Though the U.S. and Canada are not part of the “OPEC Plus” group, President Trump has  been leading negotiations between Saudi Arabia and Russia to broker a deal and stop their price war.  Today President Trump announces an agreement between the major petroleum exporting countries to curb oil production by approximately 10 million barrels per day:

Additionally, there was a loggerhead within the negotiations as Mexico did not want to cut their production by the requested amount of 400,000 barrels daily.  Mexico relies on oil as a large part of their economy. AMLO stated his economy could not withstand such a significant drop in state revenue.  Economic security is, after all, national security.

President Trump broke the OPEC+ stalemate by agreeing to decrease U.S. production by 300k/barrels allowing Mexico to drop a more manageable 100k/barrels.  Trump and AMLO reached an undisclosed agreement where Mexico will reimburse the U.S. later on.

I suspect the “reimbursement” will be more, well, strategically geopolitical than financial.  [*nudge-nudge*, *wink-wink*, *say-no-more/say-no-more*]  President Trump has an uncanny knack of collecting leverage for later, more strategic, purposes.  Just sayin’.

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Laura Ingraham broadcasts the second part of her interview with AG Bill Barr (majority transcribed below).  In this segment we can get a sense of where the DOJ is going with the ongoing investigations by U.S. Attorney John Durham into spygate and the current status of FISA against the backdrop of the prior administration abuse.

AG Bill Barr notes John Durham will bring criminal charges against those in the previous administration: “he is looking to bring to justice people who were engaged in abuses if he can show that there were criminal violations; and that’s what the focus is on.” WATCH

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[@2:49 of video] INGRAHAM – John Brennan was smashing the President’s firing of Inspector General Michael Atkinson, let’s listen:

BRENNAN – “By removing Mr. Atkinson, and I think also sending a signal to others, Mr. Trump continues to show his insecurity in terms of trying to stop anybody who was going to expose, again the lawlessness, that I think he not only has allowed to continue, but also that he abets.”

BARR – “I think the president did the right thing in removing Atkinson. From the vantage point of the Dept. of Justice, he had interpreted his statute; which is a fairly narrow statute that gave him jurisdiction over wrong-doing by intelligence people; and tried to turn it into a commission to explore anything in the government, and immediately report it to congress without letting the executive branch look at it and determine whether there was any problem.  He was told this in a letter from the department of justice, and he is obliged to follow the interpretation of the department of justice, and he ignored it. So I think the President was correct in firing him.”

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Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacy Abrams, having previously refused to accept defeat, stands atop her imaginary governor platform and says she will be honored to be on the ticket as Joe Biden’s vice-president selection.   This is the second time Abrams has implied her addition to the ticket. [First Here]

[Washington DC] Stacy Abrams said Thursday that she would be “honored” to be former Vice President Joe Biden’s running mate.

[…] “I would be honored to be on the campaign trail as a running mate,” she said. “But that is a process that you can’t campaign for, and I’m not campaigning for. I’m just being straight-forward.”  (read more)

If Biden remains the nominee through the convention (not guaranteed), then Abrams fits the mold for a predictable female of color VP.  Biden will select a female, but the race aspect is a 50/50 proposition depending on the candidate.

House minority Leader Kevin McCarthy appears for an interview with Lou Dobbs to discuss the recent revelations around the exculpatory Papadopoulos transcript and the inference from AG Bill Barr that no legal consequences are likely for the coup attempt.

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Sketchy Nikki Haley endorsed Sketchy Kelly Loeffler right before Loeffler’s insider trading schemes surfaced.  Given the fact that Haley and Loeffler are both ‘Big Club’ insiders; and considering the extremes Ms. Haley is going through to retain her mask; there is a dose of karmic comedy as we watch sketchy Ms. Loeffler slowly implode.

