The previous effort at justification and damage control over the FBI counterintelligence operation to spy on presidential candidate Donald Trump was likely courtesy of FBI Asst. Director of Counterintelligence E.W. “Bill” Priestap.

The latest effort at justification comes directly from anti-Trump FBI Counterintelligence Agent Peter Strzok; claiming the ‘insurance policy’ statement was to protect candidate Donald Trump, not to defend the republic against him.  :::insert eyeroll here:::

WASHINGTON DC – An FBI agent’s text message that referred to “an insurance policy” and has been cited as evidence of bias against President Trump reportedly alluded to the investigation into Russia’s election interference and any potential ties between Trump’s campaign and Moscow.
The Wall Street Journal, citing individuals familiar Peter Strzok’s message, said the agent did not mean to indicate that there was a plan to damage Trump. Strzok’s message, instead, was intended to mean that Trump could win the election, and therefore the probe “couldn’t afford to take a more measured approach,” the newspaper said.  (read more)

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This would be embarrassingly laughable if the underlying issue was not so serious. Notice the transparency of the timing here; along with the justification angle.

Today NBC comes out with an “exclusive report” provided by “FBI counterintelligence sources” curiously pushing a story (*NOW*?) about a “high-level counterintelligence briefing by senior FBI officials” for candidate Donald Trump in July 2016 “soon after the nomination”.  Why this narrative now?  Methinks they doth protest too much.
Gee, I wonder why government officials would be pushing NBC’s Ken Dilanian (the narrative engineer for pro Fusion-GPS stories) to report on Senior FBI counterintelligence briefings with Donald Trump in July 2016?

Perhaps because those same Senior FBI counterintelligence people (Bill Priestap, Peter Strzok, Andrew McCabe) are quickly realizing their 2016 spy operation against Trump, their “insurance policy“, is out in the sunlight…. and NOW their collaborative illegal operation is about to put them in a position of being questioned by congressional oversight?  When does McCabe testify? Oh, yeah, tomorrow; funny that.

WASHINGTON — In the weeks after he became the Republican nominee on July 19, 2016, Donald Trump was warned that foreign adversaries, including Russia, would probably try to spy on and infiltrate his campaign, according to multiple government officials familiar with the matter.
The warning came in the form of a high-level counterintelligence briefing by senior FBI officials, the officials said. A similar briefing was given to Hillary Clinton, they added. They said the briefings, which are commonly provided to presidential nominees, were designed to educate the candidates and their top aides about potential threats from foreign spies.

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Today, President Donald Trump is delivering a speech outlining the administrations’ larger national security strategy. The remarks are much anticipated as President Trump is expected to give the general electorate their first understanding of the Trump Doctrine: using economic leverage to achieve national security objectives.
CTH readers have spent the past year discussing examples of how President Trump uses economic leverage as the core element of his geopolitical strategy. However, it is not discussed, nor has it been accepted/recognized, by MSM or the broader electorate.
The speech is anticipated to begin at 2:00pm EST:
UPDATE: Video Added

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“Derailment” is not an appropriate term for this accident as an Amtrack passenger train hurtled from the rails near 70 MPH on the first-ever run (at speed) along this line.  At least six people have been killed.  There were 78 people on board for the inaugural run.

DUPONT, Wash. (AP) — An Amtrak train making the first-ever run along a faster new route hurtled off an overpass Monday near Tacoma and spilled some of its cars onto the highway below, killing at least six people, authorities said.
Seventy-eight passengers and five crew members were aboard when the train moving at more than 80 mph derailed about 40 miles (64 kilometers) south of Seattle before 8 a.m., Amtrak said.

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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 †

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin departed Camp David last night and appears on Fox, CNN and CBS Sunday talk shows to discuss the pending historic vote on Tax Reform.
Fox News Sunday:

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CBS Face the Nation:
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President Trump landed on the South Lawn after spending most of Saturday and Sunday in Camp David with Vice-President Pence and several key cabinet officials.
A confident, assertive and empowered President Trump walks to the media pool to answer questions.  The first (inaudible) question was about Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team illegally retrieving Trump transition team emails and communications on the transition.
WATCH:

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A second (official WH) camera angle of the presser is below.
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It is my belief, based on mounting evidence, a specific cast of characters -within the Mueller “Russia Election Interference” probe- were placed there to protect people behind the FBI’s initial false claims. Those claims formed the basis for the counterintelligence operation against 2016 presidential candidate Donald Trump.

According to reports, in August 2017 the Mueller team went around the Trump administration in their quest for documents, by directly demanding documents from the General Services Agency (GSA); the entity that hosted the communication network for the Trump transition team.
According to reports, the content of 12 email accounts was handed over to the Special Counsels’ office; consisting of thousands of pages of transition team communication.  Innocuous, ordinary transition stuff, but the method of procurement is jaw-droppingly unethical, possibly illegal.
Well, now you don’t have to rely on reports. Here’s the actual letter (Full pdf):
[scribd id=367392335 key=key-NHeTYuWqhdD4duzA7D1d mode=scroll]
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Now, let’s take a stroll and explain to our neighbors exactly what this entire plot is all about and why they should care….
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President Trump delivers a weekly address to the nation focusing on the topic of immigration, and specifically the need to eliminate chain migration and lotteries.

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[Transcript]  My Fellow Americans,
This week I signed the National Defense Authorization Act – a historic step forward to rebuild our military. Now, it is critical for Congress to pass the Clean Government Appropriations Bill that fully funds our Military Needs. We must not play politics with our troops – we should pass a clean funding bill and leave the politics aside. We must protect our nation.
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