Jeff Van Drew is a democrat congressman from New Jersey CD-02.  According to multiple media reports he is likely to switch to the republican party next week due to the fraudulent impeachment effort.  Van Drew was one of two democrats who did not support the vote for the impeachment inquiry.

According to Politico Democrat leadership are in a panic and urgently trying to get ahold of Van Drew.  The optics of a democrat changing parties at the same time they are trying to sell the validity of an impeachment narrative are terrible.

[…] Van Drew’s congressional and campaign staff were informed he was planning to switch parties on Saturday, according to Democratic sources. The question was now when, not if, Van Drew was joining the Republican Party, according to several Democrats with knowledge of the ongoing conversations.

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The original requests to declassify the Carter Page FISA application came in January 2018 as a result of the Nunes memo.   A classified and heavily redacted version of the application was released July 21st, 2018.  A month later, in August 2018, Congress again requested the Trump administration to declassify the document(s).
In September 2018 DAG Rod Rosenstein told the President if he followed through with the request Special Counsel Mueller would consider that an obstruction of his investigation:

As a consequence of the Rosenstein threat President Trump reversed course (tweets above) and announced after Horowitz completed his investigation the FISA would be declassified and released.
The mid-term elections were held in November 2018; democrats took over the House.
In March 2019, after the Special Counsel finished his investigation, a now minority in congress again formally asked President Trump (3rd time) to declassify the FISA application.
On May 23rd, 2019, President Trump announced he was giving Attorney General Bill Barr the authority to declassify the FISA application, timed to support the IG investigation:
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Last night President Trump congratulated Prime Minister Boris Johnson on his great win in the U.K. election, noting the possibilities for a big trade boost are “massive”:

Not accidentally, the geopolitical economic and trade planets have aligned splendidly.   The cornerstone USMCA agreement has bipartisan support and will ratify quickly in congress.  A “phase one” trade agreement with China is likely, and prior plans for a strategic trade deal with the U.K. have increased as a result of the U.K. election.
First rule in geopolitics, it’s always about the economics.  Second rule in geopolitics: refer to rule #1.    Understanding this basic truism is the key to understand how President Trump is able to be so effective.  There are trillions at stake, and many interests.

“Economic security is national security.” ~President Trump

All politics circles back to the underlying economics; whether it is an individual financial self-interest for a specific politician, or whether it is a larger financial interest for a group or even a nation.  Everything is always about the money; and that essential truth is why Donald Trump is so uniquely qualified, influential and stunningly effective.
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The fiasco within the House Judiciary Committee assembling articles for impeachment went from partisan bias to unilaterally ridiculous when Chairman Nadler used banana republic tactics to adjourn the committee and simultaneously schedule a vote on the two articles of impeachment for 10:00am tomorrow.

Obviously the House democrats are beginning to panic as each day American voter support is dropping fast.  Combine that political reality with an international earthquake in the U.K. elections, and the reverberations travel into the impeachment debate.  It is clear from their behavior that Pelosi and Nadler need to finish this mess; and fast.
Nadler surprised the committee when he arbitrarily ended the mark-up session, and out of nowhere adjourned the committee shortly before midnight.  The chairman announced the HJC would reconvene at 10:00am on Friday the 13th (apropos all things considered) to vote the two articles out of committee.  There was no discussion with Ranking member Doug Collins and no communication with the minority at all. A unilateral declaration.
Representative Doug Collins was at first surprised, then furious at the shameful and partisan committee rule-breaking by Chairman Nadler.   House democrats are taking a big gamble by manipulating a process in the extreme and hoping Americans will not punish their blood-lust for impeachment, and political abuse of power.  WATCH:
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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell appears on Fox News to discuss the upcoming impeachment trial and the processes within the Senate that will be followed.
McConnell states he will be working closely with White House counsel and the President’s lawyers.  The Senate Leader said “there’s no chance the President is removed from office”.

