Senators Richard Blumenthal (U-DC) and Lindsey Graham (U-DC) have scheduled a delegation of Ukraine officials to come to the Senate tomorrow and help organize the pro-Ukraine narrative. The Senate is debating the anti-Russia sanctions package and key players are coordinating retention of the Ukraine payment system.

According to Politico all 100 senators have been invited to the lobbying/narrative engineering meeting, and almost all of them are likely to attend. From obvious indications, including Blumenthal and Graham supporting the recent Ukraine attacks against strategic Russian airbases, it would appear the Senate is prepared to dispatch President Trump’s efforts to organize a ceasefire.

As with all things Washington DC, to find the motive follow the money.

WASHINGTON DC – A Ukrainian delegation is set to brief U.S. senators Wednesday as lawmakers weigh a sweeping sanctions bill targeting Russia and its biggest energy customers, China and India.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said in an interview that he organized the meeting with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and noted all 100 senators were invited to attend the closed-door session.

“It’s a pivotal moment in Ukraine — and crunch time for the Senate on this bill,” said Blumenthal, noting that the legislation now has 82 co-sponsors, evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans.

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Many articles are being written and much typeset is being exhausted by people talking about the recent revelations that the FBI has a designated information silo called “prohibited access” within its record keeping system.  Allow me to jump this readership well into the future and give you a cliff notes summary of the logical conclusion(s).

The FBI needs a filing system for information designated “Prohibited Access” because the FBI handles extremely sensitive covert operations, including spies both foreign and domestic, within its agency.  The storage of extremely sensitive national security information is not the issue.

Prior to 2007, in the olden days, the files and information were under lock and key in secure rooms, with access only available to the FBI director.

The issue is that since around 2007, the “Prohibited Access” definitions have expanded as FBI leadership began using the designation to hide information that was detrimental to their interests.  The issue is the type of information hidden within the now electronic system, is evidence of activity the FBI conducts that they don’t want the American people to know about.

Jumping you ahead of the curve, there’s even a level of FBI information assembled that exceeds the “Prohibited Access” qualification.  That information is transferred to CIA vaults that are available due to the same legislative authority that empowers the CIA to operate without any oversight [other than the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI)].  The CIA is the “sister agency” to the FBI.

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That puts that to rest. During a White House press briefing today, Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt was asked if Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy notified President Trump in advance of the attack on Russian nuclear-capable long-range bombers. Leavitt replied curtly, “he was not.”

Prompted Video:

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Last week Ukraine presented President Donald Trump with their “term sheets,” what they require in order to accept a ceasefire.  Today in Istanbul, Turkey, the Russian Federation presented the Ukraine delegation, and likely a transmission to the White House, with the Russian “term sheets.”

This further clarifies the content of the significant meetings this afternoon in the White House, where President Trump assembled his “military leadership” and likely foreign policy team.

Vladimir Medinsky, the head of the Russian delegation at the talks in Istanbul, said Russia is offering Kyiv a temporary ceasefire. Medinsky said that Russia has prepared a two-part “memorandum” proposing a ceasefire and ending the war it started. The second part of the “memorandum” provides for “variability” and “several paths”, he said.

Here are the two primary parts of the Russian terms:  Section 1 “Settlement of Crisis”, and Section 2 “Terms for Ceasefire”.

[Source]

It should also be noted, the lack of a severe response by Russian President Vladimir Putin to yesterday’s attack on Russian air force bases likely indicates President Putin has what he wants.  These terms and condition sheets were created prior to the Ukraine attack on Sunday.  These are Putin’s conditions to stop further military conflict.

In Section II containing the “Ceasefire Conditions” (below) Russian President Putin demands Ukraine conduct democratic elections (#7, #8).  Putin seemingly knows western installed President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will lose and as a consequence weaken the western influence operations.  Both President Trump and Secretary Marco Rubio have previously advocated for the same.

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President Trump has not made any statement after Ukraine launched an attack yesterday deep into Russia targeting long-range nuclear capable bombers.  Russian President Vladimir Putin has also remained quiet throughout the day today.  However, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaking from Vilnius, Lithuania, publicly bragged about the operation today.

