U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson delivered remarks today together with his Belgian counterpart against the backdrop of yesterday’s New York City terrorist attack.

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[Transcript] SECRETARY TILLERSON: Good morning, all. I want to welcome Deputy Prime Minister Reynders of Belgium to the State Department. It’s a pleasure to have you here.
FOREIGN MINISTER REYNDERS: Thank you.
SECRETARY TILLERSON: I do want to make a comment on yesterday’s events in New York City. Of course, we extend our condolences to the families and loved ones of all the victims. This has turned out to be – have been an international event in terms of the victims themselves. We now know we have one Belgian citizen who died in the attack yesterday and five Argentinian citizens, and we have additional Belgian citizens that were injured as well.
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Three Pakistani brothers (Abid, Imran, and Jamal Awan), along with their family members, managed the congressional IT (Information Technology) for members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
An investigation in 2016 showed they accessed congressional computer networks without permission, transferred the content, and jaw-droppingly did much of their work while physically located in Pakistan.

Using their virtually unlimited access the Awan’s compromised the computer network of around 80 congressional offices, and the U.S. taxpayers paid them millions of dollars in the process. If the underlying ramifications were not so serious, this would seem almost too unbelievable for a Hollywood script. Imran Awan was arrested at Dulles International Airport fleeing the country with a bag full of cash.
Now, a reasonable person might think the House of Representatives would be interested to find out just how much of their sensitive and potentially classified information was compromised. A reasonable person might think that, but then again congress is generally devoid of reasonable people.
To showcase the insufferable idiocy of congress, you might find the latest development eye-opening from the perspective of why DC is so structurally dysfunctional.
In an “unofficial” or technically “informal” congressional hearing (video below), Representative Scott Perry, Rep Jim Jordan, Rep Ron Desantis, Rep Louie Gomert and Rep Steve King, meet with Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton and journalist Luke Rosiak (Daily Caller) to discuss why congress is not investigating the issue.
Yes, that would be congress holding an informal hearing to ask citizens why congress is not conducting an investigation.
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While the general position will be to applaud President Trump and CIA Director Mike Pompeo for their commitment to transparency, CTH considers the release against the backdrop of the Trump Doctine.
Right before President Trump heads off to Asia for an extremely important economic and national security visit with wide-ranging implications; and knowing the larger adversarial economic geography surrounding China and their allies (hint, Pakistan); and knowing the Indo-Pacific engagement strategy carried by Trump and Tillerson; and knowing the Trump doctrine is based on brutally righteous sunlight and leverage upon various international deceptions therein… the CIA releases 470k files on the Bin Laden raid highlighting the duplicity between Pakistan and terrorists.

CIA Abbottabad Compound Material –  In an effort to further enhance public understanding of al-Qa’ida, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on 1 November 2017 released additional materials recovered in the 2 May 2011 raid on Usama Bin Ladin’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
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White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders delivers the press briefing for Wednesday November 1st 2017.  Anticipated start time 2:30pm EST:
UPDATE: Video Added

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During a previously scheduled meeting with the cabinet, President Donald Trump delivers remarks about the terrorist attack yesterday in New York City and the diversity lottery immigration program, and subsequent chain migration policy, that was used by the terrorist to enter the United States and bring 23 additional people with him.

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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

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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 †

Statement from the President on the Terrorist Attack in New York City:

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of todays terrorist attack in New York City and their families. My Administration will provide its full support to the New York City Police Department, including through a joint investigation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. We offer our thanks to the first responders who stopped the suspect and rendered immediate aid to the victims of this cowardly attack. These brave men and women embody the true American spirit of resilience and courage. I will continue to follow developments closely.”  – WH Link

Against the backdrop of the terrorist attack in New York City, a rather deliberate looking President Donald Trump convenes a late night national security meeting:

(LINK)

Immediately following the meeting/briefing, President Trump Tweeted: “I have just ordered Homeland Security to step up our already extreme vetting program.  Being politically correct is fine, but not for this!”    POTUS appears pissed.
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Earlier today President Donald Trump held a meeting with Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and all participants in the tax reform proposal.
Interestingly, and in a typically Trump power play dynamic, POTUS Trump invited U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue to the meeting and after finishing his prepared remarks put Donohue directly in the spotlight (Video 04:00).  The U.S. CoC is the biggest lobbyist for globalist economics. Donohue is essentially MAGA enemy #1.
You might remember Tom Donohue specifically targeting President Trump for personal criticism in the last round of NAFTA negotiations.  POTUS Trump positioned Donohue physically directly across from him at the table and it was obvious President Trump was planning to put Donohue on the spot.  The look on Gary Cohn’s face is priceless.

[Transcript] 11:41 A.M. EDT – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much for being here, for the incredible work you’re doing to help us pass the really historic tax cuts. There’s never been anything like this in the history of our country. It’s cuts and it’s relief and it’s also reform. And frankly, it’s also simplification. So we’re covering everything.
There has never been anything like it, and it’s so important. The economy is doing very well but it can do much better. A lot of jobs are going to come from this and a lot of companies are going to start pouring back into the United States. In fact, we’re going to be announcing one big one sometime very shortly — a very big one coming back into the United States.
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Normally this might be one of those things to pass off as just accidental or part of rushing a story to the headlines.  However, in this instance CBS immediately reported an exclusive picture of New York Terrorist Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov.  TWEET  and WEBSITE
On the left is the actual picture of 29-year-old Saipov; on the right is the version of the picture that CBS broadcast, used in newscasts and also put on their website.  Notice any difference?

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