The latest polling shows Representative Doug Collins is now crushing the corrupt and sketchy Big-Club-appointed Senator Loeffler by 23 points.  Under increasing scrutiny for her insider Wall Street schemes; and in a futile attempt to save herself; Loeffler now promises to liquidate all her stock holdings:

WASHINGTON DC – Sen. Kelly Loeffler plans to liquidate all of her individual stock holdings after weeks of political firestorm over trades made amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Loeffler (R-Ga.), who was sworn into the Senate in January after her appointment to fill a vacant seat and is on the ballot in a special election this November, has been criticized heavily by Democrats and her Republican opponent in recent weeks for stock trades made in the early stages of the coronavirus outbreak.

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WASHINGTON DC – “If I believed we had a feasible path to the nomination, I would certainly continue the campaign. But it’s just not there,” Sanders said. “I congratulate Joe Biden, a very decent man, who I will work with to move our progressive ideas forward.”

Sanders said that while Biden will be the nominee, he will stay on the ballot to collect delegates for the convention, “where we will be able to exert significant influence over the party platform.”

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The DNC Club, and specifically the super-delegates who hold ultimate power, have been very smart in how they are playing out the final DNC candidate for the 2020 presidential race.   While the polling shows a dead heat; if you ask the club voters if Joe Biden will be their candidate, a much bigger majority admit he will not.

Interestingly, the vast majority of Bernie Sanders supporters, including those who are admittedly in the never-biden camp, would welcome Andrew Cuomo as the alternative.

The objective, as it first appeared to become clear, was/is to position NY Governor Andrew Cuomo as the reluctant ‘consensus’ nominee.  A candidate maneuvered by necessity into position; a radical departure from the traditionally controlled voting system within the club; but not really as radical as one might think considering private club rules.

RASSUSSEN – […] The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 46% of Likely Democratic Voters still believe Biden would make a better presidential candidate for their party this fall. But just as many (45%) opt for Cuomo instead, even though he isn’t even in the race. Nine percent (9%) are undecided.

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Former Vice President Joe Biden has been using podcasts and home interviews to keep his campaign going as the COVID-19 shutdown continues.  However, things have not gotten any better on the cognitive side of the candidate…. and it’s getting even worse than before.

Here’s an example of the current leading democrat candidate for president explaining how he would confront the coronavirus pandemic differently.  WATCH:

Here’s the word-for-word transcript – Joe Biden:

…“We cannot let this, we’ve never allowed any crisis from the Civil War straight through to the pandemic of 17, all the way around, 16, we have never, never let our democracy sakes second fiddle, way they, we can both have a democracy and … correct the public health.”…

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Everything anyone needed to know about the motives and intents of fired Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG) Michael Atkinson is evidenced by his releasing a political statement tonight protesting his termination.

Atkinson doesn’t write a “letter”, his diatribe is not addressed to anyone, it is just a political “statement” designed to be exploited by the same people, for the same intents, as his prior ICIG work product.  This transparently political effort is ridiculous.

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…The recent IG report outlining Atkinson’s gross incompetence in the FISA scandal, vis-a-vis the 42 DOJ-NSD Accuracy Reviews, is the atomic shield against the political narrative….

President Trump has sent a letter to congress giving them 30-days advance notice and informing them of the removal of Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson:

The necessary, albeit politically controversial, move comes about two months after President Trump assigned Ric Grenell to lead the Office of the Director of National Intelligence; Grenell is ultimately the acting boss of the overall intelligence community. It is likely DNI Grenell provided some key insight into the sketchy background activity in/around Atkinson’s office, and the overall intelligence apparatus writ large.

Additionally, former congressman Mark Meadows is now President Trump’s Chief-of-Staff; and Meadows has been a critic of those within the intelligence apparatus who attempted a soft-coup twice: Once by special counsel (Russia investigation) Robert Mueller; and once by impeachment (Ukraine investigation) using CIA operative Eric Ciaramella and NSC operative Alexander Vindman.

Also, in the recent FISA review by the OIG the DOJ inspector general specifically identified issues with the “accuracy reviews” conducted by DOJ-NSD chief legal counsel.  Who was that former DOJ-NSD chief legal counsel?  That would be current ICIG Michael Atkinson…

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