UPDATE (3:55pm EDT): The lawyer change (motion for leave) was denied by Judge Sullivan due to a technicality in the filing (no accompanying order, and failure to outline method of notification to Flynn). They are free to refile (probably will).

Previously: This is a very interesting development and may well indicate a change in strategy; or, even more interesting, the execution of a pre-planned strategy, for General Michael Flynn.  There is a possibility, with legal distance happening as a result of Weissmann and Mueller’s investigation concluding, that Michael Flynn may be shifting to offense.
Two separate court filings today show: (1) Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn has fired his legal team and retained new counsel; and, (2) the DOJ is filing the evidentiary documents (possibly Joe Pientka 302 and Kislyak transcript?) under seal.
The Daily Caller is reporting that an announcement from the new legal counsel will come out within the next few days:
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When President Trump began confronting China on trade practices, there was always a likely totalitarian Chinese response. The inevitable response when confronting the duplicitous dragon is always an attack; it’s the only way Beijing knows how to respond.

Last week Beijing threatened to take action against any corporation who would be perceived as working against the interests of the state.  This week communist Beijing begins doing exactly that:

(SCMP) China’s antitrust regulator slapped a US$23.6 million fine on Ford Motor Company’s Chinese venture for restricting sales prices in its hometown, taking the second such action against US carmakers in three years as trade tensions deteriorated between the world’s two largest economies.

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…“It must be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than a new system. For the initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by the preservation of the old institution and merely lukewarm defenders in those who gain by the new ones.” 

~ Niccolò Machiavelli

CTH has been fully immersed in the battle against the Chamber of Commerce Decepticons for so long we have to be careful of our language.  This battle is the heart of Wall Street’s war against MAGA Main Street.
Republican senators from Mitch McConnell’s ‘decepticon caucus’ are now warning President Trump they will fully engage in an open effort to stop him from confronting the corrupt corporate systems that finance their life of indulgence.  Tariff’s on Mexico are a bridge too far for Tom Donohue and the multinational Wall Street lobbying system.  The republicans who benefit from K-Street lobbyist payments are now on full display.

Senate Leader Mitch McConnell has one major career alliance that has been unbroken and unchanged for well over two decades.  That alliance is with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and specifically with CoC President Tom Donohue.  [SEE HERE and SEE HERE].
However, decepticon senator John Kennedy (U-LA) has personally spoken to Trump and outlines the president will not back down in the face of their threats:

“He’s as serious as four heart attacks and a stroke,” Kennedy told reporters at the Capitol. “A 5% tariff isn’t going to break the bank. A 25% tariff is a different story, but we are a long way from there.” (link)

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In the Weissmann/Mueller case against Michael Flynn there are two material points of evidence central to the underlying issue:

1. The FBI 302 report written by agent Joe Pientka; as an outcome of the interview of Michael Flynn January 24th, 2017, conducted by Peter Strzok and Pientka.
2. The recording/transcript of the December 29th, 2016, phone call intercept between Michael Flynn and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

According to the special counsel position Flynn lied about the 12/29/16 phone call content during the 1/24/17 FBI interview. However, this always appeared to be a sketchy claim.  Seemingly suspecting something was amiss, in two separate court demands, Judge Emmet Sullivan requested production of both the Flynn 302 and the transcript of the call.
The special counsel’s office (Brandon Van Grack), and the DC U.S. Attorney Jessie Liu, refused to provide the underlying evidence to the court.  Instead they informed the court the material was irrelevant to their prosecution of Flynn:
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In what seems like a reversal, the DNC-contracted author of the infamously sketchy dossier on Trump, Christopher Steele, is now willing to cooperate with U.S. authorities.
Steele was hired by Fusion-GPS founder Glenn Simpson as an outcome of a contract between the Clinton campaign and Fusion-GPS.  Steele was hired by Fusion to work with Nellie Ohr (wife of DOJ official Bruce Ohr), generate political opposition research, and write a dossier targeting candidate Donald Trump.
According to the London Financial Times, the former MI6 intelligence operative is willing to talk to U.S. investigators, likely Michael Horowitz, regarding his contact with corrupt DOJ and FBI officials during the 2016 campaign and seditious aftermath.

