Almost two weeks ago it was announced that U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras was mysteriously recused from the Special Counsel case against General Mike Flynn, five days after Judge Contreras accepting the initial pleading. No explanation as to ‘why’?

(Reuters) The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia judge presiding over the criminal case for President Donald Trump’s former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn has been recused from handling the case, a court spokeswoman said on Thursday. (read more)

One might think the media apparatus, or pundit proletariat writ large, might be curious about why a U.S. District Court Judge would be recused. Alas One would be wrong. The recusal angle is transparently missing from any follow-up by media; and apparently the judicial cat also has stolen the tongue of congressional curiosity. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.
The story has been memory holed into the concentric whirlpool of nothingness.
We have speculated that U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras was recused, either by himself or by challenge, because he is also a FISA Court Judge and could have signed off on the October FISA warrant that led to the wiretapping and surveillance of General Flynn. However, we have received information that it wasn’t ‘by challenge’, leaving the preponderance of the motive for recusal directly upon Judge Contreras personal decision.
(more…)

Asst. FBI Director Andrew McCabe is testifying today behind closed doors to the House Intelligence Committee. Important to note how there have been no leaks; that’s the first indication of coordinated chaff and counter measures deployed by the UniParty enablers of the Deep State institutional government.
Bruce Ohr is scheduled tomorrow; again behind closed doors, this time in the Senate Intelligence Committee setting. Again, dueling intelligence hearings -between House and Senate- (on the same witnesses), indicates the UniParty apparatus has deployed Chaff and Countermeasures and is protecting the administrative state.

Promoting, well, actually the appropriate word is ‘deploying‘, the leveraged and controlled head of the House Oversight/Reform Committee is the tri-fecta in seeing the countermeasures deployed. [Prior: Issa, Chaffetz, now Roosterhead] The Chairman or Chairwoman of the House Oversight Committee is given the responsibility to deflect. In payment for services toward the cause of the UniParty the Chairman gets indulgences.
The oversight “Gang of Eight” appear to have taken over the process to ensure controls are in place. If we had not been watching this exact process play out for the past 8 years, we might not recognize the pattern. Alas, with Fast and Furious, IRS Targeting, Benghazi and more examples of UniParty wagon-circling, we would be naive not to notice the identical replay. The Hezbollah side-show is part of the ‘shiny thing’.
(more…)

As the House of Representatives votes on the final tax bill, the White House Press Secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, delivers the press briefing for Tuesday December 19th.
UPDATE: Video Added

The House and Senate are scheduled to vote today on the final draft of the reconciled House and Senate Tax Reform Bill. According to Paul Ryan and House Leadership the House of Representatives will call up the vote around 1:30pm EST this afternoon.
According to Senate Leader Mitch McConnell earlier today, the Senate will call up the vote later tonight. That could be very late tonight; the Senate is notorious for votes after midnight. Successful passage by the House and Senate would set up the possibility of President Trump signing the bill as early as tomorrow (Wednesday).
Livestream of House Vote below.  [Each representative has three minutes for final debate and argument presentation]  UPDATE: 2:30pm EST – House Bill Passes 227-203

Now the senate’s turn.

(more…)

Last Friday the New York Federal Reserve raised its estimate of U.S. GDP growth for the fourth quarter of 2017 to four percent.  That’s officially the unattainable, impossible magic-wand-level of GDP growth all the ‘experts’ said was impossible.  Why did they make that ‘unexpected upward’ re-re-re-revision?  Because the underlying economic activity represents facts that cannot be denied. The economy is on-the-move.

