Moments ago President Trump and Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri met in the Oval Office. Following their discussions President Trump and PM Hariri held a joint press conference in the Rose Garden.
President Trump focused his remarks on Syria, terrorism and the refugee crisis as he delivered a statement alongside Prime Minister Saad Hariri of Lebanon:

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During press questioning President Trump is also asked about his confidence in Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Again President Trump affirmed his confidence in Sessions’ ability, however he also noted frustration (“disappointment”) with Session’s reluctance to confront corruption within the DC swamp.
My hunch is that Sessions will tender his resignation within 48 hours; this will lead to a conversation with President Trump. If Trump doesn’t accept the resignation it will be because Sessions agrees to change approach and confront the corruption within DC including the corruption within the DOJ. (more on that later)
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General Tony Thomas speaking at the Aspen Forum on July 21, 2017 reveals the New York Times ran a story from leaked intelligence that foiled the capture of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

(Via Fox) In a wide-ranging interview moderated by Fox News’ Catherine Herridge, Thomas, who leads the Special Operations Command, said his team was “particularly close” to Baghdadi after the 2015 raid that killed ISIS oil minister Abu Sayyaf. That raid also netted his wife, who provided a wealth of actionable information.

“That was a very good lead. Unfortunately, it was leaked in a prominent national newspaper about a week later and that lead went dead,” Thomas said. “The challenge we have [is] in terms of where and how our tactics and procedures are discussed openly. There’s a great need to inform the American public about what we’re up to. There’s also great need to recognize things that will absolutely undercut our ability to do our job.” (read more)  Watch Video:

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Reports surface today that President Trump has cancelled the 2012/2013 covert CIA program giving weapons to ISIS and al-Qaeda in Syria.  [Washington Post Link]

Various news organizations frame the issue as cancelling the program to “arm the moderate opposition to Bashir Assad”.  However, those news reports are entirely false.

We know the Obama administration was arming ISIS as part of the larger Syria strategy because Secretary of State John Kerry went on record admitting the Obama Syrian strategy was actually to arm ISIS and extremist Islamic groups (al-Nusra) against Assad.
We also know Secretary Kerry was being truthful in that media-hidden, albeit recorded, admission because CTH specifically tracked and investigated the CIA weapons shipments as an accidential outcome of the finalized Benghazi Briefing material in 2013/2014.
The Washington Post might be claiming today that President Trump is discontinuing a covert CIA plan that armed “moderates”.  But we know, if Trump is actually canceling this program, the actual recipients of the covert weapons plan were ISIS, al-Qaeda and al-Nusra in Syria – By their own damned admissions.
There simply is no doubt of that truth.   The Washington Post is lying, and despite their earnest efforts we can actually prove their framework is a substantive and factual falsehood.    Here’s some of the proof, including Kerry’s recorded admission:
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Refugee activists are apoplectic because U.S. officials have withdrawn from interviewing economic migrants on the Australian island of Nauru.  The entire relocation and immigration scheme was  set into place by President Obama during his lame-duck period after the 2016 Presidential election.
Incoming President Donald Trump was not happy when Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull informed him of the secret deal.  President Trump reluctantly agreed to consider the 1,250 asylum seekers and established conditions the refugees would have to pass rigorous checks.

SYDNEY/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. officials interviewing refugees held in an Australian-run offshore detention center left the facility abruptly, three detainees told Reuters on Saturday, throwing further doubt over a plan to resettle many of the detainees in America.
U.S. officials halted screening interviews and departed the Pacific island of Nauru on Friday, two weeks short of their scheduled timetable and a day after Washington said the United States had reached its annual refugee intake cap.

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Last week former President Obama’s classmate, Hawaii Judge Derrick Watson, once again blocked the implementation of the travel and visa restrictions put into place by President Trump and the Department of Homeland Security.
At the heart of the matter activist Judge Watson is demanding that Homeland Security permit as many foreign terrorists as possible be granted entry into the U.S.  According to the world-view that all occupants of planet earth are inherently future citizens of the United States, Judge Watson claims everyone should be allowed entry into the U.S. regardless of national security concerns.
It should be noted that Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, and other GCC nations have initiated a total Muslim travel ban with Qatar…. meanwhile a U.S. judge frames the limited scope of President Trump’s ‘temporary travel restrictions‘ as overreach. Go figure.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court has asked the State of Hawaii to respond by Tuesday at noon to President Donald Trump’s motion to block a judge’s ruling that prevented his travel ban from being applied to grandparents of U.S. citizens and refugees already being processed by resettlement agencies, the court’s public information office said on Saturday.

