Former Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook was called as a prosecution witness in the trial against Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann today.  During his appearance Mook was questioned about the fraudulent Alfa-Bank story that lies at the center of the prosecution against Sussmann.

Robby Mook testified he had no idea who Sussmann was or what he was doing.  However, Mook also stated he learned of the Alfa-Bank research during a meeting in 2016 and took it to Hillary Clinton, who then told him to share it with media.

MSM – Hillary Clinton personally approved leaking to the media information alleging a connection between Donald Trump and a Russian bank in 2016, which the campaign itself had not fully confirmed, according to testimony Friday by Clinton’s campaign manager.

Robby Mook, Clinton’s campaign chief, said in federal court that as the campaign against Trump heated up in the late summer and early fall of 2016, Marc Elias, who was then a lawyer with the Perkins Coie law firm and served as the campaign’s top legal adviser, told Mook that “people with expertise” in cyber activity had briefed the campaign on data alleging links between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank, a Russian financial institution with ties to the Kremlin.

(more…)

During a Senate Energy Committee hearing, Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan gives a list of actions taken by the Biden administration in the past three weeks to block U.S. oil production.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm stated during the hearing that the Biden administration was doing everything possible to increase oil production and supply in the United States.  Senator Sullivan quotes the actions of the Biden administration in the last three weeks which are exactly the opposite of the energy secretary claims.  WATCH (3 minutes):

This is, yet again, another example of the false pretense of the Biden administration {GO DEEP}.  The Interior Department is filled with radical climate change ideologues, and they are working earnestly to undermine U.S. energy policy.

The hypocrisies pointed out by Senator Sullivan are not hypocrisies, they are fraud.   The activist ideologues embedded within the bureaucracy of government are like terror cells activating to destroy the foundation of the country.   President Obama implanted them at all levels of the executive branch offices. They are self-aware and operating independently.  The example of the Interior Department, in charge of oil and gas development, is the easiest to see.

(more…)

Over time, retired Col Douglas Macgregor has been shown to be quite accurate in his overall perspective of the war in Ukraine.  Appearing on OANN with Dan Ball, Macgregor gives another update on the current status that aligns with what little non-propaganda information is visible.

As Macgregor notes, Russia was always going to strategically win a war in eastern Ukraine for the same reason the United States would win a war in Mexico.  The scale of a determined military capability eventually wins, even with a strong resistance, specifically because: (a) Ukraine is connected to a common border with Russia, and (b) the citizens in the eastern part of the country are aligned with Russia.

Macgregor also identifies the financial motive for the government of Sweden to join NATO, even though the Swedish citizens would likely not support the effort if put to a referendum.  As the retired colonel also notes the lack of recent U.S. media talking positively about the status of Ukraine, is an indicator that Russia is solidifying the eastern part of the country with lessened resistance.  The segment with Macgregor starts at 04:00 (Direct Rumble Link) WATCH:

(more…)

Earlier today, the installed occupant of the White House, Joe Biden, flanked by Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, said the two countries would “make NATO stronger.”

With great enthusiasm Biden called their applications join the NATO pact a “victory for democracy,” as the proxy war in Ukraine continues.  The speech transcript – is here, and the White House readout of the meeting – is here.

“President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. met today with Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson of Sweden and President Sauli Niinistö of Finland and warmly welcomed their applications for NATO membership, which will strengthen our collective security.  At this historic moment for both Finland and Sweden, the President underscored his commitment to support both countries as they seek formal NATO accession, including by working with NATO Allies and Congress to welcome them into the Alliance as quickly as possible.  The leaders also discussed their ongoing cooperation on shared global challenges, and their commitment to continued strong support for Ukraine.” (LINK)

Joe Biden also thanked Senate leaders Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell for their bipartisan support to affirm Sweden and Finland. “I greatly appreciate Senator Schumer and McConnell’s support, as well as Senator Menendez and Risch, to move this through the Senate as quickly as possible once the perspective of all Allies are addressed and NATO adopts the accession protocols,” he said.

Meanwhile, according to the same people, Russia putting a military base in Cuba is an existential threat to world peace.

(more…)

~ The Great Pretense of Biden ~

CTH has been preparing to write about this for a week. Today a serendipitous event took place which highlights the dynamic within the current Biden administration.

During a Senate Energy Committee hearing today, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, a woman specifically appointed for her progressive identity as a native American indian – with no skills to be interior secretary, was questioned by Senator Joe Manchin about a press release [LINK] from the interior department that took place in real time as Secretary Haaland was giving testimony.  Secretary Haaland had no idea what the press release was about. WATCH:

[The Press Release is Here]

The issue surrounds the U.S. Interior Department, which is filled to the brim with left-wing climate activists, pushing out a press release saying that any further oil and gas leases are not going to happen.  Secretary Haaland was telling congress the Interior Department was doing everything they can to allow oil and gas leases and expand drilling with additional permitting.

The press release from the dept says the proposal the Secretary was stating “is not a decision to issue specific leases or to authorize any drilling or development,” literally undercutting her testimony in real time, and reaffirming that no further oil drilling will be authorized.   Secretary Haaland was caught completely off-guard, stammered and admitted she had no idea what the bureaucrats in the dept were doing.

What this example reveals is something we have noticed and discussed but has become very clear in the past few weeks.

