Last week, the firm behind the contract for the Russian Dossier, Fusion GPS, requested that a U.S. District judge block congressional investigators from access, via a previous subpoena, to its bank records. The judge gave the House Intelligence Committee lawyers and Fusion GPS a week to see if they could work out a mutual agreement on the production of the records.
Yesterday the attorneys for Fusion GPS and the House Intelligence Committee agreed to terms for releasing the bank records.  The intel committee will receive the bank records to continue their investigation, but the documents will be sealed from public scrutiny:
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During the week-long negotiations between Fusion GPS and congressional lawyers, multiple funding sources were mysteriously leaked.   One of the leaks showed The Washington Free Beacon and billionaire Paul Singer initially contracted with Fusion GPS in 2015 for initial opposition research against candidate Donald Trump, seemingly for the benefit of WFB and Singer’s preferred candidate Marco Rubio. That commissioned research ended in March/April of 2016 when it was clear that Rubio could not win the nomination.
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Notice how the New York Times and Washington Post are staying away from the CNN story about the upcoming Robert Mueller indictments.  There’s a good reason for that…

….Things That Make Other Things Make Sense:

Back on January 10th, 2017, when CNN first began emphasizing the Russian Dossier and how it related to the ‘vast Russian conspiracy’ CTH knew from the way it was being pitched that something was sketchy about CNN’s reporting.   It wasn’t just the story they were selling; it was a very specific cast of characters selling it.   We immediately NOTED IT HERE.

Jake Tapper, Jim Sciutto, Evan Perez and Carl Bernstein was the CNN crew assembled to talk about the Clinton/DNC funded -and Fusion GPS contracted- Christopher Steele ‘dossier’.  Evan Perez had some rather sketchy stories in the weeks prior to their January 10th narrative roll out.  Again the back story is important –SEE HERE–
Well, fast forward to now – and today The Daily Caller is reporting that Evan Perez is actually close friends with the people behind Fusion GPS.  VERY close friends. Like, ‘go on vacation together’ type friends:  VERY IMPORTANT READ

DAILY CALLER – CNN’s reporting on the Trump-Russia dossier has left out at least one crucial fact: the close ties between the network and the opposition research firm at the center of the dossier controversy.
CNN’s reporting on the dossier, led by justice correspondent Evan Perez, has been favorable to the firm, Fusion GPS, and hyped the dossier’s credibility. Left out of Perez’s reporting, which has relied largely on unnamed sources, is his personal closeness to Fusion GPS’ operatives. (continue reading)

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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 †

The leak from a sealed grand jury indictment within the special counsel Robert Mueller investigation, writ large, has everyone a-twitter…  Perhaps, a reminder is in order.
First lesson from the DC Swamp – Everything is about politics.  It’s not about the law; it’s not about the judiciary; it’s not about what’s legal, or the illegality of behavior;  only politics.  These are not legal issues; the entities involved are not connected to legal or illegal application of laws as they relate to the rest of American society.

You cannot view the current action through the transactional prism of modern judicial proceedings as they relate to you and me. These are political cases that use the venue of the legal system.  They use the legal system to play out the optics and narrative of political battles for ideological wins and losses.
The closest reminder you might have familiarity with would be the case against George Zimmerman (never about the legal system); or the case against officer Darren Wilson; again, it was never about the legal system.  Those were political cases run through the matrix of the legal system.  So too is this entire DC partisan dysfunctional investigative construct -surrounding all of the current DC cases- not about the application of law, it is about politics. Period.
The notification from the FBI through the DOJ -to allow the unknown 2010 FBI witness to testify to congress about the Uranium One investigation- has initiated a responsive action from Robert Mueller to save and use his political leverage.  This is not about laws broken; this is about political leverage to be retained.
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Washington (CNN) A federal grand jury in Washington, DC, on Friday approved the first charges in the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller, according to sources briefed on the matter.
The charges are still sealed under orders from a federal judge. Plans were prepared Friday for anyone charged to be taken into custody as soon as Monday, the sources said. It is unclear what the charges are. A spokesman for the special counsel’s office declined to comment. (read more)

(Article Link) – (Tweet Link)

First wave of arrests to begin on Monday?
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Fox News host Brett Baier holds an extensive interview with U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to discuss current headline issues:

A few media reports are all confirming the initial funding for the Fusion GPS opposition research against candidate Donald Trump came from The Washington Free Beacon and the previously undisclosed underwriter for the WFB, billionaire Paul Singer.

This makes sense because WFB was the primary conservative media advocate for candidate Marco Rubio who was also backed by billionaire Paul Singer. The primary editor of WFB Matthew Continetti is married to the daughter of notorious NeverTrumper Bill Kristol:

WASHINGTON – Lawyers for the conservative publication Washington Free Beacon informed the House Intelligence Committee Friday that the organization was the original funder for the anti-Trump opposition research project with Fusion GPS. (link)

The Washington Free Beacon did not reveal their ownership, however both Breitbart and Daily Caller are confirming the financial underwriting for WFB comes from Paul Singer. The WFB is now attempting to explain their opposition research HERE.
It’s a rather odd dynamic to discover that a media outlet would be purchasing a contract for opposition research, no?  Then again, the majority of the electorate have no idea how the right-side of the political continuum is engaged in pushing an ideological agenda – they are not just reporting facts.  WFB should lose all journalistic credibility; they won’t, but they should.
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There’s essentially five candidates being discussed for Federal Reserve Chair: •Stanford University economist, John Taylor; •current Chair, Janet Yellen; •economic adviser, Gary Cohn; •former Fed Governor, Kevin Warsh; and the most likely pick •Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell.
More than likely two candidates from this group of five will be selected; one for Federal Reserve Chair and one for the currently open Vice-Chair.  WATCH:

Earlier today President Trump welcomed the children of the press corps to the White House for early Halloween trick-or-treats.