White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders delivers the press briefing for Wednesday January 3rd, 2018.  Anticipated start time 3:00pm EST.
UPDATE: Video Added

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It’s every man and woman for themselves as the collective groups of architects behind the entire FBI Counterintelligence Operation, that brought us the 18-month-long ‘vast Russian conspiracy’ narrative, now attempt to back-track from all previous assertions.
Two days ago we shared very strong confidence the joint FBI (counterintelligence) and DOJ (National Security Division) scheme was going to come out.  The reason is simple, they left too big a trail of factual and provable evidence of their activity.

It is not coincidental that just as scrutiny over the 2016 FBI FISA court application gains traction in congress and media, the insider intelligence community started leaking to the New York Times about the insignificance of the Steele Dossier as it relates to the FISA court application.  Look, over there, it was George Papadopoulos; not the DOJ FISA construct that was used by the FBI to launch surveillance upon candidate Trump. Swear.
Laughable.
Predictable.
For more than a year the Steele Dossier was the most valuable evidence to the Russian narrative; then, poof, in the blink-of-an-eye, not so much – it became a risk.  Funny that.  The transparency of motive is brutally obvious, too many FBI and DOJ people at risk now. The trail is too easy to follow.
It was only a matter of time before Fusion-GPS spoke up toward the same goal of track-covering.  Yesterday Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch [Hi Glenn] posted an Op-Ed in the New York Times attempting further distance.
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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 †

The intelligence community, specific momentary example: James Clapper (ODNI), is attempting to find their safest retreat. If you’ve walked this story through the deep weeds this will make sense to you.  It’s becoming funny.  Yesterday we shared:

Right now they are spending 90% (or more) of their time discussing damage control and how to sell their way out of this mess. The energy they are now spending trying to show a “Russian Conspiracy” is smaller than nil. Some team members are still trying to give angles of “if we do this”, and “if we do that”, etc. You know the routine, a good defense is a good offense. However, even in their offensive exit proposals, their time is constructing a plausible escape. We know that; he knows that; and he knows we know that.

What are they left with?

Positioning.

That’s it.

Positioning for the best exit, doing the least amount of damage to themselves and other professional swamp dwellers in the process. That’s their current energy expenditure; figuring out the exit strategy.

Cue the audio visual today from James Clapper.  WATCH THE END: George who?

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Again, this admission by Clapper entirely undercuts the ridiculous NYT prior defense where they attempt to put George Papadopoulos as the centerpiece to the origin of the FBI counterintelligence operation.
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Tomorrow, January 3rd, is the deadline presented by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes for the FBI to turn over responsive documents, their field agent investigative notes and contact summaries.
The FBI Counterintelligence Division began an official investigation on/around July 15th, 2016. The target of the investigation was the Donald Trump campaign.  The FBI has refused to answer questions or allow investigative oversight toward the origin of their endeavor.
Numerous leaks from the FBI imply the leadership is attempting to shape the narrative surrounding the origin. Suspicions are high.  Key questions we hope to see answered soon with specific detail are:

• 1.) who was the FISC judge that signed off on the FISA application?
• 2.) what was the underlying evidence presented to the FISA court?

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♦FBI Agent Peter Strzok has been reassigned to the HR department.  ♦FBI Lawyer Lisa Page, personal legal aide to FBI Asst. Director, Andrew “Andy” McCabe, has been returned to the DOJ side. ♦FBI Chief Legal Counsel James Baker has been relieved of his duties by FBI Director Christopher Wray. ♦FBI Asst Director Andrew McCabe has announced his intent to retire in March.
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U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley delivered strong remarks today during a press briefing surrounding U.S. policy toward Pakistan and Iran.

“The administration is withholding $255 million in assistance to Pakistan. There are clear reasons for this. Pakistan has played a double game for years. They work with us at time, and they also harbor the terrorists that attack our troops in Afghanistan. That game is not acceptable to this administration.”

WATCH:

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Think BIGLY – On a geopolitical level the U.S. relationship with Pakistan is shadowed by a strong  Pakistani economic relationship with China.  China is Pakistan’s biggest investor.  China has also recently been identified as covertly propping up North Korea with smuggled oil shipments: “Very Disappointing“.
The central U.S. Pakistani relationship has always been about our fight against the terrorist networks of the Taliban in Afghanistan.  Pakistan has played both sides of that coin.  In August of 2017 President Trump warned Pakistan our relationship with them would be different if they did not stop enabling the Taliban.
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Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, the second-longest serving U.S. senator, plans to retire at the end of his current term.  In a video shared via his twitter feed, the 83-year-old Republican announced today his plan to leave the Senate after more than 40 years.  Senator Hatch is the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, his announcement comes after the Republican tax plan he helped to create was signed into law.

[…] “When the president visited Utah last month, he said I was a fighter. I’ve always been a fighter. I was an amateur boxer in my youth, and I brought that fighting spirit with me to Washington. But every good fighter knows when to hang up the gloves. And for me, that time is soon approaching. That’s why, after much prayer and discussion with family and friends, I’ve decided to retire at the end of this term. Although I will miss serving you in the Senate, I look forward to spending more time with family, especially my sweet wife Elaine, whose unwavering love and support made all of this possible.”

2018 was looking to be a difficult year for Senator Hatch as he was caught between his newly espoused loyalty to President Trump and his life-long relationship with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
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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 †