Chopper pressers are the best pressers.  As President Trump departs the White House for a trip to Wisconsin he stops for the assembled media pool. The president fielded questions on a variety of current topics leading off with the unfortunate resignation of Labor Secretary Alex Acosta.  [ Watch Video and Transcript below]

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[Full Transcript] – Q How do you think your Labor Secretary did?
THE PRESIDENT: I think he was a great Labor Secretary, not a good Labor Secretary. He’s done a fantastic job. He’s a friend of everybody in the administration. And I got a call this morning, early, from Alex. And I think he did a very good job yesterday. Under a lot of pressure, he did a fantastic job and he explained it. He made a deal that people were happy with, and then, 12 years later, they’re not happy with it. You’ll have to figure all of that out.
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U.S. President Donald Trump is attending an event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, today to discuss the importance of a North American trade bloc and support the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) trade deal.
Anticipated start time approximately 2:25pm EST.
UPDATE: Video Added

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At 2:00pm EST Tropical Storm Barry is strengthening with current 65 MPH winds.  Barry is still forecast to become a hurricane shortly before landfall.  Slow movement, warm water and growing energy is a concern as Barry is anticipated to be a long duration flood event.
Extreme rains and widespread flooding are anticipated for Louisiana and the Mississippi valley area.  Pay close attention to local officials for your area.  Barry is not a concerning wind event; however, the extreme rainfall and flooding are significant concerns.

Hurricane Center – At 100 PM CDT (1800 UTC), the center of Tropical Storm Barry was located near latitude 28.4 North, longitude 90.6 West. Barry is moving toward the west-northwest near 5 mph (7 km/h). A motion toward the northwest is expected to begin later today, followed by a turn toward the north Saturday night. On the forecast track, the center of Barry will approach the central or southeastern coast of Louisiana through tonight and then make landfall over the central Louisiana coast on Saturday.
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In his former role as U.S. Attorney for the District of Miami Alexander Acosta was one of the senior DOJ officials involved in the Jeffrey Epstein case.  Mr. Acosta has explained his role and justified all the actions of his office over a decade ago.  However, the media and political opponents to the administration are using Acosta to attack the Trump cabinet.
Today President Trump and Labor Secretary Acosta announce the decision to depart from the administration.  President Trump doesn’t want Acosta to resign, but understands he is doing so in order to stop any further distractions to the administration and labor dept.

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[Transcript] THE PRESIDENT: I think he was a great Labor Secretary, not a good Labor Secretary. He’s done a fantastic job. He’s a friend of everybody in the administration. And I got a call this morning, early, from Alex. And I think he did a very good job yesterday. Under a lot of pressure, he did a fantastic job and he explained it. He made a deal that people were happy with, and then, 12 years later, they’re not happy with it. You’ll have to figure all of that out.
But the fact is, he has been a fantastic Secretary of Labor. And Alex called me this morning and he wanted to see me. And I actually said, “Well, we have the press right out here, so perhaps you just want to say it to the press.”
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In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Donald Trump Administration and Presidency.

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

President Trump Twitter @POTUS / Vice President Pence Twitter @VP

Stephanie Grisham Twitter @StephGrisham45

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

The smartest man in the world once explained a metaphor apropos to this moment in time when Robert Mueller will testify before congress.  It goes like this:

In front of you sits an ear of corn. You are trying to prove it’s an ear of corn to a room of corn cob deniers. Instead of trying to prove the true nature of what it is, focus your laser inquiry on one specific kernel and hit that single kernel with laser intensity. When that single kernel pops, you will have proved it’s an ear of corn.

In a rare moment CTH agrees with Trey Gowdy, as he discusses the upcoming Mueller testimony:

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Back to the corn cob metaphor.  Here’s how to make a single Mueller kernel pop.
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The latest storm advisory from the National Hurricane Center still shows Louisiana as the most likely impacted region of the northern gulf coast. Tropical Storm Barry will likely become Hurricane Barry shortly before landfall.  Severe flooding is the largest concern.
National Hurricane Center – At 4:00pm CDT (2100 UTC), the center of Tropical Storm Barry was located near latitude 27.8 North, longitude 89.3 West. Barry is moving toward the west near 5 mph (7 km/h) and this motion is expected to continue tonight. A turn toward the northwest is expected on Friday, followed by a turn toward the north on Saturday.

On the forecast track, the center of Barry will be near or over the central or southeastern coast of Louisiana Friday night or Saturday, and then move inland into the lower Mississippi Valley on Sunday.
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The motives for Pelosi, Nadler and Schiff to call-up former special counsel Robert Mueller are transparently obvious.  The committees are hoping to weaponize Mueller’s appearance to attain a political edge; and that’s why committee staff have spent weeks in detailed coaching and strategy sessions with Robert Mueller and his Lawfare team members.
House Judiciary Committee ranking member Doug Collins discusses the political collusion between Mueller, the DOJ/FBI “small group” and the House committee chairmen.
Pelosi, Nadler and Schiff have constructed the rules so there’s only one hour of open hearing, and one hour of closed-door testimony, per committee? C’mon man !! Their purpose to protect Mueller from questions about the corrupt investigation is stupidly visible.

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There’s additional value in the notation from Bill Hemmer as he shares his discussion with Intelligence Committee ranking member Devin Nunes for those with eyes and ears to accept.
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President Trump tweeted that he will discuss his latest efforts at including the citizenship question as part of the census. Two senior administration officials confirmed to CBS News that President Trump will announce an executive action to add the citizenship question to the 2020 census. The announcement is scheduled/anticipated for 5:00pm EST today.  U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr is expected to be in attendance.
UPDATE: Video Added

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