According to Turkish officials (note silence from Russia & Ukraine), the previously scheduled meeting between Russian and Ukranian negotiators ended today after less than an hour.  There are no details about what took place inside the Ciragan Palace in Istanbul, just that once the meeting attendees were seated and gave initial remarks, the event dissolved.  Both the Russian and Ukrainian teams left the building.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt appeared full of nervous energy as she spoke to journalists outside the White House, noting that President Trump was in meetings and discussions all day while taking phone calls.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov have also remained silent.

Inside Russia the general sense is one of preparation.  As I noted in my debrief from last year, the government of Russia has been preparing the Russian people for an expanded escalation of the conflict for quite some time.  The Russian media are deliberately pointing to Ukraine -and only Ukraine- in their domestic reporting of the attacks.  There is no mention within Russian media of EU, NATO or USA support for the events that took place Sunday; however, there were a few mentions of Great Britain as a likely assistant to the attacks.

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First the cliff notes version: There’s an important detail to remember.  People are laughing at the long-range Russian bombers being left out in the open, vulnerable to attack. However, the bomber visibility is required as part of several nuclear agreements between the USA and Russia (SALT and START).  Our U.S. long range nuclear capable bombers, covered under the same agreements, are also visible.

Ukraine President Zelenskyy is playing with fire by targeting them, which also explains why Zelenskyy never told President Trump in advance.

The U.S and NATO have provided the means. However, #1) did Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy just exploit a vulnerability by targeting Russian long-range nuclear capable bombers?  and #2) was the CIA and NATO intelligence community a willfully blind participant knowing they would benefit?

Both the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) and the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), call for U.S. and Russian long range nuclear capable bombers to remain “visible and observable by national technical means of verification.”  That open visibility creates a mutual vulnerability as well as a method of surveillance and verification for both the USA and Russian Federation.

[Article III, Paragraph 7, START Treaty Overview]

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and by extension his NATO enablers, just exploited that SALT/START vulnerability and used drones to attack Russian bombers covered by USA-Russia treaties.  There are reports (and videos) now surfacing from inside Russia showing the Russian Federation moving strategic long-range mobile missile launchers into position for a counterattack against Ukraine.

This situation is obviously very fluid and let us all hope that President Trump and President Putin are in communication about this escalation as created by Zelenskyy and his enablers, even if -and probably especially if- our own intelligence agencies are part of the enabling.

Think about the ramifications of NATO enabled Ukraine targeting major Russian military assets which are vulnerable only because they are part of a previously agreed U.S-Russia negotiation to remain vulnerable.  In essence, an argument can be made by Russia that NATO -and by extension us- have targeted nuclear capable missile systems, and those systems were protected by the SALT/START treaties.  How would we respond if an adversary launched a strike against our strategic long-range nuclear capable bombers in the USA?

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According to Fox News reporter Bill Melugin, three senior DHS sources tell him the Boulder terror suspect is an Egyptian national in the U.S. illegally as a visa overstay who entered the U.S. during the Biden administration. Mohamed Sabry Soliman arrived at LAX on 8/27/22 on a B1/B2 nonimmigrant visa with an authorized stay through 2/26/23, but he overstayed & never left.

On 9/29/22, terror suspect Mohamed Sabry Soliman filed some sort of claim with USCIS, potentially an asylum claim, and on 3/29/23, USCIS under the Biden admin gave him work authorization, which expired on 3/28/25. Soliman remained illegally in the United States before he carried out his attack today in Boulder, Colorado.

According to local and FBI officials, there are at least six victims as Mohamed Sabry Soliman used an improvised flamethrower to attack people in the crowd. The FBI and Local Police held a press conference:

Summary: Six people have been injured after an Egyptian illegal alien started “setting people on fire” at a mall in Boulder in Colorado. The FBI calls it a “suspected act of terrorism” and tells a news conference the suspect – who they have identified as Mohamed Sabry Soliman – shouted “free Palestine” during the attack. A peaceful event in support of Israeli hostages was under way when the attack happened; police say – the group meets regularly for a walk in the area. Officers say the suspect has been taken into custody and six people were injured, with injuries ranging from “very serious” to more minor. Colorado’s attorney general says the attack “appears to be a hate crime.”

