Today President Trump and President Xi JinPing of China conducted bi-lateral meetings to discuss ongoing concerns surrounding trade, finance, military engagement, and the need for China to assist in leverage over North Korea’s hostilities.

[Transcript] 11:22 A.M. EDT – PRESIDENT TRUMP:  I just want to say that President Xi and all of his representatives have been really interesting to be with.  I think we have made tremendous progress in our relationship with China.  My representatives have been meeting one-on-one with their counterparts from China.  And I think, truly, progress has been made.  We’ll be making a lot of additional progress.

The relationship developed by President Xi and myself I think is outstanding.  We look forward to being together many times in the future.  And I believe lots of very potentially bad problems will be going away.

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With Vice President Mike Pence presiding over the Senate Chamber, Judge Neil Gorsuch was confirmed by a vote of 54-45 as the newest associate justice of the Supreme Court. Judge Neil Gorsuch now occupies the former Supreme Court seat of Justice Antonin Scalia.

Three Democrats, Joe Donnelly (Indiana), Heidi Heitkamp (North Dakota) and Joe Manchin (West Virginia) voted in support of the confirmation, along with all senate republicans.  Senator Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia) did not vote as he is recovering from back surgery.

President Trump is anticipated to deliver remarks to the nation tonight:

– The targeted single airfield is Sharyat airbase in NW Syria, near Homs – The alleged source of chemical attack – Approximately 60 missiles fired – Russian military was informed in advance – Congressional Gang-of-Eight was notified in advance –

UPDATE: Video of President Trump remarks added:

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WASHINGTON – The United States has fired a barrage of cruise missiles into Syria Thursday night in retaliation for this week’s gruesome chemical weapons attack against civilians, U.S. officials said.

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According to ADP payroll processing U.S. private employers are estimated to have added 263,000 jobs in March.  This is likely more than the number employers hired in February and well above economists’ expectations.  This is the largest anticipated job growth in the past two years.

The earlier forecast by ADP National Employment Report estimated growth of 187,000 jobs, with median-range economic estimates spanning 110,000 to 225,000.  The current report is jointly developed with Moody’s Analytics.

The U.S. Labor Department’s more comprehensive non-farm payrolls report comes out on Friday and will include both public and private-sector employment.  Economists polled by Reuters were looking for U.S. private payroll employment to have grown by 175,000 jobs in March, less than the 227,000 in February – so the 263,000 estimate has caught them off guard.  The ADP results are much stronger (100,000 more) than anticipated.

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Secretary Rex Tillerson delivered very important remarks today in Palm Beach Florida ahead of ongoing discussions with the Chinese delegation and President Xi Jinping meeting with President Donald Trump.

Following the segment by T-Rex outlining the parameters for the meetings today and tomorrow, Tillerson communicated a position of the Trump administration that Syrian leader Bashir Assad should step down from power.

“With the acts that he has taken, it would seem that there would be no rule for [Assad] to govern the Syrian people.

The process by which Assad would leave is something that I think requires and international community effort, both to first defeat ISIS within Syria, to stabilize the Syrian country to avoid further civil war, and then to work collectively with our partners around the world through a political process that would lead to Assad leaving.”

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Neither Secretary Tillserson or President Trump are proposing military action to remove Assad.  However, the remarks by Secretary Tillerson about Syria and Bashir Assad are a shift in approach, and were almost simultaneously communicated by President Trump (albeit with nuance) aboard Air-Force One en route to Palm Beach.   See below: (more…)

The DC pantomime continues today following a VERY FAMILIAR UniParty pattern. Once you see the strings on the marionettes it’s impossible to go back to a time when you didn’t see them.   Do not lose any of your peace over this. The DC UniParty is as predictable as the sunrise.  Fugheddaboudit, and go MAGA.

There was/is never going to be an outcome of significance to the DC pantomime being conducted in front of the capitol building’s House Intel Committee Potemkin village and visitor center.  It’s a show, a pretense, a charade, complete with scripts and roles to be played etc., countermeasures deployed.

Viewers and voters will tire of it. Just like the VA scandal; just like Fast and Furious; just like Benghazi; just like the IRS hearings; and the remaining visible corruption simply melts back into the swamp to reconstitute for the next public event du jour.

