President Trump stopped to talk to the press corps en route to the NRA convention speech in Texas.  The president hit on a wide range of current topics:

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Additional comments at Joint Base Andrews, with Chief of Staff John Kelly.

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This afternoon President Donald Trump is scheduled to deliver a speech at the National Rifle Association leadership forum.  Anticipated start time 2:00pm EST

UPDATE: Video Added

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One of the most frequent questions about Asst. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein circles around his decision to reauthorize the FISA Title-1 surveillance warrant used against Carter Page and by extension the Trump campaign.   In this outline we take the timeline and overlay new information that helps to understand what was going on:

• Why did Rosenstein renew that sketchy FISA warrant July 18th, 2017?
• Why did Mueller request clarity two weeks later on August 2nd, 2017?

To understand the dynamic we must remind ourselves what was known at key dates in the investigative decision-making.  None of this is intended to exhibit an opinion toward the motives of those making decisions; however, in hindsight we can clearly outline what was known and what was not known at the time these decisions were made.

Recently we have gained clarity toward the scope of investigative evidence held by Robert Mueller.  Thanks to some debriefing interviews by ‘witness’ Michael Caputo we more thoroughly understand what evidence is held by Robert Mueller; and, more importantly the scale of that evidence leads to a reasonable conclusion about how it was obtained.

It appears Special Counsel Robert Mueller began his investigation of Russian interference and the possibility of Trump campaign collusion, right where the FBI counterintelligence operation left-off.  This is additionally supported by reviewing the original investigative instructions as outlined by Rod Rosenstein the day Robert Mueller was appointed as Special Counsel:

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Former FBI Deputy Director James Kallstrom appeared on Tucker Carlson to discuss the context of the ongoing Special Counsel investigation by Robert Mueller and his assigned team of investigators. Within the discussion Mr. Kallstrom provides some historic context for current events.

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CTH is going to expand an outline of the Mueller probe origin, and current disposition, utilizing the latest information and contrast against the timeline of Deputy Director Rod Rosenstein. More on that soon.

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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 †

Former U.S. Attorney Joe diGenova discusses his perspective on Robert Mueller, and the current position of the special counsel investigation, with Sean Hannity.

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NOW IT ALL COMES TOGETHER…

Michael Caputo appears on Fox News for a general discussion of his third experience being grilled by Hillary Clinton’s Legal Team within the Clinton-Mueller Special Counsel.

However, one of the interesting bits of information is where Mr. Caputo notes the Clinton-Mueller team have the personal emails, phone call logs, communications and even text messages of every targeted member of the investigation. This little factoid is jaw-dropping important because it highlights the underlying reason why Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein needed to grant a July 2017 extension of the Title-1 FISA surveillance warrant (initiated against Carter Page); that was actually being utilized by the FBI to conduct political surveillance of these same Trump officials.

Without the July 2017 FISA extension, Robert Mueller would not have predicate investigative authority to reach into the accounts of his targets and extract their personal communication.  Mueller would have needed to go to court for a search warrant; he is conducting a criminal investigation; he would have needed probable cause.  However, by applying the 2016 extended FISA Title-1 warrant, the Clinton-Mueller special counsel used the previous legal authority to extract all the information they wanted to review.

Things are making much more sense now.

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Former Donald Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski appears for an interview with Martha McCallum to discuss how Rudy Giuliani is prepared to get a lot more confrontational with Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

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Additionally, at 04:40 of the video above, Corey Lewandowski discusses an issue where a journalist, Olivia Nuzzi, actually broke into his house to steal information for a story. Unreal.

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It was not unexpected to see NBC shift their earlier reporting on the surveillance of Trump lawyer Michael Cohen and attempt to walk-back the most troubling of issues. In a correction to earlier reporting NBC changes the story from federal authorities (ie. Robert Mueller and the corrupt FBI group) “wiretapping” the phones and communication devices of Cohen, to federal authorities “monitoring” the phones and devices of Cohen.

NBC – CORRECTION: Earlier today, NBC News reported that there was a wiretap on the phones of Michael Cohen, President Trump’s longtime personal attorney, citing two separate sources with knowledge of the legal proceedings involving Cohen.

But three senior U.S. officials now dispute that, saying that the monitoring of Cohen’s phones was limited to a log of calls, known as a pen register, not a wiretap where investigators can actually listen to calls.  NBC News has changed the headline and revised parts of the original article. (link)

The reason for the imprecise shift is obvious. If everyone understood how Robert Mueller’s investigation was merely an extension, an “insurance policy” per se, of the prior originating FBI Counterintelligence operation against Trump, then people would begin to ask uncomfortable questions.

Whether the FBI was actively listening in-on Michael Cohen’s calls; or whether the FBI was merely monitoring who, what, where and how, those calls were taking place, doesn’t diminish the reality that Robert Mueller was –and is– conducting wide-scale surveillance on President Trump and any entity associated with his administration.

That reality, accidentally released by the initial NBC reporting, is considered an uncomfortable risk to the Mueller investigation. The last thing Team Mueller team want people to understand is how they are simply continuing a political investigation that began two years ago under false and unlawful pretense.

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