The DC circuit court has requested a response from Michael Flynn’s counsel (and/or DOJ), by July 20th, regarding the petition filed by Judge Emmet Sullivan for a full panel en banc review of the mandamus order.  The prior mandamus order required Sullivan to accept the unopposed motion to dismiss the case. [pdf here]

Notably the court is not permitting a re-response from Sullivan (implying they have enough information) only a brief reply from Sidney Powell, and inviting a brief response from the DOJ as appropriate.  In the interim the writ of mandamus (Rao order) is stayed until the court decides whether to grant the en banc review.

In short: •Petition response (from Powell and/or DOJ) requested by July 20th. •No counter petition allowed. •Judge Rao mandamus order stayed. •Court *may* consider (vote on) en banc review pending petition response.

President Trump delivers remarks during a briefing at U.S. Southern Command.  [Video and Transcript Below]

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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. I guess I might begin. It’s an honor to be with you and really brave men and women. The job you do is incredible, and the progress that you’ve made in the last short period of time has been unbelievable.

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Today, President Trump visited the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) in Doral, Florida for a briefing on increased efforts to stop the flow of deadly drugs coming into the country. You might remember, earlier this year, President Trump directed his administration to begin conducting enhanced counternarcotics operations in the Western Hemisphere.

To conduct these operations, President Trump directed the deployment of additional ships, aircraft, and security forces to assist in the mission. Later, the Secretary of Defense ordered units of the Selected Reserve into active duty to support forces already engaged in this mission. These military deployments in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific will continue to counter the threat posed by illegal narcotics trafficking and criminal groups.

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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you very much. (Applause.) And thank you to our great Admiral Faller. Thank you also to all of the exceptional leaders and talents that we have in this room. U.S. Southern Command is just an outstanding group of people. Thank you very much — very much, Admiral

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President Trump delivers impromptu remarks departing the White House for Miami. [Video and Transcript Below]

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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: So we’re going to Miami. We’re going to different parts of Florida today. We’ll be back at about 11 o’clock tonight. And a lot of stops, a lot of very good stops, so we look forward to it.

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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

Kayleigh McEnany Twitter @PressSec

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 †

President Trump calls-in to Sean Hannity to discuss the latest headline news. Topics include Democrats’ plans to defund the police, Joe Biden’s bid for the presidency, coronavirus, the economy, and much more.

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Former Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard “Ric” Grenell appears on Newsmax TV to discuss his perspectives on the concerted effort of former Obama officials to disrupt the incoming administration of President Donald Trump.

As noted by Grenell the Obama team intentionally coordinated a resistance operation against the incoming administration, while their allies in remaining institutions workd furiously on a false Trump-Russia narrative to undercut President Trump.

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Everything is disconnected until somebody connects it.

On February 9, 2018, the DOJ released a batch of captured text messages between Senate Intelligence Committee Vice-Chairman Mark Warner and the lawyer for Christopher Steele, Adam Waldman.

At the time the texts were released the media narrative surrounded the top-line story that Senator Warner was having back channel discussions to communicate with the author of the now famous Trump dossier, Chris Steele. However, no-one seemed to wonder why these messages were captured, and even more curiously why they were released.

Immediately following the release, SSCI member Marco Rubio, the current acting chairman of the same committee, rushed to defend the covert communication of Vice-Chair Warner.  According to Rubio the vice-chair did previously inform the committee of his intent to contact Steele.  The media quickly used Rubio’s defense to dismiss the controversy.  Nothing to see here… nothing to see here… and that was that.

Except it wasn’t.

Not even close.

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“Walk toward the fire. Don’t worry about what they call you. All those things are said against you because they want to stop you in your tracks. But if you keep going, you’re sending a message to people who are rooting for you, who are agreeing with you. The message is that they can do it, too.”

~ Andrew Breitbart