The Treasury Department informed congress Monday it will not release President Trump’s tax returns.  This follows a politically motivated request from House Democrats, and potentially sets-up a legal battle to be resolved by the Supreme Court.
Letter from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin:

(Link to Letter)

President Trump is hosting an award ceremony today at the White House to deliver the Presidential Medal of Freedom to U.S. golfer Tiger Woods. Anticipated Start Tim 6:00pm EDT
WH Livestream Link – Fox10 Livestream Link – Global News Livestream Link

CTH shared last week the visibility of a cross-party political and economic horse-trade {Go Deep}.  It would appear some evidence toward that likelihood is gathering:

(Schumer link)

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer want their infrastructure proposal.  President Trump wants a fundamentally realigned geopolitical trade reset.  No doubt Pelosi/Schumer will attempt to get their political win and simultaneously eliminate any Trump win.  However, until the weeds are reached they are each playing their role.
(more…)

Earlier today President Trump presented the commander-in-chief trophy to the U.S. Army team during a Rose Garden event.

House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Doug Collins appears on Fox News to respond to the latest political ploy by Speaker Pelosi and Chairman Nadler to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of congress.

(Link to statement from Doug Collins)

(more…)

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

Sarah H Sanders Twitter @SHSanders45

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 †

Well, it looks like all suspicions are now confirmed. The dragon dance of 2017 and 2018 has extended into 2019. DPRK Chairman Kim fires rockets, Trump smacks Chinese Chairman Xi. Yes, we can officially put the remaining bits of skepticism to rest…
The meeting last week between Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and their Chinese counterparts including Vice-Chairman Liu, was especially important.  Mnuchin and Lighthizer said they would debrief President Trump on the likelihood of whether a successful trade deal with a communist regime was structurally possible; or whether Beijing was playing a game of delay.
The ongoing dance with the dragon has been a series of cunning manuevers between the Panda mask and the Dragon face. At the conclusion of the Beijing visit by Mnuchin and Lighthizer, Chinese Chairman Xi sent a proactive response using his familiar proxy North Korean Chairman Kim. The DPRK test-fired three missiles.
Today President Trump responds:

The increase of the Round-1 tariffs from 10% to 25%, previously delayed after discussions between Xi and Trump in Argentina, will now be triggered. Additionally, the Round-2 tariffs (25% on $325 billion of different goods), originally scheduled for March 1, also postponed after the Argentina dinner, will now be implemented.
(more…)

Following the arc of the 2016 election surveillance story, Representative Jim Jordan and Maria Bartiromo discuss the reasons why the administrative state now needs to remove AG Bill Barr with a sense of increased urgency.
Attorney General Bill Barr has vowed to get to the bottom of the surveillance and spy operations conducted against the Trump campaign -and Trump administration- in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. Barr is now a threat to the system.

Maria Bartiromo follows up her interview of ‘spygate’ target George Papadopoulos with an interview of HPSCI ranking member Devin Nunes.  Together they expand the background for how Joseph Mifsud connected to George Papadopoulos.