Special Counsel Robert Mueller has released the sentencing memo for Paul Manafort (full pdf below).  Opposition to President Trump had hoped the memo would outline nuggets of investigative material that would indicate risk to President Trump. However, the Manafort sentencing memo provides no additional insight beyond what was already known.

WASHINGTON – As part of his plea deal in September, Manafort, 69, acknowledged he was guilty of everything he was accused of both in Washington and Virginia: making millions as an unregistered lobbyist for Ukrainian politicians, hiding that money to avoid paying taxes, defrauding banks to pay his debts when his oligarch patrons fell out of power, and lying to cover up his crimes while trying to persuade witnesses to do the same. (link)

Under his prior plea agreement in Washington, prosecutors had agreed to ask Judge Amy Berman Jackson to give Manafort credit at sentencing for cooperation. But because she found he lied to investigators and breached that agreement, the prosecution is no longer bound by the plea.
(more…)

There have been a great many questions surrounding the activity that took place in 2017 after President Trump took office and how politicians and officials coordinated an apparent ‘soft coup’ attempt to remove President Trump.
Questions around DAG Rod Rosenstein, Andrew McCabe, James Comey and the larger intelligence community (to include the Gang-of-Eight) surrounding the Trump administration. Many of those questions can be reconciled with a review of the predicate.
There are five phases in the evolution of ‘Spygate’ into the ‘Soft Coup’; to reconcile the latter, which extends to today, a full review provides the clarity.

♦ Phase One – December 2015 through April 2016:  The first phase leading into ‘Spygate’ is the period of time where opposition research of the republican candidate field was taking place.  It is in this period where Fusion-GPS hired CIA Open Source researcher Nellie Ohr, wife of DOJ-NSD official Bruce Ohr, to do research.
In the background of this time period the FBI and NSA database was being exploited by unknown FBI contractors; it is highly suspected that Nellie Ohr and/or Fusion-GPS was one of those contracted agencies with access to the massive electronic and metadata files.
(more…)

Good news. The UC Berkeley Police have identified the suspect (pictured below) who was caught on camera attacking a young college conservative.  According to the press release:

UC Berkeley – Responding quickly to information provided by members of the UC Berkeley campus community, the University of California Police Department (UCPD) has identified a potential suspect in the violent crime that occurred on February 19th, 2019 on the Sproul Plaza (UCPD case #19-00455). Based on current information available to the department, the suspect is not a student at, or affiliate of, the University. (read more)

(more…)

Today in presidential history is a day when the import of consequence doesn’t surface until historians apply hindsight.  However, those who carry the longest-lens are enjoying these moments in history…. We make with our support of Trump such a sound as all history from these days forward are forced to note, even if they despise us in the writing of it.  And when we are gone, our beneficiaries will sing of these deeds in forbidden songs while tending the flickering flame of liberty; for we few lived in the era of Trump.

[Transcript] Oval Office – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. It’s a great honor to be with the Vice Premier of China, a very highly respected man in China. And we’re negotiating trade and the trade agreement. And we have many representatives from China and — as you’d know, and most of you know who they are — many representatives from the United States.
I think we’re getting along very well. Ultimately, I think the biggest decisions and some even smaller decisions will be made by President Xi and myself. And we expect to have a meeting sometime in the not-too-distant future.
And I can only say talks are going along well, but we’re going to have to see what happens. I think there’ll be some points that this group won’t agree on because maybe they’re not supposed to agree on, allowed to agree on. And I think President Xi and I will work out the final points, perhaps. And perhaps not.
So I just want to say, Mr. Vice Premier, it’s a great honor to have you.
(more…)

The most likely sequencing of the Democrat scheme has always looked to be: (1) Michael Cohen testimony; then (2) The Mueller report.

