Special Counsel Robert Mueller has released the sentencing guideline memo against General Michael Flynn (full pdf below).  Within the sentencing recommendation the special counsel recommends leniency:

Here’s the full court filing, along with CTH review and opinion therein.
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U.N. Ambassador Nikki Halley was visiting President Donald Trump in the White House today, ahead of a report she has sold her home in South Carolina home and will remain in New York after she departs from the cabinet at the end of the year.
My hunch is Haley has met, briefed and interviewed possible replacement John James on the U.N. position, and is debriefing POTUS Trump therein. Again, just a hunch….

COLUMBIA — Former Gov. Nikki Haley is not coming straight back to the Palmetto State after she leaves the United Nations at year’s end.
She plans on staying in New York where her son attends high school.
“South Carolina will always be home for Ambassador Haley and her family, and they look forward to returning to their friends and family in the Palmetto State after her son finishes high school,” Haley spokeswoman Chaney Adams said in a statement.

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The only remaining FBI counterintelligence official at the center of all spygate and Clinton investigation issues is departing.

The enigma man, E.W. “Bill” Piestap is retiring from the FBI.  Bill Priestap is the FBI Asst. Director in charge of all counterintelligence operations.  Priestap was FBI Agent Peter Strzok’s boss; he was also at the epicenter of the story surrounding every action taken by the FBI in the Clinton investigation and the Trump campaign investigation.
Bill Priestap was copied on every email of consequence including the writing of the Clinton exoneration talking points delivered by FBI Director James Comey.  Priestap was the central figure on the FBI side of both Clinton and Trump operations.  “Bill” is mentioned in hundreds of text messages sent by Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.
In short, Bill Priestap was everywhere – except where you would most likely expect to find him, in media discussion.  The timing seems curious though the Wall Street Journal goes to great lengths to describe the timing as a mere happenstance due to his 20-year service anniversary and the opportunity to retire with full benefits:

WASHINGTON—A top FBI official who helped oversee two politically sensitive investigations related to the 2016 presidential campaign is retiring from government service.

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White House trade adviser Peter Navarro appears on Fox Business to discuss the possibility of trade deals between the U.S. and China.  Navarro explains the Buenos Aires dinner meeting and how Chairman Xi outlined his position on three buckets of U.S. concerns.
Charles Payne is going bananas because he doesn’t understand what happens in the space between two different sets of economic policy benefactors:  Wall Street and Main Street.
Wall Street is going to lose ground; period.  Their financial interests are dependent on retaining the status-quo multinational/global economic systems.  President Trump is supporting Main Street over the interests of Wall Street.  Stocks that are centered on U.S. blue-collar companies, domestic benefits, will grow; all other multinational stocks will not.

Within the dynamic of the U.S -vs- China trade confrontation, CTH noted the Wall Street (globalist) multinationals would likely go bananas.  There are trillions at stake and President Trump is confronting three decades of financial influence from the corporate lobbyists.   To the angst of Wall Street, POTUS Trump tweets the dynamic:
President Trump has been brutally consistent for more than three decades on his intent and purpose with the Chinese.  President Trump is the first U.S. President to understand how the red dragon hides behind the panda mask.
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Breaking overnight the French government is attempting to stem the growing civil unrest by announcing they will suspend the plan to implement the upcoming fuel tax.  However, the Yellow Vest protests have grown to personify much more than a new fuel tax.
The protests have morphed into a much larger anger about the influence of a disconnected elite political class, personified by President Emmanuel Macron, over the lives of the ordinary French citizen.  The fuel tax was the last straw, the underlying issues remain.

(Via Associated Press) PARIS (AP) — French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe is to announce a suspension of fuel tax hikes, a major U-turn in an effort to appease a protest movement that has radicalized, French media reported Tuesday.
Both Le Monde newspaper and France Info radio said the planned increase, which has provoked riots, will be suspended for several months. Philippe is also expected to announce other measures aimed at easing tensions, just three weeks after claiming that the government would not change course and remained determined to help wean French consumers off polluting fossils fuels.

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President Trump’s campaign manager Brad Parscale discusses how the campaign used social media to break through the firewall of MSM control.  Additionally, Parscale confronts the reason why the approach is needed in an era where MSM gatekeepers attempt to manipulate the type of information.
Within the interview Brad Parscale directly confronts the MSM gate-keeping mindset, as advanced by an interviewer who is ideologically predisposed to support control over any content he disagrees with.  The result is a lengthy but very interesting interview.

As former President George H.S. Bush lies in state at the U.S. Capitol, President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump visit Capitol Hill and pay their respects to the former President.

Political analyst and commentator Dan Bongino has a great dot-connecting podcast today that outlines the players, motives, moves and intentions surrounding the ongoing Deep Administrative State battle.
It is an excellent presentation in all facets, with one minor gear slightly askew – which CTH will explain.  The content is very well presented. Everyone should listen to the podcast.  (Hit the little orange arrow):
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The only divergence CTH holds to the overall outline is below.
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Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley has always worked earnestly to protect whistleblowers; it is a subject near and dear to his heart.  Against the backdrop of an unexpected raid on the home of an approved and protected whistleblower named Dennis Nathan Cain, Senator Grassley writes to Inspector General Horowitz:

(Document Link)

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