UPDATE:  Appointment Confirmed
Lots to unpack here.  Maggie Haberman is warning resistance allies in the Senate to prepare all defensive weapons against a possible Trump appointment of Ric Grenell as  Director of the Office of National Intelligence (ODNI).
Grenell currently serves as the U.S. Ambassador to Germany.  He can serve as “acting” ODNI, but to become permanent ODNI he would need to survive confirmation railroading by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), Chairman Richard Burr and Vice Chair Mark Warner.  The SSCI is deep swamp and and participated in the coup effort against the office of the president.  The SSCI has a vested interest in controlling the ODNI position; hence their prior blocking of Representative John Ratcliffe.

[Via New York Times] … Mr. Grenell, whose outspokenness throughout his career as a political operative and then as ambassador has prompted criticism, is a vocal Trump loyalist who will lead a group of national security agencies often viewed skeptically by the White House.

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Today President Trump will deliver remarks on water access in Bakersfield, California. The president was in the valley earlier today for a fundraiser hosted by Oracle CEO Larry Ellison and will deliver remarks from Bakersfield at approximately 5:30pm ET.
White House Livestream – Fox Business Livestream – Alternate Livestream

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First, the “report” comes from the pathetic beltway crowd of journolist narrative engineers; so there’s likely little-to-no substance to the construct.  However, that said, if Bill Barr is so weak, pathetic and incapable of doing his job, that he needs to threaten to resign if President Trump tweets his opinion, then Barr is in the wrong profession.
…Unless, of course, President Trump’s pressure on Bill Barr is actually forcing the Attorney General to do something the AG is predisposed not to undertake.  Which, given the background history of Bill Barr, is also entirely possible.

Right around this moment-in-time is where a multitude of mutually aligned beltway quisling pundits will declare that Bill Barr’s delicate sensibilities are being wounded by a President who demands forceful accountability; ie. traditional DC republican pundits [insert Laura Ingraham and Max Boot here].
The bottom line is President Trump is doing absolutely nothing to impede Bill Barr from doing his job; if the U.S. Attorney General is factually intent on doing that job.
Ever since he assumed office the Attorney General has been praising the likes of Rod Rosenstein, Robert Mueller and Christopher Wray.  Given the nature of what is widely available in review, that level of logical disconnect is not representative of an individual who possesses reasonable judgement in the quest for deliberate justice…. just sayin’.
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Earlier on Tuesday, President Donald Trump received a briefing from the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Los Angles 2028 organizers.
Participating in the briefing was President Donald J. Trump; Jared Kushner, Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor; Daniel Scavino, Assistant to the President and Director of Social Media; Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Department of the Treasury; Acting Secretary Chad Wolf, Department of Homeland Security; Senator Lindsey Graham, South Carolina; and Representative Kevin McCarthy, House Minority Leader, California’s 23rd
External Participants: Casey Wasserman, Chairman, Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Committee; Sarah Hirshland, CEO, United States Olympic Committee; John Harper, COO, Los Angeles 2028; Danny Koblin, Commercial COO, Los Angeles 2028; Dean Christopher, Senior Advisor for Finance, Los Angeles 2028; and Doug Arnot, Senior Advisor for Games Operations, Los Angeles 2028

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Prior to boarding Air Force One for a trip to California, President Trump held an impromptu press conference with the media pool. The president took answers on any topic and covered a wide variety.  POTUS Trump seems to wear out the press pool. Too Funny.
[Video Below – Transcript ADDED]

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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. It’s a little windy out here, so I’ll button up my coat. You have a couple of more people who want to join you.
Q So we’re hearing you’re going to commute the sentence of Blagojevich?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, we have commuted the sentence of Rod Blagojevich. He served eight years in jail. That’s a long time. And I watched his wife on television. I don’t know him very well. I’ve met him a couple of times. He was on, for a short while, on “The Apprentice,” years ago. Seemed like a very nice person. Don’t know him.
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The White House has released an outline of multiple persons who are receiving executive grants of clemency from President Trump.

