Most of the ‘vast-Russian-conspiracy‘ media presentations seem to start with a discussion of intelligence gathering beginning in July of 2016. The GOP convention to nominate Donald Trump was July 18-21st of 2016.

Adding to the July 2016 origination narrative FBI Director James Comey stated the counterintelligence operation against candidate Trump began in July 2016.   However, not a single MSM entity has looked at the FISA-702(16)(17) abuses by the FBI and DOJ-NSD outlined by the FISA court and NSA well before July 2016.

It is a matter of unclassified public record the FBI and DOJ-NSD were allowing “contractors” to conduct searches of the FBI and NSA databases, and extract raw intelligence, throughout 2015 until April 28th 2016 when NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers shut down all access and initiated a compliance review.

Any objective review of that time period indicates (strongest likelihood) the search activity was political ‘opposition research’ for the 2016 presidential election.  With hindsight of the FBI and DOJ’s political intents, ‘opposition research’ was almost certainly the motive.

Surrounding the nomination that stunned the geo-political world almost every foreign government was trying to figure out who and what Donald J Trump was all about; and more specifically: how would his run for the presidency impact their specific interests.

2017- WASHINGTON NYT — American spies collected information last summer revealing that senior Russian intelligence and political officials were discussing how to exert influence over Donald J. Trump through his advisers, according to three current and former American officials familiar with the intelligence.

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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

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 †

Fox News Catherine Herridge reports today, per her FBI investigative sources, it was an investigative interview with FBI Attorney Lisa Page, in July 2017, that contradicted FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, and ultimately led to his firing.

That revelation is exactly what we anticipated was the origin to Inspector General Michael Horowitz gaining the text messages between Lisa Page and Peter Strzok.  The issue is actually more stunning than presented.  However, first here’s the report from Herridge (emphasis mine):

Fox News – Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was fired last month for committing three violations of the bureau’s ethics code, an investigative source told Fox News on Thursday.

The violations initially were uncovered by the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General and confirmed by the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility. They included lack of candor under oath, lack of candor when not under oath, and the improper disclosure of non-public information to the media about the FBI investigation into the Clinton Foundation.

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As CTH has continued to remind, on the issue of confronting China’s trade practices, President Trump will not back down:

WHITE HOUSE – Following a thorough investigation under section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) determined that China has repeatedly engaged in practices to unfairly obtain Americas intellectual property. The practices detailed in the USTRs investigation have caused concern around the world. Chinas illicit trade practices ignored for years by Washington have destroyed thousands of American factories and millions of American jobs. On April 3, 2018, the USTR announced approximately $50 billion in proposed tariffs on imports from China as an initial means to obtain the elimination of policies and practices identified in the investigation.

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Yesterday U.S. Trade Represenative Robert Lighthizer and Mexico’s Minister Ildefonso Guajardo met in Washington DC for a bilateral discussion. Likely one of the key avenues for Lighthizer to explore surrounded the upcoming election of a hardline Marxist in Mexico and how Guajardo views the impact to Mexican policy therein.

At this point it’s virtually guaranteed that Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will win the election – I would VERY strongly bet on that outcome (likelihood 85%).  That puts a Hugo Chavez type ideologue, and the attached economic policies, at our southern border. [Pro-Tip: prepare your business affairs accordingly now, and avoid the chaos later]

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland arrived in Washington DC today to join Lighthizer and Guajardo and expand the informal discussion toward a trilateral trade discussion.

Thankfully Lighthizer is on his home turf because he’s now surrounded by left-wing globalist advocates from Mexico, Canada and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce via Tom Donohue.

There was some media talk, and a hint from Trump’s NEC Chairman Larry Kudlow yesterday, about the U.S. strongly wanting to have an agreement on principle utilizing the cornerstone of the Auto-Sector as a building block.

However, I cannot caution strongly enough that NEC Chairman Larry Kudlow is in love with NAFTA and POTUS Trump is not.  So filter Kudlow’s optimistic glee against his trade worship with NAFTA.

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It was noted –and reported– yesterday that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes sent a letter (full pdf below) to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Asst. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.  Nunes is demanding un-redacted FBI documents surrounding the origination of the July 2016 counterintelligence operation against candidate Donald Trump, and the FISA application stemming from within the FBI investigation.

The issue(s) surrounding the declassification of the FISA application and subsequent FISA warrant against Carter Page are not new.  The new aspect within the Nunes demand relates to a request for the intelligence community “electronic communication” (EC) that kicked off the initial FBI counterintelligence op.  Within that new line of inquiry the subject of interest is ultimately former CIA Director John Brennan.

However, there are issues here; serious issues. There are VERY valid reasons why the FBI (Wray) and DOJ (Rosenstein) would push back against HPSCI Chairman Devin Nunes.  It’s complicated, and we’ll try to unpack.

Begin by noting on page two of the Nunes request, Paragraph #3, something all media writing about the Nunes demand seem to overlook.  Screengrab below:

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Today President Trump is traveling to White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, to deliver remarks at a tax reform meeting and roundtable.  The President is anticipated to deliver remarks to the audience at approximately 2:25pm EST:

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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

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 †