Left-wing activist groups ‘Democracy 21’ and ‘Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington’ filed a lawsuit accusing House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes of ethics violations following Nunes’ public statements about President Trump and his transition team being targets of intelligence community surveillance by the Obama administration.

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President Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice-President Mike Pence and Karen Pence participate with Secretary Shulkin (VA) and Secretary Zinke in a White House tribute to the Wounded Warrior Project:

[TRANSCRIPT] 9:28 A.M. EDT – THE VICE PRESIDENT:  To all the heroes who are gathered here, to their families, to the patrons of this great project, members of Congress, on behalf of my wife, Karen, it is my great honor standing beside the President of the United States and the First Lady to welcome you all to the White House.  (Applause.)

We’re grateful to have so many who are of such great consequence to our armed forces with us today, as well as those who serve our veterans — our Secretary David Shulkin, Secretary Ryan Zinke — who serve in this Cabinet.  But on behalf of the President and the First Family, a special thank you to Lieutenant General Michael Linnington and Deven Schei.  The Wounded Warrior Project is a source of great comfort to our veterans across the country, and it is an inspiration to the nation.  (Applause.)

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CTH Susan Rice Back Story:

• Susan Rice appears on MSNBC to Explain
• Rice Explanation Points to President Obama’s Daily Briefing

Today, Catherine Herridge is reporting the unmasking requests made by former National Security Adviser were requests for details of daily surveillance of President Trump’s transition team regarding their daily life activity.

(New York) The intelligence reports at the center of the Susan Rice unmasking controversy were detailed, and almost resembled a private investigator’s file, according to a Republican congressman familiar with the documents.

“This is information about their everyday lives,” Rep. Peter King of New York, a member of the House Intelligence committee said. “Sort of like in a divorce case where lawyers are hired, investigators are hired just to find out what the other person is doing from morning until night and then you try to piece it together later on.”

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Fox News Brett Baier had a lengthy interview with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi earlier today which was partially broadcast on Fox.  Within the interview al-Sisi spoke about his perspective of President Donald Trump and the optimistic outlook he holds toward the new relationship which has emerged after their meetings.

[…] “I fully trust the capabilities of President Trump … he can succeed in so many fields that others cannot.  I trust him wholeheartedly.”…

President al-Sisi delivered a message of strong appreciation toward President Trump and allowed his presentation to express an exceptionally optimistic outlook.  The road map for the Freedom Alliance is looking good; believe me.  Bigly good.  Very Bigly.

It’s a great interview.  (Sorry about the sketchy format of the video, it’s Fox’s upload):

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Brett Baier:  Your assessment of President Trump?

al-Sisi: “I first saw the campaign of his excellency President Trump, and I listened to his speech of the neccessity of facing and confronting terrorism all over the world; that he is a great personality and a unique individual, and that he will find great success.”

“I fully trust the capabilities of President Trump, and I have full conviction that he can do things, exert efforts, that very few people can do.  And he can succeed in so many fields that others cannot.  I trust him wholeheartedly.  And again, I congratulate you for having him.”

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The anti-Trump media jumped into a level of gleeful frenzy today amid a required security filing noticing that Senior Trump Adviser Steve Bannon was no longer a member of the “principals committee” on the National Security Council.

The hilarity cemented itself when competing media outlets were arguing about Steve Bannon being on the NSC, or being kicked-off the NSC, while Bannon walked past them en route to today’s NSC meeting.  Wait, wha… huh?   Yeah -{Insert Laugh Track HERE}-

Nothing ever happens in a vacuum, and today is no exception.   No, Steve Bannon is not being removed from the Senior advisory role to President Trump and will attend NSC meetings with the President.  Bannon’s security clearance therein remains unchanged.

However, Bannon is removing himself from the Principal’s Committee of the H.R. McMaster NSC (*note* he never attended the committee meetings, well, that is, he did, once), now that the political weaponization of NSC intelligence operations has been removed; and McMaster has recalibrated the incoming intelligence agencies to remove the political intelligence they were previously used to sending.

What does that prior paragraph mean?

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