PARDONS: President Donald J. Trump signed Executive Grants of Clemency granting Full Pardons to the following individuals: Edward DeBartolo, Jr., Michael Milken, Ariel Friedler, Bernard Kerik, Paul Pogue, David Safavian, and Angela Stanton.
COMMUTATIONS: In addition, President Trump signed Executive Grants of Clemency granting commutations to Rod Blagojevich, Tynice Nichole Hall, Crystal Munoz, and Judith Negron.

♦ Edward DeBartolo, Jr., is a successful businessman, real estate developer, and member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. During the 23 years that he owned the San Francisco 49ers, the team won an unprecedented 13 division titles and 5 Super Bowl Championships. In 1998, he was convicted for failing to report a felony regarding payment demanded for a riverboat casino license, and he was sentenced to 2 years’ probation. Mr. DeBartolo did not allow his conviction to define his life. He remained a generous philanthropist and passionate supporter of numerous charitable causes, including charter schools like the Brooks DeBartolo Collegiate High School, and anti-gang violence initiatives.
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When the FISA Court responded to the DOJ Inspector General report in December and January 2020 they requested an action plan from the DOJ and FBI to respond to the issues raised about misrepresentations to the court.
The DOJ/FBI replied to the FISA Court admitting the last two FISA renewals (April, June ’17) used against Carter Page were insufficiency predicated while withholding opinion on the original application (Oct ’16) and first renewal (Jan ’17).
To address the consequences of fraudulently obtained FISA warrants the DOJ and FBI informed the court they would begin a process to “sequester” all collected evidence from all four FISA warrants. [FISA COURT LINK]
Sequestering the evidence is essentially a search for what investigative material the FISA warrants were used to obtain; ie. the search for the fruit of the poisoned tree; and then a review of all DOJ/FBI cases that may have utilized that investigative material.
In late January the DOJ contacted the FISA court and asked for an extension to the deadline.  The FISA court granted an extension until February 5th [LINK]  The response from the DOJ has not yet been declassified or released by the FISC for public review.
However, with recent media reporting of AG Barr using “outside prosecutors” to review current, former and ongoing cases, it simply makes sense this ‘outsider’ effort is part of the DOJ/FBI sequestration review.
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On tonight’s Tucker Carlson broadcast he correctly notes the narrowing Democrat field is eventually going to come down to Bernie Sanders -vs- Michael Bloomberg.
During a Carlson monologue he outlines and eviscerates how Bloomberg is doing something never before seen in U.S. electoral politics.  Bloomberg’s strategy is to simply overwhelm the competition with cash and purchase the nomination from a DNC Club that supports his ‘never-Bernie’ efforts.

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NASCAR driver Ryan Newman was involved in a horrific crash coming off the final turn (old field section) at the Daytona 500.  The #6 Rousch Racing Ford was involved in a crash, went airborne approaching the finish line, and Newman was seriously injured.

After several hours of worry and prayer a statement has been released.
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Lou Dobbs doesn’t suffer fools easily; he prefers to cut through the filibuster and get to the heart of the matter.  That approach is one reason his show is highly successful.
Within a similar outlook… Where we are now is the direct result of bad decisions where we came from. Going forward on the same corrupt path only takes us further in the wrong direction. This natural truism is the current dilemma for AG Bill Barr.
During his show tonight Lou Dobbs takes the audience back to a very specific decision by the DOJ; a fork-in-the-road decision that put the department on path traveling further and further away from justice. The specific moment outlined was the DOJ decision to bury the intelligence leak by SSCI Security Director James Wolfe.

[BACKSTORY HERE]

However, amid all the chaff and countermeasures there is good news. When you realize that continuing forward on a path initiated by corrupt decisions only takes you further and further from the truth; you realize there are signs showing the DOJ is indeed reversing course back to the moment when the wrong path was selected.
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