For the sake of urgency I’m going to talk in direct and bold terms about the targeting of Tulsi Gabbard.  The IC system is attempting to remove her as a disruptive influence by using Iran as a wedge to get her out, but the issue they have with Director Gabbard has nothing to do with Iran.

CTH approaches this after being very concerned about Tulsi Gabbard’s ability.  Not because of intent, but rather we doubted her understanding of the scope of the IC opposition aligned against an effective Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Gabbard started out with these weaknesses, but she learned quickly – grasped the opposition– and has become a transformative force within the Intelligence Community.  Director Gabbard’s recent efforts within the Intelligence Community Inspector General office is another feather in her cap of competence.  Gabbard is now a threat.

If President Trump allows or supports the removal of DNI Gabbard, he is opening up the backplate of his armor, and making himself vulnerable.

The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Chairman Tom Cotton, the disassembled National Intelligence Council and a host of Intelligence Community embeds would like to see Gabbard removed.   DC wants to see her removed because the traditional role of the DNI has been a willfully blind tool of the Intelligence Community; Gabbard is not that.

As DNI Mrs Tulsi Gabbard has ♦ chased down intelligence community leakers, ♦ released the JFK files, ♦ released Joe Biden’s domestic terrorism surveillance plan, ♦ intercepted an NIC plot to impeach President Trump (confirmed by Rubio), ♦ taken control of the Presidential Daily Briefing, ♦ and more recently begun to confront the weaponized corruption within the IC Inspector General organization. These are actions, not words, and those actions speak boldly.  Suffice to say, her effectiveness has placed a target on her back.

In the past few weeks, ever since she began intercepting the ICIG issues and using her own personnel to monitor the IC network, she has been targeted with several direct smear campaigns. It is obvious the targeting is coming from inside the intelligence apparatus, and perhaps even the orbit around/under CIA Director John Ratcliffe.

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President Trump participated in a flagpole raising celebration earlier today at the White House.  During the installation, President Trump delivered remarks to the media and took questions from the assembled press pool.  WATCH: 

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With the unusual conflicting information coming from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, about the lower confidence level in Iran’s weaponized nuclear weapons program; and contrast against the weird video she recently posted about Japan and the use of nuclear weapons; and considering that CIA Director John Ratcliffe has remained completely silent (although not surprising for him) about the Iranian nuclear program; there is the potential for this otherwise ordinary senate hearing to deliver some surprises.

DNI Tulsi Gabbard is the only administration official who has said publicly she did not think Iran was trying to develop a nuclear weapon.  President Trump dismissed a question about the intelligence conflict last night, saying “I don’t care what she said, I think they were very close to getting one.”

As DNI, Gabbard has made some strong moves over the past three months in support of President Donald Trump, including the interception of an impeachment construct within the National Intelligence Council inside the CIA, and the beginning deconstruction of the Obama era Intel Community Inspector General (ICIG) construct.

DNI Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director Ratcliffe will testify together in front of the Senate Appropriations Committee at 10:30am today. It will be interesting to see if the subject of Iran and Israel is brought up by the Senators.  [Livestream Links Below]  WATCH: The senate just changed the hearing to “closed” status.

FUBAR!

I was hoping we would see Ratcliffe and Gabbard questioned together about the same issue.

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I’m becoming increasingly convinced that people on the ConInc side of the conversation also need to pretend not to know things.

There is an increased sentiment of frustration toward President Donald Trump being espoused, and obviously that will be amplified by those who want to use a narrative of “increased sentiment of frustration toward President Trump.”

The part that surprises me is the part where people seem to have forgotten the purpose of the U.S. Senate.

CONTEXT – Currently there is a Big Beautiful Bill (BBB) in the senate, the culmination of years of work by President Trump and his team together with politicians in congress. There is no smaller BBB, there is no modified BBB, there is only one big comprehensive package of initiatives and priorities for President Trump’s agenda. One Big Beautiful Bill.

That’s it. Just this one legislative priority that has all the stuff Donald Trump promised in the 2024 election. It’s all in one bill; all of it. As a consequence, President Trump needs this bill to pass congress; there is no fallback position; there is no alternative; there is no safer option. The BBB is an all or nothing swing for the fences.

GAINING VOTES – This BBB is the legislative package approach that President Trump accepted. As a consequence whatever it takes to get that BBB legislation passed, is exactly what we should expect to see done. Remember, this is a legislative construct that only targets REPUBLICAN VOTES. Republicans control every element of this BBB discussion.

People not happy about President Trump remarks about illegal-alien farm workers. Well, President Trump is buying gaining the votes of Big Ag state senators.

People not happy about President Trump support for Israel. Well, President Trump is buying gaining the votes of Big War senators.

People not happy about President Trump support for more Ukraine weapons against a peace initiative targeting Vladimir Putin. Again, President Trump is buying gaining the votes of the defense contractor senators.

These are just a few examples of stuff in the background.  The passage of the BBB is a priority for President Trump and every Republican senator knows this.  Every single republican senator is willing to blackmail President Trump to get support for their vote.

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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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Last night U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer issued a ridiculous temporary restraining order (TRO) removing President Trump’s control of the California National Guard [SEE RULING HERE]. Charles Breyer is the 83-year-old younger brother of former Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.