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If we cut through all the polite pretending, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appears on Fox News to tell the bobble head the nation specific tariffs are going to hit regardless of what approaches need to be taken.  President Trump is going to remain focused on structural changes to the global economic system of trade, manufacturing and USA commerce despite all of the grandiose efforts of the multinationals and their Lawfare foot soldiers.

As Lutnick again repeats, there are a variety of legal mechanisms that can be used to enforce the tariff program triggered by President Trump.  Adhering to them is not optional for trade partners who wish to have access to the USA market.  If the exporting nation wants to play games, try and delay or delay tactics, the end result will be even more against their interests.  There is no alternative other than to acquiesce.  WATCH:

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is going to find this out on Thursday when he shows up in full Blackrock mode and only creates a worse scenario for himself and the EU Commission he represents.  If Merz wants ‘ugly’, no problem – President Trump has an endless supply of big ugly tools.

FA-FO!

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This interview is really easy to boil down.  86% of American parents do not want to give their child a COVID-19 vaccination.  88% of pregnant American Women do not want to get a COVID-19 vaccination.  However, the majority of CBS News advertising funding comes from Big Pharma.

In essence, Margaret Brennan is protecting her next contract negotiation, and the transparency of it is off the charts.

That’s the context you will hear play out in this interview between FDA commissioner Marty Makary and CBS News Margaret Brennan.  Video and Transcript below:

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[Transcript] – MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to Face the Nation. We’re joined now by FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary. Good morning.

FDA COMMISSIONER DR. MARTY MAKARY: Good morning.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Good to have you here in person.

DR. MAKARY: Good to be here.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So I want to get through a lot here, but one of the things we’ve noticed is this new COVID variant that seems to be circulating in Asia. I believe it’s NB.1.8.1. It’s a variant under monitoring. What do we need to know?

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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appears on CBS News to counter the false information being spread by Margaret Brennan on behalf of Wall Street corporations.  The topics of interest surround China and tariffs.

Let me clarify for the audience that does not follow closely.  Tariffs are paid by the importer based on the wholesale price of the product as delivered by the exporting country depending on the exporters’ tariff rate.  Tariffs are NOT LEVIED/PAID based on the retail price of the product as sold to the consumer.

Example:  A pair of Denim Jeans made in China for Guess Brand.  The Chinese manufacturer sells the jeans to Guess Brand for $10 a pair manufactured.  Guess sells the jeans at retail in the USA for $100 (a $90 gross profit).

A 50% tariff on China means the jeans cost Guess Brand $15 instead of $10 (an $85 gross profit).  A 50% tariff on Guess brand jeans, that retail for $100, changes the cost to the retail brand by $5.

Multinational corporations who have off shored their production and manufacturing to China are the ones screaming about tariffs.  Ultimately in the final analysis, President Trump is exposing corporatism, multinational corporate vultures; he is not necessarily just exposing China.

In the example above the company makes $85 gross profit as opposed to $90 gross profit on the pair of jeans if they do not raise the retail price.  They don’t raise the price because their profit margins are already ridiculous, and that’s why consumer prices do not go up. A 50% direct tariff on Chinese goods only marginally hits the multinational corporation.  American consumers need to understand this dynamic better.    WATCH: 

[TRANSCRIPT] – MARGARET BRENNAN: Good morning and welcome to ‘Face the Nation.’ We begin today with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Good morning and thank you for being here.

SECRETARY SCOTT BESSENT: Morning, Margaret.

MARGARET BRENNAN: There’s so much to get to. I want to start with China, because the Defense Secretary just said there’s an imminent military threat from China to Taiwan. Days earlier, Secretary Rubio said he’d aggressively revoked Chinese student visas. On top of that, you have curbing exports to China. Trade talks you said with Beijing are stalled, and President Trump just accused China of violating an agreement, and now says no more, ‘Mr. Nice Guy.’ Are you intentionally escalating this standoff with Beijing?

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