(Daily Caller) Former British spy Christopher Steele has agreed to meet in London with U.S. officials regarding the dossier, The Times of London is reporting.
A source close to Steele told the newspaper he plans to meet with American authorities within the next several weeks, but only about his interactions with the FBI and only with the approval of the British government. (more)

His testimony could be a key issue to expose corruption within the FBI that was previously identified by Senator Chuck Grassley.  The FBI said Christopher Steele never told them he was shopping his dossier to the media; however, Christopher Steele told a British court the FBI was fully aware of all his media contacts, and they used the dossier anyway.
Christopher Steele had no motive to lie to the FBI about his media contacts.
The FBI had tons of motive to lie about their knowing Steele talked to the media.
It’s just common sense.
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The school resource officer, Scot Peterson, who did not respond during the shooting Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last year, has been arrested on negligence, child neglect and perjury charges.

(NBC6 Miami) […]  Peterson, 56, was arrested in Broward County on seven counts of neglect of a child, three counts of culpable negligence, and one count of perjury, Florida Department of Law Enforcement officials said.

The arrest comes after a 15-month investigation into the actions of law enforcement after the Feb. 14, 2018 shooting at the school that killed 17 students and staffers and left 17 others injured. Peterson was the school resource officer at MSD High School during the shooting.

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After a court filing revealed how Andrew Weissmann and Robert Mueller carefully edited the telephone message by John Dowd to Michael Flynn’s attorney, Dowd points out the motives of Weissmann and Mueller was to create a fraudulent report.

Backstory Below
In the Michael Flynn sentencing phase Judge Emmet Sullivan requested the Mueller prosecution team provide records related to the case. [Backstory Here]
Among other evidence, the judge ordered the government to file on the public docket “the transcript of the voicemail recording” from President Trump’s attorney John Dowd to Michael Flynn. The transcript of that voicemail recording was cited in the Mueller report as evidence that team Trump was trying to obstruct justice by shaping witness testimony.
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The hypocrisy and ideology of the Mexican position would indicate the tariffs are certain to take place.  Factually, after Mexico has made their “red line” position clear, one could argue there’s no reason to go through the graduated timeline; the U.S. might as well just start applying the full 25% tariff amount on June 10th.

WASHINGTON/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico said on Monday it would reject a U.S. idea to take in all Central American asylum seekers if it is raised at talks this week with the Trump administration, which has threatened to impose tariffs if Mexico does not crack down on illegal immigration.
[…] Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said the country was committed to continuing to work to keep migrants from Central America from reaching the U.S. border.

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Nancy Pelosi and the House Democrats are structuring a contempt vote against U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr for next week, June 11th.   As part of the current construct, the Lawfare alliance of legal advisers and staff are writing specific language into the vote that will automatically allow more contempt votes against the Trump administration without hearings.
Their collective goal is to use a legislative vote to open a civil lawsuit against Bill Barr for his failure to deliver the fully unredacted Mueller report to them. Additionally, the contempt vote will be written so that any other arbitrary Trump administration official can also be held in contempt, without a committee vote, and thereby initiate a civil lawsuit against the executive officer that will have to be defended in court.

WASHINGTON DC – The House will vote next week to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a subpoena for special counsel Robert Mueller’s fully unredacted report and underlying evidence, according to multiple Democratic sources.
The resolution would clear the way for the House Judiciary Committee to take Barr to court to enforce its subpoena and settle the matter legally — a crucial step for Democrats seeking to accelerate their obstruction of justice investigation against President Donald Trump.

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When previously questioned by Catherine Herridge about timing for declassification of documents President Trump noted “when they need them“.  Within the response, who “they” were was never clarified; but the later directive to empower executive branch cabinet member AG Bill Barr provided a more clear reference.
In the legislative branch representatives Mark Meadows, Doug Collins and John Ratcliffe are the primary House members who were clearly helping to organize timing and distribution.  Additionally, AG Barr has appointed a prosecutor in John H Durham to review the overall DOJ, FBI and intelligence community activity.  Obviously Durham along with Inspector General Horowitz would benefit from declassification of documents in both of their reviews.

Earlier today John Ratcliffe outlined his view of U.S. Attorney John Durham as a benefactor of the declassification insofar as he would gain information for his review.  Interestingly Ratcliffe noted Durham was essentially a ‘special counsel’ and could use access to documents as a tool toward a grand jury review [ergo DOJ declassification would be needed].
Along with noting the likelihood of Durham’s intent, Ratcliffe seemed to temper expectations of any upcoming publicly visible declassification.
The possibility of Durham exploiting/using documents declassified by his boss, AG Bill Barr, would suggest some of the material may not be made public; indeed that’s the inference from Ratcliffe earlier today as he outlined to Maria Bartiromo.
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