(more…)

Montana Senator Jon Tester is deeply connected to the corrupt and multinational Big Agricultural (BigAg) lobby.  As a democrat connected closer to Wall Street, he is not a supporter of American farmers overall as it pertains to America First food security and domestic food prices.  However, that said, what Senator Tester says in the first two minutes of this interview is correct.

As Tester notes, the food “supply” issue is not as big a deal in North America as it will certainly be in food dependent regions.  Between the U.S, Mexico and Canada we produce more food than we consume, and with excellence in industrial farming we export food products to the world, eastward and westward.  The issue for the U.S. population is going to be massive increases in food prices in later summer and fall as the cumulative increase in costs at the field reach the stores.  WATCH (2 mins):

My own back of the envelope calculations put the third-wave price increase in the 35 to 40% range overall.  Based on the input costs, energy and transportation, a current $4.00 item is going to cost around $5.50 later this year.  That is the approximate scale of price increase in foodstuff we should be anticipating.

Food insecurity, as an outcome of food pricing, is going to be the election issue that might supersede the gasoline price issue.  That’s going to be the crisis, and we are going to need to be very careful; because depending on the scale of the crisis there are going to be massive numbers of people demanding the government step in to solve it.   Our current government is being run by economic socialists; we do not want their equitable distribution solutions.

Conduct your affairs accordingly….

(more…)

Despite the request from prospective purchaser Elon Musk to verify the number of fraudulent accounts supported within the Twitter social media platform, company executives told employees the purchase is going forward regardless of Musk requested verification.

(Bloomberg) – Twitter Inc. executives told employees on Thursday that the $44 billion deal to sell the company to billionaire Elon Musk is moving forward as planned, and that it won’t renegotiate the agreed-upon price of $54.20 per share.

Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s top lawyer and head of policy, also told workers at an all-hands meeting that there is “no such thing as a deal being on hold,” according to people who attended the meeting. She was pushing back on claims from Musk over the past week that he is pausing the deal while he learns more about the number of bots and spam accounts on the social-media service. (read more)

Immediately after the executive meeting with employees, and perhaps in a proactive effort to control any content changes to the platform, the executives then announced a new internal “crisis misinformation” team {LINK}.  Essentially new rules that will give Twitter censors new tools and justifications to block and control content.

(more…)

The $40 billion UniParty aid package for Ukraine pass the senate this afternoon in a vote of 86-11 (vote tally below).

The Biden administration had originally requested $33 billion, but congress did not feel he was spending enough. The House added an additional $7 billion and passed the $40 billion legislation last week.  Today the Senate voted 86-11 to approve the package which is targeted to last 5 months and includes U.S. taxpayers funding the salaries and pension benefits for officials in the Ukraine government.

11 republican senators voted against the massive money laundering operation. They were Senators Blackburn (R-TN), Boozman (R-AR), Braun (R-IN), Crapo (R-ID), Hagerty (R-TN), Hawley (R-MO), Lee (R-UT), Lummis (R-WY), Marshall (R-KS), Paul (R-KY), Tuberville (R-AL).

(more…)

The second day of witness testimony in the trial of Michael Sussmann for lying to the FBI was completed on Wednesday.  For a good recap of the granular aspects Techno Fog has a play-by-play SUMMARY HERE.

For CTH readers I want to focus on a point that is visible in the defense argument and challenging, insofar as it has not yet been revealed, in the prosecution position.   The issue surrounds why Rodney Joffe gave the Alfa-bank fraudulent information to Michael Sussmann instead of just giving it to the FBI himself.  {A Question Margot Cleveland posits here}

In the cross examination of the first set of prosecution witnesses the defense lawyers keep contending that Sussmann did not lie about the fraudulently created origin of the Alfa-Bank material and there was no reason for him not to tell the FBI he was a courier for the Clinton campaign.  The defense is essentially that Sussmann and the FBI knew he was working for the Clinton campaign when he delivered the fraudulent material.  Sussmann wasn’t trying to hide anything, ergo he didn’t lie.

Sussmann’s defensive point is essentially true.  The DOJ, FBI and everyone associated with the information knew they were receiving opposition research from the Clinton campaign.  However, the FBI had to pretend they didn’t know in order to use it to start an investigation.

(more…)

Zero Hedge published a good article yesterday with some solid internal data showing a strong likelihood that national gasoline prices are likely to rise another 40% from current levels by mid-late summer.  That would put the national average for a gallon of gasoline around $6.20 by August.

The data behind the prediction is solid and essentially boils down to the U.S. refineries not having the expanded capacity needed to keep up with an increased summer demand, particularly as they need to keep generating high volumes of diesel fuel due to current critical shortages.

The issues are created by the Biden administration and the regulatory stranglehold they put on the oil and gas industry last year.  Obviously, all of this is a feature of the administration plan, not a flaw.  The Green New Deal agenda necessarily requires that gasoline rise in price to $7/gal this year in order to force the change in profit dynamic for alternative fueled transportation.

Unfortunately, we the consumers will be the ones punished as the progressive, communist and far-left policy makers chase their climate change agenda.  Cheap and cost-effective energy has to be made ‘not cheap’ and ‘not cost-effective’ in order to create the energy crisis their agenda requires.

Massive increases in gasoline prices are a feature, not a flaw.

Remember, Biden is disposable.  The people behind Biden purposefully selected him in order to generate a kamikaze ‘fundamental change’ mission within a single 4-year presidential term.  Getting crushed on the political outcomes is irrelevant, they just need to push the agenda fast enough, far enough, and destructive enough, so that all energy policies become irreversible.

(more…)