…”Hold on to your economic britches peeps – throw dem ju-ju bones out the windows – grab hold of the young-un’s, squeeze em tight and introduce them to ‘capitalism unchained’. We are in uncharted MAGA territory now. Q4 will be well beyond 3.2% 3.8%  3.9% 4.0%… Well Beyond.”…

The actual economic activity noted in virtually every region in the U.S. is so strong the polling measures of economic optimism are reaching new records.  Today, as an example, for the first time in their 11 year CNBC All-American Economic Survey  more than half of all Americans responding to the questions rate the economy as good or excellent.  Additionally, nearly 41 percent of Americans say they expect the economy to be better a year from now. These represent the most optimistic results CNBC has ever recorded.
We would be remiss if we didn’t note a specific choice of words used to describe the economic conditions being measured:

…”We’re not measuring a marginal change in the economy, we’re measuring a different economy.”…

Sound familiar?
It should….
(more…)

The previous effort at justification and damage control over the FBI counterintelligence operation to spy on presidential candidate Donald Trump was likely courtesy of FBI Asst. Director of Counterintelligence E.W. “Bill” Priestap.

The latest effort at justification comes directly from anti-Trump FBI Counterintelligence Agent Peter Strzok; claiming the ‘insurance policy’ statement was to protect candidate Donald Trump, not to defend the republic against him.  :::insert eyeroll here:::

WASHINGTON DC – An FBI agent’s text message that referred to “an insurance policy” and has been cited as evidence of bias against President Trump reportedly alluded to the investigation into Russia’s election interference and any potential ties between Trump’s campaign and Moscow.
The Wall Street Journal, citing individuals familiar Peter Strzok’s message, said the agent did not mean to indicate that there was a plan to damage Trump. Strzok’s message, instead, was intended to mean that Trump could win the election, and therefore the probe “couldn’t afford to take a more measured approach,” the newspaper said.  (read more)

(more…)

This would be embarrassingly laughable if the underlying issue was not so serious. Notice the transparency of the timing here; along with the justification angle.

Today NBC comes out with an “exclusive report” provided by “FBI counterintelligence sources” curiously pushing a story (*NOW*?) about a “high-level counterintelligence briefing by senior FBI officials” for candidate Donald Trump in July 2016 “soon after the nomination”.  Why this narrative now?  Methinks they doth protest too much.
Gee, I wonder why government officials would be pushing NBC’s Ken Dilanian (the narrative engineer for pro Fusion-GPS stories) to report on Senior FBI counterintelligence briefings with Donald Trump in July 2016?

Perhaps because those same Senior FBI counterintelligence people (Bill Priestap, Peter Strzok, Andrew McCabe) are quickly realizing their 2016 spy operation against Trump, their “insurance policy“, is out in the sunlight…. and NOW their collaborative illegal operation is about to put them in a position of being questioned by congressional oversight?  When does McCabe testify? Oh, yeah, tomorrow; funny that.

WASHINGTON — In the weeks after he became the Republican nominee on July 19, 2016, Donald Trump was warned that foreign adversaries, including Russia, would probably try to spy on and infiltrate his campaign, according to multiple government officials familiar with the matter.
The warning came in the form of a high-level counterintelligence briefing by senior FBI officials, the officials said. A similar briefing was given to Hillary Clinton, they added. They said the briefings, which are commonly provided to presidential nominees, were designed to educate the candidates and their top aides about potential threats from foreign spies.

(more…)

Today, President Donald Trump is delivering a speech outlining the administrations’ larger national security strategy. The remarks are much anticipated as President Trump is expected to give the general electorate their first understanding of the Trump Doctrine: using economic leverage to achieve national security objectives.
CTH readers have spent the past year discussing examples of how President Trump uses economic leverage as the core element of his geopolitical strategy. However, it is not discussed, nor has it been accepted/recognized, by MSM or the broader electorate.
The speech is anticipated to begin at 2:00pm EST:
UPDATE: Video Added

Fox News host Maria Bartiromo interviews Representative Bud Cummins about the 2016 weaponization of the FBI and DOJ and the same group of people in 2017 working to undermine the Trump administration.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin departed Camp David last night and appears on Fox, CNN and CBS Sunday talk shows to discuss the pending historic vote on Tax Reform.
Fox News Sunday: