Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell delivered some bad news to Speaker Pelosi from the floor of the upper-chamber:

…”There will be no haggling with the House over Senate procedure. We will not cede our authority to try this impeachment. The House Democrats’ turn is over. The Senate has made its decision.”…

…Now, go make me a sandwich.

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[Transcript] – MITCH MCCONNELL – ‘Late last year, Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats sped through a slapdash impeachment of President Trump in 12 weeks. Because, they insisted, the need to undo the 2016 election was urgent. Urgent, they said.
‘Since then, the same people have spent three weeks dragging their heels and refusing to proceed to a Senate trial.
‘Supposedly, the explanation for this shameless game-playing is that Speaker Pelosi wanted “leverage” to reach into the Senate and dictate our trial proceedings to us. I’ve made clear from the beginning that no such “leverage” exists. It’s nonexistent. And yesterday we made it clear it will never exist.
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In the aftermath of Ukraine Airlines Flight 752 exploding and crashing just north of Tehran airport, the Iranian government is refusing to turn-over the black box flight data recorders recovered from the crash site.   Combined with the timing and location, their refusal is leading to increased speculation the flight may have accidentally been targeted by Iranian air-defense systems.  The tragedy is being compounded by Iranian politics.
The Boeing 737-800 is a very dependable aircraft with three decades of service.  This specific Ukraine aircraft was built in 2016 & just had a service inspection on January 6th. Immediately after the crash, Iranian officials stated the cause was “technical difficulties”, and after video surfaced showing the plane was on fire heading to the ground, Iran later stated the cause was one of the engines on fire.  However, there was no distress call or report of issue, from very experienced Ukraine pilots to Tehran air-traffic control.

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There were 176 passengers and crew aboard: 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainian passengers and crew, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans and three Britons on board. Additionally, what appears to be the nose of an M1 Surface to Air Missile (SAM) has been identified in a debris field near the crash site.
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In a rather bizarre tweet without any background context New York Times columnist Paul Krugman denies responsibility for child pornography found on his computer:

In a follow-up tweet Krugman states: “The Times is now on the case”.   Apparently calling the police for a forensic review was out of the question, or something.  Very odd.
Next up: Crowdstrike!  Wait for it….

CNNi  (CNN international) via Becky Anderson, based out of Abu Dhabi, attempts to push a false propaganda narrative against State Dept Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus.   Things didn’t work out as planned.  The pontificating Anderson was left speechless.  Funny.

Ms. Anderson intentionally ignored the E-3 Statement of support from earlier today and attempted to push a narrative of the U.S. being isolated within the international community.  Mrs. Morgan Ortagus shredded the CNNi narrative engineer.  WATCH:

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Sara Carter held a pod-cast interview with HPSCI ranking member Devin Nunes.  At approximately 36:25 of the interview congressman Nunes discusses the testimony of Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson.

The transcript from Atkinson’s House testimony has never been released.  Rep. Nunes states the reason HPSCI Chairman Schiff has kept the transcript hidden and classified is because the content is extremely damaging to the origin of the impeachment fraud.  Additionally, the testimony from Atkinson conflicted with evidence which surfaced later:

“[Atkinson] is under active investigation. I’m not gonna go any farther than that because you know obviously he has a chance to come in and prove his innocence, but my guess is Schiff, Atkinson they don’t want that transcript out because it’s very damaging”… (Link)

CTH has previously outlined ICIG Michael Atkinson as a dirty player amid a network of very corrupt officials who hold self-interests from participating in unlawful abuses of government surveillance including the DOJ and FBI activity during the 2016 election.
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Any headline that uses the phrase “France Warns” immediately requires a background review to understand the big picture driving French fears.
Just like Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau thinking he could outwit President Trump’s policies on NAFTA trade (he failed), Trudeau’s bestie, French President Emmanuel Macron, has stupidly exhibited similar shortsightedness.  In the case of both leaders their weasel moves have put their nations’ into a precarious economic position.
To consider the future for France, it would be wise to remember last year when President Trump arrived to attend the G-7 in Biarritz, France, President Macron was waiting at the Hotel du Palais to ambush Trump for an unscheduled luncheon (pictured below):

This was just one example in a series of scripted weasel-moves played by Macron in an attempt to pontificate his importance for the international audience.  Another example from the same event was Macron inviting the Iranian foreign Minister to the G7 for sideline meetings unrelated to the topics being discussed in Biarritz.
In an effort to create leverage against the U.S. position, President Macron never discussed his Iranian invitation -in advance- with the U.S. delegation.  It did not go over well.
The EU, and specifically France, have a dependence on foreign energy sources as a result of their ridiculous climate policies and narrow thinking.  In essence the EU wants to do business and receive oil from Iran; however, U.S. sanctions against Iran forbid those business deals.  Ergo Macron attempted to inject influence and position his interests.
As stated, the ambush approach did not go well, but POTUS played it cool.
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Republican Senator Josh Hawley appeared on ‘Fox & Friends’ this morning to outline a proposal for Senate action to throw out the impeachment case if Democrats don’t prosecute it.

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Congressman John Ratcliffe appears on Sunday Morning Futures to discuss several issues in DC.   On the impeachment front Ratcliffe may, if called-upon, represent the interests of President Trump during a Senate trial on the fraudulent impeachment articles.
On the ‘Spygate’ issues, Ratcliffe again draws attention to the conflicting testimony between former CIA Director John Brennand and former FBI Director James Comey. One of them lied.

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Good grief there’s a lot to unpack within this insufferable beltway cocktail party disguised as a high-brow TV review of the U.S-Iraq-Iran conflict. (Video Below)  However, both of them are clueless about what President Trump is about to do.
First, the generous opinion of General Petraeus as a military strategist is massively inflated. As the recently released Afghanistan Papers have revealed the entire premise of the Petraeus’ strategy was based on lies; fundamental falsehoods; and an upper-tier military devoid of anyone willing to say the emperor was naked. It was all BS.

Secondly, and in support for the first point, any General who would commit himself to a career blackmail position by engaging in grossly inappropriate sexual conduct with a pontificating pustule like Paula Broadwell isn’t exactly a smart fella; and that’s without even considering the Kelly sisters leading him by the penis when Petraeus was CentCom Commander.
Internationally espousing a break-through in a mid-east anti-terror strategy while simultaneously positioning himself to be hoodwinked and blackmailed by the political powers in DC does not lend itself to strategically intelligent bona fides.
The outcome of that Broadwell hot-mess was leverage deployed against General Petraeus when he was CIA director and the crisis around the State Department and CIA joint operational station in Benghazi, Libya, erupted. In the aftermath the Panetta/Clinton operation needed an ally, enter interim political ideologue Michael Morell to replace Petraeus after ODNI James Clapper told the General to exit, or else.
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Representative Doug Collins appears on Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the status of the ‘stalled’ impeachment articles and the lack of congressional curiosity toward the DOJ and FBI outcome in the Horowitz investigation.

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