Against the backdrop of media reports surrounding U.S. Attorney John Durham, and an investigation into potentially corrupt 2016 investigators, perhaps it’s worthwhile to pause, evaluate, reset the outlook and review the backstories.
There’s room for cautious optimism, but there’s also reason to temper expectations. First within the latest Fox News report, the following is noted:

Fox News – […] Durham, known as a “hard-charging, bulldog” prosecutor, according to a source, will focus on the period before Nov. 7, 2016—including the use and assignments of FBI informants, as well as alleged improper issuance of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants. Durham was asked to help Barr to “ensure that intelligence collection activities by the U.S. Government related to the Trump 2016 Presidential Campaign were lawful and appropriate.”

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Today President Trump will be touring a Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) export facility in Hackberry, Louisiana before he delivers a statement on energy sector infrastructure and the economy.  The president is expected to deliver remarks at 3:10pm EDT.
UPDATE: Video Added

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Chopper pressers are the best pressers. President Trump delivers remarks to the press as he departs the White House for an energy policy speech in Louisiana.  The president answered multiple questions about current events including China, Bill Barr, John Durham, Iran, Don Jr., and immigration.  [Video and transcript below]

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[Transcript] 11:21 A.M. EDT – THE PRESIDENT: So, the economy is doing very well by every measure. We’re having probably the greatest economy that we’ve had anywhere, anytime, in the history of our country.
We’re having a little squabble with China because we’ve been treated very unfairly for many, many decades — for, actually, a long time. And it should have been handled a long time ago, and it wasn’t. And we’ll handle it now.
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Once again the New York Times is getting out ahead of the story to reveal Attorney General Bill Barr has instructed U.S. Attorney John Durham to review the origins of the 2016 DOJ and FBI surveillance of the Trump campaign. [Durham Background Here]
The appointment looks like a way to keep the sensitive inquiry within Barr’s control as opposed to appointing a special counsel.  John H Durham, the U.S. attorney from Connecticut, has handled previous investigations into the intelligence community.

WASHINGTON — Attorney General William P. Barr has assigned the top federal prosecutor in Connecticut to examine the origins of the Russia investigation, according to two people familiar with the matter, a move that President Trump has long called for but that could anger law enforcement officials who insist that scrutiny of the Trump campaign was lawful.

John H. Durham, the United States attorney in Connecticut, has a history of serving as a special prosecutor investigating potential wrongdoing among national security officials, including the F.B.I.’s ties to a crime boss in Boston and accusations of C.I.A. abuses of detainees.

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Good China -vs- Bad China

Michael Pillsbury discusses the ongoing U.S-China trade negotiation and notes the internal dynamic within China as their primary negotiator Vice-Premier Liu He was stripped of his title: “Special Envoy of Chairman Xi Jinping”.

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Earlier this afternoon President Trump welcomes Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to the White House for bilateral discussions.  During an oval office press availability both leaders answered questions from the media. [Video and Transcript]

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[Transcript] Oval Office – 2:14pm EDT – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. It’s a great honor to have with us the Prime Minister of Hungary. And Viktor Orbán has done a tremendous job in so many different ways. Highly respected. Respected all over Europe. Probably, like me, a little bit controversial, but that’s okay. That’s okay. You’ve done a good job and you’ve kept your country safe.
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President Trump is executing one of the most brilliant geopolitical economic resets in the history of global trade. It really is stunningly remarkable how President Trump has controlled the entire landscape. The consequential phase now begins.
It is fascinating how the financial pundits didn’t see this coming. Perhaps one of the best indicators of where things are today comes from this quote within the South China Post:

“The Administration’s Section 301 tariffs and China’s retaliatory tariffs will now further disrupt – or even break – many thousands of supply chains in both countries.”
[Nelson Dong, a senior partner at Dorsey & Whitney]

The quote by Nelson Dong is stated *as if* shifting/breaking supply chains is a flaw in the approach. It’s not. Exactly the opposite is true; this is a feature of the strategic reset.  A specific and purposeful feature designed by President Trump.
What Dong is predicting is the deconstruction of “one-belt, one-road”.
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Looking at the retaliatory response from China today; there’s lots of great news.  China is doing exactly what President Trump quietly predicted.  They are walking directly into his trap.  Trump is a friggin’ genius…. more on that coming.
This video from Steve Hilton last night was very well presented.

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This is good to see.  Finally President Trump indicates he is well aware of the intents and motives of FBI Director Christopher Wray covering for the illegal coup effort:

President Trump may have been aware of Chris Wray’s corrupt disposition prior to today; however, this is the first visible indication he understands the internecine organization of it.  Hopefully we can start the countdown clock to Wray’s exit.
Next up, Chris Wray’s #1 strategic hire, current FBI Legal Counsel Dana Boente.
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CTH was wondering how long it would take for President Trump to point out the brutally obvious…. Thanks to some advanced planning that everyone ignored, there are multiple trade alternatives to China:

Perhaps now people will reference President Trump’s long-game strategy which has been evident since his marathon Asia trip in November 2017.
Long before media pundits starting noticing/considering how serious President Trump was about structurally resetting the entire landscape of a U.S-China trade relationship,  President Trump quietly and methodically laid the groundwork with personal visits to: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (Japan); President Moon Jae-in (S-Korea); President Tran Dai Quang (Vietnam); and President Rodrigo Duerte (Philippines).
Oh, how quickly the media forgot.
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