The media institutions that are the central players in advancement of the two-year-long corrupt scheme against candidate Trump, now President Trump, all listed themselves as a “Media Coalition” on court documents demanding the names and addresses of the Manafort Jury:

Fortunately, Judge T.S. Ellis denied the motion by the media.
Shortly before 3:00pm this afternoon Judge Ellis said he personally had received threats and would keep the names of jurors a secret for their safety despite the media demand their names be made public.
The judge is being protected full time by the U.S. Marshals and shared with the court: “I won’t tell you what threats I’ve received,” he said, “but I have the Marshals’ protection. Where I go, they go. I had no idea this case would excite these emotions,” the judge said.
(more…)

Departing the White House for New York and New Jersey, President Trump delivers impromptu remarks and holds a brief unscheduled presser prior to climbing aboard Marine-One.

Is that distant whistling sound from the fins of an atomic truth bomb inbound from President Trump’s tweets?

Catherine Herridge report available here. In the past several days the name Oleg Deripaska has resurfaced, this time with some more attention.  Oleg Deripaska, is a Russian billionaire and is likely much more of a central figure than previously discussed.
Byron York previously outlined new documents showing the communication between Trump Dossier author Christopher Steele and DOJ official Bruce Ohr.
Within the early 2016 discussions, Chris Steele appeared to be advocating to Bruce Ohr on behalf of Oleg Deripaska who was banned from travel into the U.S. by the State Department.

(Byron York) Emails in 2016 between former British spy Christopher Steele and Justice Department official Bruce Ohr suggest Steele was deeply concerned about the legal status of a Putin-linked Russian oligarch, and at times seemed to be advocating on the oligarch’s behalf, in the same time period Steele worked on collecting the Russia-related allegations against Donald Trump that came to be known as the Trump dossier. The emails show Steele and Ohr were in frequent contact, that they intermingled talk about Steele’s research and the oligarch’s affairs, and that Glenn Simpson, head of the dirt-digging group Fusion GPS that hired Steele to compile the dossier, was also part of the ongoing conversation. (more)

I strongly urge you to read the York article because I’m going to expand on the Deripaska angle from the context of the reader understanding the relationship.
(more…)

When we elected a successful businessman as President of the United States and leader of the executive branch, we elected a person who fundamentally changed the framework of accountability and transparency in government. President Donald J Trump holds an average of two to three full cabinet meetings each month where the cabinet members give direct updates on execution of policy priorities.
No President in modern history has put that much accountability into the position of each cabinet member. No President has ever coordinated strategic objectives with such a high level of expectation and scrutiny. No President has folded transparency into the cabinet with full media access over White House cabinet meetings. This is a new executive branch standard.
NEC Director Larry Kudlow break-out discussion on the economy at 03:45. WATCH:

OK, admission…  Today is the day CTH recognizes NEC Director Kudlow has joined the official ranks of team Wolverine.  An impassioned Larry Kudlow is determined to see the financial media report on the jaw-dropping success of President Trump’s Main Street economic policies.
Key message on trade with China at 03:10.  WATCH:

National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow appears on Fox News to discuss the incredible strength of the economy and how the media is refusing to cover the story.
Chairman Kudlow goes through a series of economic Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to stress how this specific set of MAGAnomic Main Street policies is delivering real, tangible, financial benefits to the middle-class and average Americans.

Rasmussen did a survey of U.S. voters and discovers a significant jump in black support for President Trump from 19% last year to 36% now.   Not coincidentally, the DNC media apparatus has been pushing a recent racist narrative against President Trump.

(Rasmussen Link) (President Trump Tweet Link)

(more…)

Remember that 2016 conversation about retail inflation, Q2 wage growth, durable goods spending and non-durable goods expenditures…  Well, in a growing economy; a bigly expanding economy; with wages actually increasing as an authentic outcome of expanded hiring and jobs, jobs, jobs… in conjunction with lowered tax rates…. you get more money in your pocket.
This natural Main Street dynamic leads to increased consumer spending, specifically in the retail sectors influenced by who?… Oh, yeah, those middle-class economic beneficiaries of all the above.
The expert financial pundits are shocked, shocked I tell you… shocked; when, all of a sudden, the convergence of MAGAnomic Main Street policies delivers results.  DUH!

The Commerce Department – Economic and Statistics Administration – released the figures from July 2018 retail sales today (full pdf available here), showing an incredibly strong .5% increase in spending in July, bringing a 6.4% increase year-over-year;  and the results have dropped the jaws of the “experts”:

“Economists polled by Reuters had forecast retail sales nudging up 0.1 percent in July.” (link)
“Retail spending in the United States increased a half-percent during the month of July — well beyond what experts predicted.” (link)
“U.S. retail sales rose more than expected in July as households boosted purchases of motor vehicles and clothing, suggesting the economy remained strong” (link)

(more…)

One of the outcomes of losing a security clearance is the inability to prepare for any testimony. When Sarah Sanders stated today that currently employed DOJ official Bruce Ohr was a person having a security clearance review; the logical takeaway is he will be fired after he delivers his testimony.

The media narrative surrounding FBI Agent Peter Strzok’s firing has been framed, almost exclusively, around his political text messages. Given the nature of the media participation in the events this is not surprising.  However, Strzok’s text messages have no bearing on his firing.
In March 2018 the DOJ Office of Inspector General announced an ongoing review of how the DOJ and FBI used FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) as a weaponized tool against their political opposition.

As part of this examination, the OIG also will review information that was known to the DOJ and the FBI at the time the applications were filed from or about an alleged FBI confidential source. Additionally, the OIG will review the DOJ’s and FBI’s relationship and communications with the alleged source as they relate to the FISC applications.  (pdf link)

Two months later on Monday May 21st, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein added a significant DOJ mandate to the Inspector General review.  Rosenstein expanded the original FISA review to include looking at whether officials within the intelligence community may have unlawfully used human intelligence assets to “spy” or “surveil” the Trump campaign:

“The Department has asked the Inspector General to expand the ongoing review of the FISA application process to include determining whether there was any impropriety or political motivation in how the FBI conducted its counterintelligence investigation of persons suspected of involvement with the Russian agents who interfered in the 2016 presidential election.” (link)

Part of that ongoing IG review surrounds FBI Affidavits presented to the FISA Court (FISC) and whether those affidavits were fraudulent; thereby misleading the court. FBI Agent Peter Strzok is the primary affiant swearing to the truthfulness and fullness of the information that underlines the FISA application (ie. Woods Procedures) . We know Peter Strzok lied and misrepresented information to the court.
(more…)

Originally outlined a year ago. Reposted by request. At the heart of the professional/political opposition the issue is money; there are trillions at stake.

President Trump’s MAGAnomic trade and foreign policy agenda is jaw-dropping in scale, scope and consequence. There are multiple simultaneous aspects to each policy objective; however, many have been visible for a long time – some even before the election victory in November ’16.
If we get too far in the weeds the larger picture is lost. CTH objective is to continue pointing focus toward the larger horizon, and then at specific inflection points to dive into the topic and explain how each moment is connected to the larger strategy.

Today we repost an earlier dive into how MAGAnomic policy interacts with multinational Wall Street, the stock market, the U.S. financial system and perhaps your personal financial value. Again, reference and source material is included at the end of the outline.
(more…)