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[Sidebar (somewhat): I find it to be interesting timing for this interview… U.S-China trade agreement, phase-one, announced today and Senator McConnell comes out in full-throated defense of presidency. Perhaps just a coincidence.]
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President Trump begins by saying “we’re having a very exciting month in Washington DC”, and later remarks “we’re going to have a fantastic year.”  Doesn’t sound like President Trump is too concerned with the impeachment fiasco. Lead on Mr. President, lead on.

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Earlier today President Trump outlined principles for common sense, innovative child care policy reforms and practices that increase access to quality care, choice, and flexibility for America’s working parents.  [Video and Transcript Below]
The booming economy and strong labor market are allowing Americans of all backgrounds to find work and succeed.  The Child Care and Paid Leave initiatives are designed to support the needs of the U.S. workforce and simultaneously support a strong family life.

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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Applause.) What a nice group. Thank you very much. Hi, everybody. Hi. Well, thank you very much. And I had a very busy time and a very busy day, and my daughter said, “You will be here.” So — (laughter) — that was the end of that busy day, right? When a daughter says, “You have to be here.” But she’s done such an incredible job.
So I want to thank Ivanka. And from the very beginning — (applause) — that’s true. Yeah. From the very beginning, it’s been an extraordinary — she has been so extraordinary, in terms of her advocacy for America’s working families. Fourteen million people she’s gotten jobs for, where she would go into Walmart, she would go into our great companies and say, “They really want help. They really want you to teach them,” because the government can’t teach like the companies can teach. And companies would take a half a million people, a million people.
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A “landslide”, a complete “wipe-out”, a “massive victory” appears looming for Boris Johnson and the conservative party in the U.K. if exit polls are accurate.

These blowout results guarantee a faster Brexit from the European Union and the leftist labor party in the U.K. has been crushed.  Conservatives look to have picked up 50 seats and Labor has lost 71 seats; the Scottish National Party (SNP) has picked up 20.
The “Remainers” in the U.K. have been decimated, and the voters who want to “Leave” the EU have fueled a massive victory for Boris Johnson.  Liberal heads are blown-out, bigly.

(Via Daily Mail) Boris Johnson hailed his new blue-collar Tory army tonight as it emerged he is on track to secure a staggering landslide in the election battle – with Labour’s ‘red wall’ of Brexit-backing strongholds imploding.

A dramatic exit poll shows voters handing the Tories a massive 368 seats, with Labour languishing on 191 – down 71 on 2017 and the worst performance in modern history.

The bombshell numbers would give a huge Commons majority of 86, the biggest since Margaret Thatcher’s triumph in 1987, and are equivalent to a 10-point lead in the popular vote. (more)

This result also has massive ramifications for a U.S-U.K trade deal; and subsequently major leverage for the U.S. (independently) and a U.S. – U.K. alliance in future trade negotiations against the European Union.
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The House of Representatives holds a markup hearing to assemble two articles of impeachment against President Trump.  Afternoon Session – 2:30pm
CSPAN Livestream Link – PBS Livestream Link – Fox Business Livestream

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There are several dozen critical issues that stem from revelations about the DOJ and FBI conduct in/around the Carter Page FISA application (2017) and Steele Dossier writ large; but DOJ official Bruce Ohr still being employed isn’t one of them, and here’s why.

Bruce Ohr on right

What exactly would Bruce Ohr be held accountable for?
What Mr. Ohr did wrong was back-channel information from dossier author Christopher Steele into the FBI; made worse because this is after Chris Steele was persona non grata; and done by Ohr without telling his bosses at Main Justice.  Obviously, not good.
However, considering the time-frames of the FD-302 reports written by Ohr’s handler FBI agent Joseph Pientka, Bruce Ohr was channeling information into the Crossfire Hurricane team in 2017.  That same FBI team became the Mueller investigation FBI team, and from the 302 notes we know Ohr was channeling information from Christopher Steele into the Mueller team after the administrations’ changed.   Again, not good, but…
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