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Many of you might remember the three brave Americans, Spencer Stone (U.S. Air Force), Alek Skarlatos (U.S. National Guard) and Anthony Sadler (Pittsburg, CA) who confronted a heavily armed Jihadist aboard a French train during a terrorist attack in 2015.
U.S. Air Force Spencer Stone charged the terrorist who was using an AK-47, tackled him and suffered severe wounds in the confrontation.  All three of the friends were heroes. The terrorist, Ayoub el-Qahzzani, had at least nine full magazines of ammunition holding almost 300 rounds, a hand gun and a box cutter.
For their bravery the three Americans and one British tourist were awarded France’s highest honor – The Légion d’Honneur medal.

Oscar winner, actor and director Clint Eastwood is making a movie based on the lives of the three friends and the events on that fateful day.  The movie is called “The 15:17 to Paris”.  And instead of hiring Hollywood actors, Mr. Eastwood is actually casting the three men to play themselves in the movie.   How cool is that?
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Part I is HERE.  Part II is HERE.  Because U.S. President Trump’s special envoy Brett McGurk was so good at explaining the current state of issues in Iraq and Syria in Part II, we are revisiting his overview to the D-ISIS alliance in this part III.
Mr. McGurk is speaking to the 70 nations who are part of the coalition to defeat ISIS (“D-ISIS”) globally, not just regionally.  However, the majority of the current confrontation is happening within Iraq and Syria.
The stunning video (see here) and stories (example here) from the liberation of Mosul are honestly some of the most remarkable foreign conflict events in the past century.

[Transcript] MR MCGURK: Thank you, Terry. Good morning. Distinguished ambassadors, coalition partners, friends, and colleagues, it’s my pleasure to welcome you again to Washington as members of our Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. Today’s discussion will allow us to really roll up our sleeves as we look ahead in Iraq, Syria, West Africa, East Asia, and anywhere else ISIS seeks to export its terror.
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White House National Security Adviser, Tom Bossert, delivers a press briefing aboard AF1 en route back to the U.S. from France.  If you did not read and watch the information yesterday from President Trump’s Special Envoy, Brett McGurk, I would strongly suggest you review that prior to this press briefing.  -SEE HERE- Everything is connected.

[Transcript] Aboard Air Force One – En Route Newark, New Jersey – 3:01 P.M. CET
MR. BOSSERT: So let me just start the conversation by saying that President Trump and President Macron had private conversations yesterday, but also an extended bilateral conversation. And I wanted to talk you about that and give you a readout, and answer your questions if I might.
♦ Q Did they discuss the role that Syrian Kurds might have in a future Syria after ISIS?
MR. BOSSERT: So, among other things in the bilateral conversation yesterday, the Presidents discussed Syria — defeating ISIS in general, but Syria specifically; our desire to have a political solution outside and after our military solutions prevail. They discussed counterterrorism in general, as it will be an enduring and ongoing problem after our defeat-ISIS campaign takes the physical caliphate from ISIS.
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Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been keeping an exhaustive schedule for the past week and especially in the past few days.  In the ongoing diplomatic effort against mid-east terror networks, the GCC/Trump coalition have kept up pressure against Qatar.
Kuwait is acting as the primary mediator between Qatar and the rest of the Gulf States; T-Rex conducted three days of shuttle diplomacy in an effort to assist and reassert the position of the Trump administration.  Tillerson traveled to Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE and back to Qatar with extensive meetings within each nation.
It would take a bazillion words to explain all the nuances, shifts, agreements and diplomatic ongoing efforts.  However, to keep it simple we boiled it down to the current, most consequential, outcome within this graphic:
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The Trump directed Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS is known shortly as the acronym “D-ISIS”.
Though the media never reported on it much, you might remember immediately after taking office President Trump announced an immediate call for an international summit in Washington DC specifically purposed to readdress the Global Coalition and give the alliance specific focus toward the international defeat of ISIS.
In response to that call by President Trump, 68 nations traveled to Washington DC in late March to join together in an agreement of approach to eliminate ISIS.  Led by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis, that summit was the formation of the 2017 “D-ISIS” strategy. All 68 nations signed on to the united effort; everyone was on the same page.  Again, the media coverage was scant to non-existent.
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