General James Mattis is anticipated to deliver his first Pentagon briefing since becoming Secretary of Defense. Mattis is anticipated to discuss Syria, Russia, North Korea and China and the U.S. military contingencies toward that end.  Anticipated start time 3:30pm ET

Update: Full Video Added

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…”I think what we have to look at here is a policy decision by the United States.  There is a limit to what we can do.  And when you look at what happened with this chemical attack we knew that we could not stand passive on this.  But it was not a statement that we could enter full-fledged, full-bore, into the most complex civil war – probably waging on the planet, at this time.”

~ Defense Secretary James Mattis

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Prior to leaving the G7 Summit in Italy, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson deliberately outlined the U.S. policy and objectives toward: Syria, the Syrian People, Bashir Assad, Russia and the extremist Jihadist elements on the ground in Syria.

The statement and answers to the questions are intensely important [transcript below], particularly the clarity from Secretary Tillerson regarding the future of Bashir Assad. Do not focus on the media interpretation of T-Rex’s words; listen and watch directly the words themselves.

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[TRANSCRIPT] SECRETARY TILLERSON: Good morning. I’ve got a statement. I want to share it first, and then I’m happy to take a couple of questions.

Last week, Bashar al-Assad’s regime killed even more of its own people using chemical weapons. Our missile strike in response to his repeated use of banned weapons was necessary as a matter of U.S. national security interest.

We do not want the regime’s uncontrolled stockpile of chemical weapons to fall into the hands of ISIS or other terrorist groups who could, and want to, attack the United States or our allies.

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During the February 2016 GOP primary debate candidate Trump told the world what he would do in response to continued North Korean missile aggression –SEE HERE–  In January of 2017 President Trump repeated the message –SEE HERE–

On April 6th and 7th, last week, President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a two day summit discussing trade and North Korea.   The United States and China are the two largest economies in the world.  Now see this:

A fleet of North Korean cargo ships is heading home to the port of Nampo, the majority of it fully laden, after China ordered its trading companies to return coal from the isolated country, shipping data shows.

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On September 30th 2016 the New York Times quietly released a leaked audio recording of Secretary John Kerry meeting with multiple factions associated within Syria.

The 40-minute discussion took place on the sidelines of a United Nations General Assembly in New York. The meeting took place at the Dutch Mission to the United Nations on Sept. 22nd 2016:

[…]  Kerry’s off-record conversation was apparently with two dozen ‘Syrian civilians’, all from US backed opposition-linked NGO’s in education and medical groups supposedly working in ‘rebel-held’ (aka terrorist-held) areas in Syria.

This opposition conclave also included ‘rescue workers’ which can only be ambassadors from the White Helmets, a pseudo NGO which serves as Washington and London’s primary PR front in pursuit of a “No Fly Zone’ in Syria, and it’s being bankrolled by the US, UK, EU and other coalition states to the tune of well over $100 million (so far). (link)

When you listen to the audio recording (embedded below) it becomes immediately obvious what was going on in 2014, 2015 and 2016 as an outcome of policy from the White House.  In addition, you discover why this jaw-dropping 2016 leak/story was buried by the U.S. media and how it connects to the prior 4 years of perplexing U.S. mid-east policy.

This evidence within this single story would/should forever remove any credibility toward the U.S. foreign policy under President Obama.  It also destroys the credibility of a large number of well known republicans, and explains how the prior action has placed President Trump into a precarious position requiring a careful approach.

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We know from the Bret Baier interview with Hillary Clinton that she was physically located at her 7th floor office in Washington DC on Sept. 11th 2012, the night of the attack. Unfortunately we also know during the November 2012 Thanksgiving holiday a mysterious fire took place in that building. Well, actually directly above her exact office – cause undetermined.

A “fire” which preceded an unfortunate slip and fall for the Secretary, resulting in a concussion, which led to the discovery of a blood clot, that ultimately delayed her congressional testimony before a Senate Hearing into the events of the night in question.

We know the Libyan uprising began on February 10th of 2011, and we also know that sometime around the end of February 2011 President Obama signed a presidential directive authorizing the State Dept and CIA to begin a covert operation to arm the Libyan “rebels”.

We also know of a Second Presidential Finding Memo authorizing additional CIA covert action in 2012, this time in Syria. However, unlike the 2011 Libyan operation we do not know the operational name of the second action in 2012 Syria.

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It would appear, based on constructs from alternate governmental releases, that thankfully the prior AP report is not a surprise to Secretary Rex Tillerson.  A readout from a call between British Prime Minister Theresa May and U.S. President Donald Trump provides additional context to absorb the larger, and overarching, ally objectives.

As such it appears the international effort is focused on holding Russian President Vladimir Putin responsible for the actions of Syria’s Bashir Assad.   Toward that objective the international leadership is putting an absolute ton of responsibility on U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to be the tip of the spear.

To say all eyes are on T-Rex today would be the understatement of the year.  And ahead of his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Vladimir Putin is attempting to avoid the snare by refusing to grant T-Rex an audience.  Apparently, based on the action of Putin, Secretary T-Rex is considered a more formidable adversary than former Secretary of State John Kerry.

(Via Reuters) The Kremlin said on Monday that U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will not meet President Vladimir Putin when he visits Moscow on Wednesday, a move that could point to tensions over a U.S. missile attack on a Syrian air base last week.

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The Associated Press is reporting a story from a “Senior U.S. Official” stating the U.S. has evidence the Russian military knew in advance of the Chemical Weapon attack in Syria last week.

Beyond the headline and vague sourcing for the claim, this AP report is stunning on multiple levels. Why would a “senior U.S. official” release such a controversial statement/story just 36 hours before Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is scheduled to arrive in Russia?

Obviously anyone with any degree of diplomatic understanding would know this leak would be seriously controversial with T-Rex about to meet Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov and possibly Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.

Is T-Rex being set up? Or is this leak part of a U.S. strategy? Either option is entirely possible.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A senior U.S. official says the United States has concluded that Russia knew in advance of Syria’s chemical weapons attack last week.

The official says a Russian-operated drone flew over a hospital in Syria as victims of the attack were rushing to get treatment.

Hours after the drone left, a Russian-made fighter jet bombed the hospital in what American officials believe was an attempt to cover up the usage of chemical weapons.

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White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer delivers the Press Briefing from the Brady room. There has been a great deal of news since the last full White House press briefing: Syria, Russia, Bashir Assad, China, N-Korea, Egypt, Terrorism, Sweden, and mucho palace intrigue around the NSC and Bannon/Kushner conspiracy stuff. The anticipated start time is 1:30pm ET

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President Trump will participate in a Rose Garden live stream ceremony for the swearing in of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch today at 11:00am (approx.)

Update Video Added:

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The Commander-in-Chief personally calls both commanders of the two missile destroyers who carried out the mission in Syria to thank them for their exceptional performance on mission.  How cool is that?

MEDITERRANEAN SEA (NNS) — April 9, 2017, the commanding officers of Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Ross (DDG 71) and USS Porter (DDG 78) received phone calls from President Donald J. Trump.

The president called to thank the commanding officers, Cmdr. Russell Caldwell and Cmdr. Andria Slough, and their crews for their professionalism and quick response to the tasking to conduct a cruise missile strike against Shayrat airfield in western Syria, April 7, 2017. This strike was in response to the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime.

USS Ross, commanded by Cmdr. Russell Caldwell, forward-deployed to Rota, Spain, departed on its fifth forward-deployed patrol April 3, 2017, and is conducting routine patrols in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations in support of U.S. national security interests in Europe. (more…)