Cohen is scheduled to testify to Elijah Cummings House oversight committee Wednesday February 27th (10:00am) next week.  Today, predictably, the DOJ announces the Robert Mueller report will be *after* that testimony:

WASHINGTON DC – Special counsel Robert Mueller will not deliver his report to the Justice Department on Friday or next week, a Justice Department official told The Hill.
The news comes amid broad speculation that Mueller’s probe into Russia’s electoral interference is wrapping up, with several news outlets reporting Wednesday that newly confirmed Attorney General William Barr was preparing to receive Mueller’s final report as soon as next week. (read more)

Meanwhile, also anticipated, with Attorney General William Barr in place to receive and statutorily summarize the report from Robert Mueller, House democrats start posturing to impede AG Barr’s influence within the final report construct.
(more…)

This is the best video to adequately review the full nuance and scale of consequence within the oval office meeting between the Chinese trade delegation and the U.S. team.  As previously noted, President Trump delivered brutally honest remarks about expectations to both teams that likely, strategically and purposefully, caught Chinese Vice Premier Liu completely off guard.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, AG Secretary Sonny Perdue, NEC Chairman Larry Kudlow, U.S. Ambassador to China Terry Brandstad, Trade Adviser Peter Navarro with China’s Vice Premier Liu He, and multiple Chinese vice ministers/senior officials were all in the Oval Office for a discussion of current trade status…. and the outcome was epic.
ENJOY:

(more…)

Jumping Ju-Ju Bones….  I’ll get a video and transcript downloaded soon, but boy howdy… Thirty years of President Trump -vs- China trade just roared to the surface in the Oval Office.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, AG Secretary Sonny Perdue, NEC Chairman Larry Kudlow, U.S. Ambassador to China Terry Brandstad, Trade Adviser Peter Navarro with China’s Vice Premier Liu He, and multiple Chinese vice ministers/senior officials were all in the Oval Office for a discussion of current trade status…. and the outcome was epic.
Secretary Mnuchin announces the Chinese delegation will be staying in DC for an additional two-days of negotiations.   Heck, he’s got em.  The Chinese team can’t leave, not without a preliminary deal, because Trump is going to Vietnam next week and the phase-two tariffs kick in March 1st.
While Vice Premier Liu is seated directly in front of him POTUS Trump answers a reporter question about Chinese technology and cyber-security.  Trump notes that he wants open and fair tech competition, but if China represents a security threat… well, that changes the dynamic.  Liu is seated right in front of President Trump….  EPIC !
(more…)

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders holds an impromptu press conference with media on the north lawn.

(more…)

CTH doesn’t like to draw attention to the political extremists because often it only advances their objectives.  However, the recent story today of a young conservative college student brutally assaulted is horrific and authorities are looking for the attacker.

.
The original videos of the event were shared on social media {see here and see here}, and show an aggressive Berkeley student physically attacking a young conservative student named Hayden Williams simply because the attacker disagreed with his political views.

CALIFORNIA –  University of California police want the public’s help tracking down a suspect whose brutal alleged assault of a conservative activist on the Berkeley campus was caught on video.

(more…)

With about a week left before the second phase of U.S. tariffs is scheduled to hit Chinese imports both the U.S. and China trade delegations met today in an ongoing effort to hammer out details about enforcement mechanisms.   The tension is thick enough to cut with a knife…

Beijing’s Red Dragon team is focused on putting together a six step Memorandum of Understanding, the Panda MOU, they hope will convince President Trump to delay any tariff action.  This cunning procedural approach is China’s historic tactic when confronted about the reality within their trade behavior and economic duplicity.   However, USTR Robert Lighthizer is well aware and unwilling to follow the path of historic failure.
These talks are intense; it is difficult to appropriately frame how consequential these negotiation sessions are. Because the trillion dollar stakes are so high; and because China is unfamiliar negotiating with a government delegation they have not purchased; this is the type of hard-line negotiation that could never be attempted by any other administration other than President Donald Trump.  It is rather epic when you stand back and consider the larger landscape.
(more…)