Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell holds a press availability today and notes the USMCA vote will take place this week.  Additionally, if the House sends the impeachment articles to the Senate tomorrow the Senate would take some preliminary steps this week, which could include call-over Chief Justice Roberts to swear in senators as jurors and take care of other housekeeping measures by consent.
If the process follows the timeline outlined by the majority leader the Senate could begin the impeachment trial next Tuesday.
Leader Mitch McConnell, Majority Whip John Thune, Chairman John Barrasso, Vice-Chair Joni Ernst, Republican Policy Committee Chairman Roy Blunt, and NRSC Chairman Todd Young deliver remarks to the media.  WATCH:

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Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi told her caucus earlier today she will bring a resolution to the floor tomorrow for a House vote to appoint impeachment managers and submit the two articles of impeachment to the Senate.  It appears Speaker Pelosi is timing the resolution to take oxygen from the White House signing of the U.S-China ‘phase one’ trade agreement, also expected tomorrow; a major win for the U.S. trade reset.
The Speaker made the announcement during a private caucus meeting.  However, Pelosi did not name the impeachment managers, that announcement is expected to be made at the same time as the house vote.

WASHINGTON DC – […] The resolution the House will vote on Wednesday will do three things: transmit the articles of impeachment against Trump; name the team of impeachment managers; and provide funding for the trial. Democrats and Republicans will have five minutes per side to debate the resolution on the floor, according to rules established during the House impeachment debate in December. (more)

Project Veritas spent some time in Iowa with the revolutionary communists at the heart of Bernie Sanders campaign. In a video expose’ (see here) the Veritas group showcase Bernie Sanders campaign workers who are prominent Antifa activists. The calls to violence are quite disturbing but familiar for those who followed the “Occupy Wall Street” movement, RevCom, or the Democrat Socialists of America; all factions of the same far-left ideology.

(Des Moines, IA) A Bernie Sanders Presidential Campaign Field Organizer, Kyle Jurek, was secretly recorded bragging about his extreme left-wing fringe views, calling for violence and death to those who oppose Sanders’ radical policies. Kyle Jurek, who works out of the Sanders campaign Iowa office, has been paid at least $9,775 since starting in his official campaign role. Project Veritas Action Fund’s undercover journalists secretly recorded Jurek’s statements for months; recording footage on multiple occasions where he lashes out against Sanders’ Democratic opposition, President Trump’s supporters, and others.

The recordings give insight into the mentality of many Sanders staffers and what they truly believe. In the video, Jurek details his expectations for the 2020 Presidential election and emphatically states that cities will “burn” if President Trump wins re-election. (read more)

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

Stephanie Grisham Twitter @StephGrisham45

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 crowd erupts into cheers and chants of “USA, USA” as President Trump and First Lady Melania are introduced during the College Football Championship game between Clemson and LSU in the New Orleans Superdome.  WATCH:
[wpvideo rp4J2ZbV]
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U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is a smart, serious and deliberate professional on a very specific and important mission for the United States.  In my opinion Lighthizer is the most under-appreciated member of an exceptionally good economic team. Everything about Lighthizer’s approach is based on enforcement.
Ambassador Lighthizer has been consistent over multiple years, on his intention to create enforceable trade reform between the U.S. and China, or, if needed, decouple the two economies if China fails to accept the necessary structural reforms.
Tonight, as the Chinese delegation arrives, Lighthizer discusses the U.S-China ‘phase-one’ agreement with Lou Dobbs. WATCH:

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Earlier today U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr announced the results of a criminal investigation into the December terrorist attack at Pensacola Naval Air Station.  The AG answered press questions at the end of his remarks.
Accompanying AG Bill was FBI Deputy Director David Bowditch.  Interestingly, Mr. Bowditch, as SanFran field office head, was the lead investigator of the San Bernadino terrorist attack prior to returning to Washington DC. [Video and Transcript Below]

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[Transcript] – BILL BARR: Good afternoon, and thank you for coming.
We are here to discuss the results of the investigation into the shooting that occurred on Dec. 6, 2019 at Pensacola Naval Air Station.
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Chopper pressers are the best pressers. Earlier today President Trump and First-Lady Melania Trump departed the White House traveling to New Orleans for the NCAA football championship game LSU -vs- Clemson. President Trump delivered brief remarks
[Video and Transcript Below].

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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: So we’re going to the game. It’ll be a great game. It’ll be something that a lot of people want to see. And we’ll be in New Orleans, and we look forward to it.
The stock market way up. The country is doing really well. And we’ll see you at the game.
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As you review this story keep in the back of your mind that U.S. DC Attorney Jessie Liu has been recently moved to head the Financial Crimes Division of the Treasury Department.
CTH noted last year when John Fry, an intelligence analyst with the IRS’s law enforcement arm, was arrested that something more was happening in the background of his case and the DOJ case against Natalie Sours-Edwards.   Today Ms. Sours-Edwards pleads guilty to downloading & distributing the financial records of people connected to the Trump orbit.
You might remember back in May 2018 when sketchy porn lawyer Michael Avenetti was releasing U.S. Treasury notifications on Michael Cohen received from an unknown source within the Treasury Department [See Here].  You might also remember when New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow wrote a sympathetic article after talking to the leaking treasury official [See Here].  As a result the Treasury Inspector General began an investigation.

(VIA DOJ) Natalie Mayflower Sours Edwards Illegally Repeatedly Transmitted SARs and Other Sensitive Government Information To A Reporter Resulting In Approximately 12 News Articles Over 1-Year Period.
Ms. Sours-Edwards, a former senior adviser at the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”), pled guilty today to conspiring to unlawfully disclose Suspicious Activity Reports (“SARs”).
Beginning in approximately October 2017, and lasting until her arrest in October 2018, EDWARDS agreed to and did unlawfully disclose numerous SARs to a reporter (“Reporter-1”), the substance of which were published over the course of approximately 12 articles by a news organization for which Reporter-1 worked (“News Organization-1”).

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