Trade Representatives from Canada, Mexico and the U.S. are in the deepest weeds within NAFTA negotiations, and some of the current proposals are flat out nuts.

Within the auto-sector the “Rules of Origin” continue to be one of the biggest sticking points.  The U.S. position is that 80% or more of a vehicle made in the U.S., Mexico or Canada should be made from parts from the U.S., Mexico or Canada, ie. North America.  Canada and Mexico are trying to argue for lower North American content because they want more Asian/Chinese parts in American automobiles. [Reuters Link]

On its face their position is ridiculous.  Canada and Mexico are not arguing for more Canadian and Mexican content; they are arguing for more Chinese content.  The U.S. is arguing for more North American content.  Canada and Mexico want to support China’s economy; the U.S. wants to support Canada, Mexico and the U.S. economy.   Let that sink in for a moment.

In an effort to enhance their ridiculous position, Canada and Mexico have come up with a proposal that is, well, bananas. Can/Mex want the United States to tax vehicles made in Canada and Mexico.  Stop. Re-read that.  Yes, that is correct.  Canada and Mexico want Chinese parts so badly, they are arguing for the U.S. to tax American (NAFTA) automobiles.

Nuts.

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Washington, D.C. – Today House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Ca.), House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) issued the following statement:

“We have long argued former Director Comey’s self-styled memos should be in the public domain, subject to any classification redactions. These memos are significant for both what is in them and what is not.

Former Director Comey’s memos show the President made clear he wanted allegations of collusion, coordination, and conspiracy between his campaign and Russia fully investigated. The memos also made clear the ‘cloud’ President Trump wanted lifted was not the Russian interference in the 2016 election cloud, rather it was the salacious, unsubstantiated allegations related to personal conduct leveled in the dossier.

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Led by Representative Ron DeSantis congress has sent a criminal referral letter (full pdf below) to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Federal Prosecutor John Huber.

The identified targets of the referral include: •former FBI Director James Comey; •former Asst. FBI Director Andrew McCabe; •former Attorney General Loretta Lynch; •former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; •current FBI Agent Peter Strzok; and •current DOJ Attorney Lisa Page (former Special Counsel to Andrew McCabe).

The identified reasoning for each of the referrals is outlined in the letter below.  However, the risk to James Comey is not simply contained within the letter, but also contained within the non-discussed fact that FBI chief-legal-counsel James Baker is a cooperating witness for IG Horowitz and Huber.

One of the lesser discussed aspects to the ongoing investigative overview is how a few key people, with direct and specific knowledge of the events that took place within the FBI and DOJ activity, remain inside the institutions as they are being investigated.

Those key DOJ and FBI officials have been removed from their position, yet remain inside with no identified or explained responsibility.

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White House Press Briefing by National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow and National Security Council Senior Director for Asian Affairs Matthew Pottinger. Today’s briefing is happening during a Presidential summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Kudlow is discussing the trade and economic issues; Pottinger is discussing national security issues surrounding negotiations with North Korea.  As Secretary Ross has stated frequently: “Economic Security is National Security.”

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[Transcript] West Palm Beach, Florida – 12:20 P.M. EDT – MR. KUDLOW: I’ll just say to start, before we take some questions, this is a very important meeting. A lot of really key issues are on the line. You obviously know about the foreign policy side regarding North Korea, which is a major, major issue for Japan and for the United States.

On the economic and trade side, there will also be very important issues. Japan is a great friend and ally. We have certain disagreements with respect to some of the trading issues. We’ll iron those out, hopefully.

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Too funny.  The one constant in an ever-changing financial universe has been Donald Trump’s three-decade-long position on U.S. trade and Main Street economic policy.  However, despite this reality the Wall Street purchased politicians continue to think their opposition to Trump will create leverage to influence his economic views.

Last week’s example was Senator Ben Sasse and the purchased clan of BIG-AG, who demanded President Trump re-enter the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.

POTUS Trump, in a transparently familiar response, told Larry Kudlow to “take a look at it.”  The GOPe immediately began backslapping, the corporate media went joyfully bananas and Lou Dobbs was mad.  CTH said relax:

Well, here’s Kudlow today:

(Bloomberg) White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow downplayed the possibility the U.S. would enter into negotiations to rejoin the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, calling it more of a “thought than a policy” for now.

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Interesting radio interview earlier this morning with Joe diGenova on WMAL.  Mr. diGenova discusses his review of the James Comey interview and at 12:30 of the audio he enlarges the discussion of Scooter Libby with an interesting perspective of Trey Gowdy.

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Don’t forget the Office of Inspector General Horowitz, 39-page report on Andrew McCabe, is only the first of multiple OIG reports that will soon be released. The main report will cover the overall politicization of the Clinton investigation(s) by the DOJ and FBI; and the FISA court abuse by those same officials will follow thereafter.

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House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy has requested the appearance of DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz on May 8th, 2018:

(Committee Link – pdf LINK HERE)

Hopefully, this is not cause for alarm.  However, given the history of such activity; and specifically given the history of the engagements and motives of the participants involved in this request; it is a troubling development.

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A very good overall review of the Office of Inspector General report into the conduct of former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is provided by Twitter writer NameRedacted7.

CTH is sharing the extensive review below with some minor editorial adjustments to expand on abbreviations and remove the ‘twitterism’ for clarity.  The full thread is HERE:

[Via NameRedacted7] I’m taking my time reading the McCabe report from [JusticeOIG] and so far I’m floored. This is a 30+ page report on misconduct by fired Deputy Director Andrew McCabe; I intend this thread to be a work in progress as I make my way through it & will supplement work done by others.

I’ve just finished retweeting [tracybeanz] thread from today, and [Nick_Falco] & [The_War_Economy] have extensive research on this as well.

From page 1-6, the [JusticeOIG] lays out exact verbiage & statements McCabe made to FBI Inspection Division whom the investigation of his conduct originated with. This is a crucial data-point to understanding these events.

Within the first six pages, it is detailed what McCabe told investigators at each date and time; and relevant data regarding phone calls with DOJ officials, his aide Special Counsel Lisa Page, Director Comey, and Deputy Asst Dir Peter Strzok. Dates are noted.

The Inspector General report first describes McCabes lack of Candor. This is the act of not telling the complete truth, leaving out details, deliberately lying about details, or hiding key facts. (more…)

Earlier today President Trump attended a business and economic growth roundtable discussion in Miami Florida.  The forum discussion was focused on the administration policy for economic growth.

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President Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are expected to meet today in Mar-a-largo to discuss regional issues surrounding upcoming North Korea summit and trade initiatives between the U.S. and Japan.

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House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte appears on Fox News with Maria Bartiromo to discuss his review of Inspector General Horowitz report on the background for Andrew McCabe’s firing.

With direct and specific oversight responsibility over the U.S. Department of Justice, Chairman Goodlatte is one of the key congressional leaders looking into the myriad of issues with the former DOJ and FBI officials running the agencies.

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