscation to protect Joe Biden is President Trump asking Ukraine’s new president Volodymyr Zelensky to take another look at the issues surrounding the former government’s decision to fire the Ukrainian prosecutor.  This is presumably the call concerning to the whistleblower.  To wit, democrats see this as Trump asking Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 election.

Washington Post – A whistleblower complaint about President Trump made by an intelligence official centers on Ukraine, according to two people familiar with the matter, which has set off a struggle between Congress and the executive branch.

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Michael Pillsbury traveled to Hong Kong recently to help explain the goals and objectives of President Trump’s U.S-China trade position.  During an interview, Mr. Pillsbury warns Beijing interests not to interpret the current U.S. position as aggressive, because the dragon has yet to see the severe side to Trump’s position.

During an interview with the South China Morning Post, Pillsbury points out there are a great many more ways that President Trump is prepared to respond if the combative trade position from China remains hostile to any concessions.  This first option was their best option.  However, should they choose further trade conflict, President Trump will happily oblige.
CTH research on Trump’s outlook, vis-a-vis China, has led us to believe there is no upper limit to the economic weapons President Trump is willing to deploy; and considering that Pillsbury can be relied upon to deliver honest, accurate and deliberate remarks about the White House position, these warnings from a close advisor to the President should be weighted accordingly.

(South China Morning Post) – The United States is set to ramp up the pressure on China if a trade deal is not agreed soon, a key White House adviser said, adding that Washington has so far imposed only “low level tariffs” on the Asian giant.

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To fully absorb the backstory to the latest allied effort between politicians and the intelligence apparatus, it is helpful to remember when the Vice-Chair of the SSCI, Senator Dianne Feinstein, abdicated her position after the 2016 election.

For years CTH has discussed the internal dynamic of Democrat politicians (legislative branch) working in concert with Intelligence Community (executive branch) officials to protect their interests. Ultimately the biggest example of this surfaced when Donald Trump won the 2016 election despite the efforts of the deep state. Trump became target #1.  Remember also, Feinstein’s chief-of-staff, Dan Jones, leaving and going to work on the outside including paying Fusion-GPS to keep up their efforts?
We have provided the trail of overwhelming evidence, showing how the intelligence apparatus writ large, including select members of the Gang-of-eight, were working with politicians (House and Senate) against candidate, president-elect and President Trump. No doubt the internal plans therein was a step too-far for Feinstein. She bailed.
However, Feinstein’s departure was only one aspect, there were many more – including: Senator Harry Reid working with CIA Director John Brennan on the dossier distribution (letter to FBI etc.); the 2017 censure of HPSCI Devin Nunes, after discovery of the Trump campaign unmasking etc; the 2016 use of FBI/NSA databases by political operatives and “contractors” to extract opposition research; and obviously the combined efforts of the CIA, DNI, FBI and DOJ in what is now known as “spygate”, the surveillance of the Trump campaign.
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Fox News host Maria Bartiromo had Kevin McCarthy and Larry Kudlow on Fox Business to discuss the status of ratification for the USMCA agreement.   After McCarthy outlines the politics of Nancy Pelosi intentionally holding back the ratification vote, and states if the agreement is not passed prior to Thanksgiving it will not be done, Larry Kudlow follows up with a more optimistic outlook.

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Keep in mind, Speaker Pelosi doesn’t know that close trade followers are aware of her deal with Justin Trudeau to hold back on ratification in an blatantly political effort. Here’s Kevin McCarthy’s full interview.
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Representative Mark Meadows discusses the contradictions between James Comey’s testimony to congress and the statements attributed to him by Inspector General Michael Horowitz.

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While the Tick Tock club remains excited about another Horowitz report, Representative Louie Gohmert slaps the cold fish on the table…

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DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz testified before congress today on matters relating to the overall IG office.  However, with Democrat majority chairs refusing to call Horowitz for testimony on the recent Comey Report, republicans on the House Oversight Committee took advantage of the opportunity to ask questions about the FISA investigation and the prior IG reports on James Comey and Andrew McCabe.
The full hearing is below. However, to save time the key parts of the discussion are time sequenced and identified (each prompted, just hit play):
[@59:55] IG questioning by Rep. Hice begins to center on issues related to the IG report on FISA.  Mr. Horowitz discusses the current status of the FISA IG report as under rough draft review by AG Bill Barr, where decisions on classification are taking place.

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This is a topic we have previously discussed.  The current status is unfortunately what CTH previously predicted….  The consequences here are very serious.

Representative Denver Riggleman (R-Va.), a member of the House Financial Services Committee, claims a significant number of House Democrats are ready to vote to approve the USMCA trade deal.  However, Nancy Pelosi is holding back the vote.

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Everyone agrees that passage of the USMCA would provide leverage for the U.S. position in both China and EU trade negotiations.  Representative Andy Barr says despite a likely 300+ vote of support, he believes Pelosi is stalling to block that exact leverage.
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