What made the TRO ruling transparently ridiculous was: (A) the state of California never requested a TRO; and (B) the citations Breyer used to underpin his decision were all left-wing media reports about the events.  The facts, his facts, underpinning his judicial opinion, were wrong.

Those who follow judicial writing will note that using media reports as citations inside judicial decisions is a common attribute of Lawfare operations. Factually, it seemed unlikely District Judge Breyer even wrote his own ruling; it reads like something from Norm Eisen or Mary McCord.

This morning, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked Breyer’s order just hours after he issued it [SEE RULING HERE].

The appellate intervention retains the power of President Trump as commander in chief over the California national guard. The appeals court set a Tuesday hearing on the full context of the matter, thereby ensuring Trump’s deployment will remain in place at least into next week.

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According to most information flowing from the region, a second wave attack from Israel us underway (or just completed).  The first wave targeting was the Iranian military leadership and nuclear scientists, the second wave hitting the nuclear installations.

We could tell from the initial targeting, the IDF were not targeting hardened installations, they were targeting people who run them where they live in the middle of the night.  This appears to be confirmed by ground reporting of residences being the target with highly strategic Mossad agents on the ground doing major intelligence activity to identify the targets.  It appears Israel was very successful (but still really early).

That approach also establishes the baseline for internal Iranian political opposition to push for regime change.

The second wave of Israeli targeting then goes directly at the nuclear installations.  This approach also makes sense.  First round takes out the brain power, second round takes out their hardened facilities (much more difficult to eliminate).

As the operation proceeds, we now turn focus to the U.S. interests, and this is where we use hindsight to last Sunday’s Camp David meeting.

Secretary of State / National Security Advisor Marco Rubio emphasizes Israel is acting “unilaterally,” without USA support.  President Trump proactively and strategically emphasizes his preferred approach of “diplomacy.”

Some will doubt, but I would draw your attention to Trump’s relay of the call with Vladimir Putin last week. Obviously, President Trump understood Israel was on the cusp of taking some ‘unilateral’ action, albeit with a likelihood of a heads-up to USA of approximate timing (Sunday Camp David as a proactive ‘get us prepped’ agenda).

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Tehran is 7.5 hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time. 

As was widely expected, overnight in Tehran, Israel has begun a series of what it calls “preemptive strikes” against Iran. Iranian state media outlet IRNA reported repeated explosions could be heard in Tehran.

VIA CNN – Israel has launched what it is calling a “preemptive strike” against Iran and declared a state of emergency, according to Defense Minister Israel Katz.

“Following the State of Israel’s preemptive strike against Iran, a missile and drone attack against the State of Israel and its civilian population is expected in the immediate future,” Katz said in a statement.

Air raid sirens sounded in Tel Aviv following the announcement.

The U.S. did not provide any assistance or have any involvement in the Israeli strike, a U.S. official told ABC News. (read more)

Sirens were sounded in Israel as the nation prepares for long-planned counter attacks from Iran to begin.  Three hours before the Israeli strikes began, President Trump released a statement saying, “We remain committed to a Diplomatic Resolution to the Iran Nuclear Issue! My entire Administration has been directed to negotiate with Iran. They could be a Great Country, but they first must completely give up hopes of obtaining a Nuclear Weapon. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Iran had previously vowed to strike at both Israeli and USA targets if they were attacked.  The attack is taking place around 3:00-4:00am local time on Friday the 13th in Tehran.   The National Day of Rage in the USA is scheduled for Saturday, June 14th.  The anti-Israel protesters will now likely align with the anti-deportation protesters and things could get dramatic in the USA.

There are reports of approximately a dozen sites inside Iran being targeted.  Everything is very fluid at the moment.

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Jeffrey David Sachs is an American economist and public policy analyst who is a professor at Columbia University. Mr Sachs has been against the Ukraine-Russia conflict from the outset and provides a voice to those who are tired of the constant global conflict.

Chapters:

0:00 Introduction
0:47 Why Is Ukraine So Central to the Deep State’s Plan?
4:51 The West’s Obsession With Weakening Russia
9:11 The Origins of the West’s Hatred of Russia
23:49 How the Deep State Used Bill Clinton to Usher in NATO Expansion
31:37 What’s Stopping Trump From Making Peace Between Ukraine and Russia?

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U.S. Secretary of State / National Security Advisor, Marco Rubio, and Director of National Intelligence ODNI Tulsi Gabbard continue making background moves well worth noticing.

♦ Secretary Marco Rubio has moved forward with instructions to fire all overseas USAID staff.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered U.S. embassies around the world Tuesday to move ahead with a directive to fire all remaining staffers with the U.S. Agency for International Development. He said the State Department will take over USAID’s foreign assistance programs by Monday.

A federal judge had temporarily blocked an executive order by President Donald Trump for mass firings at multiple federal agencies, including the State Department, and plaintiffs say Rubio’s reorganization plan appears to violate that court injunction.

The Trump administration says the plan was already underway when the president issued the order, so there’s no possible violation. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston has yet to make a determination. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Tuesday that Rubio’s directive “wasn’t a surprise.”

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