In his first press conference since given the interim responsibilities of U.S. Attorney General, Acting AG Todd Blanche holds a press conference on the topic of a Dept of Justice National Fraud Taskforce.
Acting AG Blanche notes there are an additional 97 prosecutors assigned to prosecute fraud and protect the financial security of the U.S. government. A national fraud detention center is being assembled to review all government data and find the root causes of systemic financial fraud within all U.S. agencies.
The questions begin at 6:20 of the video below, with the first question directed to the AG about investigating those who President Trump has previously outlined as weaponizing government to target him personally. WATCH:
During an appearance at the Hudson Institute, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer is asked to summarize the administration’s approach to upcoming USMCA (CUSMA) renegotiations.
USTR Greer emphasized the focus is on outcomes in review of the USMCA, not focusing on the previous trade structure itself. The results carry more weight than reviewing what was intended. On June 1st Greer anticipates telling congress that the U.S. intends withdrawal, pending unilateral negotiations with both Canada and Mexico to resolve conflict.
Greer describes two different protocols within any negotiation to deal with the structural differences between both Canada and Mexico. Those differences include a completely different import/export profile with each country, different sectors of goods, difference in the wage rates within each country and a structural difference in the way each country is establishing their own, independent free trade agreements with other third-party countries. These baselines form the reason to tell congress of the dissolution, and on July 1st inform both Canada and Mexico about it.
In the interim, the points of conflict are currently being negotiated with Mexico toward resolution. The same negotiation is expected later between the U.S. and Canada; however, it sounds like that engagement will take place after congress is informed of the points of conflict. WATCH (prompted):
With a critical Hungarian election coming up on April 12th, Vice President JD Vance travels to Hungary to show support from the Trump administration for Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
In the background Hungary is under a great deal of pressure from the European Union for Orban’s resistance to expanded conflict with Russia. The various left-wing European media claim that Prime Minister Orban is a friend to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the political/intelligence operations of Ukraine have aligned with the EU to target Viktor Orban for removal.
Vice-President JD Vance held a joint press conference with Prime Minister Orban to outline the challenges to the EU, answer questions about the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict and discuss the current energy crisis that has unfolded in Europe as a result of chasing net-zero policies. WATCH:
President Trump has a phone call with the crew of spacecraft Artemis II during their mission to circle the moon and return to earth. Cool stuff. WATCH:
CIA Director John Ratcliffe gets a lot of flak for his general invisibility during the Trump administration. Historically, the entire CIA apparatus has held dual missions, one domestic (hidden) and one foreign (opaque).
There is no reasonable person who would hold confidence in the fidelity of the CIA regarding their influence agenda on domestic politics. However, it does seem clear that CIA Director Ratcliffe has been trying to eliminate the mechanisms within the CIA who have operated that influence campaign.
Shifting the assembly of the Presidential Daily Briefing to the ODNI, the real assembly – not the optics therein, is one facet. Taking the National Intelligence Council (ie. the Ciaramella, Gurganus, NIC) intelligence manipulation system out of the CIA and under the ODNI is another visible facet. Additionally, substantively moving CIA operations away from the State Dept., and refocusing the majority of operations back toward the Pentagon is another example.
In the briefing with President Trump on the Iran rescue operations, Director Ratcliffe notes the removal of politics from CIA operations is ongoing. WATCH:
Restructuring a covert institution is a daunting task, made particularly difficult given the cornerstones of the institution were founded as a domestic influence operation. It may well be said the objective is impossible; indeed, there is slight chance of success given the background we all know too well.
That said, at least on the visible face of what can be seen within an agency whose legislative mandate includes the demand that all activity remain hidden from public review, Ratcliffe does seem to be making an earnest effort to restrain the control mechanisms.
President Donald Trump is scheduled to hold a press conference on Monday afternoon at 1:00pm ET. This comes after the president made a series of Truth Social posts about how the United States will target Iran’s power plants and bridges on Tuesday if the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened. Livestream Links Below:
Former Commander of CENTCOM, General Frank McKenzie, appears on CBS to give his analysis of ongoing Operation Epic Fury, along with the successful rescue of the F-15 crew. WATCH:
[Transcript] – ED O’KEEFE: We’re joined now by the former head of U.S. Central Command, retired General Frank McKenzie. General, Happy Easter.
GEN. FRANK MCKENZIE: And the same to you, Ed.
ED O’KEEFE: So it took just under 48 hours to find the missing weapons systems officer. After the jet they were in went down in a remote and mountainous area of southwestern Iran, the weapons officer was hiding in a mountainous crevice. We’re told by a senior administration official, what’s your assessment of how the search and rescue operation went?
GEN. MCKENZIE: So I think I’d draw two lessons from it, Ed. First of all, the excellence of the joint force, our ability to rapidly pivot, to look for a downed air crewman. We train for this endlessly. It’s a part of every time we send air crew over enemy territory, we have detailed, elaborate plans to go get them. It’s a very basic part of who we are as American fighting men and women. So that plan swung into action. I think it was executed pretty effectively. As always, you’ve got somebody on the ground, may be injured. They got to get to a position where they can hide until you can get to them. All that seemed to work out very well. And you know, we did, in fact, lose a couple of aircraft in that in that mission. But I would just tell you, it takes a year to build an aircraft. It takes 200 years to build a military tradition where you don’t leave anybody behind. You take the aircraft trade any day in a situation like this. The other lesson, I think, is a hard lesson for Iran. First of all, they were not able to find the missing air crewman. Second, you know, they put out a broad appeal to their people to turn him in reward, asking for all kinds of leads, that does not appear to have been successful. And that would- I think that’s maybe a sign of disaffection, don’t know, but you can’t, you can’t be happy with that if you’re a senior leader in Tehran this morning.
Fox News correspondent Trey Yingst shares details from a conversation he had with President Donald Trump surrounding negotiations to end armed conflict.
According to Yingst, President Trump is optimistic for a diplomatic settlement and a negotiated deal as early as tomorrow. However, if the deal is not made, the infrastructure within Iran will be systematically destroyed – as noted in a recent Truth Social Post:
