President Trump mentioned the likelihood the military would take a look at the conduct of Lt. Col Alexander Vindman in the wake of his leaking classified information to construct a fraudulent whistle-blower complaint with CIA ally Eric Ciaramella.

Today Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said Vindman will not be investigated for his role in breaching national security protocol, fabricating claims and breaking chain of command.

WASHINGTON DC – The Army will not investigate Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the former National Security Council staffer who testified in the president’s impeachment investigation, the service’s top civilian said Friday.

Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy made the announcement at an event just days after President Donald Trump said he imagined the military would “take a look at” whether Vindman should face disciplinary action for the “horrible things” he told House investigators about the president’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last July. (link)

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Earlier today President Trump signed a bill supporting the retraining and re-skilling of military service members for important Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) jobs. S. 153, the “Supporting Veterans in STEM Careers Act,” which promotes veteran participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, computer science, and scientific research.
At the conclusion of the remarks celebrating the bill, President Trump took questions from the media (press remarks @21:10) [Video Below – Transcript Will Follow]
During the press portion President Trump took questions on a variety of topics to include the DOJ, the outrageous Roger Stone sentence, Michael Bloomberg, the upcoming trip to India and interestingly President Trump says he is aware who “anonymous” is, but doesn’t want to say… “you’d be surprised, you’d be surprised”. Much more:

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Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman, the twin brothers who work at the NSC & who participated in an attempted coup to remove President Trump, were both escorted from the White House and removed from their position “with no explanation” on Friday.   No word yet on whether the White House kept their coats.
Hey, President Trump was previously accused of breaking up families at the border; well, this time he kept them together.  Out!… Now let’s get rid of ICIG Michael Atkinson

Politico – Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a central witness in the impeachment charges against President Donald Trump, was removed from his job and escorted out of the White House on Friday, according to his lawyer, raising concerns that the president has kicked off a long-foreshadowed campaign of retribution.

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All those corrupt local Puerto Rico officials who have used U.S. disaster response aid to enrich themselves had better watch out.  President Trump has just assigned Coast Guard Rear Admiral Peter J. Brown to take charge of all U.S. efforts on the island.
Rear Admiral Brown is an excellent man with a servants heart, but he is also a very deliberate and serious man.  And this man knows the island; we have crossed paths….

[White House] President Donald J. Trump has named U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Peter J. Brown of Florida as his Special Representative for Puerto Rico’s Disaster Recovery. In this capacity, Admiral Brown will coordinate United States Government efforts to build the infrastructure and resiliency of Puerto Rico.

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According to Jennifer Jacobs at Bloomberg News the Vindman weasel may soon be removed from the National Security Council.  Hopefully a full damage assessment has been conducted in the wake of the national security damage Vindman has created.

As would be expected from modern media the Bloomberg article is written to emphasize their ideological position that President Donald Trump, the head of the Executive Branch, should not be allowed to select the people who provide him advice and counsel:

Bloomberg – The White House is weighing a plan to dismiss Alexander Vindman from the National Security Council after he testified in President Donald Trump’s impeachment inquiry, preparing to position the move as part of a broader effort to shrink the foreign policy bureaucracy, two people familiar with the matter said.

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During the State of the Union speech on Tuesday, President Trump remarked:

“Our message to the terrorists is clear: You will never escape American justice. If you attack our citizens, you forfeit your life!”

al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) had taken credit for the terrorist attack at Pensacola Naval Air Station – Today the White House announces:
“At the direction of President Donald J. Trump, the United States conducted a counterterrorism operation in Yemen that successfully eliminated Qasim al-Rimi, a founder and the leader of al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and a deputy to al-Qa’ida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Rimi joined al-Qa’ida in the 1990s, working in Afghanistan for Osama bin Laden. Under Rimi, AQAP committed unconscionable violence against civilians in Yemen and sought to conduct and inspire numerous attacks against the United States and our forces. His death further degrades AQAP and the global al-Qa’ida movement, and it brings us closer to eliminating the threats these groups pose to our national security.”
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As we start to head deeper into the 2020 presidential election year, there is some very good news for President Trump about how Americans rate their satisfaction; and some very bad news for Democrats who are trying to impeach this success.
According to the latest data from Gallup: “Americans’ average satisfaction rating for the 27 issues Gallup has tracked consistently since 2001 is now 47%. This is up three points from a year ago and is the highest since the January 2005 poll.”
In the measures of satisfaction covering the first three years of President Trump in office there are some remarkable increases in key measures:

(data link)

As President Trump prepares to deliver his State of the Union speech to congress, these results will likely provide some measurable data for him to highlight.  Satisfaction with the U.S. economy has jumped a whopping 22 percent since President Trump took office.
As noted above, the economy, national security, military and state of race relations all provide double-digit increases in American satisfaction during President Trump’s first three years in office.
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CTH held off reporting on this explosive story until we could see if a tell-tale consequence surfaced; perhaps it has.   On Friday the National Security Council senior director for European and Russian affairs, Andrew Peek, was escorted from the White House grounds and is currently under a security investigation.
There are few details about why Peek was physically removed and is under a very serious investigation; however, some of Andrew Peek’s professional background details tell a story.  The connection to Gen. John Allen is a MASSIVE warning flare.
Andrew Peek, the senior director for European and Russian affairs at the National Security Council, has been placed on administrative leave pending a security-related investigation, people familiar with the situation tell Axios.
First the Daily Mail:

[…] Peek had been in the NSC role for just two months, after most recently working as a deputy assistant secretary of state with responsibility for Iran and Iraq.
[…] Peek had been expected to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland next week with Trump and other top aides. However, he is currently on leave pending a security-related investigation, people familiar with the situation told Axios.

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While the admission of fault is rather unusual for Iran, they really didn’t have much choice.  Despite their earnest effort to cover-up the cause and deny their involvement, the evidence was overwhelming that Iranian military shot-down Ukraine Airline flight 752 killing 176 passengers and crew.

IRAN – The general staff of Iran armed forces says a Ukrainian plane that crashed on Wednesday was brought down due to human error.  Iran targeted the passenger plane unintentionally, Iran’s Press TV reports. (link)

In a tweet by Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, the diplomat attempts to blame the U.S. and apologize to the victims families.
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Earlier today Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin held a press conference in the White House to announce new sanctions against Iran. The secretaries also took questions from the press pool. [Video and Transcript Below]

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[Transcript] – SECRETARY MNUCHIN: Good morning, everybody. Thank you for being here today. I’d just like to make a brief comment before we talk about Iran sanctions. I’m sure everybody saw that the DOW hit 29,000. The President’s economic plans are clearly working. We’re looking forward to the China signing, USMCA, and a very strong economy this year.
As previously announced by the President, we are announcing additional sanctions against the Iranian regime as a result of the attack on U.S. and allied troops.
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