White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt appears on Fox News morning show to preview one of the most important geopolitical meetings in the last decade.
President Trump and Vladimir Putin will hold a private session together, then later in the day tomorrow appear for a joint press conference. WATCH:
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We will host a designated open thread for live discussion of the Trump-Russia summit in Alaska tomorrow.
I think many of us really like Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. He’s not generally a man who pretends things amid the EU coalition. Orban says things clearly, just like Trump.
When Orban notes he will not sign a joint EU statement on the Trump/Putin summit because it “sets conditions for a meeting to which leaders of the EU were not invited,” he certainly hits the proverbial nail.
The hubris amid the EU collective is quite remarkable.
The ever-dramatic Margaret Brennan is in full pearl-clutching mode as she questions NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, about the upcoming meeting between horrible President Trump and even more horrible President Putin. It is simply unfathomable to allow a U.S. President to create a strategic reset with a Russian President.
As Brennan acts out the role, she highlights how it is unimaginable, terrible, and just a no good bad thing. Horrid.
NATO Secretary Rutte is quite happy with the new funds flowing into the NATO alliance as organized by President Trump. Rutte sits atop a new cache of taxpayer funded treasure for the alliance to organize; from his perspective Trump is gold, and Brennan gnashes her teeth throughout.
Funnily, Brennan attempts to spin a Trump-Putin agreement for a ceasefire with Trump triggering World War III by getting the beginning of a peace deal over the finish line. If Trump creates peace, the world will explode or something. WATCH:
Rutte missed the opportunity to ask Mrs Brennan if she can hear herself. lol
[Transcript] – MARGARET BRENNAN: We turn now to NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, who joins us from The Hague in the Netherlands. Welcome back to Face The Nation.
NATO SECRETARY GENERAL MARK RUTTE: Margaret, it’s good to be back on the show. Good morning.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Good morning. Well, Mr. Secretary General, big picture here; is Russia’s Vladimir Putin still a direct threat to the Western alliance, or is he showing some signs of dropping his aggression?
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is once again rejecting any consideration for President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss terms for a ceasefire without his involvement.
On a Twitter storm Saturday, Zelenskyy rejected the thought of giving any Ukranian territory to Russia in exchange for peace. “The answer to the Ukrainian territorial question already is in the Constitution of Ukraine. No one will deviate from this—and no one will be able to. Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier,” Zelenskyy said.
President Trump announced that he would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 15, in Alaska.
Zelenskyy reacted, carrying the message from the global intelligence community who support the ongoing conflict, and does not like the idea of the USA and Russia determining the outcome for Ukraine.
Zelenskyy has banned opposition parties in Ukraine, taken control of media, targeted religious groups who he claims are subversive to his interests and cancelled elections in order to remain in power. Now Zelenskyy hides behind the claim of a constitution his regime modified in order to ensure he alone controls the pathways to peace.
(Via NBC) – A defiant Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared Saturday that his countrymen “will not give their land to occupiers,” after President Donald Trump suggested that a peace deal would include some “swapping” of territories with Russia.
“The answer to Ukraine’s territorial question is already in the constitution of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in a message on Telegram early Saturday. “No one will and no one can deviate from it. Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier.” (more)
It has been reported that Vladimir Putin’s ceasefire terms include Russia totally controlling the Donbas region.
The lack of firings amid the top-tier of FBI leadership has been a nagging concern.
Today, Fox News is reporting on the firing of three very consequential and corrupt FBI officials, former FBI acting director, Brian Driscoll; acting director of the Washington Field Office who targeted the J6 attendees, Steven Jensen, and Walter Giardina, the special agent who played a role in the investigation of Trump trade advisor, Peter Navarro.
Steven Jensen was a particular thorn in the side of those who understood his role in continuing the FBI corrupt activity and targeting the J6 attendees.
WASHINGTON – […] Driscoll, for his part, served as acting director of the FBI prior to the confirmation of FBI Director Kash Patel, and Jensen played a key role in the January 6 investigations.
Senior FBI officials told the agents in question that they needed to leave by Friday, with no specific reason given to them individually.
One individual with knowledge of the removals described it as “retribution.”
Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff held another meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier today. This is the fifth meeting between Steve Witkoff and Vladimir Putin.
Witkoff has spent more time with Putin than any government official in recent history.
“My Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff, just had a highly productive meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Great progress was made! Afterwards, I updated some of our European Allies. Everyone agrees this War must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” ~ President Trump
Independent journalist Matt Taibbi breaks down the Russiagate fraud against the backdrop of the most recent declassified revelations. WATCH:
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♦ Five days ago, President Trump reduced the 50-day ultimatum to 10-12 days for Russia to stop bombing Ukraine and come to the negotiation table.
♦ Four days ago, Dmitry Medvedev (July 28) issued a statement that Trump’s “ultimatum game” with Moscow amounts to a threat to Russia and pushes the United States itself closer to war. “Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war,” said Medvedev, currently deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council. “Not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country.”
♦ President Trump responded today – “Based on the highly provocative statements of the Former President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, who is now the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, I have ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions, just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that. Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences, I hope this will not be one of those instances. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Too funny. The economic pretending is so strong almost every outlet leads the Gross Domestic Product news release by saying “better than expected.” Duh! The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) releases the GDP date for the second quarter (Q2) and shows a 3.0% jump in economic growth.
We say “duh”, because it was an entirely predictable result. Why, because imports are a deduction to the GDP equation and imports dropped 30.3% in the second quarter (Table 1, line 19). We said this was going to happen because there was a surge of imported goods in the first quarter as companies tried to be proactive with orders in advance of tariffs.
That massive influx of imports made the Q1 GDP weak (-0.5%). Conversely, with all those goods delivered in the first quarter, the products were not imported in Q2 and the GDP rebounded. The lack of imports, ultimately the lack of deduction, resulted in a 5.18% positive change to the second quarter GDP (Table 2, line 47).
But wait, the winning doesn’t stop there. Remember, the Big Beautiful Bill just passed in July. That means fixed asset investment is likely to expand in Q3 because 100% expensing on capital investment was part of the BBB.
But wait, there’s more. Annual wages spiked 4.4% — double the rate of inflation (2.1%). That means people are growing their wage incomes twice as fast as prices are rising. Real wage growth is back again! Yes, REAL WAGE GROWTH.
The terms Ukraine and government corruption are synonymous regardless of who is funding the schemes. After Volodymyr Zelenskyy grabbed more power by stripping two key anti-corruption agencies, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP), of their independence, protests erupted.
European leaders immediately noticed the intent of the power move and threatened Zelenskyy with a withdrawal of support. The current dictatorship of Zelensky and his small team then quickly reversed course. However, the damage is done, and once again Ukranian corruption is center stage.
It doesn’t matter how much western intelligence agencies and pro-Ukraine western govt officials try to hide the nature of the duck represented by Zelenskyy by calling him a swan, eventually the quacking returns – the mask drops.
UKRAINE – […] Some also cautioned that the agitation could spark a popular uprising like the one that toppled then-President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014. “We are now in the face of the most dangerous development in all the years since Maidan,” wrote Sevgil Musayeva, editor-in-chief of the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper. And like others, she hazarded that Zelenskyy’s powerful Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak was behind the move, amid signs that NABU is preparing cases against presidential insiders.
Eventually, with public uproar mounting, Ukraine’s president bowed to the pressure and agreed to restore the independence of the agencies — a new law turning back the clock is meant to be voted on Thursday.